EDELMAN’S

PERSPECTIVE
ON 2025
TIPPING POINTS
FINDING THE
MEANS TO ACT
In what is likely to be a dynamic and
volatile environment, communicators
have a critical role to play in helping
business and society navigate 2025.

As a bridge with the outside world, the insight

and knowledge communicators bring to
business empowers leaders with the means
to act. Doing so successfully in 2025 will
mean looking beyond short-term trends and
crises to identify deeper cultural forces
nearing their tipping points.
THIS IS OUR FOURTH YEAR TRACKING THE
MEGA-TRENDS IN COMMUNICATIONS

2022 2023 2024

The Road Back to Hope The Search for Stability Reasons to Look Forward

The role for business in How brands and business can How brands and business can
rebuilding hope as we build help people find stability in an help people find the optimism
back from COVID-19. age of constant disruption they need to move forward.
EDELMAN’S PERSPECTIVE ON 2025 – TIPPING POINTS

OUR PERSPECTIVE ON 2025:

TIPPING POINTS
In this report, we will investigate six
cultural forces that we believe are
approaching a tipping point* that will
transform the relationship that brands
and business have with their
stakeholders.
*Tipping point: a critical
By understanding how these forces are juncture at which unstoppable
reshaping our world, communicators change takes place
can help business drive trust and find Merriam Webster
growth.
 Trends to watch as they gather force

TRACKING THE
TIPPING POINT
Trends to act on in 2025

Stay alert for reaction and backlash

nascent emerging tipping point mainstream backlash

New forces Gathering Approaching mass At level of Time for
to culture momentum knowledge or awareness mass adoption something new
 EDELMAN’S PERSPECTIVE ON 2025 – TIPPING POINTS

1 ANTI-
HYPERSTIMULATION
For several decades, our culture of consumption has been
about more, more, more. Our media lives have become richer,
our lives fuller of stimulation and concerns over the welfare of
people’s attention spans have grown exponentially.
There are signs, however, that in some places we are
reaching the outer limits of what it’s possible to pay attention
to and are seeking a more choiceful relationship with the
media we consume.
THE NEW
PLAYBOOK
FOR EARNED
The 2024 US Presidential election was a watershed
moment that finally up ended the established
playbook for earning attention and trust. This will be
a challenging environment for brands to navigate,
but a huge opportunity for earned to show what it
does differently – and better – than advertising.
 Trend 1 Trend 2 Trend 3
NICHE IS ULTRA-LONG DOING IT
THE NEW TRUMPS FOR THE
MAINSTREAM SHORT-FORM ALGORITHM
(mainstream) (tipping point) (tipping point)
Joe Rogan crowns Presidents, The Observer Advertisers fight for attention in a second, but Whether or not they do upweight content,
might be owned by a podcast company, and streamers, YouTubers, and podcasters thrive algorithms now actively shape creation. From
South Africa’s debates exist thanks to a as audiences seeking depth turn to their ultra- photodumps to ‘flexing for the algorithm’ or
comedian-turned-YouTuber. Niche media is long content. Cutting through in a multi-hour chasing ever faster content production
mainstream and understanding this is vital era will involve rethinking messaging and through AI, creators now see their primary
when 4 in 10 people avoid news altogether. media training. audience as a piece of code.

Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024 Marathons: The Rise of Longer Form Shows The Desperation of the Instagram Photo Dump
THE POWER
AND VALUE
OF BOREDOM
When everyone is connected and stimulated all
the time, being bored has become both a luxury
and a social flex. Brands have an interesting
role to play in helping consumers find stillness
and reset their relationship with media.
 Trend 1 Trend 2 Trend 3
DOPAMINE LET KIDS BE REAL MEN
FASTING BORED RAWDOG
(nascent) (emerging) (tipping point)
Dopamine fasts and extreme meditation Boredom is character forming again, and The ultimate flex for men in 2024 was
are new wellness trends that detox people childhood development experts are rawdogging long-haul flights. It’s ironic that
from ‘junk’ stimulation. While the science positively advocating for boredom as a many did it just to post it online, but
behind them is shaky, their popularity phenomenon within children’s lives that rawdogging is a signal that men want to
captures a yearning to reset our parents should embrace rather than avoid. demonstrate the strengths of their minds as
relationship with stimulation and pleasure well as their bodies.

