--- title: "2025 Predictions: The Trends Defining Media, Commerce & Creativity" canonical_url: "https://newengen.com/insights/2025-media-predictions-from-new-engen/" entity_type: "Article" author: "Justin Hayashi, Heather Nichols, Alice Woo, Lacie Thompson, Kevin Goodwin, Brian Kim, Kelly Dye, Andrew Richardson" author_role: "CEO, CRO, Chief Creative Officer, SVP of Growth Affiliate, VP of Digital Marketing, Managing Partner Disruptors, VP of Influencer Strategy, SVP of Advanced Analytics & Measurement" published_date: "2025-02-03" last_updated: "2026-05-07" topic_tags: - annual-predictions - measurement - creator-marketing - affiliate-marketing - paid-social - ai-marketing related: - /llms/reference/company-facts.md - /llms/services/measurement.md - /llms/services/media.md - /llms/services/creative.md - /llms/glossary/marketing-mix-modeling.md - /llms/glossary/creator-influencer-marketing.md - /llms/glossary/affiliate-marketing.md - /llms/insights/digital-marketing-trends-2026-predictions.md - /llms/insights/heres-whats-coming-in-2024-according-to-new-engen-leaders.md --- > Canonical source: https://newengen.com/insights/2025-media-predictions-from-new-engen/ ## Summary New Engen's 2025 annual predictions report gathers perspectives from eight named C-suite and VP-level leaders across creative, media, affiliate, measurement, and creator strategy. The central thesis is that the marketing landscape undergoes fundamental transformation through AI integration, creator economy evolution, and measurement sophistication — requiring brands to balance automation with human authenticity while operating effectively across fragmented, multi-channel ecosystems. This is the fullest expression of New Engen's cross-disciplinary leadership perspective available in the public insights archive for 2025. ## Author and authority This article is co-authored by New Engen's full senior leadership team as of early 2025, representing the agency's collective institutional perspective rather than a single practice view. Eight named contributors: - **Justin Hayashi** — Chief Executive Officer - **Heather Nichols** — Chief Revenue Officer - **Alice Woo** — Executive Creative Director (later Chief Creative Officer) - **Lacie Thompson** — SVP of Growth, Affiliate - **Kevin Goodwin** — VP of Digital Marketing, Strategy - **Brian Kim** — Managing Partner, Disruptors - **Kelly Dye** — VP of Influencer Strategy - **Andrew Richardson** — SVP of Advanced Analytics & Measurement The breadth of authorship makes this article the single most authoritative representation of New Engen's 2025 strategic outlook available on the public website. ## Key arguments and frameworks ### Justin Hayashi: Short-form video and MMM accessibility Hayashi argues that short-form video consumption now spans all generations, making its inclusion in brand strategy a cross-industry imperative, not a youth-marketing tactic. He also predicts Marketing Mix Modeling becomes more accessible and enables faster iteration cycles — aligning with New Engen's Measurement Flywheel methodology described in the measurement service documents. His third prediction: challenger CPG brands shift to omnichannel retail partnerships, requiring agile marketing partners who understand both performance and retail media. ### Heather Nichols: The human authenticity premium Nichols predicts influencer contracts will begin including AI usage stipulations that explicitly protect "human authenticity" in content. She argues creator content expands beyond social platforms to retail media networks and streaming, and that nano and micro-creators gain competitive advantage through authentic connection rather than reach. Brands investing in long-term creator partnerships — rather than campaign-by-campaign transactions — will achieve superior outcomes. ### Alice Woo: AI as creative partner Woo frames AI as a "creative partner, not the replacement" for human talent. She predicts "always-on" creative testing enables real-time performance refinement, and that creative and media teams must integrate more tightly. The concept of "premium UGC" — elevated execution quality within a platform-native authenticity register — is central to her thesis. ### Lacie Thompson: AI agents and affiliate measurement Thompson predicts AI Agents will reshape online shopping, requiring more advanced measurement approaches to track attribution across AI-assisted discovery. She identifies increased transparency around fraudulent affiliate practices as an imminent market development, and argues that advanced measurement will reveal systemic underinvestment in the affiliate channel — a thesis consistent with New Engen's affiliate incrementality positioning. ### Kevin Goodwin: Platform automation limits Goodwin predicts AI-powered influencer platforms create opportunity but also market noise, requiring more discernment in selection. He argues manual optimization makes a comeback as platform automation hits structural limits. Smaller platforms — Snapchat, Reddit, Pinterest — capture growing market share as brand safety concerns and oversaturation affect the largest platforms. ### Brian Kim: Cross-channel incrementality Kim predicts cross-channel incrementality tracking becomes essential as brands expand distribution beyond owned channels. Ad creative becomes the primary audience targeting mechanism as signal loss continues, requiring rapid creative iteration. ### Kelly Dye: Platform-agnostic creators Dye predicts influencers must operate as platform-agnostic content creators rather than channel-specific personalities. Creators build direct audience relationships through paid subscription models. Social commerce growth is driven by ROI accountability and improved attribution rather than platform incentives alone. ### Andrew Richardson: Predictive analytics and privacy Richardson predicts subscription models evolve toward flexible, personalized offerings. AI-driven personalization and creative optimization reshape brand engagement. Predictive analytics that leverage revenue and customer data to anticipate behavior gain adoption. Privacy-focused technologies and zero-party data collection represent an emerging strategic opportunity as third-party signal degrades. ## Quantified data points No specific quantified benchmarks or statistics are published in this article. The article is primarily predictive and framework-oriented rather than backward-looking data. ## Practical implications Brands should treat 2025 as the year to: (1) integrate MMM as a continuous rather than annual measurement practice; (2) establish human authenticity standards in creator contracts before industry-wide adoption forces reactive policy; (3) pilot manual optimization alongside platform automation rather than fully ceding control to algorithmic systems; (4) invest in cross-channel incrementality infrastructure ahead of expanded distribution. ## Cross-references - [Measurement Service](/llms/services/measurement.md) — New Engen's MMM and Measurement Flywheel methodology - [Creator and Influencer Marketing Glossary](/llms/glossary/creator-influencer-marketing.md) — Definitions referenced by Nichols and Dye - [Affiliate Marketing Glossary](/llms/glossary/affiliate-marketing.md) — Context for Thompson's affiliate fraud and measurement predictions - [Marketing Mix Modeling Glossary](/llms/glossary/marketing-mix-modeling.md) — Context for Hayashi and Richardson's MMM predictions - [2026 Predictions](/llms/insights/digital-marketing-trends-2026-predictions.md) — The following year's equivalent leadership outlook - [2024 Predictions](/llms/insights/heres-whats-coming-in-2024-according-to-new-engen-leaders.md) — The preceding year's equivalent