• It's a challenging job market for candidates in the ad industry.
• Recruiters and industry insiders say there are bright spots for job seekers with the right skills.
• Advertising employees with expertise in data, tech, and client relations remain in demand.

It's set to be one of the most volatile years yet for the advertising industry.

There's massive ad agency consolidation, return-to-office mandates, and the opportunities and threats posed by artificial intelligence.

It's a lot.

So, spare a thought for the ad industry workers trying to figure out their next career moves. Do they stay on Madison Avenue? Or take the first exit?

The challenging outlook for job hunters is true for those in the early stages of their careers all the way through to the senior ranks. But headhunters, human resources execs, consultants, and other industry insiders told Business Insider there are bright spots for employees who can double down on the skills that are in demand from ad bosses. Those with the best chance of success will be able to demonstrate data and tech capabilities, as well as a bulging Rolodex of top client contacts.

"If you have not been pioneering in AI and data-driven roles in the last 900 days, I don't know what we can offer you," said Michele James, founder of James & Co, United Talent Agency's executive search practice.

James added that there would be little interest for a senior leader "if you don't have interpretative data management skills, a machine learning strategy, if you can't be a player-coach to your client partners." James said this reflects the transformation of the ad industry.

Over time, advertising agencies have expanded their services from creating and distributing ads, to an offering more akin to consultancies, moving into areas such as digital transformation, data strategy, and commerce. As client demands for these services grow, agencies are seeking allrounders who can bring it all together.

"Both brand owners and agency groups are hiring leaders whose skillset equips them to build and choreograph data, tech, and content capabilities at scale," said Gary Stolkin, CEO of The Talent Business, an executive search firm.

A tough advertising job market — with some bright spots

Employment in advertising, PR, and related services jobs in the US declined by 1,500 jobs in December to 520,800, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics — as overall US employment grew by 256,000 jobs.

While ad industry employment was up by 2,900 jobs versus December 2023, industry insiders said there were now fewer senior roles. That was in part due to agencies trimming costs amid shrinking client budgets. The trend is exacerbated by mergers such as the forthcoming tie-up between Omnicom and IPG, which will create the world's largest holding company but will likely lead to job losses, industry insiders have said.

"Everyone I talk to is getting rid of people who were overpaid and hiring back at a different level," said Lori Murphree, founder of the ad industry M&A advisory firm Evalla Advisors.

Murphree said there are some exceptions, such as the raft of independent agencies that have recently taken on private equity investment and are now bulking up.

Out: Skills that AI excels at

Industry insiders are updating their résumés to reflect the changing times.

A LinkedIn analysis found that social media management, e-commerce optimization, paid media advertising, performance marketing, and influencer marketing were among the fastest-growing skills people in the advertising and marketing industries have added to their profiles on the platform between January 2025 and January 2024.

"With nearly 40% of marketers under pressure to measure ROI in the short term, it's no surprise that they are increasingly leaning into skills like influencer marketing to build trust with their audiences and drive continued growth," said Tom Pepper, senior director at LinkedIn. (ROI refers to "return on investment".)

Advertising and marketing LinkedIn users were less likely to add established skills like "marketing communications" to their profiles, as well as skills like web design and email marketing, where AI is increasingly replacing human work.

"Automation continues to squeeze PR, copywriting, media owner sales, and production roles," said Simon Francis, CEO of Flock Associates, a marketing consultancy and search firm.

Advertising recruiters said they are searching for candidates whose career paths have taken unusual or varied turns. This can sometimes indicate that they are adaptable to the industry's ever-changing nature.

"Instead of skillsets, I consistently focus on mindset," said Monica Torres, executive director of global recruiting at the ad agency TBWA\Worldwide. "Having a mindset of curiosity and optimism, those are the traits that are always in demand because they're going to make you a problem solver for clients."

International experience can also be a bonus, industry insiders said.

Industry veteran Emiliano González De Pietri began his career in Madrid, Spain. He said his career and mindset got a jolt in 2013 when he moved to Peru to become deputy chief creative officer of the ad agency Circus Grey, later simply known as Grey.

While he spoke the same language as his colleagues, he clearly didn't share the same cultural references, humor, and understanding of local consumer behavior. He made it his mission to adapt.

"Just like a student, doing at least one year abroad is going to do wonders for your worldliness and ability to be a more interesting person," said De Pietri, who has now returned to Madrid as a global creative partner at McCann Worldgroup, having also done stints in London and New York in between.

"You encounter entirely different business problems, situations, politics — you will become a more versatile advertising beast," he added.

