From launch to lift-off: A huge first year for MARKETING-INTERACTIVE Australia

If 2024 was the warm-up act, 2025 was the year everything went turbo. 

And somehow, in the middle of an industry consolidation wave, a few billion AI hot takes and a tech news cycle powered by everything from Kmart to Magicbrief, and the rise of influencers as a true marketing force, we managed to pull off one of the biggest market expansions in our 20-plus year history: The launch of MARKETING-INTERACTIVE Australia.

Australia has quickly become one of our fastest-growing markets, and the response from readers has been unreal. Thank you. The July launch feels like five minutes ago and five years ago at the same time, but set the tone for the entire year.

Across the region, the team didn’t just keep up - they hit another level. Australia joined a thriving regional business that includes Digital Marketing Asia conference, which this year became a true regional force, with events in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and The Philippines.

Our inaugural attempt at bringing Digital Marketing Asia to Malaysia saw a room full of passionate marketers owning the stage with bold ideas, fresh perspectives and a shared drive to shape the future of digital marketing in the region.

We also broke new ground with our PR Asia conference, adding The Philippines into the line up of Singapore and Malaysia get-togethers.

Despite a year of rapid change, economic headwinds, and shifting media landscapes in 2025, the PR community came together with resilience, creativity, and renewed energy to share best practices, build deeper connections, and chart bold new directions.

The Marketing Excellence Awards broke new ground again, cementing its status as one of our biggest regional event platforms that celebrate the incredible work being done by CMOs and their agency partners.

Our podcast series Marketing Connected grew into its own community while our weekly Gen Z Perspective wraps, primarily on Instagram, took on a life of their own. Let’s just say: if you ever want the truth, find the Gen Z perspective - often fuelled by iced matcha and a healthy dose of chaotic optimism.

Next year, we’re taking things to new heights. With new formats and more ways to help marketers make sense of a world moving at an unreasonable pace.

Which brings us neatly to the industry itself: holy hell, what a year.

We witnessed levels of consolidation we haven’t seen in a very long time. And yes, AI and agentic systems have now well and truly entered the chat.

I'm not trying to be dramatic when I say AI will be the biggest opportunity and the biggest disruptor the marketing industry has ever seen. It’s exhilarating. It’s chaotic. It’s occasionally terrifying. And we’ll continue breaking it down for you without the hype haze.

So, what got you all clicking and scrolling in 2025? The range was wild.

One of our biggest stories of the year was from Springboards - an AI startup founded by former agency strategists Pip Bingemann and Amy Tucker, which is proving that innovation can thrive in unexpected places.

Based out of Noosa on the Sunshine Coast, Springboards positions itself as an AI platform that empowers creativity, designed to assist strategists and planners without replacing the human thinking at the heart of the process. 

Close behind was the inside story of KFC Listens, a platform that connects customer and employee feedback across 30,000 KFC restaurants globally. And of course the agentic AI declaration from PepsiCo, Canva buying Magicbrief and the big brand shift behind retail giant Kmart.

On a personal note, some of my top yarns for the year included the founder story of Lismore-based direct-to-consumer business Our Cow; a deep dive into the marketing shift of 7-Eleven in Australia; the incredible story of how Dermal Therapy grew from a spare bedroom to a challenger brand loved by millions of Australians and of course a closer look at how Tasmania flipped the script on destination marketing and owned the cold.

What’s next?

Well, Australia will be back in the spotlight next year as we host our first big event for senior brand leaders and agency innovators - details imminent.

At the same time, we'll keep pushing boundaries across Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, The Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand and beyond.

On the “traditional” side, our newsletter and website audiences in The Philippines and Indonesia also grew rapidly in 2025 with our dedicated content reaching you in a timely manner. You can rest assured, in 2026, the content will remain just as bold and engaging as we aim to bring you more insights and analysis pieces.

But before we get stuck into planning meetings, scriptwriting, speaking slots and far too much cold brew… we’re taking a breather and we hope you will be too. It’s time to slow down (just a bit) after a year that moved faster than any of us planned.

From all of us, thank you for reading, sharing, debating, eye-rolling, emailing, DM-ing and being part of this community in the most energetic, unpredictable year we’ve seen in a long time.

Merry Christmas and see you in 2026.