A guide to marketing with confidence in uncertain times

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The opportunity: Rethink your strategies 

Consumers are watching and reacting to how brands reach them during moments of uncertainty. Economic impact research on U.S. consumers from The Trade Desk Intelligence and market research firm Appinio² in April 2025 found:

• 38% of consumers are paying more attention to the price of goods

• 28% say heavy advertising during economic uncertainty feels out of touch

• 36% of consumers appreciate advertising that emphasizes affordability during economic hardship

• 36% say they have noticed an increase in advertising that acknowledges financial struggle

The takeaway: Marketers should still show up, but be thoughtful about the time, place, and messaging they activate. For example, if seeing the same brand too often makes people feel it’s out of touch, frequency capping can help by limiting the number of times the same user sees an ad. 

In uncertain times, forward-thinking marketers will adapt their ad approach with the consumer and their business in mind. The right strategy balances near-term accountability with long-term growth. The Trade Desk platform enables brands to act with more agility by offering: 

• Addressability at scale 

• Real-time performance insights 

• Flexible buying models 

• Omnichannel strategies and frequency capping 

• Advanced tools for audience planning and measurement 

Scenario 1: Gain market share 

Economic uncertainty can give ambitious brands an opportunity to gain an edge over competitors that restrict ad spend. 

Whether it’s reaching new audiences, entering new channels, or optimizing performance, our platform helps marketers: 

1. Prioritize emerging channels: Be a first-mover in new channels like connected TV (CTV), audio, and digital out-of-home (DOOH), and genres like live sports. 

2. Reach your most valuable audience: Focus on engaging new customers by using the right data, competitive insights, and targeting tools like Retail Data, Koa Audiences, and The Trade Desk Pulse tool. 

3. Maximize growth outcomes: Understand how your online and in-store sales perform with innovative measurement solutions like Retail Sales Index and new-to-brand insights, and drive performance across upper- and lower-funnel goals with our AI-driven platform optimizations. 

4. Understand incrementality: Employ marketing mix model (MMM) best practices and use controlled lift studies to understand how different tactics are driving growth for your brand. 

Now is the moment to capture new demand and win share. 

Scenario 2: Retain optionality 

For brands that want to stay the course, flexibility is key. With uncertainty around tariffs, supply chains, and pricing, the ability to pivot is critical. 

Advertisers using our platform can: 

• Buy quality inventory with flexibility: Don’t sacrifice quality for scale — buy the best of the open internet across channels with flexible buying models like the Sellers and Publishers 500+ marketplace, Blue Lists, and the TV Quality Index (TVQI). 

• Reach the right audience: Advertising using durable identity solutions, like Unified ID 2.0 (UID2), European Unified ID (EUID), and Identity Alliance, can ensure you’re reaching potential customers. Advertisers like Unilever are finding that solutions like UID2 help find audiences more effectively than traditional identifiers.⁴ 

• Drive performance and efficiency: Hit your campaign targets at every stage of the funnel. Brands using the Kokai platform experience saw up to 43% lower cost per unique reach and 27% lower CPA.⁵ 

• Optimize outcomes: Double down on what’s driving real outcomes with in-flight reporting and real-time optimizations powered by our advanced AI. And with results available mid-flight, you can gather insights and make adjustments as needed. 

• Streamline operations: Activate a holistic campaign across key media channels, from CTV to audio to display (and more) all within a single self-serve platform. 

Our platform gives marketers the tools to stay nimble as market conditions change.

For example, during the economic downturn of 2022, Procter & Gamble CFO Andre Schulten discussed how the CPG conglomerate shifted ad spend into accountable advertising channels: “We are actively shifting our spending from linear, nontargeted TV into programmatic and into digital spend that is a lot more targeted and a lot more precise in terms of delivering reach.”⁶  

As Schulten discovered, embracing the channels that deliver ROAS ensured the efficacy of their advertising during times of uncertainty. 

Scenario 3: Adjust thoughtfully

In uncertain environments when brands are trying to do more with less, that does not mean sacrificing performance. We can provide them with the tools and the results that they’re looking for. 

When every dollar counts, we can help marketers: 

• Buy high-quality inventory without overspending 

• Use predictive bidding and frequency controls to avoid wasted impressions 

• Activate better data for smarter and more efficient targeting 

• Measure real outcomes to understand what’s working 

• Optimize mid-flight 

Whether you’re managing costs or planning for recovery, our platform provides the tools to protect results and maintain momentum. 

Consider the hypothetical of a global automotive manufacturer. Facing new tariffs and rising production costs, the manufacturer wants to reduce spend, while staying visible to high-intent consumers. Using our platform, the brand focuses on efficiency, narrowing targeting to in-market buyers, applying frequency caps, and using predictive bidding to minimize waste. As a result, it maintains steady performance while keeping costs low. 

Your next steps 

Economic uncertainty isn’t new, but today, marketers have better tools than ever to navigate it. Whether focused on growth, flexibility, or efficiency, the key is to act with intention and insight. 

Here’s how to get started: 

1. Assess your current position: Revisit your 2025 marketing plan through the lens of this guide. Are you trying to grow share, stay flexible, or protect performance with a smaller budget? Pinpoint your scenario and use it to reframe priorities. 

2. Pressure-test your media mix: Ensure your budget reflects today’s realities. Which channels are driving outcomes? Which audiences are under- or overserved? Use measurement tools like MMM, in-flight reporting, and incrementality testing to guide smarter allocation. 

3. Activate with precision and control: No matter your scenario, The Trade Desk enables flexible, data-driven execution across channels. Reach the right audiences, limit waste, and adapt in real time, all while tying media back to real business outcomes. 

With the right tools and approach, you can come out stronger on the other side. Our platform gives you the addressability, flexibility, and measurement you need to adapt in real time. Partner with your team at The Trade Desk to plan your next move and find growth no matter what scenario you’re facing. 

_Sources: 

<sub>1. Millward Brown, 2008. 
2. The Trade Desk Intelligence x Appinio, U.S., Economic Impact, n=500, A18+, April 7 – 14. 
3. The Trade Desk, “Unilever enjoys a taste of success with its outdoor ice cream campaigns in Singapore.” 
4. The Current, “How UID2 helped Unilever find its audience across Disney 12 times more effectively than traditional identifiers.” 
5. Aggregate results shown are spend-weighted average performance improvements recorded in beta period. Tests compared same-campaign KPI achievement pre- and post-Kokai adoption. 
6. The Current, “For Context: Advertising in a recession | The Current,” 2023.</sub> 

This information is provided solely for background and is not a representation or guarantee of any future performance.