The business world isn’t just changing – it’s undergoing multiple simultaneous revolutions. As leaders navigate this complexity in 2025, they’re making decisions that could fatally undermine their organizations’ future success.

Mistake 1: Misunderstanding AI’s Role

Many leaders are treating AI as either a magic solution or just another IT project, missing its true transformative potential. They’re investing heavily in AI solutions without understanding the fundamental changes needed in business processes, decision-making frameworks, and organizational structure. Some are rushing to implement AI without clear use cases, while others are dangerously underestimating its disruptive impact on their industry. Forward-thinking leaders are taking a more nuanced approach, seeing AI as a transformative tool that requires careful integration with human expertise. They’re creating frameworks that combine AI’s analytical power with human judgment, ensuring AI augments rather than replaces human decision-making while carefully managing the expectations of their boards and stakeholders.

Mistake 2: Mishandling Workforce Transformation

Organizations are struggling to navigate the human side of technological change. Leaders are implementing AI and automation without adequately preparing their workforce, creating resistance and anxiety instead of enthusiasm and engagement. The skills gap is widening as training programs fail to keep pace with technological change, while many companies still cling to outdated organizational structures that stifle innovation. Successful organizations are taking a people-first approach to transformation, investing in comprehensive reskilling programs, creating clear career paths for the AI era, and actively involving employees in the transformation process. They understand that the key to successful automation isn’t just about technology – it’s about building a workforce that can thrive alongside it.

Mistake 3: Neglecting Data Leadership

Despite years of discussion about data-driven decision-making, many leaders are still failing to treat data as a strategic asset. They’re allowing their organizations to operate with fragmented data strategies, unclear data ownership, and inadequate data governance. This short-sightedness is particularly dangerous as AI becomes central to operations and decision-making. Leading organizations are elevating data strategy to the board level, investing in data quality and accessibility, and creating clear frameworks for data ethics and privacy. They recognize that in 2025, data strategy isn’t just an IT concern – it’s fundamental to business strategy.

Mistake 4: Underestimating Sustainability Imperatives

Too many leaders are treating sustainability as a PR exercise rather than a fundamental business imperative. They’re making token gestures toward environmental responsibility while failing to prepare for incoming climate regulations, changing consumer preferences, and supply chain disruptions. Forward-thinking leaders are embedding sustainability into their core strategy, investing in genuine carbon reduction, and preparing for a radically different operating environment. They understand that by 2025, sustainability won’t just be about compliance or reputation – it will be a key determinant of business viability.

Mistake 5: Maintaining Rigid Cultural Structures

Leaders are clinging to traditional hierarchies and working models in a world that demands flexibility and rapid adaptation. They’re resisting the evolution of hybrid work, maintaining unnecessary bureaucracy, and failing to adapt to changing generational expectations. Progressive organizations are creating more fluid structures that can adapt to rapid change, embracing distributed decision-making, and building cultures that attract and retain next-generation talent. They recognize that in 2025, organizational agility will be impossible without cultural transformation.

Mistake 6: Misreading Customer Evolution

Many leaders are making dangerous assumptions about how their customers will behave in 2025. They’re over-automating customer interactions, ignoring growing privacy concerns, and misunderstanding the balance between personalization and intrusion. Some are pushing ahead with digital-only strategies while underestimating the continued importance of human touch points. Smart organizations are taking a more balanced approach, using AI to enhance rather than replace human interactions, respecting privacy boundaries, and maintaining multiple channels for customer engagement. They understand that in 2025, customer experience will be about finding the right blend of digital efficiency and human connection.

Mistake 7: Ignoring Geopolitical Risk Management

Many leaders are dangerously unprepared for the geopolitical complexities of 2025. They’re treating international tensions as temporary disruptions rather than permanent features of the business landscape. Some are maintaining vulnerable single-region dependencies for critical operations, while others lack contingency plans for sudden regulatory divergence between major markets. Forward-thinking organizations are developing sophisticated geopolitical risk frameworks, diversifying their strategic partnerships across regions, and building adaptable business models that can weather political instability. They understand that in 2025, geopolitical awareness isn’t just for multinational corporations – it’s essential for any business in an interconnected world.

The Cost of Leadership Inertia

These mistakes aren’t just operational missteps – they’re strategic failures that will determine which organizations thrive in the next era of business. The leaders who succeed will be those who recognize these challenges as opportunities for transformation rather than threats to be minimized. The time for incremental change is over. In 2025, the gap between organizations that get this right and those that don’t will become unbridgeable. The question for every leader is clear: will you drive change, or will change drive you?

