At Good & Gold, our channel managers live in the trenches of SEO, paid media, creative, email, and production every day. We asked them for one bold prediction for Q4 2025. Here’s what they see coming, and how the smartest brands will rise above the noise.
Maggie Senior Designer
I predict cinematic and storytelling visuals will dominate 2025 holiday marketing because consumer attention spans are no longer captured by static imagery alone—especially in a saturated holiday ad landscape. As short-form video and interactive media become standard in digital campaigns, brands will lean into rich, narrative-driven visuals that feel like mini holiday films. By telling a story, brands can spark emotional resonance, driving both engagement and conversions in a way that flat product photography cannot.
Michael SEO Manager
E-E-A-T and user experience will be even more essential to your SEO efforts. Prioritizing user needs and crafting content that directly addresses search queries will be essential. Businesses will have to adapt to zero-click searches by optimizing for conversions instead of driving traffic.
Jackson Performance Marketing Manager
We’re going to see many brands roll out holiday advertising using AI-generated creative, and most of it will not land well with consumers. The hype around AI will fuel a wave of campaigns, but social media is primed to roast poorly executed creative.
The brands who recognize that AI is a tool to support creative efforts—and not a replacement for creative teams—will see success. Those who lean too heavily on uncanny AI-generated advertising will face backlash.
Parker Senior Paid Media Strategist
In Q4, attribution remains one of the most persistent challenges in paid media. With fragmented data ecosystems and increasing privacy restrictions, no single model offers a fully connected view of performance.
The most effective brands will balance robust and first-party data strategies with bespoke measurement frameworks—acknowledging the blind spots while still driving confident, performance-led decisions. The market segment that connects these dots will likely grow to fill this need that everyone is feeling.
Nic Creative Marketing Manager
Zero-click content is hitting its stride in Q4, and doomscrollers wanna holiday shop without leaving their cat videos, holiday party Pinterest boards, or their bed. Brands who use in-app shopping features will thrive this season. Build shoppable, platform-native content like TikTok gift hauls, IG carousel gift guides, Pinterest story pins. Lose the “link in bio.” Users can discover, consider, and purchase without leaving TikTok, Instagram, or Pinterest. The buy button is right there.
Alison Senior Producer
Q4 wins start long before December—it’s the brands who plan ahead that see the biggest returns. Holiday success isn’t about scrambling to out-discount competitors at the last second; it’s about setting a strategy early.
Smart brands are locking in creative, content calendars, and campaign sequencing in Q3 (or earlier), so by the time the holiday rush begins, they’re ready to execute with precision. That head start means campaigns can launch before ad costs peak, messaging stays consistent across channels, and teams aren’t stuck firefighting in the busiest sales season of the year. For brands, planning early is the simplest way to turn Q4 chaos into a competitive advantage.
The holidays will always be unpredictable, but the brands that thrive are the ones that prepare, adapt, and invest in strategies that outlast the season. From cinematic creative to zero-click shopping to smarter attribution, Q4 2025 will reward the bold.
Ready to make this your most profitable holiday season yet? Reach out to Good & Gold today for a discovery call and let’s build the Q4 strategy that sets your brand apart.
