Welcome to the GS&F Top 5, our monthly deep dive into the creative chaos of the advertising world. Each month, we step back from the grind to dissect the campaigns that moved the needle, the news that shifted the industry and the trends that are actually worth your time (and the ones that are just noise). From viral hits to big-budget misses, here is our take on what happened in advertising this December.
Introducing "Journey Aware Bidding"
Google is rolling out a new search advertising bidding model called "Journey Aware Bidding." Currently in beta, this system factors in "non-biddable" stages of the buyer journey—such as downloading a whitepaper—to optimize bid costs. It aims to recognize leads whose past behaviors make them likely to convert later.
META Updates Partnership Ads Hub with AI
Meta has launched new AI-powered features for its Partnership Ads Hub, streamlining how brands collaborate with creators. The update helps advertisers easily identify and convert existing organic content—including user-generated and affiliate content—into partnership ads, effectively automating the discovery of high-performing creative assets.
Repeat Holiday Ads Outperform New Creative
New research from Kantar reveals that "repeat" ads are winning the 2025 holiday season. Commercials reusing familiar creative assets, such as Cadbury’s "Secret Santa" and Coca-Cola’s "Holidays Are Coming," are scoring higher in consumer effectiveness testing than brand-new campaigns, proving that nostalgia and familiarity are cutting through the clutter.
Forrester Report: 82% of Marketers "Failing" at AI.
A sobering new report commissioned by Optimove and conducted by Forrester suggests that while 80% of marketers expect AI to boost productivity, 82% are currently "failing" at adoption. The research highlights that many teams are moving too fast without human oversight, leading to "vibe-coded" disasters rather than strategic growth.
Chrome to Enforce HTTPS Mandate in 2026
Google announced that beginning in 2026, the Chrome browser will require HTTPS encryption for all websites. While most transactional sites are already secure, this update puts pressure on portfolio and catalog sites to update their security certifications immediately or risk being flagged as "dangerous" to users, potentially killing traffic.
Agencies Reclaim Control via Programmatic Curation
A major shift is occurring in ad tech as agencies move away from open exchanges toward "curation." By building their own supply-rooted marketplaces, agencies are securing direct access to high-quality inventory. This trend reduces reliance on intermediaries, offering brands clearer signal transparency and stricter control over where ads appear.
Yahoo Mail Launches "Organized Chaos" Holiday Campaign
Yahoo Mail unveiled a playful holiday campaign starring Dylan Efron, focusing on "email overwhelm." The spot positions Yahoo’s inbox features—like package tracking and receipt organization—as the solution to holiday stress. It marks a shift from emotional storytelling to feature-led marketing that addresses specific consumer pain points.
Supreme Court Reviews Political Ad Spending Caps
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently hearing arguments challenging federal limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates. A ruling to lift these caps could fundamentally change the political advertising landscape, potentially flooding the market with unlimited "coordinated" ad spend in future election cycles.
Sprinklr Wins Adweek’s Best Social Media Platform
Sprinklr has been named the winner of Adweek’s inaugural Tech Stack Award for Best Social Media Marketing Platform. The win validates the company’s pivot from a pure management tool to a "Unified-CXM" (Customer Experience Management) platform, utilizing AI to integrate marketing, customer care, and engagement into a single ecosystem.
Independent Agency Ammunition Expands to Europe
Fast-growing independent agency Ammunition announced its first major international expansion, opening a headquarters in London. The agency has appointed Renaye Edwards as Global COO to lead the new office. This move signals a bucking of the consolidation trend, showing that independent shops are aggressively scaling to meet global client demand.