Why’s everyone so obessed with dopamine? Let kids be bored: it’s good for them No films, no music, no sleep: Is 'raw-dogging' long flights heroic or foolish?
 EDELMAN’S PERSPECTIVE ON 2025 – TIPPING POINTS

2 FROM EXPLORATION
TO PROTECTION
The era of discovery and openness that connected the world
and created phenomena like the digital nomad is in retreat. In a
world of low growth, job insecurity and increasing doubt in the
benefits of innovations such as AI, people are looking for
security, protection and limits. The brands and business that
help provide these will find trust and growth.
GLOBAL
CULTURE
PASSES In his book ‘Filterworld’, cultural commentator
Kyle Chayka put his finger on technology’s

ITS PEAK
role in creating a global aesthetic that makes
going into a café in Bologna or Bogota an
oddly similar experience. However, this long-
term trend for homogenisation and borderless
commerce is now going head-to-head with
anti-globalisation and the desire to return to a
slower, less tech-intermediated way of living.
 Trend 1 Trend 2 Trend 3
CLICKTIVISM AGAINST GRIMY BEATS
TO ACTIVISM GENTRIFICATION SHINY
(emerging) (nascent) (tipping point)

Lending your support is no longer a matter of Summer 2024’s anti-tourist protests in Europe In a world where Charli XCX’s is challenging
sharing a meme, it’s about showing up. From are just the latest wave of action pushing back Taylor’s cultural relevance, and London’s
the growth of mutual aid networks to against gentrification. This will intensify in hottest restaurant is a Londis selling Gujarati
widespread support for unions among Gen-Z, 2025, putting pressure on global brands to curry it’s hot to be messy. Standing out in
a new generation is putting the action back show they appreciate the dynamics of the 2025 means acknowledging the collapse of
into activism. markets where they operate. boundaries between high and low production.

Explaining Young Workers’ Support for Unions The mis-understood rise of anti-tourism in Europe The joy of embracing chaos
EMBRACING
LIMITS
Whether they’re spending more
intentionally or limiting their
children’s screen time, people
today are increasingly proud of
their ability to show constraint.
They will reward the brands who
help them live these more
disciplined lives with their loyalty.
 Trend 1 Trend 2 Trend 3
LET KIDS BE ALCOHOL IN A GEN-Z’S WORK
(PHONELESS) NEW AGE OF PRAGMATISM
KIDS TEMPERANCE SPREADS
(emerging) (tipping point) (nascent)
Digital native parents are rejecting tablet From Stoptober to ‘sober curious’ trends and Gen-Z’s pragmatic approach to work is gaining
parenting in favour of movements like blunt health studies, drinking habits in the traction. With retirement prospects fading and
Smartphone Free Childhood. While brands global west are shifting from routine to job security uncertain, their preference for long
haven’t yet activated here, EE’s UK intentional. This is an opportunity for drinks careers with breaks, side gigs, and portfolio
intervention shows room for tech and brands to rethink their role in consumers’ lives. roles is becoming the new normal.
communications to act as allies.

A growing number of parents are refusing to give their children The most annoying thing about young people at work is they
Millennials drive no alcohol gains in the US
smartphones — and the movement is going global are very often right
 EDELMAN’S PERSPECTIVE ON 2025 – TIPPING POINTS

3 LIVING IN AN OLD
WORLD
We need only look at our leaders to see how important older people now
are. In politics, Donald Trump, Lula and Nancy Pelosi are all power brokers
into their 80s, while the presence and importance of older women in
culture has never been higher. This shift raises question about our future
when youth – the traditional engine of production and consumption – is in
short supply. Where are the opportunities in managing the needs of an
ageing world?
AGEOVATION
There are now more people over 55
alive today than there are children
under five. This changes the
commercial landscape for everything
from FMCG to fashion and tech. Smart
businesses have already started
reconfiguring products and categories
that targeted younger consumers to the
needs of older populations.
 Trend 1 Trend 2 Trend 3
MATURE TECH NPD TO NOURISH MAKING OLDER
FOR MATURE AN AGEING LIFE A WORK
USERS WORLD OF ART
(emerging) (tipping point) (nascent)
Smart businesses are already innovating with As demand for formula milk slides, companies The bare functionality of 'accessible' products
older consumers in mind. FDA-approval for ranging from Nestle to China’s domestic dairy often evokes a care home vibe, clashing with
AirPods as hearing aids adds a new use case giants are reformulating their products to people living their best lives. This is changing
for headphones while T-Mobile’s updated 55+ deliver optimal nutrition to older adults, with accessible yet stylish designs like
plans shows how older consumers’ needs from targeting growing needs such as higher GI Remsen's homewares or Arc’Teryx’s assistive
tech are varied and dynamic. control. hiking trousers.

