This post will help brands understand how to navigate the 2025 holiday season with greater empathy, speed, and impact. It offers data-backed insights into evolving consumer expectations and explains how Positionless Marketing enables teams to respond in real time with personalized, relevant experiences. For brands looking to build loyalty and drive results in a high-pressure season, this guidance is timely and essential.
The Big Picture:
Consumers are spending, but cautiously with 84% concerned about tariffs and 80% about inflation, value, transparency, and early offers are essential to winning their trust.
Marketing fatigue is real. Nearly half of consumers are tired of holiday promotions by October, making personalization and timing more important than volume.
Positionless Marketing empowers marketers by removing bottlenecks of assembly-line marketing. Marketers can now act independently and respond to shifting behaviors in real time and deliver more relevant customer experiences.
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The Big Picture:
The 2025 holiday season will start earlier, feel more intense, and demand more from marketers than ever before. The 2025 Consumer Holiday Shopping Report revealed that 48% of consumers plan to increase their holiday budgets, yet 84% are worried about tariffs, and 80% are concerned about inflation. In short, consumers are willing to spend, but they are watching every dollar, every message, and every brand move.
See more detail in the chart below:
For retailers, the challenge is clear: How do you create urgency and excitement without increasing marketing fatigue or economic anxiety?
The Answer: Empathic Marketing That Personally Connects with Each Shopper
Consumers are telling brands exactly what they want:
64% plan to start holiday shopping before Halloween
66% are motivated by discounts
88% want early offers from their favorite brands
39% engage with emails because the offer is relevant
47% report being tired of holiday marketing by October
The takeaway is simple. Brands that act early, move quickly, and personalize meaningfully will come out ahead. This is where Positionless Marketing can help marketers build stronger connections with consumers.
Why Positionless Marketing Is Essential This Season
Traditional marketing workflows operate like an assembly line…and that’s a problem. Campaign managers are often stuck waiting for analysts, creative teams, or engineering support. These bottlenecks can delay execution by days or even weeks.
In 2025, waiting means missing the moment.
Positionless Marketing cuts the assembly line. It empowers any marketer, regardless of title or team, to:
Instantly analyze customer insights and behavioral data
Create personalized, channel-ready content
Launch and self-optimize campaigns in real time
This new model gives marketers the tools and autonomy to act independently and connect with customers in the moment, while they’re still paying attention.
Consider this: many brands are cutting campaign execution time from 5 days to 5 minutes. With Positionless Marketing, teams can now go from idea to execution almost instantly. That speed powers brands to show up with the right message at the right time.
1. Lead With Empathy and Value – Eighty-one percent (81%) of consumers say price is the most important factor in their decision-making. But they are not just looking for the lowest price. They want clear, transparent, and relevant offers. Marketers should align messages with the real concerns consumers face, such as inflation, higher living costs, and the desire for early savings.
2. Personalize With Purpose – Sixty-three percent (63%) of consumers do not open at least half of the emails they receive. Eighty-two percent (82%) will unsubscribe from brands while shopping online. This shows the importance of sending only the most relevant messages. Use behavioral data, preferences, and past purchases to ensure each message adds value.
3. Empower Marketers to Respond in Real Time – Customer preferences can shift in an instant. A trending product, pricing update, or competitor offer can change everything. Positionless Marketing gives marketers the tools to respond without delay. With full access to data and creative tools, they can launch tailored campaigns in the moment and adjust based on real-time results.
In Summary
The 2025 holiday season will reward the brands that stop waiting and start connecting. Consumers aren’t just buying products, they’re making decisions based on trust, timing, and value. Positionless Marketing is the key to deepening relationships and delivering all three. Positionless Marketing frees marketing teams from the limitations of fixed roles, giving every marketer the power to execute any marketing task instantly and independently.
This season, the most valuable gift a brand can receive is Positionless Marketing, so it is empowered to deliver and meet customers exactly where they are…with empathy.
Rob Wyse is Senior Director of Communications at Optimove.
As a communications consultant, he has been influential in changing public opinion and policy to drive market opportunity. Example issues he has worked on include climate change, healthcare reform, homeland security, cloud transformation, AI, and other timely issues.