Credit: Bernard Marr

The marriage of artificial intelligence and winemaking might seem like an unlikely pairing. Still, at Chateau Montelena – the historic Napa Valley winery that helped put American wines on the world stage – cutting-edge technology is transforming how premium wines are produced.

“AI in the wine industry is still in its infancy,” says Matt Crafton, winemaker at Chateau Montelena. Yet the potential applications are already proving revolutionary, offering new insights into every aspect of wine production, from the vineyard to the cellar.

Smart Monitoring In The Vineyard

At Chateau Montelena, AI’s impact begins with innovative vine monitoring systems. Using technology adapted from facial recognition software, vineyard managers can assess vine health by simply walking down rows with their smartphones. “They take all those images, upload them to their server, and based on data they have they can recognize how the leaf angles change based on sun exposure, they can correlate that to vine water stress,” Crafton explains. This real-time data helps optimize irrigation and care for each vine individually.

The winery also employs aerial imaging and pattern recognition. Using high-resolution photographs taken by planes or drones, AI algorithms can detect subtle changes in individual vines that might indicate problems like clogged irrigation lines before they become visible to the human eye.

“We’re getting these little nudges saying like, ‘Hey, go out to row 45 and head about eight vines in and double check that emitter is working,'” Crafton explains. “It’s being able to recognize these subtle changes that would require tremendous amounts of man hours to determine.”

Reimagining Ancient Practices With Modern Technology

Perhaps the most striking example of AI’s impact comes from Chateau Montelena’s recent replanting project. The winery used AI and solar positioning data to determine the optimal orientation for their vineyard rows – a decision that could impact wine quality for decades to come.

Traditional vineyard layouts often follow a simple rule: rows are planted perpendicular to the nearest road, but as Crafton explains, “there’s no other large logic behind that. The people who set out the roads are the California Department of Transportation – they don’t really care about farming.”

Challenging this convention, Chateau Montelena turned to AI to analyze complex solar and weather data patterns. “Using AI and weather climate data, we determined that we should orient our rows approximately 25 degrees East of true North,” says Crafton. This precise angle ensures that during the hottest part of the day, the sun shines on top of the canopy rather than directly on the grapes, protecting the delicate compounds that give the wine its flavor and character.

The impact of this AI-guided decision has been significant. “We’ve seen a 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit temperature delta between berries that are in direct sunlight at the hottest time of the day versus berries that are in shade,” Crafton notes. This temperature difference is crucial because “all of the really beautiful aromatics, the phenolics, the tannins that you taste, all of those wonderful flavors are very, very sensitive to heat.” Too much heat can degrade these compounds, resulting in wines that lack character and complexity.

“We have two vineyard blocks that we planted in 2018 that are now in full production using this new system… the fruit is absolutely dynamite.” This innovative approach demonstrates how AI can help reimagine practices that have remained largely unchanged for generations, leading to measurable improvements in wine quality.

From Cork To Bottle: AI In Production

Even the corks sealing Chateau Montelena’s wines benefit from AI innovation. The winery uses specialized corks from a French company that employs AI modeling to predict how each closure will develop and mature over time. “They’ve modeled this using AI… they’re confident enough, and we are too, seeing the data that each individual closure, in addition to being 100 percent clean, comes with a 30-year integrity guarantee,” Crafton shares. This technology helps ensure that premium wines can age gracefully for decades.

The Human Touch Remains Essential

While AI is proving invaluable for data analysis and pattern recognition, Crafton emphasizes that the technology serves to enhance rather than replace human expertise. “AI doesn’t actually create,” he notes. “There are really only two things in the universe that create: one is evolution, and the other one is human beings.”

This philosophy guides how Chateau Montelena integrates technology into its winemaking process. Rather than using AI to standardize the wines, it leverages it to better understand and express the unique characteristics of each vintage and vineyard block.

The Future Of Fine Wine

Looking ahead, Crafton sees AI playing an increasingly important role in helping winemakers sort through the enormous amount of data generated during wine production.

“Unfortunately, I think there is this idea that more data are better all the time, but the reality is that it just gets overwhelming very quickly,” he explains. The hope is that AI will help identify truly actionable insights, freeing up winemakers to focus on the creative aspects of their craft.

