Fresh from FutureLabs’ State of Brand Experience in 2025 Report
The State of Brand Experience in 2025 is FutureLabs’ latest look at where brand experience, audience behaviour and immersive marketing are heading this year, built on insights gathered from conversations with over 30+ thought starters to spark your next brand experience idea.
This report is designed to help marketers, strategists and creative teams understand what is shifting, what is working and where new opportunities are emerging. Below are four key takeaways, a glimpse into the full report, drawn from data, case studies and lived insights shared by the people shaping the field.
Over the past year, we have seen a clear shift. While digital campaigns remain essential, it is real world brand experiences that are driving deeper engagement. These moments are physical, sensory and grounded in place. They offer presence, memory and emotion.
At FutureLabs, we are seeing this not as a passing trend but as a cultural correction. People are returning to spaces that invite them to feel, move and connect. According to Live Nation’s 2025 Gen Z and Youth Report, 92% of Gen Z say they value real world experiences and that matters. This generation is shaping how brand engagement works and what audiences expect.
Looking ahead, we believe the most powerful brand experiences will come from integration. Not digital, not physical, but layered. Culture, creativity and space working together to create moments that stay with people long after they leave.
As technology becomes more intelligent and more embedded in daily life, one thing is becoming clear - people are not just looking for convenience, they are looking for connection. Emotion is starting to matter more than speed, and presence is starting to matter more than efficiency.
A line from our report puts it simply: “In a world where talking to machines is the norm, we will crave authentic human connection more than ever.” - Pauline P. Narvas, Technology Leader
That is a creative prompt, where brand experience takes on real meaning. The most memorable activations today are the ones that strike an emotional chord. Whether it is nostalgia, joy, surprise or intimacy, emotional engagement is becoming the most effective form of interaction. People do not just want to observe, they want to feel part of something.
For teams working in brand, marketing or experience design, this is not soft thinking. It is a strategic marketing campaign. Put people at the centre and the story takes care of itself.
The numbers speak clearly, people respond to experiences that involve them, not just entertain or inform. They are more likely to remember them, more likely to share them and more likely to make a purchase as a result.
As audiences spend more of their lives online, their standards for in person moments have become more focused, more demanding and more emotionally driven. They want spaces that respond to them, installations they can shape and content that feels alive in the moment.
For brands, this means physical space is no longer just a backdrop, it has to be a medium in itself. A place to spark curiosity, deepen brand connection and invite the audience to take part in the story, not just stand on the sidelines.
As the lines between digital, physical and emotional experience continue to blur, public space is emerging as one of the most underused yet powerful tools in brand design. It is no longer just about presence in a location it now could become activating that location to become part of the story.
Interactive public space is quickly becoming the new frontier. Airports, transport hubs, stadiums and retail precincts are now being reimagined as living environments that respond to emotion, movement and context. These are not passive settings but are programmable surfaces for immersive brand storytelling.
One of the most compelling examples in FutureLabs’ 2025 report looks at airports as emotional experience zones. These are places charged with feeling arrivals, goodbyes, waiting, anticipation. What if a brand could tap into that? Imagine AI powered booths that let travellers create personalised postcards based on their emotional state, or ambient installations that mirror the collective mood of a terminal. It is emotional brand design made real, right where it matters most.
At a broader level, the infrastructure is already shifting. Global smart city investment is projected to hit $327B by the end of 2025, up from $96B in 2019 (source: Frost & Sullivan). This means more connected surfaces, more sensors, more opportunities for brand experience to feel embedded in the space, rather than placed on top of it.
Some of the most exciting work in brand experience right now is happening where entertainment, technology and audience overlap. These are immersive marketing campaigns that put people at the centre of the story.
In our 2025 report, two standout examples show how brands are elevating the fan experience by combining real time content, interactive environments and a clear sense of theatre.
JD x UFC: The Greatest Walkout
In this activation, JD and UFC fans were invited to step into a custom built tunnel that recreated the energy of a fighter’s entrance. Sound, lighting, haze and motion combined to create a cinematic moment, captured in real time and delivered instantly for social sharing. For the brand, it was a live performance where the fan became the headline.
PUMA x Manchester City: AI Kit Creator
This PUMA campaign handed creative control to the fans. Using a generative AI platform, supporters were able to design their own football kits live. The winning designs were turned into official merchandise, giving fans a direct stake in what the brand put out into the world. It was a strong example of AI co-creation meeting cultural relevance.
These activations created stories people wanted to tell. They offered ownership, spectacle and emotional connection, all within a single environment. That is what defines modern brand experience.
This article highlights just a few of the signals we are tracking this year. The full “State of Brand Experience in 2025” Report includes extended insights, case studies, cultural shifts and audience behaviour patterns all designed to help you create more meaningful, future ready brand experiences and marketing campaigns.
👉 Download the full “State of Brand Experience in 2025” report
