[Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in a series of 2025 PR predictions.]
As the year winds down, it pays to review the events of 2024 and assess their impact on the industry in the coming year. Friends within our audience of PR and comms professionals have provided predictions of what’s to come in 2025, which we’ve organized into a series to publish throughout the week. The following address the evolution of content creation and storytelling in the coming year.
Wendy Joong, SVP, Insights and Creative Strategy, WE Communications
Comms strategy is always rooted in the audiences we’re trying to reach, but in the year ahead the importance of nuance will be key. Next-gen marketing and comms is rapidly evolving. Gen Z will continue to be prominent, but communicators must also dial up their focus and attention on Gen Alpha.
As the “AI generation,” Gen Alpha is already starting to redefine major industries and their ability to shape culture continues to grow. For communicators, the complexity of engaging with this audience is going to be heightened. According to recent research, brands need to both pop in culture and appeal to the individual if they want to connect with Gen Alpha. As digital natives, Generation Alpha has a reputation for closely following online trends—what products to buy, which skincare routine to follow, etc. However, our recent Alpha Intelligence survey showed that 84% of Gen Alpha kids feel it’s not only important for brands reflect their vibe but also the values that are important to them.
In 2025, brands that are hoping to engage Gen Alpha must balance their messaging and programming between appealing to the trend chaser and the vibe seeker. That means leaning into culture and what’s popping at the moment, but not letting go of what your brand truly stands for. Those principles are still critical, even for kids this age.
Danielle Ruckert, VP and Healthcare Lead, RH Strategic Communications
In 2025, companies will embrace human interest storytelling to break through the noise. As healthcare companies introduce innovative approaches and solutions, they will increasingly need to humanize stories to build trust, authenticity and emotional connections with target audiences. Effective communication strategies will highlight real patient stories, focusing on their unique but relatable challenges and the positive impact a healthcare company has had on them. By investing the time to unearth these real-life experiences, brands can foster deeper engagement, build loyalty and enhance their reputational strength.
Julie Karbo, CEO and Founder, Karbo
The shifting media landscape is reshaping tech PR in 2025, with the rise of digital platforms and influencers continuing to disrupt traditional media dynamics. Influencers are playing an increasingly critical role, and targeting them effectively requires tailored approaches that align with their unique audiences and platforms. At the same time, the consolidation of traditional media outlets means fewer reporters are covering broader beats, leaving less room for in-depth expertise. This has driven a growing emphasis on custom content—think articles, native advertising, white papers, videos and social media strategies—to fill the gap and ensure companies can still tell their stories effectively. The ability to navigate this evolving landscape and craft content that resonates across diverse channels will be key for PR professionals in 2025.
Pam Anderson, Associate Director of PR, 829 Studios
The breakthrough of positive storytelling in a political climate. Feel-good stories and uplifting narratives will resonate with audiences who are seeking a break from contentious headlines.
Tom Pepper, Senior Director, Marketing Solutions, LinkedIn
B2B brands are betting big on the creator economy, which is projected to hit $500 billion by 2027, and influencer marketing is a primary driver of this growth. In the year ahead, we’ll see B2B brands reallocate their budgets towards influencer marketing with 61% of B2B leaders saying they will increase spend on influencer content in the near future. B2B brands are recognizing that people trust people and that expert-driven thought leadership from influencers and expert voices plays a critical role in the consideration stage of the buying process—and ultimately helps drive purchases.
Kelsey Sowder, Director of Client Relations, PANBlast
Like other social media platforms, LinkedIn is an awesome resource for connection, inspiration and information. However, we’re at a saturation point of posts that start with an irrelevant-seeming story and finish with some insightful business lesson. Everyone is catching on, and it's starting to feel like thought leadership soup. Not every life event has a resulting business/leadership lesson. Anyone looking to cultivate an audience on LinkedIn must remain as authentic as possible, keeping posts concise and the takeaway clear, to stand out from the crowd. Being willing to take a hot take and ruffle some feathers never hurt either.
Jon Skogmo, CEO, LOST iN
The resurgence of print media reflects a shift in how audiences consume and value content. Publications like Complex Magazine, Nylon and Sports Illustrated are returning to print because screen-fatigued consumers have a renewed appreciation for the tangible. We’re seeing a similar shift in music, where for years vinyl has seen a resurgence, and now cassette tapes are even making a comeback.
What excites us at LOST iN is the potential for synergy between print and digital media. The two aren’t competitors—they’re complementary. Print offers a more timeless, tactile experience that creates lasting connections, while digital channels provide immediacy, interactivity, convenience. Ultimately, the return to print signals a broader recalibration in media: a move toward intentionality, quality, and deeper engagement. It’s an exciting moment for storytelling and for rethinking how brands and publications build lasting relationships with their audiences, and it signals more opportunities for reporters, writers, photographers and design professionals.
Bradley Akubuiro, Partner, Bully Pulpit International
Mis- and disinformation are as old as time, but continued advancements to generative AI in the next year will mean significant increases to the credibility of false information, as well as the speed and range in which it travels. So, we will not only see more attempts to provoke companies, as with Robby Starbucks’ very aggressive efforts to scale back DEI, but we’ll see increased creation of convincing content that falsely portrays corporate responses to those efforts, igniting genuine backlash in the process. Leaders of brands will need to prepare not only to respond to situations, but also to manage fallout from fake responses they never gave.
We are rapidly moving to a world where it’s not about truth, it’s only about trust. Those who know how to narrowly define the stakeholders that matter and who pour everything into building deep and trusting relationships with them while tuning out the rest of the noise are the people who will separate themselves as the next generation of top leaders.