A Toast To Innovation

The integration of AI into fine winemaking represents a fascinating balance between tradition and innovation. While the fundamental art of winemaking remains unchanged, AI is helping prestigious wineries like Chateau Montelena optimize their processes, reduce resource usage, and ultimately produce even better wines.

For wine lovers, this technological evolution means that their favorite bottles are being crafted with unprecedented precision and care while maintaining the creativity and human touch that makes each vintage unique. It’s a reminder that even in an industry steeped in tradition, there’s always room for innovation – especially when it enhances rather than diminishes the artistry at the heart of fine winemaking.

In 2025, education is transforming, driven by game-changing technologies like artificial intelligence and the needs of a changing world of work.

The traditional model of front-loading education in youth no longer fits a society where change happens at lightning speed. Meanwhile, skills like emotional intelligence and communication,  sometimes overlooked in traditional education models, are becoming increasingly important as machines take over many routine technical tasks.

Let’s explore the key trends shaping education in 2025 and the opportunities they offer individuals preparing themselves for success in a rapidly changing world.

Human-Centric Skills Back On The Curriculum

As machines become more efficient at analyzing trends, crunching numbers and generating reports, the value of the skills that they still can’t replicate will grow. This means that educators should increasingly focus on nurturing these soft, “human” skills, like critical thinking, big-picture strategy, communication, emotional intelligence, leadership and teamwork. Expect to see greater integration of these into mainstream education as we train to become more effective at high-value tasks involving person-to-person interactions and navigation of complex and chaotic real-world situations. These are tasks that human leaders and professionals will use to distinguish themselves in the AI age.

Generative AI In The Classroom

Generative AI (think chatbots like ChatGPT) is everywhere now, and in 2025 the classroom will be no exception. With 57 percent of workers saying they believe it can make them more efficient, learning how to make it work effectively will increasingly become a priority for educators. As well as learning how to use it, uses will be found for it across the education workload. For example, teachers will use it to assist with grading, providing personalized feedback on work, and creating bespoke content and lesson plans. There will also be a focus on responsible use of AI as well as learning about when and how it can be used; students should also be taught about using it safely and when it is better to rely on real intelligence rather than artificial intelligence.

Personalized Learning

All learners are different – we take in information at different speeds; while some of us absorb knowledge better from videos, some benefit more from group discussions or activity-based learning. Personalized learning promises to deliver education in a way that’s tailored to the specific strengths of individual students. This means tailored lesson plans, assessments and learning materials. In 2025 we will see experiments and pilot projects involving using AI to accomplish this begin to move into the mainstream, as well as the emergence of AI tutoring aids that are able to track the progress of students in real time and adjust the delivery of learning on-the-fly to create dynamic and engaging learning environments.

Lifelong Learning

In 2025, the idea that education ends with graduation is hopelessly old-fashioned. Lifelong learning has become the mantra to live by – for professionals, there’s a need to consistently upskill and reskill in order to keep pace with rapid changes in technology and the world of work. In fact, I’ve heard it said that today, it’s increasingly common to find that tech skills learned in degree courses are frequently outdated by the time a graduate enters their first professional role. Online learning, modular courses and concepts such as micro and nano-learning will be part of the solution, offering bite-sized and stackable learning pathways that can be fit around busy careers.

Virtual Classrooms And Remote Learning

Imagine educational experiences where students can explore ancient civilizations or distant planets without leaving their homes. In 2025, this is increasingly becoming a reality as learners adopt virtual and augmented reality technology into their study. This trend also covers the growing use of online learning platforms and course providers to enhance educational opportunities and provide increasingly collaborative digital learning environments. As well as opening the doors to more immersive and engaging study, remote learning and virtual classrooms will improve accessibility for those who can’t get to school because of where they live or due to political reasons.

New Partnerships To Foster High-Tech Vocational Training

Increasingly, we will see partnerships emerging between schools, colleges, and businesses as employers and education providers seek new ways of bridging the skills gap. Right now, there simply aren’t enough graduates coming out of the education system to meet industry demands for critical high-tech skills like artificial intelligence and cyber security. This collaboration will help educators formulate courses to fit real-world requirements and ensure students are graduating with the skills that employers need.

Ed-Tech Becomes Big Business

Providing the technology needed to make the trends covered here a reality is a fast-growing business, with the ed-tech industry forecasted to grow from $142 billion to nearly $350 billion by 2030. As enthusiasm in the education sector for online learning platforms, AI assistants and immersive VR learning experiences grows, technology will become increasingly integral to transforming the way that education is delivered in 2025. Continued investment and innovation in the sector will ensure that educators are able to meet the demands of a fast-changing world.