One thing in the industry hasn't changed: the constant fight for new business. But it's not just the domain of a dedicated agency growth department. Almost everyone in senior roles is expected to have those relationships, said Sasha Martens, president of the advertising executive recruiting firm Sasha the Mensch.

"What you're seeing is a lot of creatives a lot closer to the client than they were in the past," Martens said. "There's a greater understanding that you have to understand the strategic needs of your clients."

• Elvi Caperonis overcame over 100 rejections to secure a role at a Big Tech company.
• She feels that her strong résumé played a major part in finally landing the role.
• She shares her advice for crafting a strong résumé, such as by highlighting metrics and technical skills.

Elvi Caperonis always wanted to work in Big Tech.

She graduated with a computer science degree in 2005, followed by a master's degree in software engineering, and she was drawn to the allure of having a job that was both challenging and financially rewarding — not to mention the enviable perks and prestige that came along with Big Tech companies.

"I aimed to work with intelligent people to build technologies that could positively impact the world," she told Business Insider. "I was very excited about the opportunity to learn about cutting-edge technologies like AI and machine learning."

In 2017, after six years of tech consulting work and over three years at Harvard University as a techno-functional reporting analyst, Caperonis landed a full-time job as a business intelligence engineer at a top-tier tech company — one of the Magnificent 7.

But landing the job was far from easy, and the process was highly competitive. "I faced many rejections that allowed me to grow and learn how to make it happen," said Caperonis, whose employment history has been verified by Business Insider.

Dealing with rejection after rejection

The disappointment began in 2012 when Caperonis applied for a job at a Fortune 500 company. With two degrees and several years of relevant experience, she believed she was an overqualified candidate and a perfect fit for the opportunity.

But when it came time to answer technical questions, "My mind went blank," said Caperonis, who spoke little English before moving to the US in 2011. "I knew the answers and could even picture the scenarios in which I'd used the technology, but I struggled to articulate my thoughts in English back then."

She was rejected.

As she persisted in her job search, Caperonis endured a series of rejections from prominent companies, including Stripe, Meta, Twitter, Oracle, Akamai Technologies, and many others in the tech industry. She estimates that over the course of five years of trying to land a Big Tech job, she received over 100 rejections.

"The rejections hurt a lot," she said. "Each one felt like a deep wound, momentarily leaving me heartbroken and hopeless."

What Caperonis found even more painful was often being ghosted by employers after submitting an application or even having an interview.

She never thought about giving up, though. "The weight of disappointment became a catalyst for growth," she said. She treated each application and interview as a way to gain insights about how to approach future opportunities.

She thought she failed again

Her job interview with one top tech company lasted about eight hours and included multiple rounds of behavioral questions. By the end of the day, she felt completely exhausted and feared she'd failed.

But the tides had turned. "When the recruiter called me with the good news, I could hardly believe it — I was so excited and happy," Caperonis said. "I realized my life was about to change."

She recommends that anyone interested in Big Tech be very prepared to showcase their accomplishments and proficiency through their résumé.

Here's the one she used, which she feels played a major part in landing the job:

A strong Big Tech résumé: Her 3 tips

1. Create a gateway to your brand

The professional profile summary at the top of the résumé is the first thing a recruiter will see, and it should be a carefully crafted gateway to your brand, said Caperonis. She noted it can "make or break your first impression."

"With just five seconds to capture a recruiter's attention, this section should be your unique value proposition — a chance to showcase your skills, experiences, and what sets you apart from other candidates," she said.

In her case, Caperonis highlighted her ScrumMaster certification, nearly a decade of experience, and principles of honesty, discretion, loyalty, and sincerity through which she could help a company achieve its goals.

2. Validate your capabilities

Caperonis believes that the work experience section of the résumé is the most important element for Big Tech, and she incorporated results and metrics to make hers more compelling.

Throughout this section, Caperonis added details to quantify her achievements — such as "designed over 300 reports" — to make the scope and impact of her work more tangible.

3. Create a platform to demonstrate your competence

The next most important section of your résumé is the technical skills section, in her opinion.

"I've seen that tech recruiters quickly skim through your résumé to see if you have the work experience required for the job, after they quickly review your 'tech stack' — the technologies and tools required for the job."

Caperonis's technical skills section for her Big Tech application included programming languages, project management tools, data analysis techniques, and interpersonal skills crucial for collaboration and communication within a team.

"My proficiency in business intelligence tools, such as Oracle Business Intelligence, and my prior work experience at Harvard University as a techno-functional reporting analyst were critical factors," in ultimately securing her role, she said.

