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The Maersk Logistics Trend Map 2025 outlines a rapidly shifting logistics landscape. While it's geared toward supply chain professionals, there are key takeaways that brand, marketing, and experience leaders shouldn’t ignore. These trends—global decentralization, digital transformation, AI integration, and shifting consumer expectations—are already shaping how and where brand stories unfold.
For organizations navigating complex times, adapting isn’t easy. But it’s essential. Here’s a look at what’s changing and how brand leaders can begin to respond with clarity, intention, and resilience.
Retail timelines are accelerating. With faster fulfillment models and consumer expectations rising, brands must be prepared to pivot quickly—sometimes regionally, sometimes overnight. This is about more than logistics. It’s about being able to support new promotions, seasonal shifts, and campaign updates without missing a beat.
What to consider:
How fast can your messaging change across stores or touchpoints?
Are your print and signage workflows built for flexibility?
Do your partners support scale without sacrificing consistency?
Today’s customers care how things are made and where they come from. Internally, employees are facing disruption, uncertainty, and a deluge of change. In both cases, clarity builds trust—and visual storytelling can be a powerful tool for reinforcing mission, transparency, and values.
This matters even more inside your organization. When people don’t understand the bigger picture—or feel left out of it—morale suffers. Anxiety grows. And your story gets written by speculation instead of strategy.
What to consider:
Where in your facility could you reinforce your mission or progress?
Do your spaces help your teams understand where they’re going—and why?
Can you share achievements or changes in a way that feels motivating?
As global brands decentralize and adapt to regional differences, the ability to maintain brand consistency becomes more challenging—and more critical. Variability in fulfillment models, regulations, or even infrastructure can cause inconsistencies in how your brand shows up.
What to consider:
Are your brand standards truly scalable across markets?
Can regional teams execute without compromising design?
Do you have the infrastructure to support rollout at different speeds?
While the report shows sustainability falling in priority, consumer expectations haven’t changed. People still care. And even if it’s not always feasible to overhaul operations, how you talk about your progress still matters.
What to consider:
Are there opportunities to design for reuse or recyclability?
Are your sustainability goals visible and understood?
Can you use signage or display systems to reinforce your efforts?
AI is improving logistics—route planning, predictive maintenance, and real-time tracking—but it’s not always easy to explain. And that gap between what’s happening and what people understand can create friction.
What to consider:
Could you use visual tools to explain how tech is improving your process?
Are your teams aware of the "why" behind the changes?
Is your customer experience aligned with your tech advancements?
The takeaway from the Maersk report is clear: the supply chain is no longer just a behind-the-scenes function. It shapes perception, employee culture, and customer experience. And that makes it part of your brand.
What to consider:
Are you using your physical spaces to tell your story?
Can you align operational change with branded environments?
Is your signage doing more than directing—it is reinforcing who you are?
Before we wrap: One growing strategy for managing execution across distributed teams and locations is the use of web-enabled brand portals. These tools give marketing and operations teams a centralized, on-demand way to manage, customize, and distribute frequently used branded assets—things like signage, promotional kits, direct mail, and compliance materials. They help compress turnaround times, reduce manual coordination, and eliminate version control issues.
That said, not all brand portals are created equal. Off-the-shelf solutions may promise ease but often fall short when it comes to the flexibility and scalability complex organizations require. Highly customizable portals—tailored to your workflows, approval processes, and fulfillment needs—are a more strategic investment. They enable the kind of control and responsiveness that off-the-shelf platforms struggle to deliver.
It’s worth noting that not every branded experience fits into this model—custom facility graphics, one-off installations, and localized storytelling often require a more hands-on approach. But for high-frequency, widely distributed print assets, brand portals are becoming an essential part of staying responsive and consistent.
These aren’t easy shifts to manage. But they’re important. And the brands who respond with thoughtful strategy—not just surface-level design—will be the ones who stay resilient.
At Thysse, we believe that how your brand shows up in the real world matters. Whether it’s a retail rollout, a warehouse wall, or a shipping label, the details are what connect operations to meaning.
Because at the end of the day, your signage, graphics, and physical presence are more than just touchpoints—they’re proof points.
If you’d like to discuss your goals in the context of actionable steps we could help you take, our team is here to help. Just send us an email and we’ll find a time to connect. They’re called discovery meetings for a reason. Let’s shine a light on some opportunities you can consider.
