A trend is exciting—until everyone and their mother jumps on it, at which point it just feels overdone. That sentiment is true whether it’s happening on TikTok or in the marketing industry at large.

As 2025 comes to a close, we asked CMOs and other top marketers from brands like Chili’s, Duolingo, and State Farm to weigh in on what they thought were this year’s most overrated industry trends. Not only did they deliver, but several had advice for what marketers could be doing instead. Here are some of their answers:

Trend-chasing: “Chasing virality at all costs. ‘Go viral’ shouldn’t be an objective. This is a fool’s errand…What matters most is staying true to the brand and showing up in ways that feel authentic and relevant for our consumers.”—Greg Guidotti, CMO, Ferrara

Going too big: “There’s a belief that producing more content automatically leads to more relevance. In reality, most people scroll past anything that feels generic or interchangeable. Speed and volume help only when the creative has a strong point of view.”—Manu Orssaud, CMO, Duolingo

Going too small: “We put our eggs in too few baskets, whether that’s channels, that’s creative, or that’s the type of advertising you’re running…I think SMB marketers need to be testing new channels, new creative, new types of marketing to avoid the fatigue. Experimentation is so important.”—Sid Malhotra, VP of SMB, Snap

Continue reading here.—AM, JS, JN, KH, KM

During our winter break, we’re sharing with you some of our favorite stories we’ve published in the past year. This feature on how Barbie ushered in the era of the brand movie was originally published on November 21 as part of Marketing Brew’s Quarter Century Project.

It took more than 10 years to bring Mattel’s fashion doll brand Barbie to the big screen, but boy, was it worth it.

Barbie, the live-action film based on the toy of the same name and co-written and directed by Greta Gerwig, became 2023’s highest-grossing movie globally with $1.44 billion earned at the box office, and it scored the biggest opening for a woman director in history. It also became a masterclass in cross-promotion, with more than 100 brand partnerships powering its premiere.

Two years later, Barbie has proven to be more than just about breaking records and barriers—it’s provided a blueprint to brands and studios that see brand-backed and brand-activated movies as reliably good business.

“We’re seeing a lot of brands want to ride this wave and try to replicate that success,” Lily Gluzberg, VP at cultural marketing agency 160over90, told Marketing Brew last year.

By the time Barbie came out, the brand takeover of Hollywood was already underway. The Super Mario Bros. Movie, based loosely on the Nintendo video game franchise, became the highest-grossing video game movie of all time the same year as Barbie’s release, while the biographical sports drama Air, based on the origin of Nike’s Air Jordan, raked in $90 million worldwide despite being, as one critic put it, “what amounts to a two-hour ad for Nike and the uber-rich.” There were also films centered on the origin stories of the video game Tetris, Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, and the BlackBerry, as well as one focused on Beanie Babies.

Some brands that have found their way into the Hollywood lights often discover a big upside. The Brad Pitt-led F1: The Movie, released this summer, for example, was “tremendously helpful” for driving awareness and fandom around F1, Motorsport Network CEO Werner Brell told Marketing Brew this fall.

When brand movies are done well, they can become much bigger than just a trip to the theater. Rather, they’re “part of a social movement,” Stephanie Dolan, US entertainment sector leader at Deloitte, told us, “and it actually transcends a-moment-in-time marketing.” That, she added, can allow for the audience journey to continue on with the brand long after the credits roll.

Continue reading here.—KS, JN

Each week, we spotlight Marketing Brew readers in our Coworking series. If you’d like to be featured, introduce yourself here.

Irina Katsnelson is the SVP of enterprise sales at the ad-tech company Nexxen, where she is focused on growing adoption of the company’s demand-side platform (DSP). She’s previously worked at companies including Viant Technology, Juice Mobile, News Corp, and Evolve Media.

What’s your favorite ad campaign? I’ve always admired Apple’s “Shot on iPhone” campaign. It started in 2015 and is still running today, which says a lot about its impact. It’s simple, yet powerful—using real photos and videos from everyday people to prove the iPhone’s camera quality. I’m always drawn to authentic and scalable campaigns from an advertising perspective, and I love when people are turned into brand ambassadors. This is a great example of advertising that showcases the product while maintaining cultural relevance.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile: In addition to being an SVP, I’m also a dance mom, soccer mom, basketball mom, tennis mom, etc., to my three children, ages six, nine, and 11. My home is often full of their friends as the unofficial neighborhood hub (yes, I’m always coordinating carpools and playdates!).

Read more here.

The rise of AI doesn’t diminish creativity; it just changes the canvas. Dan Gardner will share how to move past the initial novelty of AI tools and build a scalable strategy where technology elevates, not replaces, the human creative vision. Consider it the playbook for the next era of agency leadership.