Chasing trends and AI as a strategy: CMOs on 2025’s most overhyped marketing trends

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

Greg Guidotti, CMO, Ferrara: 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.

George Felix, CMO, Chili’s: Chasing trends. Consumers know instantly when something feels forced, so brands have to stay true to their identity and resist jumping on every meme, every audio clip, and every micro-moment. Relevance doesn’t come from doing everything—it comes from doing the right things in a way that feels unmistakably like your brand.

Andy Rebhun, CMO and chief experience officer, Cava: There is a real downside to FOMO-driven marketing. Not every meme, sound, or platform deserves a brand’s attention—even if it’s trending. Virality alone doesn’t build brand equity. The brands that will win in 2026 are the ones that stay anchored in long-term goals and know when to enter the conversation with intention, not impulse. You have to balance cultural participation with strategic discipline. Otherwise, you end up chasing moments instead of building a movement.

Dara Treseder, CMO, Autodesk: The most overrated trend is the belief that brands need to chase every headline or hashtag to stay relevant. We’ve swung between two extremes: the era of “say everything” and the era of “say nothing and just sell.” Neither builds trust, and neither creates lasting resonance.

Strong brands learn to opine with a spine. They choose their moments intentionally and focus on the issues that are truly core to their business and values—and let the rest go. They commit consistently, showing up even when it’s uncomfortable or no longer trending. And they communicate credibly, backing every statement with real work and proof of progress.

Going too big

Manu Orssaud, CMO, Duolingo: 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.

If an idea could be done by any brand, it won’t stand out. Work resonates when it feels authentic and carries the kind of signature people naturally associate with your brand.

Josh Hackbarth, CMO, MGA Entertainment: Platform-chasing, trying to get on every single platform with everything, often with the same content. Every platform is very, very different…[with] different consumers. Even if it’s the same consumer, they’re expecting different things. I think it’s dangerous to try to be everywhere and everything to everyone.

Matt Sharpe, creative director, advertising, Zynga: People are saying, “In this instant, what can we do to get more views, more likes, more engagement?” And they’re forgetting they’re part of a larger conversation, and there’s a larger thread being weaved that shows who they are and what their voice is, and they destabilize that in chasing those short-term metrics…Stop chasing short-term metrics and start looking towards long-term growth and facilitate that.

Going too small

Sid Malhotra, VP of SMB, Snap: 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.

Larry Allen, VP, global strategy, data, measurement, and addressable, Comcast FreeWheel: Micro-influencer marketing. It was very hard to scale and to show a clear return on investment.

AI as a marketing magic wand

Andrew Fried, commercial owner and CMO, Mint Mobile: People are talking a lot about AI as the strategy, but AI isn’t the strategy. AI is a means to an end, or a way to move faster, more efficiently, or broaden creativity. And the real moat that companies have is still having a clear brand point of view, having clear marketing judgment, clear marketing taste…Maybe what’s overrated is considering AI as a strategy, instead of as a way to amplify a true brand point of view.

Kristyn Cook, CMO, State Farm: The notion that AI will replace creativity is flawed. While AI is boosting the scientific side of marketing, the true strength comes from balancing that speed with the “art”—instinct, human connection, and, most importantly, creativity. Creativity remains the ultimate differentiator for brands—it’s the force multiplier that enables everything else. If your creativity doesn’t grab attention or stop the scroll, none of it matters.

Raja Rajamannar, senior fellow and former CMO, Mastercard: The rush to adopt every emerging technology like a badge of innovation. Too many brands treat tech like theater, chasing attention rather than solving real consumer needs. This approach creates noise, burns budgets, and erodes trust. The real power of technology lies in selective, purposeful deployment.

Bichoi Bastha, CEO, Dailymotion Advertising and Audience Path: The hype [that] AI is gonna replace everything—that, I think, is overrated. I don’t think AI is going to replace everything in the advertising industry.

Traditional social listening

Chris Brandt, chief brand officer, Chipotle: With the rise of bots campaigning against brands and individuals by amplifying negative conversations, it’s now difficult to take social listening at face value and have it paint the full picture of how your brand is being perceived online. Social listening must be balanced with measures like sales trends, traffic, in-app behavior, loyalty program engagement, and feedback from customer-facing teams.

Traditional crisis management

Craig Brommers, CMO, American Eagle: If 2025 taught us anything, taking a stand is incredibly important to stand out. I think the most overrated trend is following the playbook of the crisis communications industrial complex. I believe our marketing community needs to show up with a stronger POV in the moments and places that matter most and change our mindset from managing a crisis to optimizing an opportunity.

Traditional SEO methods

Imri Marcus, CEO, Brandlight: SEO is still important, but at this point, many big brands are probably over-indexing on it. Thinking that legacy tactics and legacy strategies will get you through ’26, ’27, and beyond, those are overrated tactics. Thinking that if you have solid and strong SEO, you will do really well in AI environments, that’s really breaking down right now.

Traditional CMO roles

Mary Beech, chief growth officer, Thorne: The CMO role more generally. The traditional leadership structure of marketing teams is evolving, and I believe this shift will only accelerate…Marketing isn’t a support function—it’s a growth engine, and that’s why we are starting to see the CMO role evolve to be more growth-oriented…We’ll continue to see this shift accelerate in 2026. Marketers who can think beyond traditional silos and integrate insights across teams effectively will be the ones shaping the future of the industry.