Inside the Minds of Creative Masters: What’s Next in 2025

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In 2025, the marketing playing field is leveling. AI is automating the technical heavy lifting, and privacy walls are going up. The one area where brands can truly differentiate? Creative. We spoke with six industry leaders in ad tech, gaming, and marketing who all agree: creatives are the new kingmakers.

“Measurement Judo — Using What You Can, Where You Can” – Saadi Muslu – VP of Marketing, Singular

Given the constantly shifting landscape of adtech, Saadi believes that agility in both measurement and creative will be essential for success in the future.

“One of the biggest adtech trends for 2025 is what I call ‘measurement judo’. Can’t get granular data? Do something aggregated like AEM. Can’t get cookies, IDFA or GAID tracking? Use conversion APIs. Can’t report user-level data? Do modeling. Need something hard-core deterministic even if it’s not complete? Use SKAN on iOS. This is what I call ‘measurement judo’—using what you can, where you can, to get enough insight and enough clarity at enough velocity to make optimization and allocation decisions, which fits right into Singular’s Unified Measurement methodology.”

This highlights a growing need for flexibility and adaptability in data measurement. As privacy restrictions tighten, advertising professionals must learn to navigate this new landscape using alternative data strategies.

On top of this need for measurement innovation, one factor remains the ultimate game-changer: creative. 

As Saadi puts it:

“Creative. It’s always creative. Creative, creative, creative. You can get all the tech right and you can be a dashboard genius, and you can still fail. Great creative works even when you get everything else wrong. A great creative is the difference between ROI-negative and ROI-positive. A great creative is the key to healthy organic multipliers on top of what paid delivered. And a great creative is, of course, the single hardest thing to do.”

Indeed, adtech is evolving, and so is its ability to blend data-driven insights with compelling creatives that help define brands. AI is helping bridge this gap through creative intelligence, ensuring that each creative is well optimized for performance across all channels.

“AI tools will increasingly assist creatives in ideating” – Mariusz Gąsiewski – CEE Mobile Gaming and Apps Lead, Google

Mariusz maps out five trends redefining creative in marketing:

1. “Creatives are increasingly tailoring their work to the unique characteristics of each platform, as platforms offer diverse formats and capabilities. This specialization, combined with advancements in AI and the growth of the creative industry, allows advertisers to achieve significant improvements in cost and performance.
2. Creative testing and data-driven optimization have become standard practice in performance-driven sectors like Gaming, and this trend is expected to expand into more traditional verticals such as Fintech, iGaming, and Retail.
3. AI-powered creative collaboration: AI tools will increasingly assist creatives in ideating, producing, and optimizing their work.
4. Hyper-personalization at scale: AI will enable the creation of highly personalized ad experiences tailored to individual users. 
5. Paradoxically, as data-driven approaches sometimes lead to homogenization in advertising, there’s a renewed emphasis on creative thinking, particularly in data-heavy sectors (using the data as inspiration, not as guidance).”

Advertisers are using AI for more than efficiency – it’s become a creative partner. It can tap into real-time audience behavior and adapt creatives to each platform, allowing brands to engage with users in highly personalized ways like never before. The real challenge is AI’s capability to balance human ingenuity while making sure creatives don’t become homogenized or lack distinctiveness. But, we’re confident that it’s up to the task.

“Most successful creatives will need to be deeply personalized” – Marios Anastasiou – Account Manager, Fintech – Gaming – Apps l LCS l CEE, Google

Marios anticipates that with AI automating campaign optimization, creative—especially personalized, short, and emotionally resonant content—becomes the key differentiator for brands: 

“Creatives have always been a cornerstone of digital marketing, but with the rapid advancements in AI, they are poised to become even more critical in 2025. Two key reasons underpin this shift: first, campaign algorithms are now so advanced that most optimizations are handled automatically, minimizing the need for manual adjustments. This leaves marketers with one major area of influence—the creative. Second, AI-powered tools for creative generation have become incredibly sophisticated, enabling the production of highly engaging and visually appealing content.”

With AI handling much of the optimization process, the real competitive advantage now lies in how brands deliver their messaging. 

