Defining the undefinable 2025.

I’m not going to lie. For some reason, I have found reflecting on 2025 extra difficult. Not for any reason in particular, and I believe that was the problem. A LOT happened in 2025. Culturally. Politically. In our industry. In our agency. In all of our lives. So to nail down exactly what to document as sort of a send-off letter to this year wasn’t easy. Plus, I’m a creative. I’m a writer. And if I know one thing that’s stuck with me about writers, it’s that we will do anything to avoid doing the thing we’re supposed to do.

Case in point, when I finally sat down to write this, I instead decided to:

• Wash the kitchen floor
• Iron three shirts
• Do laundry
• Prep four paintings
• Have a long conversation with my mother

And that was just the first go around. I’m now on like my sixth. But I have honestly lost count. I started a couple ways and then started again. And then scrapped a whole thing, and now here we are. Thank you for being on this journey with me.

I guess why I had been struggling so much is that this year has been so hard to define. Like I said, so much has happened. And things are changing at what feels like warp speed. AI, for example. We went from “But it can’t do hands!” (and sometimes it still can’t) to being warned of celebrities’ deepfakes scamming us out of our life savings.

The world of marketing is changing for sure, but it’s always been. It’s always been in flux. It’s always been evolving and morphing, and that’s what makes it great. We are about ideas. Those ideas that have never been ideated before. And that’s what propels us. What gets us excited and out of bed each workday. And things have to be changing and in flux in order for this dynamic to work.

The digital age, social, and now AI. It’s all made our jobs more complicated. But it’s also made for more possibilities. More tools. More fun. More ways to express those singularly simple ideas. We all need to embrace the fact that things are always going to be complicated and critical. This is just the business we’re in. And the way of the world these days. So running at it headfirst is sometimes just what we have to do. And it’ll feel good, I promise. Even if we fail, we’ll learn something. And no one is going to get (physically) hurt.  

But, but, but! As I looked back at this ill-defined, amorphous collection of months, weeks, days, and minutes, and I think about what really stood out to me, it did finally become clear.

We had some amazing days doing work in this, our 39th year of existence. We had filming days, presentation days, concepting days, days that bled into the night. Happy days. Sad days. Super exciting days. Hopeful days. Gamedays. Trying days. Days in which we rallied. Learning days. Fun days. Inspiring days. Days filled with joy.

And through all these days, we came together to do some remarkable work on behalf of our clients.

We gave back. A lot. We volunteered and gave our time and talents to worthy organizations throughout Western New York and beyond. We collected all sorts of items and adopted families. We tried to make a difference through our commitment to our community. Singularly and as powerful groups. We encouraged one another to get involved and inspired action. And affected more lives than I’m sure we even realize.

We were also here for each other. We had difficult conversations with one another and built each other up. We laughed together. We took in a baseball game or two or three. We played video games and got deep over shared drinks and meals and cookies. We hugged. We danced. We connected personally and professionally.

We watched one of our own bravely fight cancer for the second time. The devastating news came in April. And just last month she was deemed cancer free. Remarkably inspiring, to say the absolute least.

All of this. These days. These interactions. These fleeting moments that we want to hold on to so dearly. These are what made it clear what made 2025. The people. Our people. Us. We. The individuals who make CW who we are. And make us amazing.

Elise, Cassidy, Tricia, Alex, and Andrea. Joey, Malissa, Don, Ari, Emily, and Liz. Jessica, Cheryl, Ginger, Darryl, Mary, Andalyn, Adina, and Esha. Kali, Lisa, Brittney, Rosalind, Kelly, Lindsay, Joe, and John. Courtney, Stephanie, Andrea, Alaina, Jon, and Mackensie. Karen, Colleen, Katie, Franklin, Cuyler, and Laura. Nate, Meredith, Samantha, Maddie, Katelyn, and Srinivas. Kit, Kayla, Kirstyn, Paige, Nicole, and Emma, Kristen, and Matt. Ellen, Jenna, Hannah, Liz, Lauren, and Matt. Trevor, Katie, Tom, Audrey, and Tien. Vanessa, Amy, Amanda, Duy, Maddison, and Kristin. Korrin, Kelsey, Nicole, Ally, and Simone. Cara, Chelsea, Allyson, Caitlyn, Francine, and Rachel. Mary Kate, Jacob, Camille, Tyler, and Mike. Elizabeth, Maura, Rachael, AJ, Eman, Courtney, Hannah, and Dustan. Rosie, Ben, Simran, and Malina.

Here’s to these people. And a healthy and prosperous 2026 to you and your people.