As we begin 2025, strategy reached out to marketers to identify seismic changes in 2024, and to give us their New Year’s resolution for the next year. Adam Zitney, VP of marketing (Canada and International) with J.M. Smucker, kicks off our week-long series. 

What do you think was the most seismic change of 2024? What is your New Year’s resolution to adapt to that change in 2025?

There are two somewhat related seismic shifts from 2024 that had a dramatic impact on the consumer and industry. The first was continued inflation. Although the rate of inflation has decelerated, the cumulative impact over the past three years has led to dramatic changes in consumer behaviour in 2024. The second was the growth of the population as we welcomed many new Canadians this past year. These two shifts led to changes in where consumers shop, the products they purchased and the media they consumed.

As a marketer in the food industry, I will look to adapt to these changes by commercializing new products that participate across the full value spectrum while also addressing the preferences of our increasingly diverse population. I will also continue to adapt my creative and media strategies in a fashion that resonates with the changing consumer landscape. This will likely result in further proliferation of the media channels and creative assets we employ. On a personal note, I will make food insecurity the leading cause that I dedicate time and dollars towards. A dramatic rise in food insecurity has been one of the unfortunate outcomes of the current economic environment.

What’s one thing you hope the industry plans to start doing, one thing it needs to stop, and one thing you hope it changes in 2025?

Start doing: Allocating more time and dollars to training marketing professionals. The industry is incredibly dynamic…continuous learning is a must. Success in the marketplace is highly dependent on brand stewards that have both strong functional and leadership skillsets.

Stop doing: Prioritizing marketing as an expense that can be cut to meet short-term objectives, because your brand will pay the price over the long-term.

What I hope changes (although it may take a few more years): media companies and advertisers partner on a single source of truth that deduplicates reach/frequency and enables apples to apples measurement across all media channels.

For more of our New Year’s resolution series, please check here.