The Marketing Week team’s marketing moments of 2025

The summer of women’s sport

When has England won the Euros and Rugby World Cup in the same summer? Exactly, and that’s why this year’s summer of women’s sport is my marketing moment of the year.  

Chloe Kelly being a powerhouse, Hannah Hampton’s saves, Ellie Kildunne scoring in the final. On the pitches, the magic was clear. Off pitch, some brands ramped up. From Adidas’s ‘You Got This’ featuring England’s Alessia Russo and Spain’s Aitana Bonmati to O2 sharing its biggest women’s rugby campaign yet, some brands stood out for truly capitalising on the moment.  

However, it was also a somewhat missed opportunity. Data from the Women’s Sport Trust shows 50% of British adults feel more positive towards brands that sponsor women’s sport, jumping to 63% among young adults. And yet, almost 30% of fans still can’t name a single sponsor of women’s sport. The audience is there, but brand visibility still isn’t. 

One brand that stands out is Clinique. It first engaged in women’s rugby at the grassroots level in 2023 with ‘Game Face’, and now, in its third year, the brand became the official beauty partner of the Rugby World Cup. Other brands should pay attention to this and invest in the grassroots level first, supporting women’s sport and playing the long game to capitalise on growth and grow brand love. 

Molly Innes, senior reporter, Marketing Week

Marketing’s burnout crisis

While anecdotally we know for years marketers have been grappling with the consequences of a ‘more with less’ culture, this year Marketing Week published the numbers to prove it.

Our 2025 Career & Salary Survey revealed over half of the more than 3,500 respondents have felt overwhelmed (58.1%) and undervalued (56.1%) in the past 12 months, with half (50.8%) experiencing emotional exhaustion. Others reported a lack of enjoyment in work that used to engage them (48%), a detached/negative attitude (48%) and sense of ineffectiveness (40%) – contributing factors to burnout.

Comments on LinkedIn in response to the publication of the data revealed the extent to which this issue resonates. Many marketers expressed a sense of shock but not surprise, with others highlighting the corrosive effect a lack of trust and respect has on their peers industry-wide.

Some reported being given little time to execute long-term strategies, experiencing pressure at “extreme levels” and shared how exhausting it is spending “more than half” your time educating the wider business about the value of marketing. We are determined to explore this issue in greater detail in 2026.

Charlotte Rogers, deputy managing editor and head of insight, Marketing Week

Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG

The agency landscape has undergone quite a change this year, with one of the biggest being Omnicom’s $13.5bn (£10.3bn) acquisition of Interpublic Group (IPG).

First announced in December 2024, the acquisition comes at a time when big holding companies are under increased pressure. From moving to more agile ways of working, consolidation, AI and the rise of independent agencies, there’s been a lot of moving parts to contend with.

The acquisition now positions Omnicom as the world’s largest advertising and marketing holding company by revenue and billings, with a combined revenue exceeding $25bn. As part of the integration, CEO John Wren has indicated that approximately 4,000 roles will be cut.

This is on top of the 3,200 roles IPG axed this year ahead of the acquisition, and the 3,000 roles Omnicom let go after announcing the deal last year.

For advertisers, the consolidation raises questions about the future of agency relationships, quality of service and transparency.

Grace Gollasch, reporter, Marketing Week

TikTok’s US ban

The US TikTok ban, and its many reprieves from the White House, has been a reoccurring conversation throughout the year. On 19 December, TikTok’s Chinese-owner ByteDance signed agreements with the US and a group of global investors, including Oracle, to secure the app’s future in the US.

The short 19 January ban and the potential looming overall shutdown throughout the year has taught marketers, and influencers, the need to have a presence across multiple platforms, not just one. It has also brought to the fore the need to think closely about consumer experience, particularly if the US could potentially have its own separate app and algorithm – though nothing is yet confirmed in this regard.

This saga has happened among a backdrop of brands investing more in platforms such as YouTube, including M&S with its ‘Love That’ series, meaning brands may perhaps be taking that advice on board. And as Billion Dollar Boy’s Thomas Walters said back in September, “anything could happen” with TikTok in the months ahead under new ownership, with the new deal reportedly set to close on 22 January 2026.

Amrit Virdi, reporter, Marketing Week

Introduction of less healthy food advertising rules

The landscape for food and drink advertising shifted significantly this year due to the introduction of new rules restricting “less healthy” food and drink (LHF) promotion.

