It’s that time of year again, construction marketers.

Despite the festive period feeling like forever ago, we’re still in the first working month of the year. I tried to take a proper break with the family and had a lovely time, but couldn’t help my mind drifting back to plans for 2025.

Part of that is because there’s a lot happening with SLG at the minute (a good thing) as the construction sector looks forward to growth, but also partly because of some of the big changes in the marketing world largely brought about by leaps forward in AI.

For those of us sat in the middle of construction marketing it’s an exciting time, but one that comes with some potential pitfalls to monitor. Here, I’ve done my best to share some of the things that have been occupying my thoughts for the year ahead. Some I love, some I loathe, but all of them things that I’m reasonably confident construction marketers need to be mindful of in the year ahead (and one that I hope comes true).

So, without further ado, here are my top five predictions for construction marketing in 2025 (along with a wish/rant that I hope comes true…).

Prediction 1 – Campaigns are back

For those that were paying attention last year, you’ll have noticed that global media spend reached record highs, even in a down market. For those that didn’t, I’ve got your back with a little primer.

You’ll notice that the increased spend is concentrated in just five global media companies, indicating a rush to digital marketing (mainly social), and people hedging their bets largely on performance marketing. No, we’re not going to do a silly brand vs performance point here, it’s just an observation.

The focus on marketing in these channels likely means that any brands that have been getting by on rationed budgets are going to have to move to keep up with peers that have kept up multi-channel spend. Worse, if you’ve cut back entirely, you’re really going to have to make up for lost time as the sector swings into delivery mode – you need your brand to be considered in buying/specification situations and that can only happen if you’ve driven recall.

With that, ensuring cut through is going to be crucial, particularly if investment in low-attention media holds (or increases) in 2025. Again, this isn’t a hatchet job on digital marketing, it’s a crucial part of most campaign plans, but these channels are demonstrably difficult for brands to generate active attention from audiences despite their propensity for cost effective reach – check out my blog on the recent Lumen/Ebiquity report.

One of the ways that you can ensure your brand cuts through the attention issue is by maintaining a consistent tone, appearance, and message to build, maintain and enhance memory structures with your audience. There’s been lots of work into creative consistency, including a really compelling report from System1 on the value of creative compounding, so if your brand codes are set and you’ve achieved some sort of meaningful recall in category then make sure you build on it with memorable creative, rather than something that feels alien to audiences.

It is also worth remembering that subtlety on the brand-front doesn’t pay. LinkedIn’s B2B Institute conducted one of the largest in-platform pieces of research on campaign recall among B2B brands and found that audiences could only recall 51% of the ads they were exposed to, and could correctly attribute a tiny 19% of those to the correct brand – meaning 81% of the creative was a complete waste of time and effort. So, don’t do that.

The real winners if this prediction does come true would be the sector’s brilliant trade media. It can’t have been an easy few years as the market adapts to new post-COVID working practices (I.e. more difficult to reach people with print), and now having to compete with huge social media platforms for constrained campaign budgets, but they do a phenomenal job of holding business and politicians to account while keeping their readership informed, a remit that isn’t asked of the social media companies. They’re also a direct line to our exact audiences, so let’s make sure we take advantage of that and support them wherever we can.

Prediction 2 – Construction (marketing) roars out of recession

On that campaign point, while the ‘r-word’ was never officially used it has been a rough few years for the UK economy and while we aren’t out of the woods yet, history tells us that it’s the brands that invested in marketing during that period, and that are continuing to do so, that will achieve growth the fastest.

The title of this section comes from one of Harvard Business Review’s most famous recent papers which studied 100’s of US businesses performance before, during and after various recessions and financial shocks and found that, almost without exception, those that kept on marketing themselves outgrew their peers many times over.

It makes sense – competitors are quiet and media is more freely available, both earned and paid, and so excessive share of voice becomes much more tangible for business that can stand the investment, meaning a lot of market penetration and memories made during the period that can continue to be harnessed as markets return to growth and investment reaches typical levels.

I predict we’ll see this in construction as we have in the past, where the biggest brands hold their nerve, keep marketing and consequently steal even more ground on their smaller peers – who will be brave enough to enjoy the spoils of picking up some excessive share of voice in a ‘bear’ market and using it as a platform for sustained growth as the picture improves?

Prediction 3 – The novelty of AI wears off

Controversy alert! This absolutely isn’t clickbait, I simply mean that AI grows up and is less of a ‘hot topic’ as we all become more used to it within our day-to-day work.

Where there’s been lots of think pieces in 2024 debating the use of AI in creativity, there’s no denying that it’s here to stay and that it’s going to change the industry. For all the naysayers that think construction is behind the times, a recent report from the Access Group reported claimed that more than half of us (52%) are using AI daily in our work. This number feels about right, and it will rise.

