Things have been tough. 

Last year, many senior people I'd spoken with across the creative industry shared a similar mantra,“survive ‘til ‘25”. 

But let’s not be under any illusion, whether it’s the mega-merger of Omnicom-IPG, freelancer budgets under more scrutiny, or the rampant acceleration of AI tools; 2025 wasn’t going to get easier the moment we had sung Auld Lang Syne and welcomed the second half of the decade.  

Changes and challenges are always inevitable, but rather than wallow in fear, I’d like to propose—as many a good therapist will suggest—that to navigate external challenges, we must make peace with what we can and can’t change.

So, against all external pressures, I want to attempt to shift the attitude towards a “Thrive in ‘25” mentality.

Let's not call them resolutions because they won't be kept, but perhaps three pinky promises I’d like us all to make to overcome fear together:

1. Be nice

If you look from the outside in at the moment, between industry commentary and LinkedIn feeds, we in adland are coming across as a bitter, scared, and fractious bunch. Not an environment for risk-taking, openness, and empathy, which I'd argue are the hallmarks of great work. Not only is this discouraging, and pushes people away from trusting their out-of-the-box ideas or creative gut instincts, but it’s not an environment I’d want to work in if I were young impressionable talent.

To get work out, when marketing budgets are getting squeezed, deserves applause. 

As does zagging when the safe money and quiet life are on zigging. 

And don’t get me started on the personal teardown of individuals. 

I’m all for upholding craft and our reputations, but we all represent our industry. Showing quality means more than analysing why others’ campaigns land poorly - when we tear one ad and everyone around it down, we tear us all down.

So I for one will be thinking twice before I pick faults in work I’ve had no hand in, or reminding myself that there may be context, or goals, that I'm not privy to. 

Even behind closed doors.

2. Make peace with AI

Personally or professionally, no matter how you feel about AI, there’s no denying it's having a big impact on day-to-day processes. Denying its positive capabilities in 2025 means treading a dangerous path - but keeping a healthy line of defence is wise. The sheer volume of content, media channels, and formats proliferating in recent years will continue to grow. We will need to make more and more and when budgets simply don’t match this scale, we will all need to innovate or suffocate.

Resisting assistance, no matter whether it’s from human hands or an intelligent tool, will allow us to flex where we want to flex to keep our creative sparks alive. Why not make a brief (A) faster, cheaper, and easier so brief (B) can be slow, more expensive, and satisfyingly challenging? 

Tiering briefs and approaching them accordingly will be the only way to deliver at pace and indulge where we want to indulge. And letting go of ‘your idea’, by allowing more people, processes, and technologies to make it with you, is the secret to freeing us all.  

Our AI story can and will be the same as with the advent of all new creative technologies. It’s why I personally love this industry: The perpetual innovation.

So let's be open-minded, pick your fights. If you are anti-AI on everything you lose credibility and hours in the day, fast. 

3. Be fearless

Helpfully, this third promise is, I feel, the logical endpoint of promises 1 and 2, but I’d love to see adland make 2025 the year of taking more creative gambles. 

Creating this environment takes serious, intentional effort. From personal experience, some of my best work has been done in an environment where fear was removed from the equation, by leadership, clients, and peers. 

It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Nurture new talent in a supportive environment and we all learn from fresh perspectives and cutting-edge work. Otherwise, creatives constantly in fear of backlashes or AI taking their creativity will never be empowered to make work that resonates or progress past ideas that AI could have made.

Face these fears and I promise it will be a thriving 2025.