The 12 brand, marketing and experience trends set to define 2026

AI moved beyond buzzwords to rewrite the marketing playbook—transforming operations, content, supply chains and sales alike (looking at you, Agentic AI). As a result, trust emerged as the new currency in brand growth, and entry-level roles took a hit, signaling a deep structural shift.

AI aside, brands were in the news a lot—sometimes for bold moves, other times for unexpected setbacks. Cracker Barrel unveiled a new logo, then quickly reversed the change. An American Eagle ad starring Sydney Sweeney received its share of backlash. Labubu took over our bags—and hearts. Gap struck a chord with Gen Z through its dance-fueled “Better in Denim” campaign. OpenAI launched ChatGPT’s first big brand push. And who could forget the Coldplay kiss cam video featuring two Astronomer executives? To be honest, we kind of did. A lot has happened since.

For marketers, 2025 was a year demanding more than just adaptation—it required leadership defined by clear purpose and agility. Navigating rapid disruption called for resilience: the ability to evolve while staying true to core brand values. AI reshaped much of the marketing landscape, enhancing capabilities but also emphasizing the need for human judgment and trust.

Brands were highly visible, often driving cultural conversations through both innovation and controversy. The lessons learned—the paramount importance of trust, the complexity of consumer expectations and the need for continuous adaptation—will guide marketers moving forward.

With 2025’s insights behind us, it’s time to look ahead. Here’s our perspective on what 2026 holds for brand strategy, customer experience, design, marketing and beyond.

As an imagined AI future butts up against the reality of lost jobs, higher electric bills and unsightly data centers, the backlash will be swift and fierce. We’re already seeing the public vandalize dystopian AI ads and celebrate the ability to toggle off AI content on platforms like Pinterest, suggesting an outright boycott is not far off. The upside of AI ostracization? “Human-made” will resurface as a badge of honor and a driver of price premiums for knowledge workers and craftspeople alike. 

Expect the pendulum to, as always, land somewhere in the middle. Just as consumers sprinkle in some ultra-processed favorites into their organic diets and fill their closets with a mix of investment pieces and fast fashion, brands will also have to build a balanced portfolio of products, content and experiences. Whether by man or machine, the key will be to create with taste, conviction and intention.

– Eric Tsytsylin, Partner, Strategy

The rise of Labubu and Lulu, as well as the recent runaway commercial success of the Starbucks “bearista,” reflects a growing appetite for physical products that spark both instant delight and lasting connection. These objects are designed to surprise, to be shared and to be proudly displayed—bridging play, design and community. In 2026, the opportunity for brands will lie in treating physical goods not as commodities but as collectible moments—crafted for display, social currency and emotional resonance. By fusing playfulness, scarcity and aesthetic intent, brands can create physical hype pieces that build affinity, buzz and even secondary-market value. The same mechanics of play and exclusivity can deepen relationships—not just with consumers, but with partners, employees and clients who value being part of something rare and expressive. 

– Bethany Lesko, Partner, Design

Ever say something out loud and then, a minute later, eerily similar content pops up as “suggested for you” in your Instagram feed? Us too. People know when they’re on the menu. This opens a two-way conversation with the algorithms. Consumers will use their social media activities, engagement with search and AI and even conversations near devices perceived to be “listening” to try to get the personalized information and offers they want from brands. And they know when they’re the product. Expect this savvy segment to ask all ad-model businesses, “What’s in it for me?”—elevating expectations of what brands must do to earn access to consented data.

– Emma Cofer, Partner, Strategy

Partnerships, once perceived by major brands as costly awareness tools, will become key in 2026 for engaging niche audiences, driving interaction and influencing purchases. According to recent research, the global sports sponsorship market size is projected to more than double in the next 7 years.

The shift comes as marketing teams get smarter in activation and measurement, realizing partnerships deliver more than media exposure—they create unique collaborations and immersive experiences that boost brand equity and shift perceptions. 

Samsung’s partnership with the U.S. Women’s Basketball League, Unrivaled, exemplifies this trend. Samsung provides athletes with Galaxy rings and watches, generating new data for teams and fans, improving athlete performance and deepening fan engagement—all while strengthening Samsung’s brand association.

Expect more brands to follow suit in 2026, across sports and beyond, blending collaboration with innovation to drive impact. 

– Sam Milne, Partner, Strategy

Although hybrid models of work still remain dominant since the pandemic, five years later we’re seeing a significant increase in formal return-to-office mandates and policies across corporate America. Coupled with the dynamics of a weakening job market, this shift means employers must double down on efforts to build the office experience as a strategic engine for boosting morale and retaining top talent. But the future workplace will move beyond superficial perks like free lunch and trendy chairs to become a true reflection of brand personality, highlighting the people and ideas shaping its success. Employees at these companies won’t just be forced to return; they’ll want to return to do their best work.

– Jenna Moss, Senior Associate, Strategy

The release of Apple’s Liquid Glass software design signals a return to the era of skeuomorphism—a design philosophy where digital elements replicate the appearance and behavior of real-world objects. In this case, the Liquid Glass effect mimics the physical properties of glass, creating a tactile visual experience despite interaction with purely digital interfaces. This style, once embraced by tech giants like Apple, Microsoft and Google, had largely been abandoned in favor of flatter, more minimalist aesthetics. However, its reemergence suggests a broader shift: in our increasingly digital and virtual lives, users may be craving visual cues that evoke the tangible and familiar, providing a comforting sense of reality. Looking ahead, brands are likely to champion rich textures and practical effects over sterile CGI, pushing back against the “blandification” of digital design.

