No matter how high global ad spend rose in 2025, marketers will likely remember the year for its bad vibes. In the U.S., advertisers had to contend with persistent global conflict, a tariff-addled economy, antitrust and regulatory pressure on its major players and a fraught sociopolitical landscape where everything from jeans to biscuits could be a culture war landmine. For the near future, it appears the only certainty is uncertainty. Despite these compounding challenges, the savviest marketers cut through the noise and moved the needle for their brands through a variety of strategies. As has been the case for years, nostalgia was often a reliable way to tie current campaigns to past glory days. The same can be said of celebrity-driven campaigns that have turned a strategy once reserved for the Super Bowl into an everyday one. As consumer sentiment plummeted, value — both monetary and emotional — became a part of nearly every marketing campaign, especially as competitors in the QSR and CPG sectors returned in full force to competitive sparring, a tactic that had previously fallen out of favor. Strategically, social-first is up, while purpose-driven is down. And while marketers looked to turnaround struggling brands and reposition sturdier ones, they also worked to avoid potentially disastrous rebrands.