The educational landscape of 2025 represents a pivotal shift from traditional models to a more dynamic, technology-enhanced, and human-centered approach to learning. As AI and automation continue to reshape our world, the fusion of cutting-edge technology with enhanced focus on uniquely human capabilities isn’t just transforming how we learn – it’s redefining what it means to be educated in the digital age. The future of education isn’t just about absorbing information; it’s about creating adaptable, lifelong learners who can thrive in an increasingly complex and rapidly evolving world. For educators, students, and professionals alike, embracing these trends isn’t optional – it’s essential for success in tomorrow’s world.

Credit: Bernard Marr

Consumer technology covers all of the tech we buy to make our lives more convenient, productive or fun. It’s a broad category, covering everything from home appliances to cars, DIY, health and fitness products and connected smart home devices – and understanding these trends is crucial not just for manufacturers, but for any business looking to meet modern customer and employee expectations.

In a tough economic climate, both consumer tech manufacturers and enterprise solution providers know they have to offer real innovation to stay competitive. As the line between consumer and enterprise technology continues to blur, the expectations set by consumer tech increasingly shape workplace technology demands.

In 2025, the driving force behind innovation will be artificial intelligence (AI), with its promise of devices and solutions that are smarter and more useful than the ones we already own. This shift will impact everything from product development to workplace tools and customer service platforms.

Will this be enough? Time will tell – but in the meantime, let’s explore the hottest trends that I believe will shape not only consumer buying decisions but also enterprise technology strategies over the next year.

Personalized User Experiences In Consumer Technology

In 2025, manufacturers understand the importance of creating technology that we feel “gets” us. With AI beginning to be embedded in everything from smart home devices to wearables, fitness equipment and toys, we will increasingly expect personalized experiences that adapt to fit in with our lives. The idea is to go beyond creating tech that offers convenience, to offering experiences that feel tailor-made to us. Think of smart home devices that adapt to our daily routines, or smartphones equipped with AI assistants that effortlessly manage our lives.

Conversational Interfaces And Chatbots

Forget the stilted interactions we’ve grown accustomed to having with assistants like Alexa or Siri. In 2025, advances in large language models (LLMs) and natural language processing (NLP), such as those demonstrated by ChatGPT, mean we can talk to our devices almost as if they are fellow humans. This means we’re soon going to be having conversations with kitchen appliances and chewing the fat with our cars, as voice increasingly becomes our primary method of operating and interacting with consumer tech.

Sustainability In Consumer Technology

With buying decisions increasingly driven by concerns over sustainability and our environmental footprints, manufacturers understand that eco-friendly principles are now a business priority. This means devices that are more energy efficient, designed and built in a way that minimizes water consumption, emissions and waste, with a focus on reusability and recyclability. Computer chips like Apple’s M-series processor, designed to minimize power consumption, smartphones constructed from modular, replaceable parts, and increasing use of recycled materials and environmentally-friendly inks in packaging are all examples of this trend in action.

Healthcare-Focused Consumer Technology

Smart healthcare devices like fitness trackers and remote monitoring tools have been around for a while. But while the market for these products will continue to grow in 2025, we’ll also see them become smarter – capable of predicting and even diagnosing conditions, rather than simply monitoring basic health metrics. From the ECG and blood oxygen sensors on smartwatches, we can expect to see devices offering insights based on genetic or gut microbiome data, which, when paired with telehealth and virtual healthcare services, will begin to offer truly personalized wellness experiences.

Real-Time Language Translation

Communicating during our travels will be easier than ever before in 2025, thanks to the proliferation of devices enabling real-time language communication. These capabilities will be available in earbuds, smart glasses, and watches, as well as dedicated portable translation devices like the Poketalk, leveraging machine learning and LLMs to break down language barriers wherever we are.

Diversity And Inclusion In Consumer Technology

We can expect to see a strong push towards inclusivity in consumer technology during 2025. This hasn’t always been the case – last-gen voice assistants often struggled with understanding non-standard accents and dialects, and there have been instances where health wearables like heart rate and oxygen sensors have been less accurate on users with dark skin. Signs that this may be changing include a move towards more accessibility features on smart devices, a focus on AI features that are more culturally aware, and improved female-centric functionality on healthcare devices, such as menstrual and pregnancy tracking.

