Andrea Martens. Credit: ADMA
The AdNews end-of-year Perspectives, looking back at 2025 and forward to next year.
And see the AdNews 50 plus page state of the market report, Forecast 2026
Andrea Martens, CEO, ADMA.
In 2025 the system shifted for marketing.
This wasn’t because of a single breakthrough but because the forces around us - regulation, technology, capability and customer behaviour - converged in ways that revealed opportunity and exposed vulnerability.
This was a year where expectations rose faster than most teams could adjust, creativity came under pressure and capability gaps that had been quietly managed suddenly became glaring holes which were impossible to ignore.
Organisations that moved deliberately by investing in skills, building trust and making strategic choices, found the incentive to grow.
Those that relied on momentum alone felt the strain.
As we head into 2026 one thing stands out: activity is no longer enough. The pace of change and the weight of responsibility make it clear that maturity matters just as much as momentum. Marketing leaders can’t simply react or adapt on the fly; we’ll all need to act with more intent to stay ahead.
Leading with accountability and responsibility
Next year is likely to bring a greater focus on accountability for marketing leaders, and developing commercial clarity will play an important role in that.
Boards and executive teams are looking for a clearer line of sight on marketing’s contribution to growth - a trend that’s set to continue. Building this muscle requires a holistic approach: integrating marketing across product, customer and business functions, and measuring impact not just on spend, but on capability, brand and customer outcomes.
This level of commercial clarity is not a constraint - it is the path to confident, high-impact marketing. It strengthens responsible decision-making across every level of the business, giving leaders the insight and authority to make informed, responsible decisions.
Explainable decision-making matters more than ever as personalisation, automation, and cross-functional decision-making become the norm. It will be important for leaders to ensure that decisions are transparent, outcomes can be measured and fairness and consistency are upheld.
Responsibility is not just about mitigating risk - it drives performance, protects brand value and preserves customer trust. Those who can translate marketing activity into tangible business outcomes will earn credibility internally, build confidence externally and position marketing as a core driver of enterprise strategy, not just communications.
Creativity that stands apart
Creativity remains marketing’s heartbeat, yet in 2025 it often struggled against sameness.
Rising production pressures and stretched teams threatened to flatten ideas, making distinctiveness harder to achieve. The organisations that will define 2026 will treat creativity as a strategic resource to be protected, invested in and elevated.
This matters because creativity is still one of the most powerful ways to connect with customers, particularly as expectations evolve. Personalisation, fluid loyalty, diversified journeys and heightened sensitivity to value and relevance are reshaping how customers engage with brands.
Next year, marketers will have the opportunity to strengthen their understanding of customers - not just what they do but why. By combining behavioural, attitudinal and contextual insights, teams can more confidently translate understanding into strategic, creative and commercial outcomes.
Then, to close the loop, organisations can benefit by funnelling this insight into more distinctive brand expression - sharpening brand strategy, clarifying purpose, embracing original thinking, elevating craft and maintaining the discipline to produce work that stands out from the noise.
Creativity is no longer simply an output; it is a competitive advantage that drives attention, loyalty and growth.
Trust is increasingly a strategic advantage
Trust is no longer a compliance checkbox - it is part of the value proposition and a powerful commercial differentiator.
With privacy reform and heightened consumer expectations on transparency, consent, and fairness, customers will reward organisations that treat trust as a valued, strategic asset, rather than a byproduct of legal obligations.
Let’s make 2026 the year businesses ensure trust is embedded in every decision, encompassing everything from product design and customer experiences to partnerships and communications.
I expect that the organisations that consistently act with clarity and integrity will be able to move faster, reduce internal friction and deepen loyalty. Those that treat trust as an afterthought, or as a given, risk falling behind.
Capability as infrastructure, not an afterthought
Teams cannot continue learning in the margins of their roles. Passive upskilling is simply not possible in a digital-first environment. Ongoing development will need to be more intentional and supported, from entry level graduates right through to the C-suite. In a landscape as crowded and noisy as ours, it is an utter imperative.
Leaders, for example, benefit from building skills in areas that matter most in our rapidly evolving industry: customer understanding, brand building, creativity, commercial acumen, modern data literacy and critical thinking.
The importance of constant upskilling is compounded by how roles, workflows and broader expectations of marketers are evolving. Rather than relying on inherited structures, leaders are increasingly focusing on designing workflows and ways of working that support performance and creativity.
This includes clarifying which human skills matter most, creating environments where creativity and judgement can thrive, adopting modern ways of working and fostering cultures built on accountability, trust and collaboration.
Leadership is no longer about managing headcount, it is about creating the conditions for performance - and many of us are still learning how best to support that shift.
The road ahead
This next period will not reward the most active marketers, it will reward those who act with the most intent. Those who lead deliberately, build capability into the way their teams operate and elevate trust and creativity as strategic imperatives will define the next era of Australian marketing.
If 2025 was the year of experimentation, 2026 will be the year of leadership. Lead with intent. Build with trust. Compete with capability. Those who do will shape the industry - not just for growth but for lasting impact.
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