When 3,000 marketers gather in one place, you expect noise. What we got instead was clarity.

The ANA Masters of Marketing 2025 wasn’t about chasing the next shiny tool. It was about rediscovering what great marketing has always been: creative, consistent, and grounded in human insight.

Grant McDougall, CEO BlueOcean captured it perfectly in his AI Marketing in the Age of Imagination post:

“Freed from the grind of routine tasks, marketers are rediscovering their role as makers of meaning.”

That idea came alive in Orlando. AI wasn’t the star of the show. What we do with the time it gives us was.

At BlueOcean, we were part of the action at Booth 31, meeting marketers from across industries and hearing how they are bringing AI into their creative process. The conversations weren’t about hype or headlines. They were about how to work smarter, think bigger, and bring brand strategy back to the center.

1. The Return of Craft

The strongest sessions focused on storytelling and discipline.

Todd Kaplan of Kraft Heinz reminded everyone that brand discipline doesn’t limit creativity. It multiplies it. His talk was a lesson in how clarity and emotion build long-term connection.

Then came Nichole Robillard, CMO of Red Lobster, whose story became one of the most memorable of the week. She walked the audience through how a beloved but struggling brand emerged from bankruptcy and found new life by leaning into its biggest strength: its fans.

Red Lobster’s revival wasn’t powered by paid media or a new product line. It was built on creative courage and cultural awareness. The brand embraced humor, celebrated its loyalists, and reconnected with its roots. It reminded everyone that great marketing starts with knowing who you are and showing up authentically.

We might have taken that enthusiasm a little too literally. If you saw a lobster walking the conference floor, that was us, showing some love for one of the best comeback stories in marketing.

Those sessions, and the booth conversations that followed, all pointed to the same truth: creativity with focus still drives growth.

2. Trust as the Next Creative Brief

One of the quieter but most important themes at ANA was trust.

Across sessions and side conversations, marketers talked about how creative integrity is becoming a brand advantage. As AI becomes part of every marketing workflow, people want to know that the ideas, insights, and stories they see are grounded in authenticity and care.

The strongest brands are treating trust not as a corporate value, but as part of their creative process. It’s shaping how they gather insights, tell stories, and build with transparency.

Trust is no longer something you say. It’s something you design for.

3. Seeing the Full Picture

Marketers are done with fragmentation. The focus now is on connection.

From CMOs to agency leads, the conversation on the ground focused on the need for a more complete view of their brand, audience, and creative performance. The teams moving fastest are not the ones using the most tools. They are the ones who can see everything that matters and act on it in real time.

That theme came up again and again in our conversations throughout the week. Marketers don’t want more data. They want understanding.

Seeing the full picture has become the real advantage. It’s also the foundation of how we help marketers bring brand, creative, and competitive intelligence together in one place.

4. From Hype to Accountability

Experimentation is no longer enough. Marketers are being asked to show impact.

Boards and investors have moved from curiosity to accountability. The most credible leaders weren’t making promises about AI or transformation. They were showing real outcomes — how brand strength, creative impact, and competitive performance connect to business growth.

It’s a shift from talking about potential to proving value. The marketers who can connect imagination to measurable impact will lead the next wave of growth.

A Clearer Future

ANA 2025 reminded everyone that marketing is returning to what matters most. Creativity matters. Brand matters. People matter.

AI is here to help, not replace. It is giving marketers time to think again, time to create again, and time to lead again.

And as we heard throughout the week, from the keynote stages to casual booth chats (and yes, even in a lobster costume), the best ideas still start with a simple question: What does this make people feel?

That is not automation. That is evolution.