Customers are at the core of brand and marketing – or so we would like to believe. The unfortunate truth is that in the pursuit of business outcomes and performance metrics, customer demands and expectations often are being sidelined.
Through 2024, customers called out and boycotted several brands and agencies for tone-deaf ‘creative’ campaigns, inauthentic influencer collaborations and for failing to follow through on their purpose-led promises.
This raised a crucial question: Are we truly enabling enhanced customer experiences, sharing meaningful stories and prioritising people instead of merely pushing products?
Asmaa Quorrich, CEO, Founder, Think/Big Consulting, says, “As a demand-creating department, marketing is primarily a service centre to customers. It creates products and services that address an unmet need or create a need to enhance customers’ lives. All this is done to increase shareholders’ value via healthy revenue and solid profits. Each marketer needs to fully grasp his/her contribution towards this goal by being customer centric.”
‘‘BRAND EXPERIENCES MUST BE HUMAN: THOUGHTFUL, RELEVANT AND PERSONAL.”
Data-led marketing with customers at the centre
Speaking to Campaign Middle East about marketers’ top priorities in 2025, every single marketer and agency leader – each of whom we talk to separately – calls for a greater focus on reaching customers with a human touch, and on leveraging existing data and AI tools to meet customer needs.
Rachel Devereux, Marketing Director at Virgin Mobile UAE, says, “Managing a brand goes beyond communications and marketing; it’s about crafting experiences that genuinely resonate with people. A truly impactful brand experience must be human: thoughtful, relevant and personal – qualities that technology, AI and bots alone cannot achieve.”
Jon Barber, Vice President – Marketing and Communications at TECOM Group, says, “Marketers should prioritise authentic, purpose-driven storytelling that resonates on a human level. While data and technology are critical enablers, customers are increasingly drawn to brands that demonstrate clear values and contribute meaningfully to society. This shift in consumer expectations must be addressed with nuanced understanding of audience segments and tailored messaging that reflects empathy and relevance.”
This means that the sweet spot found in the intersection between consumer motivations and macro trends revealed by data analytics needs to be complemented with a human, compassionate element. Marketers must lean into data but, more importantly, truly care about consumer needs.
‘‘PERSONALISATION AT SCALE, POWERED BY TECH AND DATA, WILL TAKE CENTRE STAGE.”
Ghada AlRumayan, Group Chief Marketing Officer at Saudi Arabia’s ROSHN Group, says, “Marketers need to prioritise two aspects of their work. First is adopting a data-driven approach, ensuring they leverage the right information to guide their decision-making. Second, they should be able to analyse that data, leveraging consumer insights derived from both qualitative and quantitative research.”
She adds, “By using data to identify demand and understand customer behaviour, marketers can align their strategies with real-time market needs. Add to this market trends, and you will develop the deep understanding required to build campaigns and communications that excite your customers and grow your bottom line. The universal truth is that the more effectively you leverage data to understand your customers, the more impactful your marketing will become.”
Adding ‘hyper’ to personalisation
There’s no doubt about it: Artificial intelligence and authenticity were the oars that marketers used to row the marketing boat through 2024. This is unlikely to change in the months ahead. However, the marketing industry needs a North Star – a clear sense of direction towards true customer satisfaction.
On this journey, it’s essential that every single, individual customer feels special through hyper-personalisation. This requires meticulous orchestration across cross-channel brand experience touchpoints.
Modern data ecosystems have already equipped marketing teams with unprecedented granularity. By harnessing advanced analytics, machine learning and AI, marketers can make better sense of this granular data to deliver hyper-personalised experiences. Many marketers believe that this is the only way to make customers feel heard, and to truly reflect the aspirations and intent that they have willingly shared with brands.
Karim Benkirane, Chief Commercial Officer at du, says, “In 2025, the focus for marketers and agencies should notably shift towards leveraging the synergy of technology and consumer insights to redefine the engagement landscape. Personalisation at scale, powered by cutting-edge tech and analytics, will take centre stage.”
“This involves crafting hyper-personalised consumer experiences across all touchpoints, a strategy that promises to significantly boost customer satisfaction, loyalty and, consequently, conversion rates. More than 50 per cent of consumers are willing to share information on products they like to get personalised discounts.”
ROSHN Group’s AlRumayan adds, “We are using AI tools to interpret our customer data, to better predict demand, personalise messaging based on historical data, and optimise our campaign performance. AI allows us to work at a much faster pace in terms of both testing and analysing marketing effectiveness. The scale at which we can now work will transform marketing.”
‘‘AI’S COMING OF AGE IN 2025 PRESENTS AS MUCH RISK AS OPPORTUNITY.”