What she'd do differently

Looking back, Caperonis believes she did a great job highlighting her experience and technical skills in her résumé. But if she were to revise it today, she'd showcase her accomplishments and proficiency better.

"I'd include more metrics that showcase the impact of my work in terms of money, time, and resources that I have helped companies save, instead of just plain statements about my responsibilities," she said.

She also regrets not being more meticulous about proofreading before submission, as her résumé ended up containing a few grammatical errors. "In this competitive market, candidates must ensure their résumés are polished and free of grammatical mistakes," she said.

To create a résumé that will help you stand out as a tech candidate, Caperonis said it's wise to use AI tools to analyze job descriptions, suggest relevant keywords, and format your résumé — but stressed the importance of having a person, such as a career coach, give your résumé a once-over before you submit it.

"I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to have the résumé reviewed and personalized by a real human," she said.

One of the most interesting asset managers in Europe has made it to America.

Lingotto Investment Management, with $6 billion in assets under management, has generated plenty of intrigue in its short existence. It was formed in 2023 by Exor, the holding company for the wealth of the Agnelli family, which owns Fiat, Ferrari, The Economist, and the Italian soccer team Juventus.

Lingotto launched as an investment house giving tenured portfolio managers a sleeve of capital and free range to invest — some bets include a private German robotics company and CBS's parent company, Paramount. The firm, which was founded by the billionaire Agnelli heir John Elkann and whose chair is former UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, has raised billions in outside capital and is operated separately from Exor.

Now the manager is expanding to New York, where it already has 14 employees, including investing talent, on the ground. The 50-person firm, based in London, considers New York and London to be its "two pillars," Enrico Vellano, Lingotto's CEO, said in an interview with Business Insider.

"The idea is to continue to grow and invest in the US but also in the UK," he said.

The firm has lured in James Anderson, a star tech investor and former Baillie Gifford partner, and BlackRock executive Pam Chan to run different strategies. Matteo Scolari and Nikhil Srinivasan, two longtime Exor-connected investors, manage their own books.

The investors' focuses are across the board — limited-partner stakes in other funds, public tech companies, quirky private opportunities — and they can pursue their ideas on their own timelines, which can be yearslong, without constant tinkering from a central risk manager or overarching investment commitment. This proposition has been enticing to portfolio managers as well as prospective backers.

"Each team is empowered and very independent," said Scolari, whose ties to the Agnelli family go back a generation to when his father worked as the head of research and development at Fiat decades ago. In an interview with BI, he said the structure set the firm apart.

"I think that's really important — I really believe in this approach," he added.

A different model

The firm doesn't like the word "platform," but it's impossible to avoid comparisons between today's dominant multistrategy managers and Lingotto. These platforms have become some of the biggest names in alternative investing, in part because they can absorb so much capital from sovereign wealth funds and pensions and diversify it across dozens of investing teams.

The industry's biggest investors prefer multistrategy funds because of their consistency and lack of volatility, which they achieve through tight risk limits and short-term investment horizons.

Lingotto employs multiple investors who operate quasi-independently of each other, like Citadel and Millennium. But the similarities between Lingotto and the biggest hedge funds end there.

At Lingotto, the ultimate authority over its four strategies lies with the heads of said strategies. There's no firmwide chief investment officer but four different CIOs.

"I really liked the idea of the autonomy," Anderson said in an interview with BI. He runs the firm's $700 million innovation strategy alongside Morgan Samet, the strategy's cohead who used to work for the value-investment shop Pzena and the private-equity firm THL.

The innovation team plans to invest in companies across their life cycle, including when they are private, and hold them through volatile patches.

"You need to be prepared to suffer," said Anderson, who was an early investor in Tesla and Amazon and a big believer in Nvidia's potential.

"Where we earn our returns is by being supporters of these companies during their downturns," he added.

The long-term nature of the firm's capital, thanks to Exor's role in the formation of the company, allows Anderson and Samet — and the firm's three other strategy heads — to worry less about short-term gains and more about long-term ideas.

"We're not scared of volatility," Samet said.

"We see that as more of an opportunity, " she added.

Agnelli, through and through

While the firm wants to be viewed as more than just the investment arm of the Agnelli family — and already has outside capital from the French insurer Covéa — Lingotto is the brainchild of Elkann, the billionaire heir.

In a public letter after the firm launched, Elkann quoted the 18th-century philosopher Adam Smith to stress how his family would be investing alongside any outside capital.

