The creative trends and strategic shifts that will shape 2026

Tom Foulkes, managing director, HB: “One of the most profound and important creative shifts in 2025 was the return to the handmade. As AI generated work accelerates, the most resonant campaigns have taken a different path. TBWA/Media Arts Lab led the way with Apple’s felt animal Christmas film: tactile, imperfect and unmistakably made by human hands. The craft behind Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age, created by Framestore, is another high point: entirely CGI, yet grounded in physical process, with puppeteers using bespoke marionette-like rigs to capture weight, hesitation and breath. It feels like something of a course correction. Not anti-technology in a Luddite way, more pro-touch, judgment and care. This will be everywhere in 2026. Hand-drawn. Hand-rendered. Shot in camera. Developed from film. Texture and imperfection as hallmarks of quality. So, the humble HB pencil may yet replace the stylus... for 2026 at least.”

Lisa Hale, head of broadcast, consumer PR, social media & brand activation, Specsavers: “The most under-reported marketing story right now? The quiet retreat from persuasion. In the pursuit of efficiency, frequency and econometric certainty, the industry has doubled down on small, repeatable activity designed to reinforce existing memory structures. This works brilliantly for established, habitual brands. But it has become concerningly over-generalized. There are many brands that face perception problems, growth audiences or behaviour-change challenges, yet are optimizing for reinforcement when what they actually need is reappraisal. Distinctiveness and ‘always-on’ activity build familiarity, not belief. You don’t change minds through accumulation alone. What’s been missed is that marketing has two key roles: creating memory and changing meaning. The first compounds quietly over time; the second requires deep attention, emotion and disruption. Econometrics explains how memory compounds, but doesn’t explain how meaning changes. The real story last year wasn’t that brand has returned. It was that we’ve brought back brand building, without fully bringing back persuasion. Just as many brands need to change minds, not just stay memorable.”

George Bacon, founder, GBM Group: “One of the most under-discussed shifts in marketing last year was how memes have quietly moved from being a bolt-on tactic to a core part of campaign strategy, particularly when brands are trying to reach Gen Z. Memes aren’t just reactive social posts any more. They’re shaping how campaigns are briefed, how creative is tested and how brands show up culturally. The smartest teams are building meme-native thinking into the early stages of campaigns, not treating it as something to add on once the big idea is finished. This isn’t about chasing trends or humor for humor’s sake but about fluency. Gen Z audiences can spot when a brand understands the language of the internet (and when it doesn’t). Memes have become a shortcut to relevance, but only when they’re rooted in genuine cultural understanding rather than forced relatability.”

Jill Smith, CEO, Iris North America: “Throughout 2025, several brand moments signaled a shift in experiential and how consumers interact with brands. Take Billie’s scratch-and-sniff armpit posters: giant scratch-and-sniff posters around NYC promoting a new deodorant – playful, unexpected and highly shareable. It signals a continued shift to more physical world interaction than a typical ad. The ad spread via user videos rather than paid celebrity placement, with a solid mix of humor and brand identity that got strong social engagement but limited headline coverage. This type of ‘interactive brand moment’ is going to be an essential component of the marketing mix in 2026.”

Chris Hassell, CEO, Ralph: “People talk about culture moving on and people wanting IRL connection and a break from the algorithms, but marketing isn’t following suit; everyone still just wants to be doing social media to reach Gen Z through their screens. The industry used to evolve year-on-year in terms of the best channels to use and the most exciting creative challenges to overcome, but innovation and experimental thinking have plateaued and, frankly, most marketing has become boring. The phones where much interaction takes place have barely changed over the last decade and, sadly, neither has the marketing.”

Jeremy Whitt, executive media director, Hanson Dodge: “My son asked me the other day, ‘Did advertising used to be good?’ Ouch. I don’t think we’re talking enough about how much human connection has quietly been drained out of so much advertising. A lot of work is now shaped by algorithms, platform rules and short-term performance pressure, which pushes everything toward speed and much safer choices. There’s less differentiation between brands and you see it in how much creative work is templated and endlessly versioned instead of actually built from an idea. That, in turn, just reinforces risk avoidance. It starts from the top: budgets are tighter, timelines are shorter and success is defined by what performs immediately, not what people remember. So, the work shows up everywhere, but it doesn’t stick. Efficiency has started to replace judgment and marketing feels less human because of it.”

Sarah Tjoa, managing director, Noble West: “The industry has spent years obsessing over UGC and the creator economy while quietly overlooking one of the most powerful brand assets it already owns: the people inside the business. The sales rep who genuinely loves the product. The engineer who can explain the ‘why’ behind a feature. These aren’t just employees – they’re your most credible, strategically aligned creators. Too often, we worship at the altar of external validation and outsourcing authenticity. But some of the best credibility-building efforts we’ve seen have come from those who live and breathe the product and platform.”

Paul Blackburn, founder, Studio Blackburn: “How about the renaissance of the creative scene in London, despite the headwinds of Brexit and the cost of living crisis? Think the stuff that gets shown at 180 Studios and Wayne McGregor’s installation at StoneNest. Then there was the World Design Congress, which, for the first time this century, put the planet at the centre of things instead of people. What starts as art inevitably trickles down to marketing.”

Tracey Smith, US head of design, Deloitte Digital: “While AI dominates the headlines, the real story is the quiet comeback of old school creativity. You can feel the shift. The brands standing out are the ones betting on imagination, story and cultural resonance. In a world shaped by algorithms, bold ideas cut through fast. The win right now is activating creativity as a growth engine, not treating it as a finishing touch. AI can optimize, but it cannot make people care. The organizations pulling ahead know the advantage belongs to those who put creative ingenuity at the heart of their business.”