AI-Enhanced Friends And Companions

From smarter-than-ever toys that can converse and play games, to robots designed to keep us company or act as teachers, AI will breathe new life into companion devices. Also known as “social robots,” these are machines designed to engage and interact with us in order to provide entertainment or in-home assistance. Relatively simple toys like Poe, the bedtime-storytelling bear, are early attempts at using AI to turn everyday objects into “friends” we can relate to, and they will become more numerous and sophisticated as time goes on.

Micro-Mobility

In recent years, we’ve seen an explosion in the number of micro-vehicles such as e-bikes, scooters and compact EVs on the market, and in 2025, we will continue to see them getting smarter, more user-friendly and more deeply integrated into urban life. Longer battery life and innovations like smartphone integration will bring real-time route optimization and GPS functionality, and the vehicles themselves will continue to become more convenient and affordable. All of this means micromobility will be an increasingly prominent trend as our approach to commuting, living locally, and day-to-day transport in urban areas evolves.

The consumer technology landscape of 2025 promises to be more personal, sustainable, and inclusive than ever before. While AI clearly emerges as the driving force behind many of these innovations, understanding these trends isn’t just important for consumer tech manufacturers – it’s crucial for every business. As consumer expectations evolve, these technological advancements will inevitably influence workplace technology demands, with employees expecting the same level of personalization, sustainability, and AI-powered convenience they experience in their personal lives. Companies that stay ahead of these consumer tech trends will be better positioned to attract talent, meet changing employee expectations, and maintain competitive advantage in an increasingly tech-driven marketplace. The future of consumer tech isn’t just about smarter devices – it’s about understanding and adapting to fundamental shifts in how people expect to interact with technology, both at home and in the workplace.

Credit: Bernard Marr

As we venture deeper into the digital era, the scope and possibilities of data and artificial intelligence (AI) in human resources (HR) are expanding at an unprecedented rate.

As I discuss in my new book ‘Data-Driven HR: How to Use AI, Analytics and Data to Drive Performance’ (2nd edition), HR is no longer just a supporting actor in companies. People management departments are now stepping into the spotlight and are actively guiding and informing business strategies with rich, data-derived insights.

By deploying AI tools, HR is becoming more adept at providing better experiences for employees — and these technologies are also being used to streamline HR processes and services.

Let’s dig into the three most significant areas where data and AI are bringing considerable value and fundamentally influencing the way businesses operate.

The Three Pillars Of Data-Driven HR: Decision-Making, Employee Services, And Efficiency

Data and AI can create value in organizations in three crucial ways:

● Facilitating a more informed decision-making process

● Improving service delivery to employees (and potential candidates)

● Optimizing HR service efficiency

Let’s dive deeper into each of these.

Empowering Decisions With Data-Driven HR Insights

HR professionals are now using data and AI to equip decision-makers with critical information, create valuable people-centric reports, and enlighten leaders about what’s happening on the ground from moment to moment.

AI can also forecast upcoming people-related issues, acting as an early warning system, which can help organizations future-proof their systems and processes. For example, AI could predict a skill deficit so HR could ramp up recruiting in a particular area.

Juniper Networks, a networking hardware firm, uses LinkedIn data and analytics to track where high-performing employees come from and understand where they migrate when they leave Juniper. This information allows the company to understand career trajectories better and make more informed decisions to attract and retain talent.

Google’s Project Oxygen is another instance of data-driven decision-making in HR. The project aimed to identify the characteristics of effective managers within Google. By analyzing data sets, the project identified the key characteristics of successful managers and then developed specific training programs and feedback mechanisms to improve management quality across the company.

Enhancing Service Delivery For Employees

The primary role of HR revolves around catering to the organization’s workforce. This can include:

● Providing exceptional recruitment services

● Delivering opportunities for training and development

● Creating and implementing comprehensive wellness programs

● Designing safe working conditions

By leveraging data and AI, HR teams can improve all of these services and provide more value to employees throughout their journey in the organization.

Walmart, for example, uses AI to guide employees in choosing the most suitable medical providers for their needs.

IBM uses AI in its HR operations to provide a better experience for its employees. For instance, the AI virtual assistant “Watson” helps IBM employees with different queries, ranging from company policies to technical support, offering personalized answers and reducing response times.

Boosting HR Service Efficiency

AI can be a game-changer for HR teams looking to improve efficiency.

Using data and AI can help HR teams automate procedures with chatbots, create better onboarding processes, leverage metaverse environments for more immersive training, and more.