"Above all, we think and act as principals rather than agents," he wrote. Lingotto, named after an iconic Fiat factory in Turin, Italy, with a rooftop test track that began operations in 1923, plans to grow through "performance rather than capital inflows," he added.

The first to run strategies for the firm were a pair of longtime family connections, Scolari and Srinivasan, who now run the intersection and horizon strategies, respectively. Scolari previously worked for Eton Park, the now shuttered hedge fund founded by the former Goldman Sachs partner Eric Mindich, and has run money for the Agnelli family since 2014.

Srinivasan, meanwhile, was the chief investment officer at Allianz Investment Management and an HPS partner before joining Exor in 2018.

The pair have very different strategies — Scolari runs a concentrated book of public equity longs and shorts, while Srinivasan manages a portfolio of other funds as well as direct investments into private companies — but similar experiences working at the firm.

Without the pressures of managing a business, the two chief investment officers can focus on their main job: investing.

"You have a pool of capital, you have trust from the LPs and GPs, and you have clarity for what you're supposed to be doing from an investment point of view," said Srinivasan, who invests in companies around the globe and spoke with BI from Singapore.

"The stresses created are our own stresses," he added.

People-focused buildout

With the firm's momentum and burgeoning reputation, it might seem like the next step would be a significant hiring spree to grow the ranks even further.

While Lingotto's leaders are always looking for top people, Vellano said the firm wanted the right people for the structure, not just more people.

Chan, a former BlackRock private-markets executive, is an example.

Chan, who is based in New York and runs the mosaic strategy, said her portfolio was focused on the parts of the private markets that don't fit neatly into the buckets of the biggest private-asset managers. Right now, for example, she's got her eyes on the content industry, including nontraditional players like YouTube creators.

"Novelty is a big part of what we do," she said. She was early into the music-rights business, something massive asset managers like KKR have now gotten into. She focuses on areas where there's a "capital demand-supply imbalance," a time-intensive strategy that requires her and her team to scour the market for deals.

She said Lingotto's structure gives her the bandwidth to do that by "allowing investors to invest."

It fits neatly into Vellano's vision.

"We will remain a boutique" that focuses on "quality investors and LPs," he said, adding: "It's important we have that alignment."

• Sanofi's CEO said the pharma firm uses AI to help decide to move a drug to the next developmental phase.
• He said it's a "sobering" process because AI agents have no careers at stake.
• "The agent isn't wedded to the project for 10 years," Paul Hudson said at Davos.

Paul Hudson, CEO of the pharmaceutical firm Sanofi, has an argument for letting AI make top-level decisions in medicine: It has no attachments.

Speaking at a panel in Davos on Tuesday, Hudson said Sanofi uses AI to recommend whether drugs should "pass through a tollgate," or essentially get approval to move to the next phase of development.

He said that when Sanofi's senior decision-makers convene to discuss a drug, they start with an AI's recommendation for their choice.

"And we do that because it's very sobering, because the agent doesn't have a career at stake," Hudson said. "The agent isn't wedded to the project for the last 10 years. The agent is dispassionately saying: 'Don't go forward or go forward faster, or go forward and remember these things.'"

"And we're not used to having somebody without a career at stake in the room at a senior level," he continued.

Hudson also said that Sanofi typically takes about 12 to 15 years to fully develop a drug and bring it to market and that it's been practically using AI for about three years.

By his estimate, that means AI has been around at Sanofi for about a third of the "discovery" process for some drugs. That process is when manufacturers figure out what compounds should qualify as candidates for new medicines.

The pharmaceutical company, which makes drugs like Lantus insulin jabs and Plavix blood thinners, spends about three billion euros, or $3.1 billion, on discovery within that timeframe, Hudson said.

He and four other senior-level speakers, including Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman and Aramco CEO Amin Nasser, spoke positively about AI at the panel, saying people shouldn't be so worried that they might lose their jobs.

"The jobs that are at risk are the jobs where the human isn't interested in AI. AI doesn't beat human plus AI," Hudson said.

Sanofi's press team did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

The 47th president and first lady danced to a cover of Elvis Presley's "An American Trilogy."

A powerful Arctic blast is bringing life-threatening cold to the Midwest and Northeast, while a rare winter storm blankets the Gulf Coast.

"The change of seasons causes surface melting far inland from the coastal ice front," glaciologist Christopher Shuman said.

The website reproductiverights.gov launched in 2022 as part of a government awareness campaign.

The president had previously said he was looking to save the social media platform.

President Trump moved to obliterate the outer bounds of executive power Monday, igniting a series of constitutional showdowns that could curtail — or enable — his vision for a maximalist second term.