Apple gets FDA authorization to turn the AirPods Pro into hearing aids Nestlé CEO says feeding ageing populations a priority as birth rates fall Meet the Design Company Taking the Stigma Out of Aging
THE
FIGHT
AGAINST Pharmaceutical tweakments
make it easier than ever to

AGEING
defy gravity, while popular
culture is turning on the
concept of ageing as a fact
of life to be embraced,
An ageing world doesn’t mean reframing it as an unfairness
the stigma attached to being or to be resisted at all costs.
seeming old has disappeared.
If anything, anti-ageing is back.
 Trend 1 Trend 2 Trend 3
THE DEFYING THE THE AGE OF
MANOPAUSE AGEING INEQUALITY
MAINSTREAMS EXPERIENCE (emerging)
(tipping point) (nascent)
Driven by the growing comfort with anti- Cult hit ‘The Substance’ did more than While wealthy consumers hope to avoid
ageing therapies for erectile dysfunction and revitalise Demi Moore’s film career. Its ageing, the picture is different for those with
hair loss, the andropause market is booming. portrayal of a woman at odds with her age and fewer resources. Without action from
The testosterone replacement therapy market herself revealed deep cultural anxieties about government and business, millions face old
in the US alone is set to reach $2.59 billion by ageing, which companies like Bryan Johnson’s age in poor health.
2031. $333-a-month diet service seek to avert.

Testosterone therapy market snapshot Bryan Johnson’s anti-ageing Blueprint is now available The state of ageing 2024: Centre for Ageing Better research
 EDELMAN’S PERSPECTIVE ON 2025 – TIPPING POINTS

4 MIDDLENNIALS

As the world’s first totally online cohort ages out of

their youth, the golden glow that surrounded
millennials is fading. What this cohort does next as age
and experience challenges the values that were
supposed to define their generation will have far
reaching consequences for everyone from employers
and governments to brand marketers.
LIFE AFTER
THE GREAT
UNBOSSING
High layoffs in tech, consulting,
finance and creative business that
defined the aspirational working
culture of the 00s and 10s have hit
millennial workers hard. This brings
professional, financial and
psychological reckonings to a
generation who believed they could
find their purpose through
meaningful work.
 Trend 1 Trend 2 Trend 3
MIDDLE TRADLIFING WIDENING
MANAGEMENT (tipping point) THEIR
LOSES LUSTRE NETWORKS
(emerging) (nascent)
The safe, well-paid middle management roles Millennials were set to achieve double- At a time when their parents’ worlds were
many millennials aspired to are increasingly income equality, but trends like the tradwife shrinking, millennials are growing their
vulnerable to AI. This is discouraging Gen Z ideal and the grim 'your body, my choice' personal and professional networks. 47% are
from pursuing management and prompting meme revive regressive gender norms. In LinkedIn users, while brands tap into the
79% of AI-savvy millennials to consider less 2025, brands have a chance to build trust by ‘making friends in your 30s’ trend with ‘Tinder
automatable jobs. showing how they support women. for friends’ tech and group holidays.

