Acquia Wrapped 2025: Seven Acquia Blogs That Blew Our Minds and Rewrote the Digital Experience Playbook

Can you believe 2025 is almost at an end? It was a wild ride. I think we’ll look back at 2025 as the year Generative AI went from "cool feature" to "non-negotiable strategy."

Here at Acquia, we were busy helping brands navigate the shift from the traditional website to the truly adaptive digital experience ecosystem. We published some incredibly thought-provoking pieces this year, but a few really stand out as the ones that defined the conversation.

So, grab a coffee and dive into our official roundup. Consider this like your Spotify Wrapped, but instead of reminding you of all the time you spent listening to Sade, this one is for the most-read thought leadership pieces from 2025.

1. The Homepage is Dead, Long Live the Experience!

We started the year with a bang, declaring the static, one-size-fits-all homepage officially DOA. Jennifer Griffin Smith hit us with this piece that was equal parts alarming and inspiring.

The Short Take: In the age of AI, your homepage isn't a brochure anymore, it's a launchpad for highly personalized, dynamic content curated in real-time for every single visitor. But here's the kicker: it has to be ready to serve not just humans, but sophisticated AI agents and Large Language Models, too! If your site can't adapt, it's already a museum piece.

Read the full story here: The Homepage as We Know It Will Soon Be Dead

2. From Campfires to Mirrors: How AI is Changing Storytelling

If the Homepage piece was the wake-up call, this one was the philosophical deep dive. It beautifully framed the shift in how we create content.

The Short Take: Remember gathering around a "campfire" where everyone heard the same story? That’s the old web. Now, AI has turned your digital experience into a "mirror" where the narrative is continuously shaped and customized by the user's intent, behavior, and context. Marketers must stop being the sole author and become the orchestrator of personalized, adaptive stories that resonate instantly.

Read the full story here: Campfires and Mirrors: Digital Storytelling in the Age of AI

3. Beyond Compliance: Accessibility is the Key to Digital Trust

This piece was a major mic drop for anyone who still thinks of accessibility as just a checklist item. Jake Athey made the definitive case for inclusion as a brand differentiator.

The Short Take: Accessibility is no longer just about meeting WCAG 2.2 standards (though you should absolutely do that, especially with the June 28, 2025, European Accessibility Act deadline). It's a genuine business driver. Brands that embrace inclusive design build deeper customer trust, increase loyalty, and unlock new markets. When you design for inclusion, you design for better usability for everyone.

Read the full story here: Beyond Compliance: Why Accessibility is Key to Digital Trust and Brand Loyalty

4. Why AEO is the Next Big Thing (And Why You're Already Behind)

If you needed a shot of marketing urgency, this was it. Based on a major independent survey we commissioned this year, we laid out the stark reality of the AI search world.

The Short Take: Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), which is about optimizing your content so it can be accurately sourced and summarized by tools like Google's AI Overviews and ChatGPT, is the new SEO. Our survey found that 70% of marketers agree AEO is a strategic imperative, yet only a measly 20% have actually implemented a strategy. The cost of inaction? Declining search traffic and brand invisibility in the places people are starting their journey. Stop optimizing for clicks; start optimizing for answers.

Read the full story here: Why Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) Is the Next Big Thing in Digital Strategy – And Why Most Brands Aren't Ready

5. DAM is Dead, Again. And This Death is More Important Than the Last

Another bold declaration from Jake Athey, this time digging into the foundational technology that powers all that AI content.

The Short Take: The Digital Asset Management (DAM) system, as a standalone "digital filing cabinet," is officially obsolete. This death is important because its capabilities are graduating. The core strengths of DAM, such as governance, rights management, and rich metadata, are transforming into the essential operating system for all intelligent, AI-powered content. In a world of generative AI chaos, a well-governed, connected content hub is the only way to prevent brand "hallucinations."

Read the full story here: DAM is Dead, Again. And This Death is More Important Than the Last

6. What Teens Want: Key Takeaways from the TeenVoice Survey

Want to know what the next generation of consumers actually cares about? The results of the TeenVoice survey, in partnership with Acquia, gave us some crystal-clear marching orders for the future of the web.

The Short Take: Teenagers (Gen Z and Gen Alpha) are pragmatic digital natives. Their #1 demand is privacy. They are skeptical of AI and automated sites. They expect speed and utility over tech gimmicks. Crucially, they consume content through video-first experiences and believe they should have a voice in the design of the sites they use, with 7 in 10 wanting to help co-create.

Check out the survey results here: TeenVoice Survey

7. Dries on Acquia Source: The Product We Should Not Have Killed

Finally, a truly candid and exciting post from Drupal founder (and Acquia co-founder) Dries Buytaert. He opened up about a major regret and announced a massive new development.

The Short Take: Dries reflected on the business mistake of shutting down Drupal Gardens a decade ago: a simple, easy-to-use Drupal SaaS platform. He confessed that this decision left a gap, forcing many large organizations to manage complex, multi-CMS environments. To finally fix this, Acquia has been building Acquia Source, a new, premium Drupal SaaS built to give marketers and site owners the simplicity of Drupal Gardens, but with modern features. It delivers on the long-held vision of one foundational Drupal platform that can support both simple campaign sites and complex digital experiences.

Read Dries's announcement here: The Product We Should Not Have Killed

That's the 2025 wrap-up! If there’s one takeaway, it’s that the future of digital experience is adaptive, intelligent, and governed by content structure and trust. What will 2026 bring?