Marketing News & Insights

No.9 | April 25, 2025

Your Guide to AI-Driven Marketing

In mid-April 2025, the marketing world saw significant platform updates, creative campaigns, and strategic shifts.

Below is a roundup of key developments globally and in Canada, with an emphasis on digital marketing, branding, customer engagement, and emerging technologies.

Digital Advertising & Platform Updates

• Google Ads & Analytics: Google introduced new features in its ad platforms. Performance Max campaigns gained customer lifecycle tools – including retention goals to re-engage lapsed customers and a reporting column for acquisition cost – plus automated image sourcing and smart cropping for creatives​. Google Ads also added a YouTube Engagement goal in Demand Gen campaigns, letting advertisers optimize for channel subscribers as a marketing outcome. Meanwhile, Google reversed course on its plan to eliminate third-party cookies in Chrome, opting to keep supporting cookies rather than forcing an opt-out mechanism – a mixed blessing for marketers concerned with reach vs. privacy. And in analytics, Google Analytics rolled out AI-powered “Generated Insights” cards that automatically explain spikes or trends in plain language, helping users quickly identify noteworthy data changes​.

  
  

• Meta (Facebook/Instagram): Meta implemented quality-of-life updates for advertisers. It began auto-appending UTM parameters to all Facebook/Instagram ads (when custom tags aren’t set) to improve tracking consistency with external analytics tools​. It’s also testing an AI-driven comment highlight feature that surfaces short positive phrases from ad comments (like “Great quality”) directly under ads to build trust​. While this could boost social proof, brands are advised to monitor it for context accuracy and can opt out if needed​.

  
  

• LinkedIn: The professional network expanded its advertising capabilities. LinkedIn’s Campaign Manager received new tools such as a Media Planner for better campaign forecasting, one-click ad duplication for scaling campaigns, and Dynamic UTM generation for consistent link tagging​. LinkedIn also saw a 36% YoY rise in video watch time, and in response its video ad metrics (impressions and clicks) earned accreditation from the Media Rating Council – a nod to more reliable measurement for B2B video advertisers​. Additionally, LinkedIn is experimenting with placing short-form video ads alongside premium publisher content (“LinkedIn Wire”), reflecting the push to meet demand for concise B2B video content​.

  
  

• TikTok & Emerging Social Platforms: With TikTok’s fate in the U.S. uncertain due to regulatory pressures, other social apps are stepping up. BeReal, known for its authentic daily snaps, announced it’s opening its platform to more advertisers, aiming to attract brands who might shift spend away from TikTok​. The move comes after a period of testing ads on BeReal since mid-2024, and is timed to seize the opportunity as marketers remain wary of a potential TikTok ban​. (Note: In Canada, TikTok has not been banned, but marketers are watching U.S. developments closely.)

Brand Marketing & Campaign Highlights

• Powerade’s Global Soccer Campaign: Coca-Cola’s Powerade launched a new wave of its “Pause is Power” campaign, this time spotlighting Gen-Z soccer phenoms. A pair of ads feature 17-year-old Spanish star Lamine Yamal and Brazilian rising star Rodrygo, focusing on their pre-game rituals and the importance of taking a “pause”​. The campaign – developed by WPP’s Open X (led by Ogilvy) – is a long-term play prepping the brand’s relevance ahead of major soccer events like the FIFA World Cups (2025 Club World Cup, 2026 World Cup) and 2028 Olympics​. By aligning with young talent and upcoming global sports moments, Powerade is positioning itself to engage the next generation of athletes and fans.

  
  

• Jim Beam’s “Affordable Luxury” Pivot: Facing consumers who are budget-conscious, Jim Beam is adjusting its marketing strategy to highlight value with a premium twist. The bourbon brand (owned by Beam Suntory) is heavily promoting Jim Beam Black, a 7-year aged bourbon that’s a bit more upscale but still accessible in price​. Rather than repositioning as exclusive, the messaging aims to broaden Jim Beam’s appeal – showing it can be both an everyday whiskey and a special treat. The 2025 plan builds on last year’s “People Are Good For You” campaign and leans into music and sports partnerships to extend reach. “It’s a great proposition…premiumize the overall portfolio and meet consumers looking for something a little longer aged…without alienating our base,” said John Alvarado, Beam’s chief brands officer​. Key insight: brands are responding to economic uncertainty by offering “premium for less” options to retain cost-sensitive customers without diluting brand quality.