While brands are focusing on personalisation for customers, agencies that service these brands are also focusing on personalised strategies for their clients.
Elie Milan, Chief Performance Officer, Publicis Media, says, “In 2025, I believe we should adopt personalisation in the way we deliver client solutions. This ensures that the use of data, technology and AI focuses on overcoming their specific growth barriers. Crafting personalised ecosystem maturity strategies will reduce trend-driven ‘AI everything’ and establish clear pathways for brands to future-proof their business while efficiently and effectively communicating their core brand values.”
When asked about the specific insights marketers are looking to unearth, Virgin Mobile UAE’s Devereux adds, “One of the many areas we’re exploring is gaining deeper insights into creative performance beyond traditional optimisation metrics. In today’s attention economy, where every second counts, we’re focused on understanding if our ads truly break through the noise and captivate audiences.”
Preserving human creativity in the age of AI
However, while pursuing personalisation through data-driven insights, it’s critical for brands not to lose the human touch that makes creative campaigns attractive to customers. Consumers crave connection and are attracted by authentic, relatable creativity. The quest for one should not come at the cost of the other.
Balance is key, marketers and agency leaders tell Campaign Middle East.
“Perspective is everything,” Devereux says. “In a world where everyone is leveraging AI, not using it means falling behind. AI helps us move faster, think smarter, enable hyper-focused brand strategies and deliver personalised experiences through data and insights. However, overreliance on AI risks losing creativity and the human touch. The key is balance – using AI to enhance human ingenuity, not replace it, for impactful results. My tip: use AI wisely. Don’t compromise quality or the customer experience just to save time or a few dirhams.”
Barber adds, “Automation and AI tools are allowing marketers to personalise campaigns at scale, optimise performance in real time, and extract deeper insights from data. All of this is invaluable – especially when resources are limited – but AI must be viewed as an enhancement to human creativity, not a replacement.”
It is truly fascinating to see these opinions being echoed by both client-side marketers and agency leaders in independent conversations.
Rarely has Campaign Middle East witnessed such a consensus on a topic of discussion. Clearly, the injection of human empathy, emotion, judgment and authenticity into creativity remains significant in a world where AI can seemingly do it all.
Think/Big Consulting’s Quorrich adds, “I believe 2024 proved to every marketer that AI tools are far more capable than we ever imagined. The level to which machines respond to queries and mimic humans was unexpected. However, it was also proven that human intervention is key. Prompters are crucial to optimise the use of AI and managers are needed to validate output and ensure alignment with business goals.”
Marc Ghosn, CEO at Wavemaker MENA, says, “AI is a boon for its ability to drive efficiency, scale personalisation and reduce costs. It empowers marketers to optimise budgets and invest in creative exploration. However, if over-relied upon, AI can run you into traps such as risking biases, errors or stifled creativity. Striking a balance is key; using AI to augment human judgment rather than replace it. By reallocating AI-driven savings into testing and innovation, marketers can turn AI into a catalyst for more positively provocative strategies.”
Houda Tohme, CEO, Havas Media Middle East, says, “AI is unquestionably a powerful ally when applied with intention and balance. It enables marketers to unlock new efficiencies – optimising campaigns, forecasting trends and personalising at scale – all while operating within leaner budgets. However, its true value lies not in replacing human creativity but in enhancing it. AI offers data precision and scalability, but it lacks the emotional depth and cultural understanding that great marketing demands.”
Tohme adds, “As we move forward, marketers must use AI to amplify strategic decision-making and elevate creative innovation. The key is to position AI as a collaborative partner that complements human expertise, ensuring marketing retains its empathy and authenticity while achieving measurable impact.”
‘‘DEMOCRATISATION OF DATA-BACKED DECISIONS HAS REDUCED THE COST OF FAILURE.”
John Tippins, Regional Strategy Director, UM MENAT, sums it up well. He says, “AI’s coming of age in 2025 presents as much risk as opportunity, making it more bane than boon in the short term. While it promises efficiency, the rise of misinformation, hallucinations and unchecked biases in AI-generated content could erode trust between brands and consumers.”
Tippins adds, “Over-reliance on AI might lead to superficial campaigns lacking human nuance and creativity. As budgets tighten, there’s a risk of cutting corners by fully automating, leading to reputational damage. 2025 will likely be a year of growing pains, where vigilance and ethical AI practices are critical to navigating this transition.”
Preparing the workforce
Talking about placing customers first is great, but converting consensus to action in 2025 will mean getting employees on board with the ‘customer first’ programme as well as the AI tools that support them.
Barber says, “The growing integration of AI and marketing is already evident in the adoption of brand management and planning platforms in our industry, but this confluence must be supported by investments in future-proofing our talent pool of creative and process innovators.”
