In 2025, leaders are facing two major challenges. The first is convincing budget-stretched consumers to spend their hard-earned cash as inflation and tariffs cause the cost of goods to surge. 

The second is trying to generate mass sales growth while the cost of generating demand through online advertising continues to increase at a rapid rate.

That cost is financial and operational – uncertainty over the future of TikTok due to regulatory changes and shifts in Meta’s platform policies has partly sparked a redistribution of advertising spending across digital channels.