Millennial managers are getting axed Why are we drawn to the tradwife fantasy? How to make friends in your 30s
LIVING
MIDDLE LIFE
THEIR WAY
As millennials reach the point in life typically
dominated by parenthood and long-term
relationships, it would be easy to see the life stage
not the person. Yet the delicate balance of caution
and optimism that made them such an interesting
challenge for communicators and marketers is still
there, just showing up in different places.
 Trend 1 Trend 2 Trend 3
THE UNEXPECTED OPTIMISING THE EAST-WEST
STABILITY OF EVERYTHING DIVIDE IN
MILLENNIAL MILLENNIAL HEALTH
MARRIAGE (emerging) (tipping point)
(emerging)
Delayed marriage due to financial pressures Millennials’ belief that tech drives self- Obesity may have peaked in the US, with
and shifting priorities may explain millennials' improvement persists. From rings that turn a treatments like Ozempic tackling middle-aged
lower divorce rates. When marriages do end, sleep score into a status symbol to services spread and future health risks. Among Chinese
services like Amicable show a preference for that help them helicopter parents to their own and Indian millennials, however, heart disease
conscious uncoupling over messy divorces. mums and dads they’re looking for ways to and diabetes are growing risks thanks to
optimise and automate their responsibilities. stress, smoking, alcohol and western diets.

Seeking amicable divorce Millennials helicopter parenting their own parents Indians Experiencing Heart Attacks 10 Years Earlier Than the West
 EDELMAN’S PERSPECTIVE ON 2025 – TIPPING POINTS

5 ALTERNATIVE
GROWTH
Growth is the preoccupation that keeps politicians, economists, and
CEOs up at night. While business has managed to engineer some
successfully out of challenging conditions for several years, a
sombre macroeconomic picture questions whether their tried-and-
trusted approaches are effective or sustainable in the longer term.
This has prompted a deeper philosophical discussion about growth
itself. What kind of growth should the world be pursuing?
THE END OF
PREMIUMISATION
(for now) Revenge spending in the Covid era
prompted brands and business
worldwide to premiumise. This, and
the cost-of-living crisis that followed,
pushed the profitability of everything
from eggs to Glastonbury tickets to
unprecedented heights. There are
signs, however, that businesses who
find growth in 2025 will be those that
pull carefully on the premiumisation
lever.
 Trend 1 Trend 2 Trend 3
GROWING THE SWEET SPOT SECOND-HAND
AFTER BETWEEN VALUES NEWS
‘GREEDFLATION’ AND VALUE (emerging)
(tipping point) (tipping point)
In 2024, inflated prices hit everything from Mass brands thriving in this environment Buying vintage is how you flex thrift, taste,
festivals to luxury fashion. As price sensitivity position themselves as ‘trade-down’ options and ethics in 2025, with growth from Ebay
grows, brands must communicate value. Hermès for people with disposable income. Chipotle and Vinted driving this to a $350bn market by
sets the standard, justifying the expenses behind excels here, backed by smart comms that 2030. Designers are now even taking cues
each price tag and which make its products a highlight its value for money and its shared from trends in the secondary market, as seen
mark of discrimination not consumption. values with customers and Gen Z employees. in Takashi Murakami's return to Louis Vuitton.

Hermès defies downturn in luxury shopping to outshine rivals How Chipotle thrives in a downturn Secondhand style will make up 10% of market in ‘seismic shift’ for sector
Hermes CEO challenges notion of expensive
ENTERING
AN AGE OF
ABUNDANCE
Whether it concerns the planet, the economy or
government, it’s striking that the dominant
narrative of the past century is scarcity.
This may be about to change as technological
developments usher in an era where we have
more of hitherto scarce resources than we know
what to do with.

How we choose to spend this

abundance will have important
implications for our future.
 Trend 1 Trend 2 Trend 3
SELLING WORKING THE RIGHT
LIMITLESS WITH INFINITE WAY TO
ENERGY INTERNS GROW
(nascent) (emerging) (nascent)
As renewables floods the grid, producers Fifty years ago, accounts staff worked like Every industrial revolution has its Karl Marx.
have an interesting challenge: selling price- cells in a spreadsheet. Now AI handles admin- Today’s may be emerging through the
negative energy. What economies do with heavy ‘email jobs,’ freeing workers from philosophies of de-growth, green growth, and
‘excess’ energy could spur a new wave of thankless admin while raising a question: how post-growth. These once marginal ideas are
innovation in energy storage and reframe our do you prove your value when AI does the starting to influence policymakers and
relationship with energy itself. busywork? businesses.

