The majority (80.9%) of worldwide retail media ad spend will take place in China and the US this year, according to a March 2025 EMARKETER forecast.
The news: While brands invest heavily in social media giants like Instagram and Facebook, smaller platforms are showing steady growth—indicating a future where ad opportunities go beyond the big players. While the Meta platforms make up an enormous 72.5% of US social network ad spending, smaller social media platforms are holding their own, experiencing growth at a similar rate to Meta. Our take: While advertisers shouldn’t discount the massive reach Meta offers, smaller players are increasingly valuable for driving results, especially as competition intensifies on larger platforms.
As marketing teams face higher expectations to prove campaign results, leaders expect data-driven work from every department. This means once siloed teams must find smarter ways to work together.
The news: Amazon plans to bring same- and next-day delivery to more than 4,000 smaller cities and rural communities by year’s end. Our take: Amazon’s growing focus on rural delivery is squarely aimed at deepening Prime’s value, driving higher engagement, and unlocking long-term loyalty in a market that still holds plenty of untapped potential.
The news: Snapchat acquired social calendar app Saturn and about 30 of its employees. For now, Saturn will stay an independent entity, but integration is likely down the road, per Engadget. Our take: Acquiring Saturn was a natural progression in Snapchat’s social path. It doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel when it has an app that already has a massive user base of its target audience. Calendar integrations will help brands more easily geotarget ads based on school events.
The news: Digital-first consumers now expect fast, zero-click access to information—meaning they often get answers from search engines or social platforms without clicking through, per CUInsight. To stay visible, FIs should optimize content for featured snippets, enhance their Google Business Profiles, and use tools like calculators that embed in search results. Our take: Zero-click marketing deserves its own strategy alongside SEO and generative optimization. Financial brands that adapt their content to meet users where they are—within snippets, tools, or knowledge panels—can build more visibility and trust than competitors who rely on traditional site traffic alone.
The news: CI&T and Project Nemo have developed a prototype app called Nemo, Art of the Possible, designed to help adults with learning disabilities manage money independently and securely, per Stock Titan. The app includes calm mode, adaptive onboarding, emergency savings, and user-controlled support to promote financial inclusion. Our take: With one in five US adults experiencing learning or attention challenges, banks have a major opportunity to broaden access. By partnering with fintechs to deliver inclusive tech like Nemo, financial institutions can better serve underrepresented users and improve financial health, experience, and loyalty across their customer base.
The news: Financial institutions (FIs) must prioritize generative engine optimization (GEO)—the evolution of SEO—or risk disappearing from AI-powered customer journeys, according to The Financial Brand. As tools like ChatGPT increasingly guide users in choosing financial products, FIs must ensure their content is optimized for visibility and relevance within these AI environments. Our take: Nearly 80 million Americans are already using generative AI search engines, and that number is growing. FIs that move early to optimize their content will increase visibility and credibility with AI-driven consumers, while those who delay risk losing brand presence altogether.
The trend: At Cannes Lions 2025, Meta, TikTok, Google, and others made clear that AI-powered ad automation is no longer an experiment—it’s the plan. The news: Meta and TikTok each emphasized agency relationships, but both platforms expanded generative AI tools that let brands generate and manage campaigns without intermediaries. Amazon, Comcast, and Google are doing the same, pushing toward platform-native, self-serve ad models. Our take: As automation replaces traditional support services, agencies face existential pressure. To stay relevant, holding companies will need to prove they offer value that AI can’t replace—fast.
The news: Unilever acquired men’s personal care brand Dr. Squatch—which recently made headlines for offering soap containing actress Sydney Sweeney’s bathwater— for an undisclosed amount as it looks to establish a greater foothold in the fast-growing category. It’s a notable move for a company that is otherwise shedding brands to speed its turnaround, and a clear sign that Unilever counts men’s personal care as one of the “premium and high growth spaces” to prioritize. Our take: While men are hardly a monolithic entity, their optimism about the economy makes them more likely than women to increase their spending this year. At the same time, shifting consumption habits are turning male consumers into a more valuable commodity—as Saks and Unilever see only too clearly.