  
  

• Peloton’s Marketing Reorg: Peloton provided a glimpse into how brands are restructuring marketing teams for agility. The at-home fitness company’s CMO, Lauren Weinberg, departed after a short tenure, prompting Peloton to split its top marketing role between a Chief Marketing Officer and a Chief Communications Officer (both reporting to the CEO)​. This shake-up (announced April 24) comes as Peloton works to broaden its appeal – for example, by targeting more male consumers through campaigns featuring NFL athletes​. For business owners, this underscores a trend of integrating marketing and communications functions and directly involving CEOs in marketing strategy, especially in times of brand evolution or turnaround.

Customer Engagement & Loyalty

• NFL & Adobe Partner for Fan Personalization: The NFL inked an expanded partnership with Adobe to deliver AI-powered, personalized content to fans​. As an official NFL partner, Adobe is deploying its Experience Cloud applications (like Adobe Firefly generative AI and Express design tools) to help the league create customized media across all digital touchpoints​. Fans will be able to remix official content – for instance, using NFL-themed templates in Adobe Express to create their own posts – and will receive tailored content in the NFL OnePass app​​. NFL CMO Tim Ellis says the goal is to empower fans as creators of their own NFL stories, deepening their connection to the game​. This initiative, launching ahead of the 2025 season and NFL Draft, illustrates how brands can drive engagement by blending official content with user-generated creativity. It also highlights a broader trend of major organizations using partnerships (e.g. Adobe’s tech) to scale one-to-one personalization in marketing​.

  
  

• Loyalty Alliances – RBC & Canadian Tire: In Canada, a noteworthy collaboration is enhancing customer loyalty ecosystems. Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Canadian Tire announced a strategic partnership linking their loyalty programs. RBC’s Avion Rewards and Canadian Tire’s Triangle Rewards are being connected, allowing eligible RBC credit/debit cardholders to earn Canadian Tire Money at an accelerated rate when shopping – effectively converting banking customers into retail loyalty members​. This tie-up (announced in April) expands rewards and value for millions of Canadians, showing how cross-industry alliances can boost customer engagement. For businesses, it’s a reminder that partnerships can enrich loyalty offerings by combining audiences and incentives. (Related: earlier this month, Air Canada’s Aeroplan and Bell also launched a points partnership, indicating a surge in coalition loyalty strategies.)

  
  

• Customer Experience & Trust: Many brands are doubling down on customer experience. For example, Estee Lauder Companies recently partnered with Adobe to infuse generative AI into its digital campaigns (following the trend of AI-driven personalization)​. And in the quick-service space, chains are investing in mobile apps and loyalty (e.g., McDonald’s and Tim Hortons have seen success in Canada with app-based promotions). Across the board, the focus is on meeting customers where they are – whether through immersive digital content, convenient rewards, or interactive brand experiences – to foster deeper engagement and loyalty.

Canadian Market Trends & Insights

 Canadian brands united under the maple leaf: Nearly 50 brands across food, retail, and consumer goods created custom maple leaf visuals (made of their products) and blasted them out in unison as part of a “Buy Canadian” collective stunt on April 2, 2025​. Spearheaded by agency PIGEON, this campaign leveraged nationalist sentiment as new U.S. trade tariffs kicked in. The coordinated social media blitz – each brand posting a maple leaf image shaped from its own goods (see examples above) – sent a strong message of economic solidarity​​. It tapped into growing consumer patriotism: in one Léger survey, 73% of Canadians reported increasing their purchase of Canadian-made products amid economic uncertainty​. A BDC/Ipsos study also found 55% consider shopping at local stores an important factor in their buying choices​. Takeaway: Canadian consumers are rallying behind local businesses, and brands are collaboratively riding that wave – an example of turning public sentiment into a powerful marketing moment. For Canadian business owners, aligning with “buy local” values (and even teaming up with fellow brands) can boost goodwill and sales during such movements.

