AD Agencies
Dentsu reveals 2025 media trends report
Mumbai : dentsu releases its 2025 media trends report, titled The Year of Impact. This edition, crafted by specialists across Carat, dentsu X, and iProspect, explores the profound changes driven by algorithms, artificial intelligence, and the new dimensions of consumer engagement, expected to shape the media landscape in the upcoming year.
The report details how 2025 will drive toward a fully addressable, shoppable, and accountable media ecosystem, marking a shift into what dentsu defines as the “Algorithmic Era of Media.” With over 40 pages of in-depth insights, the report outlines how brands can harness this new media environment to drive tangible impact and growth.
dentsu Media APAC, chief client officer & practice president Prerna Mehrotra commented: “At dentsu, we’re truly excited about what we call the Algorithmic Era – where generative AI and personalization are set to drive unprecedented change in how brands engage with consumers, creating new ways for brands to capture consumer attention and build relationships. We see media becoming 100% addressable, shoppable and accountable, highlighting the need for marketers to think about media in a whole new way. Brands must build Media ++ strategies to create more memorable, personalised moments tapping into the creator economy and building connected ecosystems to identify new spaces for growth. In our latest edition of the dentsu Media Trends report, we deep-dive into 10 trends and provide strategic considerations for brands to deliver impact in this new era.”
“The rapid integration of AI across the media value chain has transformed how brands interact with consumers, marking the beginning of The Algorithmic Era, where real-world value creation moves beyond experimentation,” says dentsu Media global practice president, Will Swayne. “The 2025 report is a toolkit for brands seeking to thrive in this new era, offering strategic guidance on leveraging niche communities, connected television, and next-level retail media.”
According to the 2025 Media Trends report, the key themes poised to drive the industry forward include:
1. AI moves from potential to actual impact: AI has evolved from a nascent trend to a transformative force, embedding itself in daily life and revolutionizing media planning, content creation, and consumer interaction. AI-generated micro-moments and the rise of dynamic personalization are opening new doors for brands to build deep, meaningful connections with consumers.
2. Storytelling breaks through the algorithmic bubble: Niche interests and deep fandoms are becoming invaluable assets for brands looking to stand out. Storytelling will be the primary tool for brands to navigate the increasingly algorithm-driven media space, creating impactful narratives across connected television and digital platforms.
3. Retail reshapes media: Retail media continues to grow at a double-digit rate, offering advertisers access to unparalleled shopper data. With key players like Amazon, Walmart, and even the finance industry expanding their ad capabilities, the retail-media fusion is set to become a cornerstone of media strategies.
4. The quest for quality: As media investments increase, so does the demand for higher-quality engagement. Brands must prioritize strategic partnerships and premium content to cut through the noise, ensuring their media dollars drive both immediate results and long-term brand equity.
5. Unevenly distributed future: As technology and media consumption habits evolve unevenly across regions, brands will need to adopt hyper-localized strategies. Regulatory, economic, and technological divides are reshaping the global media landscape, and brands must be prepared to navigate these complexities.
AD Agencies
The Advertising Club adds new categories to Creative Abby 2026
Awards expand global focus; entries open until 6 April
MUMBAI: The Advertising Club has unveiled a fresh set of categories for Creative Abby 2026, sharpening the awards’ global edge while keeping creativity firmly centre stage.
The updated entry form, reflecting all category refinements, is now live on the Club’s website. The awards continue their partnership with The One Club and The One Show. Entries close on April 6, 2026, and eligible work must have been released between April 1, 2025 and March 31, 2026. Winners will be announced at Goafest 2026.
This year, the Abby Awards Governing Council went a step further, inviting some of India’s most awarded creative leaders and global jury veterans to help reimagine the categories and judging process. The result is a sharper, more future facing framework.
Two new categories have been introduced:
Social content and influencer marketing
Recognising the fast expanding universe of digital creators, collaborations and community building.
Creative commerce, use of data and B2B
Celebrating innovation across online and offline commerce, payment solutions, data driven channels, creative B2B and immersive brand experiences.
Both categories are designed to reward craft and quality of impact, rather than pure effectiveness metrics.
In a bid to stay relevant in a rapidly evolving digital landscape, seven sub categories within the Digital vertical have been removed after being deemed redundant.
Three social good verticals, Green Abby, Red Abby and Diversity Equality and Inclusivity, have now been merged into a single category titled Sustainability and Inclusion, bringing purpose driven work under one cohesive umbrella.
The Mobile category has been discontinued, reflecting the reality that mobile is no longer a niche medium but embedded across digital formats. The new Social Content and Influencer Marketing vertical is expected to absorb much of this work.
Acknowledging the role of marketers in driving creative excellence, a new honour titled Client of the Year has been introduced. It will be awarded to the client whose brands accumulate the highest number of points.
There is also a key change in how Creative Agency of the Year is calculated. Previously determined by points across eight traditional categories such as Print, Film, OOH, Integrated, Audio and Digital, the award will now consider performance across 18 creative categories, excluding Video Craft and Young Maverick Abby. The shift broadens the competitive canvas and reflects the industry’s expanding definition of creativity.
The Advertising Club president and McCann India CEO Dheeraj Sinha said Goafest has long stood for collaboration and creative excellence. He noted that in its 57th year, the Abby Awards continue to raise the bar and bring together the brightest minds in the business.
Abby Awards 2026 chairperson Ajay Kakar, added that the categories had been co created with leading creative luminaries for the first time. He expressed gratitude to The One Club and The One Show for supporting the judging process over the past five years and thanked agencies and clients for their consistent participation.
With new categories, sharper criteria and a broader lens on creativity, Creative Abby 2026 signals that in advertising, evolution is not optional. It is the brief.
