At the Marketing strategies 2025 Brew Summit in New York, marketers agreed that the pace of change in their industry has never been faster. A survey conducted by Morning Brew revealed that 80% of marketers believe marketing will look completely different within 18 months, while nearly 90% ranked agility as the most critical trait for today’s professionals.
Speakers from Duolingo, Sephora, Audible, Gamefam, and Unilever shared how they are adapting their strategies to remain relevant in shifting markets and cultural landscapes.
Meeting the Moment with Cultural Relevance
Duolingo: Chief Marketing Officer Manu Orssaud explained that cultural passion points often drive spikes in new learners. For example, Duolingo is launching an anime series in October 2025, after seeing Japanese learners grow due to manga and anime fandoms. Similarly, K-pop culture continues to fuel interest in learning Korean.
Audible: Cynthia Chu, Chief Financial and Growth Officer, shared that Audible had to localize its messaging for Japan, even going so far as to create the Japanese term for “audiobook.” While global campaigns worked well in markets like the US, UK, and Canada, the Japanese market required category awareness before brand awareness.
New Tricks for New Audiences
Gamefam + Cher: Gamefam’s 2023 Roblox campaign promoting Cher’s Christmas album showed how Gen Alpha activations can breathe life into legacy artists. By creating an in-game quest to deliver presents set to Cher’s songs, the campaign successfully introduced her music to younger listeners and boosted Spotify streams.
Sephora + Women’s Basketball: Sephora has become a major beauty partner in sports, sponsoring the Unrivaled women’s basketball league and the WNBA Golden State Valkyries. The brand built glam rooms, installed kiosks in arenas, and turned games into beauty activation touchpoints. Fans not only purchased lip glosses courtside but also turned Sephora spaces into selfie-friendly cultural moments.
Listening Closely in the Age of AI
Duolingo’s Scraper Tool: The brand developed its own social scraper to track fandom trends and guide content strategy.
Unilever’s Social Listening: Using customized scraping tools, Unilever identified consumer behavior that shaped campaigns like “Vaseline Verified,” which showcased unexpected Vaseline use cases, from beauty hacks to sports gear maintenance.
Balancing AI and Creativity: While AI is increasingly used to generate video content, Mntn’s Aston Ford reminded marketers that human creativity remains the differentiator. In his words: “The marketers that want to continue to have an edge will need to depend on human creativity in order to stand out.”
Conclusion: Blending Agility, Culture, and Creativity
The Marketing Brew Summit 2025 underscored that successful brands are those that:
- Stay agile in fast-changing markets.
- Connect campaigns to cultural movements like anime, K-pop, women’s basketball, or gaming.
- Use AI and social listening to enhance strategies while still relying on human creativity.
As marketers look toward 2026, the clear lesson is that agility doesn’t just mean speed — it means being culturally connected, technologically prepared, and creatively human.
