By Rosie O’Hara
If 2025 taught us anything, it’s this: marketing didn’t stall—it sent signals.
Across creative reviews, campaign post-mortems, social feeds, and client conversations, the same patterns kept showing up. Not trends in the buzzy sense, but quieter cues about where brands felt confident… and where they hesitated. Where teams were energized—and where they were playing defense.
So instead of making predictions for 2026, we did something more useful. We asked our team to reflect on what they noticed last year—and where they hope brands show more conviction next.
What follows isn’t a crystal-ball forecast or a list of “hot takes.” It’s pattern recognition, informed by real work, real audiences, and real results—across industries, channels, and moments that mattered.
1. Design wants its soul back (and AI has a role to play).
The 2025 signal:
Polished. Safe. Increasingly AI-assisted. And occasionally… indistinguishable.
AI became a powerful part of the creative process last year—and for good reason. It accelerated workflows, unlocked efficiencies, and helped teams explore more ideas, faster. Used well, it made creative teams sharper, not smaller. It gave designers and strategists more room to think, instead of more boxes to check.
But we also saw the other side of the signal: When AI became the output, not the tool, design started to lose its point of view.
In response, some brands pushed back—experimenting with intentionally kitschy visuals, early-internet aesthetics, or handcrafted textures to reintroduce personality and imperfection. Others retreated into safety, choosing designs that wouldn’t offend, surprise, or stand out.
Our 2026 mission:
AI used with intention—and creativity that feels authored.
The opportunity isn’t to abandon AI. It’s to put it in its proper place. Use it for research, iteration, and exploration. Then let human judgment, taste, and instinct do what they’ve always done best: decide what’s worth putting into the world.
Fresh, authentic design doesn’t mean messy or nostalgic by default. It means confident. It means choosing a look because it says something, not because it passed the fewest internal reviews.
2. Storytelling is back. Now finish the story.
The 2025 signal:
Better stories. Short attention spans.
We saw more brands investing in storytelling last year—clearer narratives, human stakes, stronger emotional hooks. That’s real progress, especially in categories that have historically defaulted to features and specs.
But too often, those stories lived as one-offs: a campaign that never evolved, a launch that didn’t ladder into sales enablement, a strong idea that disappeared once the media plan ended.
Our 2026 mission:
Fewer moments. More narrative systems.
The brands that win long-term aren’t just good storytellers—they’re disciplined ones. They build stories that stretch across channels, evolve over time, and show up differently depending on the audience and moment.
That means connecting brand, campaign, content, PR, and sales under a shared narrative spine. Not everything needs to be loud—but everything should feel related.
3. Social media loosened up.
The 2025 signal:
Less polish. More presence.
Social feeds felt more real last year—less templated, more in-the-moment. Brands experimented with off-the-cuff video, looser visuals, and content that felt reactive instead of rehearsed. In many cases, the content that performed best didn’t look like it had been “designed” at all.
We also saw brands step outside their own lanes—commenting on culture, engaging with unexpected posts, and showing a sense of humor that felt earned rather than forced. The common thread wasn’t volume—it was awareness.
Our 2026 mission:
Brands that stop taking themselves so seriously—and start acting more socially.
The goal isn’t to chase every meme or trend. It’s to remember that social media is participatory by nature.
They know when to speak, when to react, and when not to insert themselves at all.
Perfection isn’t the benchmark anymore. Self-awareness is.
4. PR is becoming infrastructure, not insurance.
The 2025 signal:
PR moved closer to the business.
Earned media increasingly fueled paid amplification. Clients asked for standby statements and crisis planning earlier in the process. PR showed up not just at launch—but at decision points, leadership moments, and times of uncertainty.
In a year shaped by volatility, brands didn’t just want coverage—they wanted readiness.
Our 2026 mission:
PR treated as a foundational system, not a last-minute tactic.
They help brands move faster, respond smarter, and show up consistently when it matters most.
Earned media isn’t the finish line anymore. It’s an input—one that strengthens paid, social, and brand trust when it’s integrated thoughtfully.
5. The throughline: less safe. More intentional.
Across design, storytelling, social, and PR, one pattern stood out in 2025: brands were cautious. That caution is understandable. But safety has a ceiling.
Our hope for 2026 is simple: more conviction, more follow-through, and more ideas carried all the way through. More clarity about what a brand stands for—and what it doesn’t.
Because the brands that stand out next year won’t be the ones chasing trends. They’ll be the ones acting on clear signals, with intention and confidence.
