As we prepare our annual predictions for 2025, we came across our predictions from 2024 and thought it would be worthwhile to examine some of those trends and their impact.

1. We said: “The media business has not stabilized.” How it played out: The situation is worse today. We’ve got “news deserts,” a term we hadn’t heard of back in those halcyon days.
2. We said: “Journalists will continue to use social media to announce and report–and broadcast reporters will often recap the mood on Twitter” and “Traditional media will be burned in 2014 by jumping on the social media bandwagon.” How it played out: This remains accurate, including the part where the media sector continues to have a business-model problem (people don’t want to pay for news) and a credibility problem due to social media.
3. We said: “Native advertising will be big in 2014.” How it played out: On the one hand, we haven’t heard people talk about native advertising much in the last few years. On the other hand, native advertising and clickbait is available on so many news sites that we accept it.
4. We said: “Marketing via flash mods will seem so 2009.” How it played out: Nailed that. Most people probably forget about flash mobs.
5. We said: “Instagram and Pinterest will remain important sources for recommendations and inspiration.” How it played out: If anything, Instagram has become more important since 2014. But Pinterest, while still alive and kicking, is alive but not as relevant.
6. We said: “Thought leadership will continue to be important to B2B companies.” How it played out: Nailed it.
7. We said: “CES is no longer the top tech convention.” How it played out: Nailed that one, too.
8. We said: “PR Spam will still be an issue.” How it played out: Our point was that in 2014, too much of the content on social media would be repurposed content taken from press releases. Today, we’re seeing more clients acting as journalists and posting original content on their blogs and social media platforms in order to stay relevant.
9. We said: “Cars and clothes will increasingly include design features for smartphones.” How it played out: By December 2024, we saw “this (happening) in clothing but has not hit yet with cars.” What a difference a decade (or less) makes. New cars absolutely include design features for smartphones.
10. We said: “Wearable technology is still ahead of the curve but will generate some coverage as part of the Internet of Things.” How it played out: We cited Apple Watch and fitness trackers, which absolutely have become more popular. Goggles like Google Glass was pulled off the market in 2023 and although Apple Vision Pro is considered cool, we have not seen people actually using them.

We hope you enjoyed a detour through memory lane. Amazing how much changes in a short time.