Digital media is shifting—fast. Are you ready for 2025? In this special two-part edition of Below the Fold, we sit down with Dana El Zein, Director of Digital and Media and former Meta strategist, to unpack the biggest trends transforming how brands connect, convert, and grow in the MENA region. With 15+ years leading digital strategies for global brands and startups alike, Dana brings sharp insight into what’s working—and what’s next. 📍This is Part 1 of our two-part deep dive into the trends that will redefine marketing in 2025.
📍This is Part 1 of our two-part deep dive into the trends that will redefine marketing in 2025.
🔍 In this episode:
💡 This is your roadmap for staying relevant in a market that’s moving faster than ever.
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Hi, Dana. Hi. How are you? Good. How are you? Good, good. Welcome to Below the Fold. Thank you. I'm flattered to be here. ~Uh, ~I'm super excited to do this with you. Yeah, me too. We, [00:01:00] uh,~ uh,~ known each other for, since University College. Yeah. Yeah. ~Uh, ~it's been a while. I, I think, let's not say how long. Let's, let's just not say how long.
~Um. ~And we have recently worked together as well. Yes. Right. ~Uh, ~on,~ uh,~ marketing, on, on, in, in marketing media. Did digital, digital marketing landscape. Right. It's great media, great experience. Yeah. ~Uh, ~and, and this makes it even more compelling Yes. ~Uh, ~for me,~ uh,~ to be doing this with you because I, I, I've known your,~ uh,~ capabilities in this field and I know that we've bonded over this topic.
~Uh, ~at work. ~Um, ~differently. Yeah, exactly. Faded. ~Um, ~and so we are going to cover today,~ uh,~ digital media trends in 2025 or,~ uh,~ 2025 trends, right? So we'll,~ um,~ cover these trends. We'll make this a two part episode. Okay. So the first part. ~Uh, ~we'll, we'll cover a number of trends, and then the second one, the,~ uh,~ viewers and the listeners [00:02:00] can just jump into the next episode,~ uh,~ to, to,~ uh,~ to listen to the,~ uh,~ other trends that we'll cover.
~Um, ~do you wanna quickly introduce yourself to the listeners of yours? Sure. ~Uh, ~I'm Dana El Zein. I've been working in the media, tech and advertising industry for the past 15 years. Spent my entire career in,~ uh,~ consulting with the world's largest brands, but also very,~ um,~ small SMEs and enterprises. And I'm super passionate about media and specific because.
I feel that media and communication and advertising is all about psychology and all about understanding consumers and how to reach them,~ uh,~ with your message as a brand and how to, how to cut through and connect with them. ~Uh, ~so yeah, that's pretty much me in a nutshell. On a personal level, I, I love yoga and, but I think that's irrelevant for the podcast.
No, it's okay. Of course. But you spoke about psychology and understanding people and so I [00:03:00] think there's definitely a. An intersection right there between business and data and science and people. Yes. Right. Absolutely. ~Um, ~and ~um, ~yeah, the, these trends that we've, that we've collected and aggregated together,~ uh,~ some of 'em are,~ uh,~ existing, I guess touch points and channels that have been there for a while, but they just picked up right this year.
~Um. ~And, and not all of them are new channels or new media or new products. ~Uh, ~some are, some are related to performance and cost and things like that. ~Uh, ~why don't we kickstart with the first one, right? Which is,~ um,~ the rising costs of media, of paid media. Yeah. Right. And ~uh, ~yeah. What is happening there, right?
CPCs and media costs are continuing to rise in in 2025. What's your take on that? What do you think that's happening? Is it because a lot of advertisers are jumping on biddable media? Yeah, look, I [00:04:00] think you definitely have increased competition, and with increased competition obviously comes increasing costs.
~Um, ~I think every advertiser is competition, but I also think that marketers in today's world are pivoting more and more to platforms and digital media, and within those spaces, your competition is not actually your. The other advertisers, right? Yeah. In the industry that you're dealing with, but rather it's all of the content that's put out there.
So on one hand you have advertisers that are increasingly spending money on ads trying to reach consumers, but you also have consumers that are bombarded with content, not just from. Other advertisers, but also from,~ um,~ from actually probably the topics they're most interested in. You know, it could be your,~ uh,~ baby photos, it could be wedding posts, and it could be content creators,~ uh,~ putting their content out there.
Yeah. And I think it's that combination that is actually [00:05:00] making, making this whole space and industry a lot more cluttered. Yeah. So. For brands, I think it means a couple of different things. Yeah. ~Uh, ~I think for me at least, like the one thing is for brands, they need to go back to basics and do what marketers have always done.