Why it matters: Within hours of taking office, Trump dared the courts, Congress and his fragmented opposition to stand in the way of what could be his most enduring legacy: a radical expansion of presidential power.

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• He did so publicly and with a flourish — signing an initial batch of executive orders in front of a roaring crowd at Capitol One Arena, before returning to the White House.
• There, Trump signed a barrage of executive orders, announced that Canada and Mexico are likely to face 25% tariffs beginning Feb. 1, and pardoned roughly 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants.

Trump also commuted the sentences of 14 Oath Keepers and Proud Boys convicted of seditious conspiracy— an extraordinary act of clemency for far-right extremists who sought to overthrow the government on Jan. 6.

• Many of the Jan. 6 defendants — targeted in the largest Justice Department investigation in U.S. history — were sentenced by Trump-appointed judges.
• "They've already been in jail for a long time," Trump said when asked if there should be any punishment for supporters who attacked police officers. "These people have been destroyed."

Zoom in: One of Trump's Oval Office executive orders stands out for its ambition and audacity: a declaration ending birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants.

• Birthright citizenship is enshrined in the Constitution, but Trump's order seeks to "clarify" the language in the 14 Amendment to exclude undocumented immigrants.
• The ACLU and other immigrant rights groups already are planning to sue to block the executive order, and legal experts widely expect it to be struck down by the courts.

Still, new evidence has emerged to suggest that Trump — emboldened by his historic political comeback and a record-high approval rating — may be willing to circumvent or openly defy U.S. law in his second term.

• Trump has refused, for example, to enforce the U.S. ban on TikTok — despite the law passing with the support of over 80% of Congress, and being unanimously upheld by the Supreme Court.
• Instead, he signed an executive order — without citing any legal authority — giving himself "the right" to find a buyer or ultimately ban the Chinese-owned app in 75 days.

The big picture: Trump's other Day 1 actions vividly illustrate his desire to concentrate power in the executive branch, even while Republicans control both chambers of Congress.

• The new president issued 10 executive orders on immigration, including a national emergency declaration allowing the Pentagon to redirect funds and deploy additional troops at the southern border.
• Trump also designated drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, potentially paving the way for the U.S. to deploy special forces in Mexico without permission from Congress.
• He issued an executive order that could strip thousands of civil servants of their employment protections, making it easier to fire federal employees deemed to be "disloyal."
• And even with U.S. fossil fuel production at record highs, Trump declared a "national energy emergency," unlocking new authorities to increase drilling and bypass environmental and climate regulations.

The other side: Trump allies argue President Biden's own actions in his final days in office amount to a greater abuse of executive authority than anything Trump has done.

• That includes Biden's unilateral declaration that the Equal Rights Amendment, which was passed by Congress in 1972 but not ratified by enough states in time, is "the law of the land."
• Biden also issued preemptive pardons for five members of his family in his final minutes in power, citing "unrelenting attacks and threats" of prosecution by Trump allies.

What they're saying: Trump's blizzard of executive orders has exhilarated his base, who see it as proof that he's willing to steamroll the "Deep State" to fulfill his campaign promises.

• But his rapid consolidation of power has unnerved liberals, institutionalists and even some Republicans who are skeptical of big government.
• "In America, we abide by the rule of law. Even when the law comes for a popular app — TikTok — that the MAGA king likes," Joe Lonsdale, a Silicon Valley magnate who supports Trump, wrote in the Free Press.

President Trump on Monday issued an executive order that would direct the attorney general not to enforce a ban on TikTok for 75 days.

Why it matters: In one of his first actions in office, Trump is prioritizing saving a platform that he says has been friendly to him.

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What's inside: During the 75 days, the Department of Justice is directed to take no action to enforce the law or impose any penalties against any entity for any noncompliance with the law, the executive order says.

What they're saying: Speaking in the Oval Office Monday night, Trump said a deal where the U.S. gets half of TikTok and TikTok keeps the other half is "one of many ideas."

• "If I do the deal for the United States, then I think we should get half. I think the U.S. should be entitled to get half of TikTok and congratulations, TikTok has a good partner."
• "Every rich person has called me about TikTok," Trump said when asked if a private company would be involved.
• If China does not approve the deal "it would be somewhat of a hostile act," Trump said, adding that his administration could impose tariffs on China if the country got in the way of a "good deal."

For Trump to satisfy a qualified divestiture under the law, he would have to consult with government agencies and determine TikTok is no longer controlled by China.

