Is your marketing missing the magic? The secret sauce for scaling in 2025

Here’s a reality check: In 2025, your biggest marketing challenge might not be creativity or budget – it’s relevance. And if your ads aren’t emotionally resonant and privacy-safe, you’re not just behind the curve – you’re invisible.

As AI and automation redefine the digital marketing landscape, brands have a choice: use these tools to truly connect or risk becoming digital wallpaper. But here’s the good news – it’s not a choice between tech and humanity. It’s about blending the two. 

Azadeh Williams dives deeper into this notion at the Future Forum, hosted by Ashton Media. Here she interviews Udara Withana, Insights & Client Strategy Director at Ogury, who says that is where the real magic lies.

The privacy-first era has arrived

We’ve talked about cookies crumbling for years. Now, it’s real. In 2025, we’re entering what Withana calls “the era of privacy in digital marketing.” The outdated, creepy model of passively tracking users across the web is finally giving way to something smarter and more respectful.

AI will be at the heart of this shift. Privacy-preserving AI technology will enable brands to scale campaigns across multiple touchpoints without sacrificing user trust. Instead of relying on invasive tracking, marketers will need to understand context – where their messages appear, what content surrounds them, and whether they genuinely fit in.

“AI will be used to drive the scalability of privacy-first technology,” says Withana. “It helps propagate messages across brands and touchpoints in a way that’s compliant and effective.”

Google's AI mode: It's all about context now

One major shift in this landscape is Google’s new AI mode – a functionality that prioritises the contextual nature of content placements. For marketers, this means the lazy days of ‘spray and pray’ are over.

“For the longest time, we’ve been passively tracking users without paying attention to where the ads appear,” Withana explains. “Now, you need to resonate not just with the users – but with the content they’re consuming.”

This shift is a win for consumers and a wake-up call for marketers. Relevance won’t just be about who sees your ad, but where and why. Is your brand part of the conversation, or just awkwardly interrupting it?

Excitement or fear buzzing in marketing land?

With all this change, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But according to Withana, marketers should feel energised, not anxious.

“This is about helping brands resonate with audiences better,” he says. “Not just selling products blindly – but understanding where your audience is, what they care about, and how to show up in a meaningful way.”

In other words, AI isn’t here to replace marketers. It’s here to supercharge them. By offloading the grunt work – like compliance, campaign deployment, and optimisation – AI gives humans more space to do what they do best: tell stories that spark emotion.

Scaling emotion with AI: Human-tech synergy

So how do you strike the right balance between the cold efficiency of automation and the warm resonance of human storytelling?

Answer: Know what each does best and play to the strengths.

AI excels at scale, managing repetitive tasks, deploying privacy-first solutions, and ensuring campaigns run smoothly across platforms. But once you’ve captured attention, you need to go beyond just relevance and bring human connection.

“AI helps you build that rapport at scale. But when you actually go in front of an audience – what do you say?” asks Withana. “That’s where human magic comes in. You spark emotions.”

The future of marketing is not a match between humans and machines. Marketers need to create emotionally charged narratives, then use AI to deliver those messages safely, contextually, and at scale.

Four practical steps for marketers in 2025

So what now? Withana lays out a clear roadmap for brands that want to thrive amid these changes:

1. Explore privacy-preserving AI tech

Use AI to ensure your campaigns meet new compliance standards while still scaling across touch-points. Privacy is the foundation of trust, which means it must be at the centre of all activity. 

2. Understand the context of your content

Focus on where your ads appear. Align with content that makes sense for your message. Relevance is about context as much as it is about the audience.

3. Balance tech with human-centric storytelling

AI can scale your message, but only humans can really craft it. Invest in story-driven content that speaks to emotions, not just algorithms.

4. Build for resonance, not reach

It’s less about chasing impressions and more about chasing impact. Understand the why behind your placements and the how behind your narrative.

What's the next step to evolve?

Gone are the days of marketing meaning who could shout the loudest and be on every billboard. In 2025, It’s about being the most relevant, trustworthy, and the most emotionally resonant.

As Withana puts it, “If you don’t evolve with the changing landscape, you risk being left behind.”

So indeed, AI is reshaping the game. But the secret to winning isn’t abandoning your humanity – it’s amplifying it, at scale.

Authored by Jessica Phillips, Senior Social Media and Communications Specialist at AZK Media.

At AZK Media, we specialise in helping global technology companies get noticed in new and emerging markets. We make driving your growth, our business. Contact us today to see how we can strengthen your expansion efforts.