If you think of marketing, it hasn't changed. Right? Yeah. So marketing has always been about reaching consumers with the right message in the right place at the right time. Yeah. Today the right place tends to be the mobile device, more or less. So it's always on. Yeah. So it's really about. Reaching consumers with the right message in the right channel.
Yeah, I think, I think for the past like decade, we've moved from the right message to focusing on the right place and time, right. With trying to move to digital. And I think you made a really good point there with maybe we need to. Yeah, take a step back and then re-look [00:06:00] at the right message. What does the right message mean?
Because I was, I was looking at a, a sta the other day,~ uh,~ which said, 50% of your performance is on the creative. Hmm. Right. So maybe one of the things that brands could do is to be able to stand out and dec clutter is deliver a really good creative. Absolutely. I think creative, actually creative is probably the area that brands need to be investing in the most.
~Um, ~but I think to get to the right creative, the first thing that brands need to be doing is really understanding their audience and understanding the channels. That their audiences are consuming or the channels that their audiences are on. I think what tends to happen with advertisers a lot of the time is they will have a piece of creative and then they will just shoot it out or shoot the same creative across multiple different channels with the hopes that it works.
But obviously every channel has its own nuances and has its own way of sort of connecting with audiences and. [00:07:00] Actually, like the example I always like to refer back to is when we think of the first TV ad ever. Do you know what the first TV ad was? No. I, I'm intrigued now. It ~uh, ~so actually it's, if you wanna Google it, it's for Bvo watches.
Yeah. And it actually was a radio ad on tv. So basically what they had was a radio vo,~ uh,~ and they just had the logo of the brand. Oh, no way. Okay. The watch brand. So that was the first. Ever TV ad Yeah, that was aired, which is very interesting because obviously times have evolved. Now we're starting to build for digital first, but you still have a lot of brands that are investing into, you know, what we would typically consider TV ads, right?
And then just putting them on all of their social media channels. Or they might build, you know, short form content, 15 second ads,~ uh,~ things that work better in a me in a digital media space. But they're literally using the same ad. Across TikTok, Google. ~Um. ~Yeah. Meta and whatnot. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, [00:08:00] I am,~ uh, uh, ~I mean, I fully agree on this point.
I, I do hear a lot about,~ uh,~ how,~ um,~ the social media users want to see the human aspect of a brand, the people behind the brand,~ uh,~ which isn't always the case when you look at the content that the brands put. Put out there, which is highly edited, highly produced. And I think the other thing on,~ um,~ CPC and media cost increasing that I wanted to cover really quickly,~ uh,~ before we move to the next trend is.
Y Yes. ~Uh, ~CPCs,~ uh,~ are increasing and,~ uh,~ yeah, you absolutely need to work on your creative. And I do think you also need to make sure that if you're going to pay a higher CPC, you wanna make sure that it counts. And so you wanna make sure that you're tracking the post click activity. Yes. And that. You're optimizing for it and that you are paying a higher CPC, but you're trying to also decrease your, your cost per conversion, your cost per ticket sale, et cetera.
A hundred percent. So look beyond the click a hundred percent. ~Um, ~next trend. And, and I know [00:09:00] you, you've said that you, you found this one interesting. Yes. The search landscape is fragmenting. I think it's, I think this is maybe the most interesting space at the moment. ~Um, ~'cause for a very long time, obviously search was synonymous with Google.
I. But today's search means a lot of different things to different people, right? So you have on one hand social search, which is,~ uh,~ people searching on, you know, Instagram and on TikTok, especially the younger audiences. I remember. I mean, we all remember, I think it was two years ago, those headlines everywhere that,~ uh,~ gen Z or TikTok takes over search for Gen Z.
Mm-hmm. ~Um, ~you have now,~ uh,~ what's becoming more and more prominent zero click searches. Yeah. Which essentially is. Consumers searching, let's say on Google, but then through generative ai, you have the results appearing on the. Search result landing page. So there is no post click experience. Yeah, yeah. It ends there.
Yeah. And then I think the, the largest, you [00:10:00] know, one that has seen an uptake in the past year is,~ um,~ ai. Yeah. ~Uh, ~and searching through ai, which has actually shifted the way we search as humans, right? Mm-hmm. Because it's become a lot more conversational. It's no longer. ~Um, ~best restaurants in Madrid. It's what are the best bakeries next to me,~ uh,~ or next to my hotel in Madrid, let's say.
Yeah. ~Um, ~and I think this influences brands. In a very interesting way, and yeah, and there's a lot that they can play on in this space. Yeah. One of the things that I've seen happening with how much people are starting to search on social media is the type of content that creators. And businesses are, are, are starting to push based on search queries.
So, because a lot of users are now searching on Instagram about restaurants, for example, instead of Google, because they wanna, they wanna see visuals Yeah. Of how the restaurants looks like, or they wanna see the, the dishes, right. ~Uh, ~they don't [00:11:00] wanna see the, the review type photos that are not always, you know, appetizing.
