It’s safe to say that AI got plenty of hype in and out of the advertising industry this year—but there were plenty of other marketing tactics that didn’t get nearly as much attention.

Marketing Brew talked to CMOs and other top marketers at major brands like Dr. Squatch, BetterHelp, and Mint Mobile to hear what they thought were the year’s most overlooked and underutilized marketing trends and strategies. We’ll be waiting to see whether these trends and tactics stand out in the marketing campaigns rolling out in 2026.

Putting brand fans at the forefront: “Marketers underestimate how much audiences shape the direction of a brand. Fans show you what they respond to, what they think is funny, and what they want more of. That feedback is incredibly valuable, but it isn’t always prioritized…The opportunity that’s often overlooked is using that feedback to guide where the brand goes next. When brands listen and adjust, the creative gets sharper and the connection with the audience gets deeper. It feels earned, not forced.”—Manu Orssaud, CMO, Duolingo

Wowing consumers IRL: “One of the most overlooked elements in marketing today is what happens after the viral moment. We call it avoiding the “boom-splat” scenario. You want that initial buzz, but how do you keep the momentum moving forward after that moment? When someone sees the Triple Dipper all over TikTok and decides to come into Chili’s, we have the opportunity to build loyalty with great food, great value, and a memorable experience. The brands winning today have to build the foundation…to make sure any viral momentum actually shows up in their business. It’s a partnership built on marketing bringing guests in, and operations bringing them back.”—George Felix, CMO, Chili’s

Read more of what marketers told us here.—AM, JS, JN, KH, KM

Marketing may not be a math-heavy field, but there sure are a lot of Xs.

From Chili’s x Tecovas to Wicked: For Good x just about any brand you can think of, 2025 was filled to the brim with collabs. It’s no secret that marketers love a crossover moment, but do they always land? We broke down the best, worst, and downright cringiest brand partnerships we saw this year.

The good:

• Chipotle and Wonderskin’s “Lipotle” lip stain may go on green, but the reddish tint it leaves was enough for customers to clamor for it and sell it out for the second year in a row.
• Well, that’s one way to repurpose vinyl seating: Chili’s partnered with cowboy-boot brand Tecovas to sell $345 “Booth Boots,” which were apparently so popular, they’re now reselling on eBay for anywhere from *checks notes* $1,900 to $50,000.
• Glossier partnered with Magnolia Bakery to create a lip balm based on its signature banana pudding. With the addition of a banana-charm keychain, it feels like this helped spur the phone/keys/wallet trend.

The bad:

• At this point, we know the name of the game is attention at all costs, but did we really need mac-and-cheese lip balm from Panera and Holler and Glow?
• Similarly, we’re just not sure there’s a need for caffeinated hot sauce, contrary to this year’s latest Taco John’s and 5-Hour Energy collab.
• Erewhon smoothies are all the rage, but if Instagram comments mean anything, the Boka x Erewhon Mint Condition Smile Smoothie was one to skip if you’re not interested in sipping on toothpaste.

Read more here.—KH

During our winter break, we’re sharing with you some of our favorite stories we’ve published in the past year. This feature on how Instagram created—and then may have hampered—the link-in-bio industry was originally published on June 16 as part of Marketing Brew’s Quarter Century Project.

Prior to 2010, a “link in bio” would have referred to a brief history of the 16th president of the United States. Now, it’s a full-fledged industry.

Affiliate marketing has been around for decades, and the influencer as we know it was largely built on the back of the 2000s blogging era. However, it wasn’t until Instagram became the platform du jour for creators in the mid-2010s that a cottage industry of social-specific affiliate companies really took off, with the aim of solving for the fact that Instagram posts, unlike blog posts, had no click-through or tracking capabilities.

All of a sudden, “link in bio” was not just a follower directive for creators—it was a revenue opportunity for third-party platforms hoping to break down the platform’s walled garden to make it more shoppable and trackable.

But while the walled garden was a business opportunity to start, it’s posed a threat to the continued growth of affiliate companies and creators. Platforms that are friendlier to direct linking, like YouTube and Substack, meanwhile, seem to be on the rise and signal a new era beyond the link in bio.

“If you look at [Instagram] today versus 2017 and then really rewind it back to 2013, it’s not the same platform at all,” Amber Venz Box, who co-founded the affiliate platform LTK, told Marketing Brew. “It goes by the same name. It doesn’t function the same way. It’s not engineered the same way.”

The one thing that’s remained consistent? “It does still have the same business model,” she said, “and we did know that ultimately that model would be a losing model for creators.”

Continue reading here.—KH