The potential of AI in marketing will be best leveraged by employers that adequately train and upskill their workforce in these emerging technologies.
Forming teams with a deep-seated customer-centric ethos enables organisations to ensure that the best client centric and customer-centric work reflects in more than just requests for proposals (RFPs) and award submissions.
Quorrich adds, “Marketers should focus on building strong customer-centric teams. With increased specialisation, young marketing professionals are often oblivious to their contribution to the big picture, which results in tactical work without a clear end in mind.”
Cross-functional teams, steeped in customer empathy, can traverse traditional silos to deliver innovation and agility, ensuring that every brand interaction amplifies value and fosters brand loyalty. It also ensures that every member of the team creates strategies and campaigns with an intimate understanding of consumer behaviour and preferences.
Guiding lights for 2025: Learning, iterating and adapting for customers
Before we conclude each interview, Campaign Middle East asks marketers and agencies about their top takeaways from 2024 that can guide their path to customer satisfaction in 2025. Several leaders share the benefits of A/B testing and their learnings from A/B testing over the past 12 months.
Publicis Media’s Milan says, “2024 has highlighted the need to master-test our A/B design fundamentals to work in tandem with advanced platform algorithms. This approach will help validate hypotheses related to ad copy, CTAs and visuals, offering insights into consumer preferences that large language models (LLMs) might miss.”
Milan adds, “Complementing automated processes, A/B testing provides the human oversight, guiding campaign design and adjustments to align with strategic goals. It also offers valuable consumer insights and supports embedding long-term brand objectives. Managing the interplay for A/B testing and platform algorithms will create a balanced approach, combining human insight with machine precision to boost campaign success.”
Barber says, “While bold innovations capture attention, it’s often the subtle shifts – such as tone adjustments, image variations or call-to-action placement – that deliver the most significant uplift in engagement. We’ve also learned that customer behaviour is increasingly context-dependent, and A/B tests must account for external factors such as seasonality and market sentiment.”
Marketers also allude to the impact that updated consumer data has on effective decision making. Moving beyond intuition and outdated stereotypes surrounding customer preferences and behaviours has become the need of the hour. Every bit of data-driven insight also informs creativity, permits for real-time optimisation and drives better campaign outcomes.
Du’s Benkirane says, “The power of data-driven decision making cannot be overstated. The assumptions about audience preferences that marketers previously held were often challenged and corrected through A/B testing. It revealed surprising insights about customer behaviour and preferences, sometimes diverging significantly from what was initially anticipated.
“The enduring supremacy of creativity in marketing has been another eye-opening realisation. Through A/B testing, minor alterations in creative elements – be it copy, design or multimedia aspects – have been shown to produce substantial differences in consumer engagement and conversion rates. Lastly, the importance of audience segmentation has been brought to the forefront.”
Several studies have cemented these notions. A recent Forbes survey highlighted how 74 per cent of managers and executives worldwide are leaning into data-driven decisions, while a McKinsey study showcased how 10 per cent to 15 per cent more revenue is generated by businesses that tailor their offerings to customer segments than by those that do not.
Additionally, having experienced the benefits of democratised data-driven decisions based on customer insights, marketers have now developed a greater risk appetite for 2025.
UM MENAT’s Tippins says, “A/B testing in 2024 helped to reshape the risk profile for most marketers by allowing brands to experiment boldly while minimising uncertainty. Testing at scale has shifted the industry away from risk aversion towards calculated experimentation. The power of real-time insights allows marketers to react swiftly, rather than betting on untested ideas.”
Tippins adds, “This democratisation of data-backed decision-making has also reduced the cost of failure, encouraging creative and media risks that were previously avoided. In 2025, the challenge will be balancing this iterative, low-risk approach with maintaining a visionary, long-term perspective. But over-testing risks homogenising output, so marketers must use these tools to enhance innovation rather than constrain it.”
Placing all the top takeaways in context, Havas Media Middle East’s Tohme says, “One of the most critical lessons from 2024 is the value of agility and context in decision-making. A/B testing reminds us that success isn’t about uncovering a single winning approach but about continuously learning, iterating and adapting.
She concludes, “In 2025, this mindset must extend to how we approach broader strategies – ensuring they remain flexible and responsive to evolving market dynamics and audience behaviours. No approach should ever be considered final. Instead, organisations should embed a culture of innovation and experimentation, viewing every outcome – whether a breakthrough or a setback – as a stepping stone for future growth.”
The lesson for 2025 is clear: sustained success comes from prioritising adaptability, embracing real-time insights, and committing to ongoing refinement with a focus on customers.