While the official legislation banning LHF ads on TV pre-watershed and in all paid online media isn’t legally enshrined until January 2026, the industry has agreed to voluntarily comply with the rules as if they came into effect this October.

Some of the UK’s biggest advertisers, including fast-food, snacking and grocery brands, will be significantly effected by this. Total TV and pureplay internet advertising accounted for over 88% of UK advertising spend in 2024, according to AA/Warc data. The watershed ban and total online ban means product-led advertising for these brands will change dramatically.

The new rules allow for brand advertising that does not feature identifiable LHF products. The industry argued strongly for this exemption, with the legislation delayed until it was formally introduced.

While the UK’s biggest food brands have seen their traditional methods of advertising significantly curtailed, operating under such restrictions often fuels great creativity. Brands affected by this will continue to find ways to create advertising that engages consumers and fuels growth.

Niamh Carroll, senior reporter, Marketing Week

Prime’s profit dropping by 92%

The demise of Prime Hydration continued at pace this year, when in June it reported a 92% decline in profit. An alarming figure by anyone’s standards, but all the more bitter given just three years ago people were fighting over themselves to get hold of a bottle. It wasn’t uncommon for people to pay £20 for a single hit and there were even reports of a bottle being listed on eBay for £10,000.

The business was so wrapped up in the initial wave of excitement created by its founders KSI and Logan Paul, though, that it failed to apply any of the marketing basics that could have prepped it for success beyond beyond the buzz.

Novelty and scarcity are not conducive to driving long-term growth. The fact there are better quality products on the market hasn’t helped either.

At the time of reporting the profit drop, Prime said it was entering a strategic review process “to transition from an initial hyper-growth phase to a more sustainable, long-term presence in the market”. But with Prime often now relegated to the bargain bucket, it’s possibly too little too late. A cautionary tale for all brands about the importance of the marketing fundamentals.

Lucy Tesseras, managing editor, Marketing Week

Introduction of the Online Safety Act

The UK finally felt the effects of the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA) with the law coming into force on 25 July of this year.

According to research from Ofcom, demand for improvements to user safety is at an all-time high, with 48% of adults wanting more safety measures (up from 44% in June 2024).

Leading to a mass age gating of content deemed harmful for children, as well as an explosion of companies providing age verification software, the act left many scrambling to understand how best to work with the new legal parameters.

While the act is wide-reaching, including legal duties on online platforms to protect users from illegal and harmful content, it significantly impacts marketers by requiring robust systems against fraudulent ads, protecting children from harmful material, and increasing transparency.

The act has also had an impact on the telecommunications industry, with several brands launching initiatives in tandem with the OSA, such as EE’s ‘Safer Sims’ campaign.

Emily Manock, reporter, Marketing Week

Oasis return with a wave of nostalgia – and ticket chaos

It’s rare that a cultural moment is the better part of 15 years in the making – but the reunion of Oasis in the summer arrived with well over a decade of hype and expectation behind it. Did it live up to it?

Well, for a brief period in the summer the bucket hat came back again, Aldi renamed one of its stores ‘Aldeh’ and there were collaborations and tie-ups seemingly everywhere you went.

Certainly, it was interesting to see that wave of 90s nostalgia hit an entirely new audience. Young people who would have been crawling when the band split in 2009 were in Wembley Stadium belting out the lyrics to Champagne Supernova with their parents right next to them.

It was proof that some cultural touchpoints can be reignited and appeal across generations even if they weren’t there to experience them in the first place.

Of course, the shows arrived under somewhat of a storm, with fans having paid through the eyeballs for tickets as a result of what many attributed to dynamic pricing with tickets partner Ticketmaster.

An investigation into the sale from the CMA found, however, that Ticketmaster hadn’t engaged in dynamic pricing but was at fault for not sufficiently conveying to customers the sliding price of tickets (with the cheapest selling out first) – and also for selling a ‘platinum’ ticket that was 2.5 times the value despite offering nothing in addition to a standard ticket. Both sides claiming victory, then, but undeniably a warning shot to any brand looking to pull a similar trick.

What’s that? Did I enjoy the gig? Wouldn’t know, mate, always preferred Blur.

Josh Stephenson, trends editor, Marketing Week