Darlings!
Welcome back to This Week in Digital, where 2025 marketing is serving more drama than The Real Marketers of Madison Avenue (can we make that a thing?). Grab your coffee - or champagne, no judgment - cuz it’s going down:
CES 2025: Big Tech, Big Talk, and Bigger Opportunities for Brands
CES 2025 brought its usual dose of “almost ready” tech (yes, we saw the bigger car screens and kinda-cool AR… again), but marketers? You’re the real winners here. The buzz was all about Agentic AI, where brands create digital personalities to sass, charm, and connect with consumers - because who doesn’t want a chatbot with brand values? Add in connected fridges that suggest recipes (and upsell your product), autonomous cars bringing ad space to the open road, and AI tools finally inching closer to driving real campaign results (not just efficiency hacks), and this year’s CES actually had some substance behind the glitz. Sure, it’s no Cannes (yet), but for anyone serious about staying ahead in 2025, CES showed where the smart money - and the tech hype - is headed.
TikTok’s Looming Ban: Chaos, Contingency Plans, and the Race to Reels
Marketers, grab your ring light and hold onto your hashtags - TikTok’s ban is set to drop on January 19th, and if you don’t have a contingency plan by now, you’re really late to the game. Agencies like VML’s Obviously and Mischief @ No Fixed Address are hitting pause on TikTok spend and shifting dollars to Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and Snap Commercials, while skeptics like New Engen are betting the ban won’t stick. Still, TikTok’s unrivaled algorithm and cultural clout make replacing its organic reach harder than explaining PPC to your grandma (again). The bottom line? Back up that content, repurpose like a pro, and get those Reels ready - because if you’re not prepping for this social shakeup, your 2025 strategy is already looking shaky.
RedNote’s Meteoric Rise: Should Marketers Jump In or Hit Pause?
In anticipation of a ban, self-proclaimed ‘TikTok refugees’ are flocking to RedNote, a Chinese-owned platform blending Instagram vibes with e-commerce. On the surface, it’s a marketer’s dream: a decentralized algorithm that lets niche creators shine and e-commerce features that rival TikTok Shop’s scroll-to-checkout magic. But don’t pop the champagne yet - RedNote’s heavy censorship, Mandarin-only terms of service, and inevitable U.S. scrutiny scream ‘proceed with caution.’ The verdict for marketers? Secure your handle to safeguard your brand identity, but keep your ad dollars zipped up. RedNote could either ride its current hype to superstar status or crumble faster than a viral dance trend.
Meta’s $7 Billion Fraud Bombshell: Ad Reach Under Fire
In yet another social platform shakeup, the Supreme Court is letting a $7 billion class-action lawsuit against Meta proceed, alleging Facebook and Instagram inflated ad reach metrics by up to 400%. The case could expose Meta’s reporting flaws since 2014, with millions of advertisers potentially in line for compensation. For brands, this raises major trust issues around platform metrics - especially when every dollar counts. For marketers, the takeaway is all too familiar: question the metrics, diversify your spend, and yes - yet again - stay tuned for more twists. In 2025, if the only thing certain is uncertainty, we might as well make “wait and see” an official marketing strategy…
Microsoft Clarity + Google Ads: A Post-Click Power Couple
In pursuit of yet another PPC glow-up, Microsoft Clarity just launched a Google Ads integration, and the buzz is real - user Josh Silverbauer took to LinkedIn to share his excitement over the “Intent” section that tracks engagement by campaign. This shiny new dashboard marries campaign performance with heatmaps, session recordings, and post-click behavior insights, letting marketers optimize landing pages based on real user engagement, not just clicks. Translation: fewer bounce rates, better ROI, and campaigns that actually deliver. Marketers, if Clarity was on your 2025 vision board, this feature is serving major analytics energy - time to get your hands on it and start leveling up!
And that’s your weekly dose of digital chaos, darlings. With everything changing faster than your boss can say, “What’s our ROI on that?”, keep innovating, stay skeptical, and remember: if your marketing plan feels stable, you’re probably missing something. See you next week for more wild twists and marketing gossip!
You know you love me…
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