The gap between setting a growth goal and building the system to achieve it is where most strategies fail. Not because the ambition was wrong, but because the operational foundation wasn't in place. Paid media can be a growth engine, but only when it's built on unit economics that hold, creative systems that scale, and measurement that reflects business performance rather than platform vanity metrics.

Over the last 18 months, a combination of tariff changes, de minimis reforms, and increased import friction has made cross-border trade more complex and less predictable. What used to be a straightforward growth lever now requires closer attention to cost structures, customer experience, and operational resilience. The impact has extended beyond marketing performance into margins, fulfilment operations, and the confidence leadership teams have in international forecasts.

When a brand leans too much on discounting, it creates a pattern where performance marketing takes a significant hit outside of those promotional windows. But here’s the challenge: transitioning from a discount-driven model to a more premium, full-priced approach - without negatively impacting overall revenue. This shift is critical for brands looking to build long-term value and reduce their dependence on short-term fixes. How does discounting, despite its perceived top line benefits, create challenges that undermine sustainable growth?

Retention is often overlooked when it comes to paid media strategy. New customer acquisition is typically the main focus as businesses prioritise growth, shaping how campaigns are structured, audiences defined, and creative developed. While acquisition is essential for scaling, this focus on growth often means retention strategies are missed, with more reliance placed on other channels like email marketing.

Incrementality is defined as the measure of the true, additional value created by paid media activity, i.e. what occurs solely because of your efforts and would not have happened otherwise. As a result, brand awareness activity is more important than ever. Today, 63% of globally surveyed customers are purpose-driven, choosing to purchase from brands which align with their values. This shift creates the necessity for brands to move away from solely bottom-of-funnel, conversion-focused paid media strategies and invest in storytelling marketing. So what is the challenge in measuring brand awareness activity and how can we accurately measure incrementality?

As per the last few years, I wanted to put together a bit of a summary of the trends and focal areas we're seeing amongst clients going into 2025, along with some of the key highlights from 2024. The core areas I’ve focused on are growth markets (and predicted growth markets for this year), roadmap and new feature focuses, general areas we’ve seen higher investment, what’s worked for our clients and areas we think will become more important over the course of 2025.