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GUEST COLUMN: How advertising and marketing evolved in 2025
MUMBAI: For the advertising and marketing industry, 2025 marked a quiet but consequential reset. As content volumes ballooned and tools multiplied, audiences grew sharper in what they chose to engage with, forcing brands to rethink how and why they communicate. In this guest column, Siddharth Jalan, founder of boutique marketing lab SquidJC, unpacks how the year shifted the focus from noise to value, brought creativity and performance closer than ever, and nudged brands towards building enduring communication systems over short-lived campaigns. He also looks ahead to what 2026 is likely to demand from marketers, where trust, clarity and cultural awareness will matter more than speed or spectacle.
As the advertising and marketing industry prepares to step into 2026, 2025 is being widely seen as a year of reckoning, one that forces brands, agencies, and creators to pause, recalibrate, and rethink how communication truly works in an attention-saturated world.
According to Siddharth, the most significant shift of the year wasn’t driven by a new platform, tool, or format, but by a fundamental change in audience behaviour and selective content consumption.
“2025 was the year audiences stopped tolerating noise,” says Jalan. “People didn’t stop consuming content, but instead became extremely selective about what deserves their time. Brands that kept shouting, blended into the background. Brands that spoke with clarity, context, and intent stood out.”
From Volume to Value
The past year saw an explosion of content fuelled by AI tools, short-form video, and always-on publishing. While output increased, engagement became harder to earn. Public-facing digital behaviour studies released in 2025 consistently pointed to a rise in selective consumption, with users actively avoiding repetitive or low-value content in favour of fewer, more trusted voices.
This shift, Jalan notes, pushed brands away from volume-led strategies and toward more intentional storytelling. “Posting more stopped being the answer,” he explains. “Saying something meaningful and saying it consistently became the only way forward.”
Creativity and Performance Finally Found Common Ground
Another defining change in 2025 was the gradual collapse of the long-standing divide between creativity and performance marketing. Instead of operating in silos, the two disciplines increasingly converged around shared outcomes.
“Performance stopped being about hacks, and creativity stopped being about cleverness for its own sake,” says Jalan. “The work that performed best understood the context. Be it cultural, platform-led, or emotional. That’s where the results came from.” This evolution mirrors broader workplace trends identified in global employment studies released this year, which highlighted hybrid skill sets combining creative thinking, technological fluency, and analytical reasoning as among the fastest-growing across industries.
Pop Culture Reflected the Shift
Interestingly, pop culture in 2025 echoed the same recalibration. From the rise of long-form podcast conversations and stripped-back celebrity interviews to creator-led documentaries and unfiltered social content, audiences gravitated towards material that felt intentional rather than overproduced.
“The popularity of long conversations and behind-the-scenes storytelling revealed something very important,” Jalan adds. “People weren’t chasing polish. They were chasing perspective.”
Brands that embraced this cultural shift opting for simplicity, honesty, and restraint found deeper resonance with audiences.
Systems Over Campaigns
Structurally, one of the most important changes Jalan observed was a move away from campaign-first thinking. Instead of relying on short bursts of visibility, brands began investing in communication systems core narratives and content frameworks designed to work across platforms and over time.
“Consistency became more valuable than virality,” he notes. “Recall mattered more than reach.” As automation and AI continued to reshape workflows, industry-wide conversations increasingly focused on building systems that allow creativity to scale without losing coherence.
What 2026 Will Demand
Looking ahead, Jalan believes 2026 will be less about experimentation and more about consolidation. “The next year will reward brands that know who they are,” he says. “Agility will no longer mean reacting to everything. It will mean knowing what not to react to. ”He expects brands to place greater emphasis on:
. Clear, long-term narratives over trend-hopping
. Tighter integration between creative, tech, and strategy teams
. Trust, consistency, and cultural awareness over short-term visibility
“2025 taught us that attention isn’t free anymore,” Jalan concludes. “2026 will test a brand’s understanding of trust, which can only be earned slowly, through clarity, respect for the audience, and the courage to say less, better.”
NEW DELHI: Hamdard Laboratories gathered a cross-section of India’s achievers in New Delhi on Friday, handing out the Hakeem Abdul Hameed Excellence Awards to figures who have left their mark across healthcare, education, sport, public service and the arts.
The ceremony, attended by minister of state for defence Sanjay Seth and senior officials from the ministry of Ayush, celebrated individuals whose work blends professional success with a sense of public purpose. It was as much a roll call of achievement as it was a reminder that influence is not measured only in profits or podiums, but in people reached and lives improved.
Among the headline awardees was Alakh Pandey, founder and chief executive of PhysicsWallah, recognised for turning affordable digital learning into a mass movement. On the sporting front, Arjuna Awardee and kabaddi player Sakshi Puniya was honoured for her contribution to the game and for pushing women’s participation onto bigger stages.
The cultural spotlight fell on veteran lyricist and poet Santosh Anand, whose songs have echoed across generations of Hindi cinema. At 97, Anand accepted the honour with characteristic humility, reflecting on a life shaped by perseverance and hope.
Healthcare honours spanned both modern and traditional systems. Manoj N. Nesari was recognised for strengthening Ayurveda’s place in national and global health frameworks. Padma shri Mohammed Abdul Waheed was honoured for his research-backed work in Unani medicine, while padma shri Mohsin Wali received recognition for his long-standing contribution to patient-centred care.
Education and social development also featured prominently. Padma shri Zahir Ishaq Kazi was honoured for decades of work in education, while former Meghalaya superintendent of Police T. C. Chacko was recognised for public service. Goonj founder Anshu Gupta received an award for his dignity-centred rural development initiatives, and the Hunar Shakti Foundation was honoured for empowering women and young girls through skill development.
The Lifetime Achievement Award went to former IAS officer Shailaja Chandra for her long career in public healthcare and governance, particularly in the traditional systems under Ayush.
Speaking at the event, Hamdard chairman Abdul Majeed said the awards were a tribute to those who combine excellence with empathy. “These awardees reflect Hakeem Sahib’s belief that healthcare, education and public service must ultimately serve humanity,” he said.
Minister Seth struck a forward-looking note, saying India’s young population gives the country a unique opportunity to become a global destination for learning, health and wellness by 2047.
The ceremony also featured the trailer launch of Unani Ki Kahaani, an upcoming documentary starring actor Jim Sarbh, set to premiere on Discovery on 11 February.
Instituted in memory of Unani scholar and educationist Hakeem Abdul Hameed, the awards have grown into a national platform that celebrates those building a more inclusive and resilient India. For one evening at least, the spotlight was not just on success, but on service with substance.
