Greetings!

Welcome to the December 2025 issue of Key Notes - Marketing Keys' monthly newsletter! With the holidays in full swing, we hope you and your business enjoy a productive and positive close to 2025! Key Notes is an informative, quick-read newsletter to get you caught up on all things media and marketing. Our goal is for you to be informed and entertained with the latest media and marketing happenings quickly and efficiently. 

Holiday shopping kicked off with a major milestone this year, as an unprecedented 202.9 million people made purchases between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. The National Retail Federation says this turnout not only beat last year’s figure by several million shoppers, but also pushed far beyond what analysts expected. With this strong start, the NRF believes holiday sales are still on track for growth in the 3.7% to 4.2% range, which would push seasonal spending past the $1 trillion threshold for the first time.

Even with financial pressures in the background, NRF leaders say shoppers tend to carve out room in their budgets for December traditions. President and CEO Matthew Shay noted that consumers view holiday spending as a priority they rarely compromise on. The group’s survey found that more people shopped both in stores and online compared to last year, and that the typical shopper spent about $338 over the weekend — the highest average since before the pandemic.

Other industry trackers paint the same picture of enthusiasm fueled by promotions. Adobe Analytics reported that Cyber Monday alone brought in more than $14 billion in online purchases, helping Cyber Week totals climb to over $44 billion. Heavy discounts in popular categories played a big role, and buy now/pay later services hit a new high as more people opted to spread payments out. Mastercard’s SpendingPulse data showed Black Friday performing well, too, with online sales especially strong.

While stores and websites saw record traffic — with supermarkets and online retailers topping shoppers’ gift lists — economists say the surge reflects today’s deal-driven mindset. NRF Chief Economist Mark Matthews emphasized that consumers are more focused on sales, comparisons, and timing than ever before. For retailers, the strong numbers are encouraging, but much of the momentum is tied to promotions and flexible payment tools, suggesting that shoppers are splurging selectively rather than signaling broad economic confidence.

What Does the 'M' Really Mean?

Over the past few years, the CMO job has quietly transformed. Responsibilities that once defined the role — pricing, sales strategy, customer insights, even innovation — now sit with other leaders. Bit by bit, the traditional “4 Ps” have been divided among new C-suite titles, leaving many marketing heads wondering why their influence seems to shrink and why the role is so often viewed as interchangeable.

But this shift doesn’t signal the end of the CMO. Instead, it highlights where their greatest strength truly lies: shaping what the brand says and how it says it. Rather than trying to reclaim old duties, modern CMOs are positioned to take full ownership of messaging. They’re the only ones equipped to build a clear, consistent narrative — the story that ties together every product launch, every ad, and every customer interaction.

This focus has become increasingly important. In a world where most products feel similar and media buying is heavily automated, creativity becomes the advantage. Industry leaders like Sir John Hegarty describe creativity as “thinking differently,” and research backs its impact — companies that genuinely embrace creative thinking see stronger innovation and significantly higher returns. A memorable story does more than grab attention; it drives growth in ways data alone can’t.

That’s why the CMO of today is really the chief storyteller. Their job is to uncover the brand’s core truth, shape it into a powerful idea, and guide how that idea shows up everywhere from a 30-second commercial to a help-desk script. They set the tone, orchestrate the content, and steer agency partners to bring the brand’s voice to life. When you look at it that way, the role hasn’t been diminished at all — it’s been clarified. The future CMO is the guardian of the message, and that responsibility is more essential than ever.

If you want to know what people really care about, you don’t need a focus group—just open TikTok. Today’s consumers turn to creators for advice long before hitting Google, yet many brands still treat social as a place to repurpose whatever’s already been made. That mindset overlooks the real value: social is where fresh ideas are born, not just where old ideas get resized.

Most brands loop in social teams only after the creative concept has been locked in, which is kind of like asking someone to decorate a room that’s already been furnished. Social specialists have an inside view of what motivates people to share, comment, and spread content among friends. Inviting them into early strategy discussions leads to stronger, more community-ready ideas because the thinking is built for social from day one—not squeezed in later.

A lot of younger team members worry it looks unprofessional to constantly check their phones. In content roles, it’s the opposite—being plugged into conversations, jokes, trends, and micro-communities is the only way to create work that feels relevant. You can’t craft platform-native content if you don’t understand the culture of the platforms themselves.

Creators aren’t simply influencers—they’re storytellers who know how to build a brand within their own communities. When brands fold creator work into paid media alone, they unintentionally limit the organic spark that makes creator-led ideas spread naturally. Give creators room to pitch concepts, make real-time tweaks, and respond to emerging trends, and they’ll create content that feels alive. Look at how Workday tapped into LinkedIn’s “rockstar” obsession with a campaign featuring Billy Idol. It worked because the idea came from understanding how the platform’s users actually talk. That’s the power of letting social lead instead of follow.

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising continued its upward momentum in the third quarter, bringing in $2.13 billion—a 4.5% increase from the same period last year. This marks the 18th quarter in a row of growth, highlighting the medium’s staying power. For the first nine months of 2025, total OOH revenue reached $6.98 billion, representing a 3.2% increase compared with 2024.

Digital OOH led the gains with an 11.6% jump, while transit and place-based advertising also performed strongly. Transit ads saw the largest boost at 11.4%, followed by place-based (+8.3%) and street furniture (+7.1%). Several key industries ramped up their OOH spending, including financial services (+35.5%), insurance and real estate (+26.8%), and communications (+10.3%). In total, seven of the top 10 OOH-spending industries invested more this quarter.

Top advertisers included Morgan & Morgan, JP Morgan, Geico, Apple, and McDonald’s, with 65 of the 100 biggest spenders increasing their budgets over Q3 2024. Leading categories ranged from legal services and healthcare to consumer banking and quick-serve restaurants. OOH formats included both traditional and digital billboards, transit, street furniture, and place-based signage.

TikTok Shop has gone from a curiosity to a full-blown retail force in a very short time. After clearing $100 million during last year’s Black Friday rush, the platform has continued to scale at an almost unbelievable pace. In the most recent quarter, TikTok generated $19 billion in worldwide sales—putting it within arm’s reach of eBay’s $20.1 billion. U.S. shoppers played a huge role in that momentum, driving more than $4.5 billion in sales, which analytics firm EchoTik says is more than double what they spent just one quarter earlier.

To prepare for the holiday crush, TikTok rolled out a wave of updates meant to simplify selling and help brands get discovered. Automated ad creation, new generative creative tools, and a public announcement feature for creators all made it easier for vendors to stand out. On top of that, TikTok dangled seasonal incentives—bonuses tied to sales goals, vendor performance, and creator partnerships. The result? Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday alone, TikTok Shop pulled in about $500 million from U.S. buyers. The extended promotion period, stretching from mid-November to early December, featured special offers from major names like Gap, Ralph Lauren, Samsung, JBL, Meta, and the Disney Store, helping fuel the surge.

Although TikTok Shop built its early growth on affordable items from small sellers, the platform has started attracting luxury brands as well. Shoppers can now find high-ticket pieces—like $11,000 bags from Hermès or Chanel, plus rare items from Louis Vuitton, Rolex, Cartier, and even limited Nike drops. To support that shift and compete with giants like Amazon, TikTok has also been cleaning up its marketplace. According to its latest safety report, the company rejected over a million vendor applications and removed tens of millions of product listings before they ever went live. With U.S. online spending hitting $44 billion over Thanksgiving weekend—and social-driven shopping up more than 50%—TikTok Shop’s next chapter looks even bigger.

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