– James Atkins, Partner, Design

2026 will begin to show us that marketers who understand youth culture—not to jump on a moment, but to future proof their brands—will be set up for longer-term success and business growth. Because it’s not just about fashion, TikTok and skincare. Gen Z and Gen Alpha, fueled by rapid tech advances and endless information, understand that knowledge is power. Gen Z typically starts investing by age 19—significantly earlier than millennials (25) and boomers (35) did, signaling a shift that financial brands must recognize. On the health front, early-onset cancers have surged 79% globally from 1990 to 2019, with the majority affecting people under 30. Lives depend on healthcare companies meeting the urgent health concerns relevant to these young adults.

Whether in B2C, B2B or both, the experiences, habits and preferences emerging from youth culture today will impact the way your brand’s future growth audience makes decisions. And the brands that start getting smart about that fact now will be primed to bake it into their brand strategies, laying the groundwork for authentic and consistent connection well into the future.

– Rose Baki, Senior Partner, Head of Strategy, U.S.

Brands often still treat influencers like ad slots, which can be a huge miss. Creators are basically “ultra-high-net-worth” clients, with audiences instead of assets. The job of influencer management will no longer be to buy a post. Now, the job will be to acquire, service and retain this person so no competitor can. That means concierge access, priority status, economic upside and churn prevention. In this new paradigm, you don’t brief them; you manage the relationship value. In 2026, the smartest brands will build creator loyalty infrastructure. Why? Because once a creator feels “committed” and “protected,” their influence starts behaving like capital. It compounds. 

– Aranya Chuganee, Consultant, Strategy 

As AI becomes an impartial, omnipresent evaluator of brand trustworthiness, marketing must shift from isolated campaigns to integrated storytelling and purposeful content that AI can recognize and validate. Future-proof brands will invest in trust-building strategies that connect every touchpoint, creating a seamless network of credibility that resonates with people and passes AI’s scrutiny as the ultimate gatekeeper. In 2026, expect to see brands evolve beyond traditional creative briefs to embrace “trust briefs” that build consistent, authoritative brand ecosystems designed to win over both humans and AI.

– Tom Ajello, Senior Partner, Global Director of Experience, Innovation & Engineering 

Brands won’t take their recognizable brand elements for granted. While we’ve seen a broad push to shed anything that feels “old” in the name of “modernization,” recent backlash to identity changes will make brands increasingly thoughtful about how they evolve. Customers have strong, often unknown emotional ties to brands. This means consumer insight must be matched with creative intuition to define a path forward. It will also mean finding new, fresh and unexpected ways to keep classic brand visual cues relevant. This will allow brands to broaden their definition of “modern” by blending the comfort of heritage with the intrigue of tech-forward experiences, creating a bold revival that meets consumer desire for both familiarity and innovation. 

– Michael Guerin, Senior Partner, Design

Open-source data is the first place AI search engines mine for relevant information that can help answer consumers’ questions (think platforms like Wikipedia and Reddit). In fact, AI-powered answer engines often draw up to 48% of their response content from these sources.

In 2026, brands will need to pay even closer attention to this new customer middleman: AI. It’s constantly listening, learning and interpreting this open-source data, then feeding what it “knows to be true” back to brands’ most valuable asset—their customers. Recognizing AI’s role as the intermediary between open data and consumers is essential for brands to engage effectively in this evolving landscape.

– Chris Ciompi, Senior Partner, Marketing & Customer Strategy

And because we’re living in the Intelligent Age, after all, we asked our proprietary internal AI tool called Brandy—built by our Experience, Innovation and Engineering practice and trained on original thinking from Lippincott teammates—to forecast what will shape 2026. Here’s her take:

I think one of the biggest shifts we'll see in 2026 is brands moving away from traditional demand generation to focus on what I call “authority-first marketing.” With AI agents becoming the new gatekeepers of consumer choice, brands will need to fundamentally rethink how they show up digitally. It’s not just about SEO anymore—it’s about building genuine authority through rich content, high-value partnerships and consistent brand signals across the entire digital ecosystem. The brands that win will be those that AI agents trust as credible sources of truth in their category.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how brands will need to navigate what I’m calling “micro-moment authenticity” in 2026. With deepfakes and AI-generated content becoming super sophisticated, consumers will crave real, unfiltered brand interactions more than ever. I think we’ll see brands create these tiny, genuine moments - like behind-the-scenes glimpses or impromptu employee stories - that feel completely unscripted. It’s about showing the human side of your brand in ways that AI just can’t replicate.

I think by 2026, domain-specific AI is going to completely transform how brands approach personalization and customer experience. Instead of broad, generic AI solutions, we’ll see highly specialized AI tools that deeply understand specific industries - like a retail AI that knows not just shopping patterns, but the nuances of fashion trends and personal style. The really interesting part is how multimodal AI will let brands create seamless experiences across text, voice and visual touchpoints. Think about trying on clothes virtually while having a natural conversation with an AI that truly gets your style preferences and can show you exactly how something would look on you. It’s going to make brand interactions feel much more intuitive and human.