WHAT’S TRENDING: 2025
Ageless Millennials
While Gen Z and Gen Alpha may be the newest obsession for marketers, millennials are quietly redefining what it means to turn 40, trading midlife crisis clichés for optimism, identity, and creative self-expression. Cultural figures like Anne Hathaway and Lindsay Lohan embody a generation shaped by wellness, aesthetics, and social media, maintaining a youthful presence no matter what’s behind it. But it's not limited to just celebrities, casual facelifts are trending younger, with patients aged 35-55 rising from as low as 26% to as high as 32% in recent years according to the American Academy Of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. By embracing aging on their own terms, millennials are reminding brands they’re still powerful, still relevant, and far from done.
Y2K is back
Y2K is back, and it’s more than just a style trend. For brands, the revival offers a way to connect with both Gen Z and millennials through early-2000s visuals like chrome finishes, bubbly type, pixelated graphics, and playful, cheeky tone. Successful brands aren’t just copying the aesthetic, they’re blending it with today’s values around inclusivity, self-expression, and conscious consumerism to create something that feels both nostalgic and new.
Low-Stakes Escapism
In a world of burnout and digital overwhelm, brands are embracing lightness, humor, playfulness, and irreverence to deliver emotional relief alongside function. Jones Soda’s quirky labels are making a comeback. Fishwife makes sardines feel sassy and cool, not sad and salty. And Happy Coffee has rewritten the typically hyper-functional or overly serious coffee category with a name that radiates mood and messaging that’s less about caffeine jitters and more about feel-good vibes and emotional energy.
Scroll-Stopping is the new Shelf Impact
In a world where traditional ads no longer stick and TikTok sets the tone, brands are leaning into scroll-stopping visuals, unexpected formats, and voices that feel native to the feed. Vacation turns sunscreen into retro irony with over-the-top copy and ad parodies that beg to be shared. Banza makes chickpea pasta funny complete with pasta memes and personality-packed reels.