Even if you’re not using it in your finished works, you need to be thinking about your processes and where you can free up time to focus on what’s going to add the most value to your marketing – i.e. your thinking time.

For what it’s worth, even with leaps forward in technology focused on strategy and craft, I still believe we’re years of the Turing test being broken and AI being able to competently devise meaningful creative. Feel free to send this article back to me and point out how stupid I am if the machines are in control of large sections of England by summer time.

Prediction 4 – Trust and authenticity are the order of the day

One thing to bear in mind is that if you are using AI in your final creative, no matter how good the final finish, the world is going to know about it. That’s because of C2PA, or the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity.

I’m still a little taken aback by how few marketers know about this, but in essence it’s a supergroup of major publishers, software providers and media outlets that have come together to help internet users trace the provenance of media.

The group includes the likes of Meta and Google, two of the planet’s largest publishers and two of five media outlets responsible for driving peak media spend levels – see point one – so you’re going to need to know this if you’re activating campaigns through these or any other digital channels.

Essentially, what C2PA will do is ensure that every digital file, be it image, video, or audio, will have a unique passport detailing the platform in which it was created, when it was created, and by whom. The passport stays with the file in perpetuity, so there’s no ambiguity as to origin or copyright, and any edits by any third parties will also be visible – providing a consistent footprint regardless of where the file ends up.

I think C2PA is a great concept, and I hope it works. With the increasing accessibility of AI and AR software the possibilities for misuse increase – and the internet already offers plenty of unregulated space for idiots to be anonymous, for sources to be hazy at best and for mischief to be made. Who’s to say if this works, but it’s encouraging to see the various parties take the issue seriously and offer a solution.

And what is the solution in practice? Platforms like LinkedIn have signed up to the coalition and have promised that files will carry a small info icon, where users can inspect any items that appears in their feeds. What this means for construction marketers isn’t that you shouldn’t use Open AI, Adobe or any other platform (they’ve both signed up too, by the way), just be aware that whatever you use will be public knowledge – so use it well and stand by the work.

Prediction 5 – This is the year of short-form video

Regardless of what is or isn’t happening in the US with Tik Tok’s ban, short form video isn’t stopping. Pretty well every publisher and social media platform is focused on the format.

In fact, LinkedIn has been pushing the format particularly hard behind the scenes for at least the last year. I’m fortunate to be a member of the LinkedIn Top Voices programme in the UK, and when attending workshops on best practice on the platform it became clear that video (and other formats) was where LinkedIn’s development plans were headed.

Now, the team at LinkedIn (and any other platform) are unlikely to outright tell anybody how the algorithms work, but early reports from creators are that their metrics for reach on video are incredible, and dwarfing the same metrics for text content.

On that basis, it’s worth figuring out how to harness this in an appropriate way for your brand, particularly for technical brands that tend to do better with long-form written content or polished video production. It may not be for everyone, but if you’re shooting for attention and reach in 2025 then it would be an oversight not to consider it – I’m more comfortable writing than taking to camera, but I’ll certainly be working to find a way to incorporate video into my communications and will be advising construction clients to do the same.

A New Year’s wish – RIP to fake OOH

Forgive me, but a quick one to finish given that we’ve discussed social media, AI and transparency, but I’m praying that this year is the end of fake out of home. Now, this is a very ‘marketing’ complaint and there’s far bigger things going on in the world, but I’m really bored of brands getting a digital pat on the head for out of home work that they didn’t commission, commit to or invest in.

For all the leaps forward in technology and how its enabling creators, this is one use that needs to stop.

It feels wrong on every level. You’ve tacitly agreed that out of home might work to drive attention for your brand, or else why create the mock up, but you’ve cheated the ad company out of a commission and cheapened the experience, all for a quick click on the like button.

Out of home is great. As someone that spends an inordinate amount of time stuck in traffic on the commute, I really appreciate it when it’s done well. In recent years Hiscox, with some help from Uncommon Creative Studio, has made an art form of the format, following all the golden rules laid out in the first prediction (consistency, appropriateness, brand-centricity etc), and deserve real credit. They haven’t mocked something up for a lazy like on LinkedIn, they’ve put their money where their mouth is.

Seriously, unless you’re a student building a portfolio or you’re trying to win a Chip Shop award, just stop. Either be brave and commit to the format by investing in the real deal, or focus on the work you can commit to.

And breathe…

There you have it – I’ll return to this at the end of the year and see how wrong (or right) I might be.

Whatever happens, the signs are that construction marketers are in for a better year this year, and I hope that’s the case. A healthy built environment means a healthy economy and healthy communities, and we’d all take that.

Here’s hoping you have a successful 2025.