Electricity storage is the next play for AI investors Why AI is like infinite interns Slow down to save the planet, says Japanese philosopher Kohei Saito
 EDELMAN’S PERSPECTIVE ON 2025 – TIPPING POINTS

6 INTO THE
MEATAVERSE
Contrary to what we were led to expect in 2021, the metaverse is not
quite here yet. This doesn’t mean that the digital and physical are not
continuing to converge, however. They’re just mostly going in the
opposite direction into ‘meatspace’, with AI and social media
increasingly working to take the online offline.
AI
INFLUENCING
HUMAN
CREATIVITY
While the artistic community’s fears over
what AI means for their future remain,
there are signs of a more dynamic, playful
relationship between AI and human
creativity than many predicted.
 Trend 1 Trend 2 Trend 3
IS IT FASHION NEW RULES THE ARTIST’S
OR AN AI (tipping point) MODEL
HALLUCINATION? (nascent)
(emerging)
Fashion designers mining their archives are Creators sound and act different these days. While many artists remain suspicious of AI,
blurring the line between catwalk creations That slow, flat tone they use now helps game others are using it to push the boundaries of
and AI hallucinations. Prada’s Spring the algorithm amid a sea of AI-voiced content. what art could be. Ai Da, a humanoid robot,
Summer 2025 collection at Milan Fashion And those ‘how to’ videos they’ve started paints with a robotic arm and camera eyes,
Week celebrated this with airbrushed posting – a landgrab for eyeballs as social while London’s Serpentine exhibition The Call
effects, filters, and ‘impossible’ garments. networks become search engines turns AI training into a musical collaboration.

Enter the doomscroll: Prada SS25 is preparing you for life by Gen Z Dumping Google For TikTok, Instagram As Social Search Wins Painting by an AI robot sells for more than $1 million
algorithm
TAKING
THE
ONLINE
OFFLINE In every sphere of culture from fashion
to food and fragrance, the aesthetics
and experiences of digital life are
coming to meatspace, where they can
be explored with the full range of
sensory pleasures.
 Trend 1 Trend 2 Trend 3
THE SMELL OF GAMING THE NEW
SUCCESS INVADES TASTEMAKERS
(emerging) MEATSPACE (emerging)
(tipping point)
Fragrance has moved from the margins to For a generation raised on gaming, real- Pandan is the new vanilla, chocolate gets a
centre stage with 40bn views on world fun looks like experiences that bring Middle Eastern twist, purple yam reshapes
PerfumeTok. Now that they have ‘decoded’ gaming into meatspace. Just like at Super confectionery, and karak chai and boba are
the category online, parfumiers and creators Nintendo World, where visitors collect coming for coffee. Treats are shifting east,
are using this buzz to draw consumers into coins, battle baddies, and explore the park with Dubai emerging as an entrepot for
immersive, sensory brand experiences. as though they were Mario. global food trends.

TNT Sports plans video game-inspired alternative broadcasts

PerfumeTok and the fragrance renaissance for NBA Cup knockout rounds The Sweet, Colourful Curse of Instagram and TikTok in London’s Chinatowns
NAVIGATING THE TIPPING POINTS IN 2025
What 2025’s Tipping Points mean in practice depends on the needs of your organisation. But as you enter 2025, here are a few
starting thoughts as to whether you’re ready to seize the opportunities they bring

INSIGHTS AUDIENCES CULTURAL RELEVANCE

& INNOVATION

Do you feel equipped to navigate the tipping Do you recognise your audiences in these How are you ensuring cultural relevance?
points we expect in 2025? trends?
How are you assessing the actions you take
Do you have the insights you need to Do you have the insights you need on how as a company, and as an individual?
identify, track, and pre-empt the tipping your audiences are experiencing their own
points that are around the corner? tipping points? How well defined is your permission space?

Are your leaders informed of the new media How can your brand show it understands Do your innovation stories have a point of
environment they are going into? where a product’s value intersects with view on how they help people get the most
consumers’ values. out of their longer, fuller lives?
THANK YOU
Want to know more about the themes
EDELMAN’S and information in this report?
PERSPECTIVE www.edelman.co.uk
ON 2025 Contact the Edelman strategy team:
TIPPING POINTS [email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]