I guess they wanna look at the proper pictures of Instagram and what that. ~Uh, ~what, what, that's what that is doing to, to, I guess, restaurants is now they're including in their content like a, a really long,~ uh,~ caption with a lot of information in it so that when people come across this content, 'cause they're searching, they get all the information.
~Um, ~and that's also actually helping their content be, you know, ~uh, ~being prioritized. ~Uh, ~on, on social media? ~Um, ~yeah, I think, I think this is an element that's,~ uh,~ very interesting that's picked up over the, over the past,~ uh,~ I guess year. ~Um, ~and,~ uh,~ a you mentioned ai, ~um. ~Yeah, I think it's, I mean, I think there is that, that actually is AI in a way, right?
Yeah. Because it's the generative search results is what you're referring to. Yeah. Generative search results. ~Uh, ~but also on, on,~ uh,~ Instagram. So if you search Oh, [00:12:00] within Instagram? Yeah. So, so if you go to any,~ uh, uh, ~a lot of the restaurant pages on Instagram, if you tap on their, some of their posts. ~Uh, ~and you'll notice that the caption isn't, no, is no longer like, ~uh, ~three sentences or one paragraph.
It's a really long caption with a lot of information about the restaurant. Ah, okay. You know, so, yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's becoming more useful for the end user to find the information and it's creating more engagement and therefore,~ uh,~ their content is being favored by the algorithm. That's smart. ~Um, ~yeah.
What do you use for search? ~Uh, ~I think it depends if it's travel related. I use a lot of Instagram Yeah. ~Uh, ~to kind of figure out where I wanna go and you know, how to plan my trip and what looks nice, even like what to wear in a specific destination. ~Uh, ~I, I think like a lot of people,~ uh,~ I use Claude.
Yeah. Personally,~ uh,~ it's become my sort of best friend and I use it for everything. Yeah. ~Uh, ~and then. Google I still use, [00:13:00] but it definitely is not, I don't use it the same way I used to. Yeah. I, I think my first touch point,~ uh,~ has become,~ uh,~ ai. Ai, yeah. So because it's a conversation, it's easier to, to sort of Yeah.
So the, the search landscape is definitely fragmenting. Yes. And I think also what this means for brands is. They need to revisit their SEO strategy to cater for now, multiple, multiple channels. And I think that's gonna pick up, right? SEO for ai, SEO for Instagram, obviously for TikTok, et cetera, and using conversational keywords.
So I think they need to rethink that entire keyword strategy, right. What do you mean by that? Can you gimme an example? A again, like, I think it's more before, let's say you're, you would be looking at,~ uh,~ let's say best,~ uh,~ best local bakeries, right? The way you search now today, it's even if it's, by the way, even voice, right?
Yeah. You, you use Siri. Tell me, what are the best local bakeries in town? So you're. [00:14:00] The keywords and the way you're structuring your sentences are much more conversational human. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's exactly like this is conversation rather than ~uh, ~yeah. Input. Interesting. Next trend I. Next trend, AI powered campaign optimization is revolutionizing paid media.
So some would say AI and paid media in embed media is nothing new, right? It's been there forever. Like the, the engine that,~ uh,~ powered empowers, I guess the platforms is an algorithm. It's an AI type technology. Yes. ~Um, ~but we are seeing today more reliance on machine learning,~ um,~ with the emergence of,~ uh,~ ad tech, such as performance max Advantage plus with meta.
~Um, ~I think I've heard Amazon ads,~ uh,~ launch something called Brand Plus,~ um,~ and TikTok. Smart, smart Plus TikTok Smart Plus. Yeah. ~Uh, ~I wonder who came first. ~Um, ~yeah, what do you think? Do you think that's,~ um,~ a,~ uh,~ step forward [00:15:00] or is it a step backward because there, there's gonna be less control from advertisers,~ uh,~ with their campaigns.
On the country. I absolutely think it's a step forward and I think it's a massive opportunity for marketeers to, to stop focusing so much on the manual operations and, and really spend their time on insights, on analytics, on feeding that back into the business. ~Uh, ~I think. When it comes to marketing, but it does basically, I think it requires a lot of trust.
Mm-hmm. Because you need to get the inputs right. Yeah. ~Uh, ~in order for this to work effectively for you. And the inputs are everything from the tech stack and the tech set set up. Mm-hmm. Especially if it's performance based marketing,~ uh,~ all the way through actually. There's the tech stack and then there's the creative.
Yeah. ~Uh, ~the audience. You're keeping it broad and you really need to trust that the algorithm is going to find the audience that will convert [00:16:00] for you, but it's the creative that you can play around with the most. Yeah. And I think that's where advertisers need to still build.