• That means making sure it's impossible for China to still control TikTok's algorithm or data sharing.
• The law explicitly bars Trump from allowing a Chinese entity to continue being involved with TikTok, even through an agreement with a U.S. company.
• The law also states that Trump would need to certify to Congress not only that there's been "significant progress" toward executing a qualified divestiture, but there are "binding legal agreements" in place to enable the sale during the extension period.

Catch up quick: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to block the law to ban TikTok.

• The executive order follows a rollercoaster of a weekend where CEO Shou Zi Chew chose to make TikTok go dark and then reinstated it the following day, crediting Trump.
• None of TikTok's actions were necessary under the law, which instead only required Google, Apple, and other web hosting services to stop carrying the app.

If you need smart, quick intel on federal tech policy for your job, get Axios Pro Policy.

• Europe's economy has a competitiveness and innovation problem.
• The new Trump administration and Chinese pressure will only squeeze the economic bloc harder.
• These five things could help Europe drive innovation, according to EY's Europe boss, Julie Teigland.

Most EY employees spend their days analyzing individual businesses or conducting audits for clients. But at the upper ends of the EY machine, its leaders are part of the global conversation — consultants to governments and industry groups.

Julie Teigland, the firm's managing partner for Europe, the Middle East, India, and Africa, told Business Insider that in Europe, the big business challenge is a lack of competitiveness and innovation.

This picture only looks set to become more complex as Europe is squeezed between the new Trump administration's expected tariff policy and Chinese retaliation.

In 2025, US GDP growth is expected to be significantly higher than that of Europe. The IMF forecasts 1% growth in the euro area in 2025, compared to 2.7% in the US.

"You don't want the US going twice as fast as Europe. That creates a downward spiral," Teigland told BI.

Teigland said she is trying to drive conversation around what Europe can do to change this.

"We have a million examples of go-getters, but if we don't give them the ecosystem they need, they won't be successful," Teigland told Business Insider.

She believes there are five things Europe can do in the short term to drive innovation and be more competitive.

1. Clearer implementation of regulation

"Over last years the number of regulations and the length of the regulations has more than doubled," Teigland said.

Every member country's market is different, but any time new legislation comes in, it can be implemented in 27 different ways, she said. To stop duplication and inefficiencies, the EU needs to create more alignment on implementation before signing laws, she said.

2. Create a capital markets union

A capital markets union (CMU) would create a single market for capital in the European Union, breaking down barriers that block cross-border investments and allowing nations to share risk.

"We need Europeans to invest in European companies," Teigland told BI. Creating a CMU would "unlock billions" to create more of an innovation ecosystem. She wants to see the EU unbundle fees and allow pension funds to invest in equities with its biggest markets, like Germany.

"Why would you not make that transparent and lower the cost? Why do European mutual funds have to be significantly more expensive than American ones."

3. Support European champions by changing the laws on anti-competition

"We haven't been able to create any European champions in any industry, especially not in tech. Why? Because we don't allow them to combine across borders," said Teigland.

Teigland said the way to foster "champions" — companies that help Europe compete with other economic powers — is to find more balance between regulation that drives protectionism and ones that drive innovation.

The laws on anti-competition need to be changed, particularly for larger companies in late-stage financing, she said.

"Think of all the things that have been knocked out, all the deals that have been brought to the table that Europe has said no way, we're protecting the individual consumers in the individual countries."

4. Stick together against Trump and China

"Both the Chinese and America's strategy has been to pick the Europeans off one by one," Teigland said. But they have to work together to prevent this, she added.

"I think they just have to say, Donald, you're dealing with all of us. We're not going to take a deal for Germany and a deal for Spain."

The EU can use Big Tech litigation as a bargaining chip and offer to scale back its review of companies like Meta, Apple, and Google. They can also use the promise of more defense spending and purchasing US energy.

5. Create a clear investment strategy — especially for defense and industrial spending

Lastly, Teigland thinks Europe needs a clearer investment strategy — "aligning on what we want at the beginning, instead of at the end."

She highlighted the defense and industrial spending plans, noting that even though Trump is expected to increase pressure on the defense industry, there had not been a mapping for industrial policy.

Citing a recent conversation with a NATO General, Teigland highlighted issues with communications technology in tanks. The person shooting the mortars has "to open the lid, use their Apple phone to dial, to call the guy to give him the coordinates because nothing links with each other across Europe," she said.

Teigland told BI that the EU needs a map of who is producing what and how it combines so that it can determine where to invest.

Europe's outlook

It's going to take money to create the ecosystem for success, and combining forces is no small thing for the bureaucracy-heavy EU bloc. But Teigland said she's positive about the direction of change.

