Advice for marketers for 2025 from the CMA Insights Council

“In a word”

With the dust of 2025 planning settling down, many marketers are coming to terms with increased pressure to demonstrate value and drive growth. Although inflation is stabilizing at a lower rate, the geopolitical unrest of the past two years has set a new high in our cost of living. The continued political uncertainties are driving economic challenges, leading to more cautious consumer spending. Many organizations look to marketing executives to lead the charge on driving growth and resilience.

This is where the power of insights becomes transformative. In a world where customers are increasingly selective with their spending, the ability to extract actionable intelligence from data isn't just an advantage—it’s a necessity. While intuition and creativity remain vital to marketing success, making data-informed decisions enables organizations to navigate uncertainty with more confidence. Marketing leaders who harness these insights are better positioned to identify opportunities, mitigate risks, and deliver measurable results.

Last year, the Insights Council looked to a 2024 where marketers could strengthen relationships with their customers through a more agile process, informed by and integrated with actionable insights.

Going into 2025, here is the outlook from some of our members on how insights can help marketers make better decisions.

Discovery

Insights are often used for action, but insights can also be great for discovery. My hope is that insights provided from this group will encourage discovery and trial with marketers who are looking for new and better ways to engage Canadians.

—Jack Harding, President, Diner Agency Inc.

Empower

In the fast-paced world of marketing, insights and analytics are game-changers. They transform raw data – of which most organizations currently have a plethora – into actionable intelligence, helping marketers understand their audience, predict trends, and evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns. By leveraging data insights, marketers can identify the key needs and wants of their market segments, determine what resonates with their target audiences, optimize tailored messaging, and allocate budgets more effectively. They can easily track the performance of their strategies in a timely manner and adjust them accordingly to optimize ROI. Analytics provides a clear picture of customer behaviour, market dynamics and performance metrics, enabling data-driven decisions that minimize risks and maximize ROI. In essence, insights and analytics are the compass guiding marketers toward strategies that deliver measurable success.

—Vicky Freed, Managing Director, Membership and Marketing, Canadian Automobile Association

Defend

The trajectory for 2025 is uncertain. It will be a year to dig deep and defend. Shifts that have been talked about up until now will begin to land on the ground and take shape. Whether it be values, confidence, market share, customers and business models – marketers can expect sniping from the sidelines to disturb the equilibrium that firms, and indeed the economy, have fought hard to restore in the post-pandemic recovery period. Expect “moats” and “protectionist measures” to be favoured to secure revenue and profit. Elections – past and upcoming, their downstream events and anticipation of those events – will force most business leadership teams into an “en garde” stance. The other side of the “defend” coin is “consolidate.” Businesses will do well to take this opportunity to strengthen their core processes and their decision frameworks.

—Rajesh Kumar, Chief Client Officer, Marketscience

Transparent

Following a multi-year rapid inflation, consumers across Canada are making more calculated decisions. Marketers of course need to continue inspiring their audience with what their brands mean to bring, and at this challenging time, more than ever, marketers need to accept what consumers are encountering. It’s important to face the fact that costs are rising. Brands that try to assist their customers should be acknowledged. Approaching this with sincerity could help strengthen brand loyalty.

—Edward Li, Director Real Estate Secured Lending Pricing, CIBC

Breakthrough

"Breakthrough" captures the transformative power of insights and analytics in redefining how marketers operate. It reflects the ability to achieve significant qualitative and quantitative impact, driven by innovations like AI, real-time data and predictive analytics. By enabling data-driven customer experience strategies, uncovering unique opportunities and igniting fresh ideas, marketers can connect more deeply with their audiences and navigate challenges with confidence and vision.

—Vineeta Menon, Sr. Manager, Insights & Analytics, Rogers Sports & Media
 
Inventive

Inventive may not be a word generally associated with insights. Most people think of insights as something grounded in data and analysis. In 2025, marketers need to have an inventive mindset in how we gain insights. Traditional methodologies and historical benchmarks may not capture today’s consumer mindset. Successful insights professionals will need to employ the “MacGyver mindset” in combining information from new sources, finding creative proxies, and extracting meaningful signals from imperfect data.

—Margaret Ngai, Chief Technology Officer, RI
 
Enlightening

This reflects our Council’s vision of insights shining the light on multiple pathways for marketers, uncovering hidden opportunities, and providing the clarity needed to make confident and creative decisions.

—Nina Puehringer, Head of Account Management - Canada, Quantcast Canada Inc.
 
Symbiotic

In 2025, AI should shape a symbiotic business environment, powering back-end efficiencies and front-end personalization alike. Across every layer—automation, employee productivity and customer engagement—AI will act as both an engine and a bridge, harmonizing operational speed with the nuanced, human elements of brand connection. This symbiosis will allow businesses to deliver experiences that are seamlessly intelligent, where AI optimizes the process while enhancing human creativity and trust. A well-designed AI strategy will move from mere automation to a deeper alignment between digital precision and human insight, defining the next era of customer and employee interaction.

—Ritesh Singh, Chief Growth Officer, Icogz
 
Empathy

In the rapidly evolving landscape of marketing, the most impactful insights and analytics come from truly understanding and connecting with customers on a deeper, more human level. Empathy in marketing involves using data not just to predict behaviours but to comprehend the emotions, motivations and challenges that drive those behaviours. Incorporating empathy into marketing strategies helps bridge the gap between data and human connection, ultimately leading to more authentic and effective campaigns that build trust and drive long-term success.

—Terry Tyler, Integrated Marketing Manager, TD Bank Group

Final thoughts

We encourage you to ask yourself these two questions:

• What's your word for 2025?
• How do you envision insights evolving to support your marketing goals?

Our Insights Council will continue to work on thought leadership around how you can harness the power of insights to reach your 2025 goals. Stay tuned for more.

Author/contributors:
Margaret Ngai
Jack Harding
Vicky Freed
Rajesh Kumar
Edward Li
Vineeta Menon
Nina Puehringer
Ritesh Singh
Terry Tyler