Adweek’s coverage of marketing upheaval in early 2020 reflects a reality every brand felt immediately: the playbooks broke overnight. Campaigns built on normalcy fell flat, product launches got shelved, and media plans turned into spreadsheets of crossed-out strategies. For an industry obsessed with trends, nobody was prepared for this trend.
The shift forced companies to prioritize clarity, empathy, and real value – concepts that had been buried under layers of targeting, segmentation, and polished messaging. Suddenly, the question wasn’t “How do we optimize the funnel?” but “What do people actually need right now?”
This reset pushed marketers to become more thoughtful and less performative. Brands that embraced transparency and adapted quickly earned loyalty; those that clung to old rhythms looked tone-deaf.
If marketing is supposed to reflect culture, what happens when culture changes faster than the industry can respond? And which of these shifts will stick once normalcy eventually returns?
Related article: AdWeek