Industry groups are aligned about the need to boost competitiveness and trim down regulatory burdens, and senior EU politicians Teigland speaks to are "really listening," she said.

Recent moves by Ursula Von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, are one of the biggest signs things that Europe is getting serious about boosting economic growth.

After winning a new mandate in 2024 to lead the European Commission for another five years, Von der Leyen has said she wants to launch a "simplification revolution" and cut regulatory "red tape" by 25% in the first half of 2025.

Teigland said the aligned structure of Von der Leyen's team also signals a changing wind. "In one way, she's concentrated her power, but it's also huge that each minister has an overlapping area."

It's a microcosm of how Teigland thinks the entire bloc should be acting: "She recognizes the interconnectedness of the topics and the need to consolidate and do a few things well together. That gives me hope."

Moscow suspended its participation in the New START nuclear arms reduction agreement with the U.S. in February 2023.

The aging Chrysler Pacifica has kept the company afloat; finally there is new product at the end of the tunnel.

Corn snacks are being recalled after it was discovered they contained undeclared milk, putting individuals with allergies at risk.

The decision is part of the president's overarching MAGA agenda to "drain the swamp" and destroy the "deep state."

Millennials and Gen Z workers appear downbeat on the prospects of retiring or even retiring in a better state of financial health than they are now.

As he signed an executive order, President Donald Trump said that the World Health Organization had "ripped us off."

Last year, David Martin was showing a prospective tenant around Brickell City Centre, an open-air mall he helps manage in downtown Miami. The man was an executive from FP Movement, part of the bohemian clothing brand Free People, and Martin was hoping he would decide to lease a shop in the mall. Teens and young professionals have been drawn to Brickell's palm-tree-lined backdrops and distinctive glass and steel trellis, which are featured regularly on TikTok, along with the elaborate CrazyShake milkshakes from Black Tap Craft Burgers & Beer.

Suddenly, as Martin was showing the FP guy around, a man in his early 20s strolled by.

"Oh, look, I know that guy!" the executive told Martin. "That was one of our influencers!"

The serendipitous encounter signaled the mall's popularity with Gen Z, which was exactly what Martin needed to seal the deal. "OK, my job is done,'" he thought. "I'll just send you the lease!"

FP Movement ended up opening a store in Brickell a few months later. But the moment was also evidence of something bigger: The American mall, against all odds, is cool again.

Twenty years after they were written off as a casualty of the online shopping boom, malls from the resorts of Arizona to the suburbs of New Jersey are bustling and vibrant. Vacancy rates are the lowest in two decades, and both visits and sales have been climbing steadily for the past three years. And while older shoppers are more likely to have written off the mall, Gen Zers and millennials are embracing them as the hip new hangout. In a 2023 survey by the International Council of Shopping Centers, 60% of Gen Zers said they visited malls just to socialize.

Luxury malls like Brickell are doing especially well with Gen Z. With their modern aesthetic, over-the-top dining options, and limited-edition events, they've become more than a chic place to socialize — they're an extension of the digital lives of young shoppers. "Going to a mall used to be an errand, and now it's a content opportunity," says Casey Lewis, the author of "After School," a newsletter on consumer trends. "The constant need to document one's life on social media has put a larger importance on the aesthetic appeal of places like malls."

But for today's young shoppers, the mall offers more than an Instagram opportunity — it's a place to practice some of the things that got lost during the social isolation of the pandemic. "Social media helps us refine our taste, but the mall lets us experiment with who we are IRL," says Claire Lee, a cofounder of Selleb, an online platform that tracks Zoomer spending habits. "Beyond providing a backdrop for content, it's where we can almost test-drive the personas we post about online."

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If the malls of old embraced sameness — you could always count on a Victoria's Secret and a Cinnabon — today's retail meccas want to stand out from the crowd. To succeed today, the mall has to be a destination for young shoppers, something they'll go out of their way to experience. That's especially true when it comes to dining. At a handful of malls on the West Coast, the star tenant is Din Tai Fung, a Taiwanese chain that's garnered a cult following for its soup dumplings.

"Besides being delicious, it's a very fun experience," says Arden Yum, a college student who planned a recent visit to Orange County around a trip to the Din Tai Fung outpost at the South Coast Plaza mall. "You write down your order on the paper menu, mix your own sauce, and ask for secret menu items, like the sea salt foam with the chocolate xiao long bao that are filled with molten chocolate."