Johnson & Johnson deployed an AI-based writing tool, Textio, to identify unconscious bias in their job listings. Upon identifying a masculine tilt in the language of many of their job postings, they made some AI-driven adjustments that led to a 9% uptick in female applicants.

Unilever employs AI to streamline the initial stages of its recruitment process. Candidates are asked to play a number of games that test their logic, aptitude, reasoning, and appetite for risk. Then the HR team uses machine learning algorithms to assess candidates’ suitability for the role they have applied for, by matching their profiles against previously successful employees. This approach has not only improved the efficiency of Unilever’s recruitment process but also provided a more engaging candidate experience.

Reimage HR Through Data And AI

Data and AI are more than just buzzwords — they are the drivers of meaningful, beneficial change within HR. As businesses move forward in this digitally connected world, prioritizing the three HR domains we’ve discussed above can create a significant difference in achieving strategic goals and building a work environment where employees thrive.

With the rise of the metaverse and web3 technologies, there’s no denying the next evolution of the internet is already underway. This is what I mean when I talk about the “future internet” – the next generation of the internet, characterized by immersive virtual metaverse worlds (such as Fortnite or Meta’s Horizon Worlds) and decentralized web3 technologies (think crypto, blockchain and NFTs).

For organizations, this future internet brings many opportunities – and threats. This means every organization must take a look at the products and services they provide and consider new and improved ways to serve their customers.

Here are three avenues to explore.

1. Augmenting Your Existing Products And Services

A good starting point is to look at your existing products and services and explore how you could enhance them with metaverse and/or web3 technologies. Consider how Fortnite has reinvented itself from a gaming platform to a trailblazing metaverse platform that provides immersive virtual experiences (like gigs by real-world megastars). Or consider how smartphone manufacturers are increasingly building AR capabilities into their phones, allowing users to see immersive virtual elements overlayed over the real-world view simply by using the built-in camera. Both are great examples of making your existing products or services more compatible with the next, more immersive evolution of the internet.

Could you augment your products and services for the future internet? If you ignore this question, the danger is another company will come along with that improved offering. Consider how services like Audius are reimagining music streaming and challenging established platforms like Spotify. Audius is a blockchain-based, artist-owned, decentralized streaming service with its own crypto token – in essence, the platform lets musicians decide how their music is monetized and allows them to connect directly with fans.

2. Creating New, Digital-Only Products

The next generation of consumers is only too happy to spend real money on products that don’t exist in the physical world. My children routinely spend their pocket money on Fortnite Skins, and yours may well do the same. In fact, Fortnite (and gaming in general) has led the way in creating digital-only products. What’s really interesting is Fortnite is a free-to-play game, so the sale of in-game items is clearly a vital revenue-earner for the game’s makers. In-game purchases are so popular that close to 70 percent of Fortnite players purchase outfits, accessories, and dance moves for their virtual characters. These outfits, accessories and moves don’t give players any actual advantage when playing the game – it’s purely about making your character look different from those who don’t pay for products. It goes to show that, in the metaverse era, digital-only products have very real value.

What about new services for the future internet? A great example comes from BlockBar, the NFT marketplace for high-end wines and spirits. BlockBar is a direct-to-consumer NFT marketplace that connects consumers and collectors with luxury alcohol brands such as Glenfiddich and Hennessy – allowing brands to sell NFTs that are tied to physical luxury and limited-edition products. (The NFT acts as proof of ownership but may also provide the NFT holder with access to exclusive perks and content.) As a service, BlockBar is taking the business of selling wine and spirits into the 21st century. And it’s proving popular with brands and consumers alike; the marketplace reached $7 million in sales in its first year and attracted more than 300,000 users.

Ask yourself, could your business create new products and services that are designed with the future internet in mind – or could your existing products or services be threatened by new, digital-native offerings?

3. Creating Hybrid Products And Services That Span Both Digital And Physical

What about blending the physical and digital to create hybrid products and services? One cool example comes from Merge EDU, which has designed a range of digital teaching aids for STEM subjects. The teaching aids immerse students with 3D objects and simulations they can “touch” and interact with – thereby helping students understand complex science concepts. This shows how digital products and services can deliver significant value in the physical world.

Of course, physical products can also be enhanced with a digital element, such as an accompanying NFT. Like how legendary music magazine SPIN – known for its iconic covers that are collectors’ items in their own right – is selling its covers and other art assets as collectible NFTs.

