Marketing in 2025: What’s Holding Leading Brands Back, and How to Move Forward
Marketing has never been more complex, or more critical. As we move into the final stretch of 2025 leading organisations are facing a wave of challenges that are reshaping how they connect, convert and grow both audiences and as a business. From AI integration to shifting consumer behaviours, the landscape is evolving fast. And for many, the pressure is mounting.
At Thrive, we work with purpose-driven organisations to turn these challenges into strategic opportunities. Here’s what’s holding brands back, and how you can move forward with clarity, confidence and impact.
AI Is Here…But Most Teams Aren’t Ready
AI is no longer experimental, it’s operational. From automating workflows to personalising campaigns, AI agents are transforming marketing execution. But many organisations are struggling to embrace, embed and scale AI effectively. This is due to many things (we could write an entire blog on this alone!), including:
Weak first-party data foundations - AI thrives on data, but not just any data…first-party data (information collected directly from customers) which is essential for training AI models, personalising experiences, and making informed decisions. Many organisations:
Rely too heavily on third-party data, which is becoming less reliable due to privacy regulations.
Lack integrated systems to collect, store and activate customer data.
Struggle with data quality, consistency and accessibility.
Without a strong data foundation, AI systems can’t deliver meaningful insights or outcomes.
A lack of AI-literate teams - AI tools are evolving rapidly, but internal capabilities often lag behind. This is often due to:
Teams not understanding how AI works or how to apply it strategically.
Fear or resistance to automation often linked to job security concerns, or lack of confidence.
Over-reliance on external vendors without building internal knowledge.
To scale AI, organisations need to invest in training, change management, and cross-functional collaboration.
Unclear KPIs and governance frameworks - AI initiatives often fail because they lack clear success metrics and oversight. Key issues include:
No defined KPIs to measure AI’s impact on marketing performance.
Uncertainty around ethical use, bias mitigation, and brand safety.
Fragmented ownership. AI may sit with IT, marketing, innovation teams or across multiple teams, leading to misalignment and confusion.
Without governance, AI can become a fragmented experiment rather than a strategic asset.
Short-Term Thinking and Lack of Strategic Vision - AI is often approached as a tactical tool, used for quick wins like content generation or ad optimisation, rather than a long-term strategic capability. This leads to:
Disjointed pilots with no roadmap for scale.
Missed opportunities to transform customer experience or business models.
Underinvestment in foundational systems and skills.
To truly embed AI, organisations need a clear vision, leadership buy-in, and a roadmap for transformation.
Marketing Is Misaligned at the Top
There’s a growing disconnect between CMOs and CEOs. While 70% of CEOs evaluate marketing based on revenue and margin, only 35% of CMOs prioritise those metrics. This misalignment is leading to shrinking budgets and unclear ownership of customer experience.
Unless marketing objectives are agreed and aligned with business objectives there is little hope for proper success. Work together to identify and agree shared goals and objectives and ensure these filter down through the entire organisation.
Budgets Are Flat, Expectations Are Rising
Marketing budgets have stagnated, but expectations for growth, innovation and engagement continue to climb. CMOs are being asked to do more with less, driving a shift toward productivity gains through automation and smarter planning.
Spend is often spread (too thin in many cases) and splintered across a host of different activities. Organisations also often forget to stop and pause to reflect on how things are actually doing. Ask yourselves the simple questions of what’s working well, what could be improved, what’s missing…and one of our favourites here in Thrive…what can we stop doing? These questions will enable you to identify what’s strategically important and where the money really needs to go!
Customer Journeys Are Fragmented…and Loyalty Is Fading
Consumers are navigating increasingly non-linear paths, and brand loyalty is declining. It is predicted that overall, there is a 25% drop in loyalty due to price sensitivity and shifting expectations. To tackle this brands must deliver consistent, personalised experiences across every touchpoint…sounds simple, right?
A good place to start is to ask yourself some key questions. Are you truly giving your clients and customers what they want? Are you meeting them where they are at? How do they actually want to be engaged with, and what do they actually want to hear (not what you think they do!). Taking the time to truly understand your audience will help address this challenge.
Data Is Disconnected…and Personalisation Is Suffering
Generative AI is transforming customer experience, but success depends on robust data infrastructure. Siloed systems and outdated martech stacks (typically CRM, email, automation, CMS, analytics etc.) are limiting insight and personalisation.
Addressing this can be simple enough but takes time and sadly is a slow burner. However, consistently chipping away at this will make monumental differences not only to your marketing, your customer’s experience but also the overall success of your organisation.
This also links to the point above about understanding your audience. Next is how you capture, store, manage and update their data and information. Do you regularly review it (data hygiene), are you filling in the data gaps (data capture) and how can you make your data work better for you, your team and your customers?
Media Spend Is Inflated…and ROI Is Under Pressure
With media price inflation and performance volatility on the rise, marketers are facing a tough reality: they’re getting less for every euro spent. The instinctive response? Cut back on agencies and labour and redirect funds toward performance-driven channels. But while this might offer short-term relief, it rarely delivers long-term value.
In a landscape where much of the focus, and spend, is on digital, every click costs more, and precision matters. The more deeply you understand your audience (what they value, how they behave, where they spend time, how they engage with content etc.) the more effectively you can tailor your content, channels, and spend.
This isn’t just about demographics. It’s about motivations, pain points, and the emotional triggers that drive action. When you get this right, your creative works harder, your media spend stretches further, and your brand builds trust.
There are lots of other things you can do too but the above is just a start!
Talent Gaps Are Slowing Progress
As marketing becomes more technical and AI-driven, the skills gap is widening. CMOs are upskilling teams in SEO, analytics and GenAI, but recruitment and retention remain major challenges.
As marketing evolves into a more technical, AI-powered discipline, the talent gap is becoming a critical barrier to business growth, especially here in Ireland. While CMOs are investing in upskilling teams in SEO, analytics, and generative AI, amongst many other things, many organisations are struggling to recruit and retain the right talent.
The solution isn’t just more training; it’s a strategic rethink of how teams are built and supported. It’s also reviewing the role of many marketing professionals, too often they are hired and expected to be an expert in every aspect of marketing…which let’s be realistic is a massive, and unfair, expectation. True impact requires true expertise, and spreading your marketing talent too thin will not only result in little impact but often burnout.
To help support your marketers and marketing function, ask where else can you tap into the skills you need. Ireland has a vibrant freelance and contractor market to access specialist skills on demand. Internally, investing in cross-functional learning, where creative, data, and strategy teams collaborate, can also help bridge the gap between technical capability and audience understanding. And of course, there are some amazing marketing consultancy firms you can use too (just sayin’!).
In a market where talent is tight, the organisations that invest in people, not just platforms and the latest tool, will be the ones that thrive.
Winning In 2025 And Beyond
The organisations that win in 2025, and beyond, won’t be those with the biggest budgets, but those who take the time to truly understand their objectives and audiences. They will be the ones who align vision, data and talent to move with clarity, consistency and confidence!
Need Help?
If your organisation is navigating challenges like talent gaps, media volatility or digital transformation, you're not alone. These shifts are complex, but they’re also an opportunity to rethink, refocus and realign. At Thrive, we work alongside teams to bring clarity, creativity and momentum to their marketing. Whether you're exploring new strategies or simply need a fresh perspective, we're here to support your next step.
Get in touch and let’s start the conversation.
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