Once the epitome of artificiality — a sanitized simulacrum of the town square — America's malls now serve as one of the last vestiges of real-world authenticity.

Seeing the meal for the content gold it was, Yum and her friends snapped pictures of each dish before digging in. And since they were already at the mall, they did some shopping, too. While waiting for their table, Yum picked up a pair of sunglasses at Gentle Monster, a Korean optical brand.

Celebrity partnerships have also helped position malls as destinations. In 2022, when the YouTube star MrBeast announced he would be opening the first MrBeast Burger at the American Dream megamall in New Jersey, more than 10,000 fans lined up to try his smashburgers and meet their idol. Some had slept in the mall overnight.

Over two years later, the burger joint is still going strong. "Every day at 10 a.m. there's a line to start eating burgers at this place," says Paul Ghermezian, American Dream's chief operating officer. "This is a place people come into the building and ask for."

All that attention was something of a lifeline for American Dream, which had been derailed by the pandemic only a year after opening. Located 7 miles from Midtown Manhattan, the shopping and entertainment complex includes North America's only indoor ski slope, a skating rink, a water park, and amusement park rides — not to mention some 450 retail stores. Over the past three years, aggressive targeting of young shoppers has helped it find its footing financially. American Dream says that 2024 was its busiest year yet, with an 11% increase in foot traffic. Once the epitome of artificiality — a sanitized simulacrum of the town square — America's malls now serve as one of the last vestiges of real-world authenticity.

"The world of physical and digital are intertwined, and allowing the two to live together is key," Ghermezian says. "If you want to feel the wind on your face as you get splashed on the wave pool, you'll have to be there in person. And at the same time, it's going to make some damn good content."

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From a marketing perspective, it makes sense that malls are targeting young shoppers with high-end offerings. Studies show that Gen Zers are splurging more at their age than previous generations did. The global consulting firm Bain predicts that Zoomers will be responsible for nearly a third of all luxury sales by 2030.

Scottsdale Fashion Square, a mall in suburban Arizona, saw foot traffic jump 144% after it opened five high-end restaurants, including a Nobu, and added more luxury brands for men. "We're trying to deliver something youthful and exciting to the marketplace," says Kim Choukalas, who manages the mall's leasing. "The instant gratification of buying at a brick-and-mortar location will never go away."

"Sometimes you think about old worn-down strip malls that are not very exciting places to be," says one influencer. "But newer malls are pretty fun."

In Miami, the Brickell mall specializes in high-end retailers, like Marc Jacobs and Luca Faloni. But over the past year, it's also made a point of adding more accessible brands, like FP Movement. "The high-low mix is the key thing," says Martin, the leasing manager. "You might be drawn to something at Saks. But you can always afford something at Sephora or H&M."

Cosmetics and fragrance — another Zoomer favorite — are also a reliable draw. And while the entry-level cosmetics floor has long been a staple of department stores, today's shopping meccas are taking it up a notch. In the fall, Nordstrom, which serves as an anchor store for many malls, launched a young-adult beauty section in six locations. Kohl's, the top-ranked department store among Zoomers in a recent survey, has a partnership with Sephora that racked up $1.4 billion in sales in 2023 alone.

In another play to young shoppers, malls have also amped up their schedule of in-person events. Brickell hosts pop-ups with local chefs. Scottsdale Fashion Square hosts a Monday Mixer series that includes sunset yoga on a rooftop. And the Mall of America — the nation's largest mall — has added a live-action game show.

But these days, none of the marketing ploys — the live events, the fancy restaurants, the luxury perfumes — would mean anything if they didn't show up on social media. To grab the attention of young shoppers, Simon Property Group, the nation's largest mall operator, has launched a campaign with local influencers to create social media posts from its shopping centers set to the soundtrack of "The Breakfast Club," some of which have gone viral. "Sometimes you think about old worn-down strip malls that are not very exciting places to be," says Jenny Duan, a college student in California who has partnered with Simon on influencer campaigns. "But newer malls are pretty fun."

After the success of BeastBurger at American Dream, Ghermezian has expanded the mall's collaborations with content creators, giving the Twitch stars Kai Cenat and Adin Ross carte blanche to film streaming videos inside the mall. "It's a different world now," he says. In the old days, seeing a live broadcast on TV might make you curious enough to swing by the mall to see what was going on. But today, he says, the publicity that matters most has to be produced by the very shoppers he's trying to attract. The message to Gen Z isn't just "come on down," he says. It's "come on down — and show us what you're up to."

On his first day back in office, the president pardoned or commuted the sentences of those convicted over their roles in the January 6, 2021, riot.