• Spring Surge in Entrepreneurship: New data shows that April is the peak month for starting new businesses in Canada. GoDaddy’s analysis of 2024 indicates a spring boom in microbusiness formation – a “spring bloom” of entrepreneurship as the weather warms. This means each April there’s an influx of new small businesses entering the market. For the marketing industry, this surge could translate to more demand for branding, digital presence, and advertising services from fresh startups. Established businesses might also note heightened competition in some sectors each spring. Overall, the finding underscores how seasonality can impact business and marketing activity, with spring being a fertile time for new ventures.

  
  

• Looking Ahead – Election Advertising: With Canada’s federal election slated for October 2025, political advertising is expected to heat up through the remainder of the year. As of April, early positioning has begun: party-affiliated ads and issue advocacy campaigns are ramping up on TV and online. This influx of political ad spend later in 2025 may drive up advertising costs and consume premium inventory. Canadian businesses should be aware of the crowded media landscape as election season approaches, potentially planning fall campaigns earlier or securing ad slots in advance. (Election ads also tend to focus heavily on social media, so brands may need to cut through increased noise on those channels.) In short: anticipate a competitive advertising environment in Canada later this year due to electioneering.

Emerging Tech & AI in Marketing

• Generative AI for Content Creation: New AI tools are making it easier and faster to produce marketing content. Google’s Veo 2 video generator, for instance, became available to more users via the Gemini AI suite – it can turn prompts into 8-second 720p videos, opening doors for marketers to create quick, eye-catching video snippets without a full production team​. L’Oréal revealed that its teams are using Google’s Imagen and Gemini generative AI models in a content “beauty lab” to speed up creative workflows​. They can generate concept visuals, storyboards or product-pack shots in days instead of weeks, significantly cutting content production time and cost​. One L’Oréal exec described how a single product photo can be placed (via AI) into various scenes – a Japanese garden, a Paris street, etc. – to instantly create localized ad visuals for different markets​. However, L’Oréal also sets boundaries: the company chooses not to use AI to generate realistic human faces or bodies in ads, to maintain authenticity and avoid ethical pitfalls​.

  
  

• Advances in AI Models: The AI models themselves are evolving. OpenAI launched new GPT-4 derivative models (nicknamed o3 and o4-mini) that can “think with images” – they interpret sketches/diagrams and integrate visual data into their responses​. These models can also autonomously use tools like browsing or Python, which could aid marketers in research and data analysis tasks. Moreover, OpenAI signaled an end-of-April update to ChatGPT: the service will retire GPT-4 and switch to GPT-4o, an improved model reportedly stronger in writing, coding, and conversation​. Marketers using AI writing assistants should expect even more fluent and capable outputs, but are advised to monitor any changes in tone or accuracy as models update. On the analytics side, marketers can leverage these smarter AI systems to parse large datasets or generate campaign ideas (e.g., via image prompts) with greater ease than before.

  
  

• AI Adoption in Business: Major companies are embracing AI to streamline operations and drive innovation. Retail giant Walmart stated it is “throwing the doors wide open” to generative AI, encouraging its associates to use AI tools in their daily work​. After piloting AI for two years, Walmart has now embedded AI across workflows from supply chain to customer service, reflecting a full-court press to boost efficiency and decision-making. This “all-in” approach includes training employees to leverage both in-house and third-party AI solutions every day. At the same time, organizations are grappling with balancing AI opportunities against risks like privacy and brand safety. The trend in 2025 is clear: AI integration is becoming mainstream in marketing and beyond – whether it’s automating ad copy creation, personalizing customer experiences, or optimizing logistics. Businesses that adopt AI early (with proper guidelines, as seen in L’Oréal’s case of restricting certain uses) stand to gain a competitive edge in creativity and productivity. Those that delay may find themselves playing catch-up as AI-driven marketing becomes the new normal.

Sources: Compiled from reputable industry news outlets and company announcements between April 9 and April 25, 2025. Key sources include Marketing Dive (for platform and campaign news), Search Engine Land (Google updates), MarketingProfs (AI trends)​marketingprofs.com​marketingprofs.com, Retail Dive (brand use-cases of AI)​retaildive.com, Little Black Book (LBBOnline) and Strategy (Canadian marketing initiatives)​lbbonline.com, among others. This period’s developments underscore a marketing landscape that’s rapidly evolving – with technology enabling new tactics, and brands (big and small) finding creative ways to connect with customers in a changing world.