The news: Target is testing a factory-direct shipping model that would enable it to offer lower-cost products to customers, per Bloomberg. The model, which lets suppliers ship products directly to shoppers, closely resembles the strategy used by Temu and Shein to keep prices low. Our take: Unfortunately for Target, now is not the best time to increase its reliance on overseas suppliers. While the Temu-Shein model worked spectacularly well for several years, the conditions that fueled their growth—namely, the de minimis exemption and low tariffs—are no longer in place.
The news: Brands are increasingly engaging with nano-, micro-, and mid-tier influencers—creators with up to 10,000, 50,000, 500,000 followers, respectively—and shifting away from macro- and mega-influencers with larger followings. Nano-influencers maintain the highest engagement rate across influencer categories on Instagram at 6.23%. On Instagram, there’s a notable trend of engagement rates decreasing as follower count increases. Our take: Partnering with nano-, micro-, and mid-tier influencers enables brands to tap into deeper authenticity and niche audiences, translating to more meaningful engagement and higher ROI than broader, but less personal, macro-influencer campaigns.
The news: Fiserv will launch its own stablecoin, FIUSD, by end of year to complement its existing banking and payments infrastructure. Our take: Reporting BNPL data to the credit bureaus would be a solid step toward combatting BNPL’s “phantom debt” criticism.
The news: FICO will release credit scores that incorporate buy now, pay later (BNPL) reporting this autumn, per a press release. Our take: Reporting BNPL data to the credit bureaus would be a solid step toward combatting BNPL’s “phantom debt” criticism.
The news: Google Pay added Klarna to its in-app BNPL roster of Affirm, Zip, and Afterpay. Our take: Klarna’s late adoption of a physical card like Affirm’s Affirm Card in the US set the BNPL provider back in terms of capturing a wider user base and payment volume. Integrations like Google Pay and Apple Pay can help overcome that gap—though Affirm also has partnerships with both Google Pay and Apple Pay.
The news:The Krispy Kreme–McDonald’s marriage is ending. The announcement comes less than two months after the companies said they were pausing a nationwide rollout—despite doughnuts being available in 2,400 McDonald’s locations—to reassess the profitability of the expansion. Our take: The breakup with McDonald’s comes at a tough time for Krispy Kreme—and for many other quick-service chains. The company has pulled its 2025 forecast, paused its dividend, and is now refocusing on what matters most: boosting cash flow, improving efficiency, and growing in a way that actually makes money in the US. The McDonald’s partnership gave Krispy Kreme more visibility, but not enough profit. With costs rising and margins getting tighter, the company is shifting its focus from rapid expansion to ensuring its business is built to last.
The news: Novo Nordisk is terminating its short-lived partnership with Hims & Hers. The drugmaker is accusing Hims of illegally selling knockoff versions of Wegovy, while deceptively marketing its compounded GLP-1 products. Our take: Hims will likely regret its refusal to cooperate with Novo and Eli Lilly, who have taken control of the D2C weight loss drug market.
The news: Around 50 health plans— including large players UnitedHealthcare, CVS Health, Cigna, and Elevance Health—are pledging to simplify the prior authorization process. Our take: But their commitments don’t come with mandates or enforcement—meaning insurers can still get away with tactics that boost their profits over paying for expensive medical care.
The news: BetterHelp inked a deal with three WNBA teams to market and raise awareness of mental health services. Our take: Marketing healthcare products and services by making brand connections to aspirational healthiness via sports is a savvy strategic play for BetterHelp. The company’s lean into women’s sports, and especially tapping the surging popularity of the WNBA with relatable personal stories on Instagram, carves out a niche.
The news: The Trump administration is mulling new policies to make pharma advertising more difficult, per a Bloomberg report. Our take: RFK previously acknowledged the First Amendment hurdles in an outright pharma ad ban. But if he takes an alternate path with new D2C ad regulations, it’s a win for the industry. Pharma companies can budget for extra media costs of additional TV time and the loss of ad tax deductions, but they get to keep D2C advertising.