Amir Sahba, founder, Thinkingbox: “There has been a quiet resurgence of experiential marketing, largely overshadowed by the nonstop conversations about AI. But IRL experiences are shaping up to be bigger than ever in 2026. With global moments like the Fifa World Cup and the Olympics quickly approaching, plus major festivals scaling bigger than ever, brands have an amazing opportunity to show up in culture, not just screens, and connect with their audiences in a more meaningful way.”

Katie Mitchell, managing director, Seen Studios: “In 2025, design’s role was to make brands feel human again. Consumers are seeking more meaningful connections and they want to feel part of the action. This means investing more in ‘permanent’ spaces and collaborating with real communities to build that deeper connection with audiences. We’ve noticed this through the work we have delivered for clients such as cycling brand Rapha, which opened its latest Clubhouse in Shanghai last month. The space goes beyond transactional retail but has been designed for its cycling community, where each touchpoint serves a purpose, encouraging cyclists to pause, connect and share their passion for the sport. While AI acceleration brings clear advantages, it can also lead to mistrust. In 2026, brands will lean further into purpose and connection, proving their values through actions consumers can genuinely trust. This means empowering communities and showing up meaningfully in the real world and beyond one-off activations.”

Amy Cesta, chief client officer, Schafer Condon Carter: “In 2025, B2B marketing got a much-deserved glow up. For years, the category has been defined by rational branding and dense product language. For some reason, the work has treated buyers like they stop being human the moment they step into an office. Now? B2B brands are embracing humor, storytelling and high production value. Look at Slack, HubSpot and Workday as examples of where this space is going. I like what I’m seeing. There’s actual entertainment! And it’s memorable. The takeaway is simple: B2B doesn’t need more detailed features or whitepapers. It needs personality, cultural relevance and work that acknowledges how and why people make decisions. Zagging while everyone else zigs is an opportunity for bold B2B brands to stand out and win.”

Ayush Tandon, creative lead, The Hanging House: “The quiet shift in our industry isn’t that creativity is declining, it’s that the obsession with being awarded for it is. For years, prestigious ad awards defined success through beautifully crafted ideas, often born in post-work hours, designed more for juries than real audiences. That currency is weakening. People inside agencies are starting to ask a harder question: who is this actually for? Work that never ran, barely ran or existed only to justify a case film is losing its shine. Real impact, whether that’s commercial, cultural or behavioral, is becoming harder to ignore. Awards still matter, but they no longer define relevance. The real test now isn’t whether the work wins, it’s whether it ever truly lived.”

Ted Kohnen, CEO, Park & Battery: “We’re seeing a crisis of nerve. Marketing has never had more data, tools, platforms or predictive power, yet decision-making has never felt more timid. Optimization culture has quietly turned into hesitation culture. Everything is tested, validated, re-tested and de-risked to death. Creativity isn’t failing because of data; it’s failing because no one wants to make the call. The outcome is a sea of competent, indistinguishable work. Campaigns that perform in dashboards but disappear from memory. Agencies (and clients) delivering outputs instead of making bets. The most interesting marketers right now are using data as permission to be bold, not a shield from risk. That mindset shift, and not the next platform, is the real competitive advantage.”

Matt Bonny, managing partner, BMB: “There might not have been a ton of reasons to be cheerful in 2025, but one big bright spot was the return of OOH. Last year saw the rebirth of the medium in its most creative form, from KitKat’s Grand-Prix-winning ‘Phone Break’ to Specsavers’ ‘Billboard Mishaps.’ Maybe this renaissance is being sparked by increased tech innovation or the fact that OOH is one of the most powerful and trusted mass mediums in an increasingly complex, fragmented world. Whatever it is, it’s good to see the industry having more fun with OOH and finally waking up to its possibilities.”

Paul Samuels, president, global partnerships, AEG International: “One of the most interesting shifts in marketing last year was the marked increase in the scale and sophistication of sponsorship. The volume and quality of deals we’ve seen, particularly long-term and naming rights partnerships, point to a buoyant, maturing market. More interesting is the way brands are now approaching sponsorship. Our most successful partners are treating it as a central pillar of their marketing strategy rather than an add-on, because when done well, it enables brands to tell richer stories and connect with audiences at scale in ways traditional media can often struggle to do. But many brands are still overlooking the opportunity. Despite clear evidence of its effectiveness, sponsorship doesn’t always get the attention it deserves. In an increasingly fragmented, attention-poor landscape, the brands embracing sponsorship in all its forms are the ones building cultural relevance, meaningful connection and achieving real return on investment.”

Django Weisz Blanchetta, chief executive hero, SuperHeroes: “Human craft is quietly becoming the real differentiator. As content volumes exploded, attention didn’t. What cut through wasn’t better tech, but storytelling with emotion and cultural intent. In a feed drowning in synthetic sameness, we’re seeing renewed value in creators who work with their hands as much as their heads to create work that feels real, imperfect and shaped by their lived experiences. The same shift is happening in how business gets done. As everything becomes automated, human connection has become a premium: picking up the phone, meeting face-to-face, sending something clearly meant for one person, not everyone. In a year obsessed with speed and scale, the underreported truth is this: craft, care and cultural relevance are no longer ‘nice to haves’; they’re the competitive advantage.”

John Treacy, executive creative director, Zeal: “In 2025, it felt like agencies re-embraced design as a craft and not just optimized for media effectiveness. We’ve seen clients wanting fewer agencies with deeper capabilities that can combine brand, product, packaging, retail, digital and content design into one ecosystem. High-quality brand design, once usually the preserve of specialist branding agencies, now seems to be a relevant approach for more traditional creative shops, evidenced by a series of executive design director hires at big advertising groups. Maybe 2026 will be the year that the worlds of branding and advertising integrate fully.”