This “tokenization” of physical products is interesting because it also allows products to be sold in a distributed ownership model – where multiple customers share ownership of an asset. One example comes from the Crurated wine platform, which offers members the chance to buy fractions of wine barrels certified by NFT and blockchain technology.

Can You Afford To Ignore The Future Internet?

There’s no doubt in my mind that companies that ignore the impact of the metaverse and Web3 risk being overtaken by startups who are creating new, improved versions of existing products and services – essentially, reimagining them for the future internet.

That said, because the future internet is evolving so fast, some of the products and services being developed now may not exist in a few years’ time. There will be new products and services that we can’t yet imagine. The upshot is amazing innovations are coming our way, and we can’t predict where all this is going. But don’t let that stop you from reimaging your own products and services and experimenting with future internet innovations. Don’t wait, in other words. The time to experiment is now.

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The quiet hum of AI servers is rapidly drowning out the traditional drumbeat of marketing departments worldwide. As we venture deeper into 2025, this technological revolution isn’t just changing how we market – it’s fundamentally transforming what marketing means.

Over the last decades of analyzing digital trends, I’ve never seen such a profound shift in how businesses connect with their customers. While AI and automation are undoubtedly the stars of this show, other fascinating developments are emerging from the wings, from the evolution of influencer culture to a growing emphasis on digital privacy. Let’s explore the most significant trends that will shape marketing’s future in the coming year.

The Move Towards Dynamic Content Creation

The buzz around generative AI isn’t just hype – it’s the harbinger of a fundamental shift in content creation. But here’s the interesting part: while many marketers are still stuck in the basic ChatGPT-generated blog post phase (a strategy that’s increasingly showing its limitations), the real innovators are pushing boundaries we didn’t even know existed. They’re creating content that adapts in real-time, responding to context and audience sentiment in ways that make traditional personalization look primitive.

What’s particularly exciting is how forward-thinking content creators are integrating AI into their creative process itself. They’re not just using AI to generate content – they’re showing their audiences how to use it in novel ways, creating engaging meta-content that builds authority and drives engagement. In 2025, we’ll see the emergence of truly dynamic content that transforms based on viewer behavior, time of day, or even global events, taking the concept of marketing “micro-moments” to an entirely new level.

AI’s Strategic Takeover

While AI’s role in tactical marketing operations is well established, 2025 will mark its emergence as a crucial strategic partner. We’re moving beyond basic data analytics and recommendation systems into an era where AI actively participates in high-level planning and decision-making. Imagine AI systems that can predict future market trends with unprecedented accuracy, simulate entire campaign outcomes before launch, and optimize resource allocation in real time.

This strategic evolution of AI is particularly exciting because it’s happening first in marketing departments. As we push into 2025, marketing teams are becoming the proving ground for AI’s ability to contribute to strategic business decisions, setting patterns that other business functions will likely follow.

Search Is Dead, Long Live Search

The integration of generative AI into search engines isn’t just an upgrade – it’s a complete reimagining of how people find information online. With both Google and Bing now embedding AI-generated responses directly into search results, marketers are facing a fundamental shift in how they approach visibility. The traditional SEO playbook isn’t just being updated – it’s being completely rewritten.

But here’s what makes this trend particularly fascinating: as AI chatbots increasingly become the go-to tool for information seeking, we’re seeing a shift in user behavior that could rival the move from desktop to mobile. Marketing teams are now grappling with the challenge of not just ranking in traditional search results but also ensuring their brand messages are effectively captured and conveyed through AI-generated responses. This isn’t just about keywords anymore – it’s about understanding and influencing the AI systems that are becoming the new gatekeepers of information.

Video Marketing Gets A Brain Upgrade

If content is king, video continues to be its crown jewel. The appetite for quick, engaging, “snackable” video content shows no signs of slowing down, particularly among Gen-Z consumers. What’s changing is the sophistication of video creation and distribution. AI-driven video production tools are making it possible to create personalized, targeted video content at scale, while new formats like shoppable video and live streaming are opening up exciting new possibilities for brand engagement.

User-generated content remains a powerful force, but the tools and platforms for creating and sharing it are becoming increasingly sophisticated. In 2025, the ability to create, optimize, and distribute video content will become less about technical capability and more about strategic application.

Your Next Influencer Might Not Be Human

Virtual influencers have been around for a while, but 2025 is the year they get smart – really smart. We’re moving beyond static digital avatars to AI-powered personalities that can engage in meaningful, real-time interactions with audiences. This isn’t just about posting pretty pictures anymore – it’s about creating authentic connections through intelligent conversation.