~Uh, ~so build their creatives or design their creatives, assuming they have different audiences. Yeah. But then trust that, yeah, whatever runs or whatever delivers the best performance for them is actually a. You know, the, the winning creative. Yeah. And I think that's the tricky part. That's a really good point.
I heard,~ uh,~ in on multiple occasions that your creative is your targeting. Yes. So your creative is your targeting because. People who engage with your creative are is the audience that's gonna, that is, that is going to see your ad over and over again. And also another thing,~ um,~ it's the bidding. So your bidding is also a form of targeting.
If you're bidding for traffic for clicks, the system's going to be showing your ad to people are likely to click true. If your bidding is something [00:17:00] else, if it's a a sale, for example, the system's going to look for people in market to, to make a purchase. Let's move to the next one. The next one is first party data is becoming critical.
Remains critical. Remains critical. I think it always was critical, right? Knowing your audience. Yeah, and, and having a database just right. So, so there's knowing your audience, but it's also targeting your audience. Right? True. ~Um, ~leveraging them. There's a, a, obviously a, a privacy,~ uh,~ compliance like aspect that you need to, I guess, account for, right.
When you, when you deal with first party. ~Uh, ~I know that some brands take it very seriously. Yes. And, and it's also very limiting in many cases. Right. ~Um, ~what, what would, what do you think would be like certain key takeaways from first party [00:18:00] continuing to be very important in, in advertising? I think, I think first party data can actually augment.
Existing,~ uh,~ sort of advertising solutions that you're, that people might be using? Yeah. ~Um, ~there's Google's enhanced conversions. I think that was one of them where,~ uh,~ using the first party data actually helps it better identify the people that will convert based on your existing audience. Right. ~Um, ~I think first party data is also extremely powerful when it comes to.
Cost saving. So, for example, if you're a brand, and you know, you, there's two, two sort of,~ uh,~ components to this, but the one on one hand is, is if you're a brand and you wanna reach. Only your database, then there is no point in spending dollars and money reaching an entire, you know, market Yeah. Or segment.
It's actually more effective probably to just reach your audience. ~Um, ~[00:19:00] so that's on one hand and the reverse is true. So let's say you're a brand and you're looking to acquire new customers. Then and you and you have like a specific offer for those new customers, then there's no point targeting your existing customers, right?
So, mm-hmm. ~Uh, ~I think first party data will always remain a gold mine for advertisers, but it's really about how you analyze that data and how you understand the consumer and what you. Use it for Yeah. ~Um, ~that will ultimately make it valuable for brands or not, but brands that use first party data have seen, I mean, these are just stats that I've read,~ uh,~ online, but I, I believe it's true because there's plenty of case studies Yeah.
To support it that they've seen, you know, over eight x return on investment from. Leveraging first party data in their advertising, right? It might be cost,~ uh, uh, uh, ~coster to activate first party data versus a broader audience, but there's definitely a, a good leap in [00:20:00] performance when you do so. I. Next trend, and I think this one's been trending for a while now.
Short form video is dominating digital engagement. Right? ~Uh, ~TikTok Instagram reels continue to to rise.
Short form video is still king. It will always be king. Yeah. ~Uh, ~you know, it's funny, I think this trend, I. It's because I've been in this space and industry for a while now to someone like me and you probably, it feels like we're just repeating the same trend year on year, you know? And it's the same sort of best practices focus on short form and yeah.
You know, capture attention in the first three seconds. Make sure your logo's there. But I actually think for. The majority of market. I think the reason it's still there is unfortunately as a marketing industry, we haven't, it hasn't yet [00:21:00] become the norm. Yeah. It still is either an adaptation or a one size fits all.
Like I'll make this 15 second ad and then release it across multiple platforms. Yeah. ~Um, ~which is where I think, which is where I think it's important that advertisers sort of. Start to really invest in creative. Yeah, yeah. And building the right creative for the right channel. And also to your point earlier at the start,~ uh,~ on more authentic creative.
So it doesn't have to be, you know, this high production. $900,000 TV shoot. Yeah. It can actually be something that is shot with your mobile phone on the spot spontaneously based on, you know, culture, what's happening at the moment. Yeah. And in real time. And I, and I do think also,~ um,~ it is, it is dominating from a digital engagement standpoint.
I. Because man, the, I feel like the algorithms are just getting better at serving us [00:22:00] short content. Yeah. Don't you, don't you think so? Like this past year, I feel like I'm spending more time on,~ uh,~ and more money doom scrolling. Yes. And more money. Right? True. ~Uh, ~it's getting better and so I'm spending more time over there.
~Um. ~We've just reached the end of part one, so we'll take a small break and you can catch us in the next episode.