Every year, marketing delivers moments of genuine brilliance… and moments that leave the whole industry quietly asking, “How did that ever get signed off?”
We’re excited to share that Mark Ritson’s Top 10 Marketing Moments of 2025 is here...
This special session is a sharp, funny, and brutally honest look at the year in marketing. Mark breaks down the campaigns, brand decisions, missteps, and masterstrokes that defined 2025 – celebrating what worked, calling out what didn’t, and unpacking why both matter more than most people realise.
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Delivered with Mark’s trademark wit and zero tolerance for nonsense, this is the kind of analysis that makes you a better marketer simply by watching it.
Or for a brief rundown of the session, we’re pleased to reveal Mark Ritson’s top ten marketing moments of 2025:
10. Omnicom merger brings a paradigm change in advertising
Coming in at number 10 is a brand architecture shakeup that could change agency land for good, says Mark Ritson.
Omnicom completed their acquisition of IPG this year, heralding a new dawn for advertising. Now the world’s largest advertising agency, some heavy-duty brand consolidation was inevitable.
What many didn’t expect was the loss of some beloved institutions like DDB, MullenLowe and FCB.
This is the circle of life. It’s the mother rat eating her own babies for the good of the litter. In fact, Omnicom could and should have gone further, argues Mark Ritson.
But the merger also leaves the door ajar for new, independent competition. Mark Ritson predicts we’ll see a surge of hot new agencies cropping up to serve those clients who don’t want a gargantuan agency.
9. The Tylenol scandal
Poor old Tylenol. For the second time, they found themselves at the centre of a PR nightmare they had absolutely nothing to do with.
When two of US politics’ most incendiary figures claimed a link between Tylenol use during pregnancy and autism, Tylenol broke out the “Fabian” playbook, says Mark Ritson, and did… nothing.
execs took an 11% share price hit in stoic silence
Tylenol execs took an 11% share price hit in stoic silence. And came out of the scandal much quicker and less wounded than they might have done if they’d added fuel to the fire by responding to the unfounded allegation.
It’s a great lesson in strategy, which is often deciding what we will not do.
8. Tesla launches “fighter brand” Model 3
Once a pinnacle of pricing effectiveness, Tesla has made some questionable choices in recent years.
Now, in response to “getting their arse kicked” by cheaper Chinese EV brands like BYD, Tesla has launched a stripped-down, cheaper Model 3.
Is this a return to genius for Tesla? The fighter brand strategy can work amazingly well. It can take out lower priced rivals, open up a new tier of the market and increase revenue. The problem is, it only works about 5% of the time, says Mark Ritson.
7. The controversial Sydney Sweeney campaign
American Eagle sparked a eugenics debate with their ‘good genes’ ad featuring a blond-haired, blue-eyed Sydney Sweeny earlier this year.
And though this was clearly not American Eagle’s intention, argues Mark Ritson, the campaign brought a few debates to the fore:
Does marketing intention matter? Advertising is unavoidably polysemous – different people will draw different meaning from the same ad.
And is all publicity good publicity? That depends, says Mark, on the scale of “fame / blame / same.”
6. Amazon “re-gift” a familiar ad for Christmas 2025
This year, Amazon chose to re-run their 2023 Christmas ad. Why? Because it’s more effective. We now know that long-running campaigns outperform new ones.
According to audience testing, Coca-Cola’s classic Holidays are Coming ad gets better each year.
So, given that it was a strong ad in the first place – scoring high on System1’s Test Your Ad – Amazon can feel comfortably reassured that the old ad will perform even better this year, whilst they funnel the cash they would have spent on a new ad into more media reach and other marketing challenges. Bravo Amazon.
5. Cracker Barrel’s re-brand disaster
Cracker Barrel re-branded with a new modern look – and consumers absolutely hated it.
Was it a “dusty brand” need of a refresh? Yes. But they went too far, too quickly, giving their loyal customer base whiplash as they butchered the logo and refitted stores.
The company has since listened to consumers and reversed course, but not before losing 6% on same-store sales this year and plummeting the share price.
Very, very rarely is a re-brand a good idea. Instead, re-vitalise. And do it gently.
4. Starbucks comes “back to” earth
New CEO Brian Nichol looks set to undo years of positioning BS at Starbucks with his simple, “Back to Starbucks” strategy.
Starbucks has long stood as a case study in how NOT to position your brand. We’ve even poked fun at their vague and bizarre mission to “nurture the limitless possibilities of human connection.”
Now under Nichol’s leadership, Starbucks offers a simple customer promise: to serve the world’s finest coffee with a moment of connection.
3. Unilever and Nestlé unveil new CEOs and new directions
Two of the world’s largest FMCG companies are making major changes under the leadership of two very different CEOs.
Unilever has brought in Fernando Fernandez, who seems to be prioritising digital comms with a heavy focus on influencer marketing, social media and content creation.
we’ll have to wait and see if it’s at the expense of bigger strategic needs
As Mark points out, this is a “weirdly communified” approach as an opening move. But we’ll have to wait and see if it’s at the expense of bigger strategic needs.
Nestlé’s new CEO Philip Navratil, on the other hand, is taking a harsher, operational streamlining approach on their path to growth. 16,000 job cuts, internal automation and heavy brand consolidation has so far made way for increased marketing investment.
2. Meta’s fraudulent ad scam
An exposé has revealed that 10% of Meta’s advertising revenue comes from fraudulent ads.
The company has earned billions from scam ads like deepfake celebrity endorsements that persuade users to sink their money into fake investment opportunities.
Once again, Meta’s integrity is called into question, given that their earnings from scam ads outstrip the financial penalty 16:1. And so, Mark Ritson asks, how motivated are they really to police fraud on their advertising platform?
1. Shrinkflation takes the biscuit
Consumers have had enough. We’ve seen our chocolate bars get smaller, our crisp packets get emptier, and now Dunkin Donuts are taking away our ‘no ice’ hack.
Shrinkflation is getting more rampant and ever more brazen. Brands are cutting our products by as much as 25%, but now they’re also hiking prices at the same time.
For this new betrayal, Mark Ritson gives us: “Maximiniflation.” That’s maxi price and mini for the product format.
And while we’re likely to see more of this in the coming years, consumer sensitivity to these tactics is also growing. According to a recent study, concern over rising prices is consumers’ biggest worry across all 18 countries that were surveyed.
We’re at an impasse. And that means there’s serious trouble brewing ahead, when consumers that can’t or won’t pay more meet companies that have to get their profit margins up through reduced costs or higher prices.
“That is the most important outcome of this year and I think it will be a theme for the next five, ten years ahead,” says Mark.