VMF Charts The Next Frontier of Marketing and Technology
Vibe Marketing Tech Fest brought together thought leaders across the Middle East to discuss future trends and technologies, and how they will impact the marketer’s role.
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Vibe Marketing Tech Fest held its 16th edition in Dubai on April 23-24, 2025. With a stellar line-up of speakers and technology partners, it remains a summit that sets the tone for marketing innovation in the region.
This year’s theme focused on the convergence of marketing and ad technologies, exploring how marketers need to adapt to an AI reality, leverage the power of real-time data and gain a deeper understanding of customer intentions.
The speakers acted as a compass to showcase current realities, and postulate on future trends that brands need to prepare for. Sessions were designed to share experiences on how to tackle common industry challenges, and insights on how to derive maximum value from new technology adoption.
The marketer’s future-ready guide;
EXPERIENCE-DRIVEN CONNECTIONS
According to Marwen Ben Messaoud, Director of Growth Middle East, Africa, South Asia at Spotify, one of the key trends in marketing this year is how retention is going to evolve beyond gamified loyalty experiences towards more genuine, more user-centric and experience-driven connections. Messaoud spoke about retention strategies, and how Spotify leverages personalisation to engage customers at a deeper level.
HUMANS DRIVE, AI JUST THE TOOL
“It’s not what I wanted—that’s the thing with AI–it won’t always give you exactly what you want. Often, you need a creative artist to help you. That’s why humans are still doing 80% of the thinking, the doing, the steering—AI is the tool,” said Will Snow, Associate Director Digital Technologies at Yum! Brands, examining whether AI serves as a powerful tool to augment creative expression or challenges the irreplaceable role of human imagination.
FIGHT COOKIE-CUTTER ALGORITHMS
“In 2025, the marketers’ biggest challenge is fighting the battle for bland AI-powered marketing where brands fight to escape the trap of cookie cutter algorithms where weak prompts lead to weak ideas,” said James Dutton, Chief Product Officer at UM MENAT. Dutton joined a panel of experts to discuss how marketers can prepare for a Gen AI revolution.
MORE RELEVANT, INSIGHT-DRIVEN MARKETING
Rajesh Verma, General Manager, Middle East at Epsilon, said that one of the biggest transformations in marketing this year is the shift towards first-party data strategies.
“In regions like the Middle East, where consumers engage on multiple touchpoints— video, news sites, online retailers—we connect these interactions through identity resolution, ensuring seamless, privacy-compliant messaging across channels. We make this shift manageable by offering solutions that don’t require a complete overhaul. From integrating app data to implementing lightweight tracking pixels, we help brands take meaningful steps toward more relevant, insight-driven marketing. Over time, this foundation supports deeper segmentation and cross-device identity resolution, delivering personalisation at scale while respecting consumer privacy.”
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INCREMENTALITY MEASUREMENT AND PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS
“The biggest shift we’re witnessing is the move toward privacy-first marketing while maintaining performance efficiency,” said Riyad Khalil, Director – Middle East and North Africa at Adjust.
“As regulatory changes evolve and user expectations around data privacy grow, marketers need to rethink attribution, measurement, and engagement strategies. At Adjust, we’re pioneering privacy-centric measurement solutions, leveraging SKAN, Privacy Sandbox, and AI-driven insights to ensure advertisers can make informed decisions without compromising user privacy. Our focus is on incrementality measurement and predictive analytics, helping brands drive sustainable growth in the next generation of attribution and analytics,” he said.
ONE THING REMAINS THE SAME – CUSTOMERS
Oleg Nesterenko, Global CMO at Storytel, said, “Stepping into 2025 and talking about the future trends, one thing remains the same – customers – because people’s needs and behaviours are not changing so rapidly, unlike technology. And while customers were expecting hyper-personalisation over years, we finally have something in our toolbox, to deliver this.”
Market dynamics exhibit a push and pull where marketers must, at times, build new skills or trust old experiences. The balance comes in knowing the difference, and when to pivot.
Vibe Marketing Tech Fest is supported by technology partners. Gold sponsors include Adjust, Appsflyer, Braze, Emplifi, Kochava, Sitecore and The Trade Desk. Silver sponsors include; Adwake, Bloomreach, Brandwatch, SAP Emarsys, Lemnisk, Epsilon, Vonage, Hemodata and MoEngage. Exhibitors; Observe Point, Sila Influence, and Proximus Global.
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