Five Trends for 2025
- and what they mean for strategic positioning
The landscape of 2025 is shaping up to be transformative, with major trends forcing businesses to rethink their strategies for communication, branding, and in some cases even the overall positioning. The transformative tensions can also be felt at this year’s World Economic Forum where Donald Trump will address the participants on Thursday afternoon in a video conference.
Here’s what we see on the horizon—and what it means for organizations navigating a complex and evolving environment:
1) AI – From experimental adoption to strategic integration
Artificial Intelligence will remain a central force shaping industries in 2025, advancing further towards deep, business-critical integration. To leverage AI effectively, top management must explain the corporation’s approach to AI and articulate a clear, balanced AI narrative – one that is both ambitious and grounded. Without it, there will be no trust in that AI will bring any good to the organization and its people. This narrative should address key questions:- What is the firm’s general approach to AI?
- What role do efficiency gains, innovation, employee development, product development and ethical considerations play in there?
- How does it bring value to their customers, employees, suppliers and investors?
2) AI-driven brands – The new visibility imperative
AI-driven customer journeys – spanning B2C and B2B – are revolutionizing how customers discover and evaluate products. From conversational AI to automated procurement platforms, algorithms increasingly mediate decisions. Brands must ensure their portfolios are not only compelling to humans but also readable and relatable for AI systems. This calls for future-proofing brand architecture:- Simplify product portfolios and align brand structures
- Shape clear underlying value propositions and narratives
- Empower your marketing teams for AI-driven marketing
3) From purpose to pragmatism – Delivering on promises
The cascading crises of recent years – pandemics, supply chain disruptions, and geopolitical tensions – have tested the resilience and relevance of corporate purpose concepts. While purpose remains critical for the confidence of brands and organizations, 2025 will demand a shift from grand narratives to practical action. For brand and marketing teams, this is a chance to demonstrate their business understanding and impact on both the bottom line and top-line growth:- Leverage the strength of your brands beyond the awareness creation stage
- Prioritize brand & marketing initiatives that generate direct sales impact
- Balancing long-term brand-building efforts with short-term market responsiveness
4) Quo vadis sustainability? Navigating a divided agenda
The global sustainability narrative is facing significant disruption. The rollback of environmental and diversity policies under the new Trump administration has created massive uncertainty. In the US, companies such as Meta, Walmart and McDonald’s have recently announced reductions in their DEI initiatives. In contrast, leading German companies such as Telekom, BMW and Bayer reaffirmed their commitment to ESG and diversity, and the topic seems to remain high on the agenda for the European Union as well. This fragmented landscape poses a huge credibility challenge for globally operating companies. While it is clear that ESG and diversity commitments are not made for one electoral term only, they may need to take a more nuanced approach to their positioning:- Don’t get caught up in the political battle but emphasize the added value your sustainability and DEI commitments bring to your business
- Increase the focus on the benefits your sustainability agenda yields for your customers and local communities
- Where necessary, create more localized frames for your sustainability positioning
Are you looking for an overview of the German ESG landscape or do you want to know specifically where your company stands in terms of public ESG perception? The Globeone ESG Barometer 2024 provides answers. Download it here for free.
5) Does employer branding take over the corporate brand?
In recent times, the employer brand has gained significant strategic importance, often surpassing the focus on corporate branding. This shift is largely driven by the intense “war for talent,” where companies are increasingly prioritizing efforts to attract and retain top employees. As organizations invest more in shaping their employer brand—highlighting their workplace culture, values, and employee benefits—the corporate brand can sometimes take a backseat. The intense focus on talent acquisition and employee experience has made the employer brand a key differentiator in the competitive business landscape, leaving the traditional corporate brand less emphasized in comparison. Whether this is positive or negative remains to be seen. In any case, large organizations need to realize that corporate brand development needs more that a few weekly posts on LinkedIn.- Is your employer brand up-to-date and able to “inspire” the corporate brand?
- Is your corporate brand overly neglected?
- How do you energize your corporate brand in times where brand building means for many organizations to air random snackable LinkedIn posts written by AI?
Are you interested in what state-of-the-art employer branding and a powerful employer value proposition (EVP) – in line with the corporate brand and purpose – looks like? Then download our free Employer Branding Whitepaper here.
Thank you for your interest.
We put a lot of effort into creating these articles to provide you with valuable insights. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to our experts—we’re happy to help. Stay informed by signing up for our newsletter to receive future updates straight to your inbox!
Our Experts
Dr. Niklas Schaffmeister
Dr. Niklas Schaffmeister is one of the leading experts in strategy-driven (re)positioning and transformation of global brands. His focus lies on complex change processes in which brand strategy, organisation and corporate culture need to be realigned. For him, successful repositioning means not just a new market positioning, but a profound re-culturing within the organisation. A particular focus of his work is on the strategic challenges that arise when ambitious AI strategies collide with established corporate structures – and on how companies can bridge these transformation gaps.
With over 20 years’ experience, he has led international positioning, brand growth and transformation projects in sectors such as chemicals, automotive, retail, technology, consumer goods and financial services. His book “Brand Building and Marketing in Key Emerging Markets” (Springer) is regarded as a reference work for strategy-driven international brand building.
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Carina Hauswald
Carina has more than 20 years of experience working in and for large corporations around the world. Her expertise includes strategy development and purpose-driven brand management. She is particularly passionate about working with B2B brands in expanding business ecosystems on a mission to create true customer value.
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Simon Aschermann
With more than 15 years of experience, Simon has advised companies ranging from publicly listed global market leaders to niche players and their executive leadership on all kinds of reputational matters. His expertise spans positioning strategies, corporate communications, brand management, marketing and organizational development. With a focus on reputation-critical turnarounds, strategy launches, executive positionings and market-driven thought leadership, he has worked in high-stake environments across B2C and B2B industries, helping clients turn their positioning into a real strategic advantage.
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Alexander Solms-Baruth
With more than 8 years of experience in communications and marketing and with a special focus on digital, Alexander is a vital member of Globeone’s management team. In his Strategy Director role, he guides teams across industries and topics. Alexander is native English and leads our project hub in Washington.
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