Marios further emphasizes:

“In 2025, the most successful creatives will need to be deeply personalized. With the overwhelming amount of “noise” users encounter daily, only content that resonates directly with their needs and emotions will capture their attention. Personalization will be the key to breaking through this clutter. While the approach may vary by industry, one thing is clear: short, hyper-customized, and emotionally resonant creatives will drive the best results and set brands apart in the competitive landscape.”

One thing’s for sure: generic ads won’t cut it anymore. Consumers will engage better with highly personalized, emotionally compelling creatives that speak directly to them vs ones that target a broader audience. 

“AI can optimize creative elements at a granular level” – Reggie Singh – Director of Partnerships, Americas, Adjust

Reggie emphasized the increasingly vital role of creative content in performance marketing, especially as privacy regulations continue to tighten.

“With increasing privacy constraints limiting optimization levers for advertisers, creative content will become the critical differentiator for performance. The proliferation of AI presents a powerful opportunity to optimize creative elements at a granular level, enabling scalable and data-driven creative strategies that drive impactful results.”

With automation taking over most of the optimization process, leveraging AI will help set successful campaigns apart. It can already be used for hyper-personalization, originality, storytelling, and emotional resonance – pushing creatives to be even more crucial for driving engagement. 

“The intersection of AI and gamification as a more powerful tool for marketers” – Michael Fortune – Director, Strategic Partnerships, Moloco

When it comes to improving ads and decoding the psychology of gamers, Michael is confident AI will help:

“I think the intersection of AI and gamification becomes an even more powerful tool for marketers in 2025.

Mobile has taken gaming mainstream over the last decade, so it’s no surprise gamification in creative is ubiquitous even in non-gaming categories. With AI accelerating ideation and production, I agree with Eric Suefert’s view that the new speed of building variations will be inflationary as the volume of creatives in the ecosystem increases. AI will be increasingly used to identify/decode the 12 gamer motivations in successful ‘winning’ creatives while also explicitly being put to work to craft ads tailored to specific motivational segments. This feedback loop will continue to build on itself and the efficacy of the input & output will improve over time.”

Audiences want more interactive, engaging content. AI’s deep understanding into this psyche is the key to unlocking the consumer motivations and creating stand out, dynamic ads that speak directly to individual interests. These personalized experiences will allow brands to build stronger, deeper connections with their audiences on an emotional level.

“Creator marketing shifts from transactional partnerships to creator-led ecosystems”- Steven Lammertink – Founder & CEO, The Cirqle and Blake

According to Steven, 2025 is the year creators truly establish themselves as brands.

“Creator marketing is evolving at lightning speed, but the industry is still in its infancy. As we step into 2025, the next phase of this evolution is becoming clear: creator marketing will shift from transactional partnerships to creator-led ecosystems, where the lines between influencers and brands blur entirely.

From launching their own product lines to collaborating with brands on co-branded ventures, creators are reshaping the way marketing, business, and storytelling intersect.

Several driving forces are propelling the shift:

1. Platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram are expanding monetization options, giving creators tools to grow their influence and revenue.
2. Brands increasingly have access to data that quantifies the ROI of creator campaigns across the entire funnel. This could give brands the data-driven confidence to shift from short-term campaigns to strategic collaborations with creators.
3. Generative AI tools are enabling creators to produce more content, personalize it for diverse audiences, and even experiment with virtual influencer personas.
4. Creators are no longer just endorsing products—they’re building them. With the rise of direct-to-consumer tools, creators can now handle everything from product ideation to e-commerce seamlessly.
5. The creator economy is booming globally, with emerging markets like Asia, Africa, and Latin America offering untapped potential.

Creators are no longer just brand ambassadors. They’re becoming their own influential media entities. Brands who collaborate with these creators are not only producing authentic, engaging content – they’re shaping the future of marketing. AI-driven insights and influencer marketing are converging to create more effective campaigns while reducing the complexity in the shift within the brand-creator relationship. 

Looking Ahead to 2025

Ultimately, the message is clear: creative is king, AI is the enabler, and personalization is paramount in today’s rapidly evolving marketing world. At Alison.ai, we’re thrilled to be at the forefront of this creative revolution, empowering marketers to harness the power of AI and unlock the full potential of their creative strategies. 

Learn how our AI-driven insights can fuel your campaigns and drive exceptional results. Book your demo today!