The implications for brands are enormous. Imagine having an influencer who perfectly embodies your brand values, is available 24/7, and can engage with thousands of followers simultaneously in personalized conversations.

The Privacy Paradox

The marketing world has long grappled with the balance between personalization and privacy. As we move into 2025, this balance is becoming more crucial – and more complex – than ever. Smart marketers are adopting what I call “privacy-first personalization,” an approach that delivers highly relevant experiences while maintaining transparent and ethical data practices.

This isn’t just about compliance with growing regulations – it’s about building trust in an era where consumers are increasingly aware of and concerned about their digital footprint. The marketers who succeed in 2025 will be those who can deliver personalized experiences while demonstrating a genuine commitment to protecting consumer privacy.

Looking ahead, it’s clear that success in 2025’s marketing landscape won’t just be about adopting new technologies – it will be about using them thoughtfully and strategically to create genuine value. The most successful marketers won’t be those who chase every new trend but those who understand how to integrate these innovations into a coherent strategy that puts the customer first.

I believe ChatGPT and other generative AI tools can help pretty much any business. With a low-cost subscription or even simply using free tools, advanced AI assistance that would have seemed the stuff of science fiction just a few short years ago is within reach of anyone.

Without specific information, though, the advice and output that these genAI tools give can be very formulaic and mundane.

Simply ask it to “write me a blog on subject X” or “create a business plan for my Y business” and you’ll see what I mean.

The problem is that by default, it doesn’t know enough about you or your business and its specific challenges to create anything very useful

Luckily, there’s a way to ensure it has the information it needs to give you very specialized, specific advice that’s relevant to your opportunities and challenges. Get it to ask you what it needs to know.

With that in mind, here are a few prompts that can be used to get AI to help you with everyday business tasks, but in a way that’s customized and personal to you. Of course, you can use these as they are or personalize them further to make them even more relevant to your own situation and challenges.

Either way, they all make good jumping-in points for anyone wanting to start putting AI to work for them in a personalized way:

Review Compliance Regulations Around A Project

I need you to help me create a list of all my compliance and regulatory obligations around a project I am planning. Please ask me questions, one at a time, to get all of the information you need to know. Then create a step-by-step, prioritized list of actions I need to take in order to ensure I am fully compliant.

Understand Cybersecurity Requirements

I need your help understanding all of the steps I need to take in order to ensure my business is protected against cybersecurity threats. Please ask me questions about my business, one at a time, to get all of the information you need. When you are ready, please create a step-by-step strategy for implementing cybersecurity measures in a way that’s specifically relevant to my business.

Create A Social Media Marketing Campaign

Please help me create five social media posts optimized to generate maximum engagement. First, ask any questions, one at a time, you need in order to understand my business, our products and services, and our branding and messaging. It’s important you understand who our customers are and our brand’s voice, tone and style. When you have enough information, please draft the posts.

Create A Website FAQ Page

I need you to help me create a FAQ page for my company website. Please ask me questions, one at a time, to get the information you need to understand my business and customers. Then, ask me for details on any specific questions that I frequently encounter. When you have enough information, please generate a list of questions and answers in an FAQ format suitable for use on our company website.

Write A Business Plan For Use In Applying For Loans And Financing

Please help me write a business plan designed to maximize my chances of success when applying to banks or investors for loans or funding. Format the plan in a way that you think is best in order to optimally present the information clearly and concisely. Ask me questions, one at a time, to get all of the information you need to generate the plan. When you have all the information needed, go ahead and draft the plan.

Create A Customized Blog Post Relevant To Your Audience

Please help me create a blog post introducing my products or services to my online audience. Ask me questions about myself, my business, products/services, my customer base, and what I hope to achieve with the blog post in order to get all of the information you need to create a post that is informative, engaging, and optimized to achieve my aims.

Creating Your Own Personalized Prompts

As you can probably see, by following this formula, it’s possible to get ChatGPT (or whatever chatbot you prefer) to create personalized help, advice, and plans for just about any business task.

Asking it what information it needs means you can guarantee that you’ll always get more useful responses than simply expecting it to rely on whatever it already knows.

Mastering this technique will take you a step closer to leveraging the full potential of generative AI when it comes to assisting with everyday business tasks, helping you save time, money and effort.

Credit: Bernard Marr