5 hopeful marketing predictions for 2026 🔮

Hey,

Between doomscrolling, anxious headlines, and uncertainty about what’s next, most of us are seeing more bad than good. Our nervous systems could use a rest.

With many of us marketers already knee-deep in 2026 planning, I went searching for the good. Where can we redirect our energy next year—and what’s actually worth getting excited about?

Here are my marketing predictions for 2026 that made me feel genuinely hopeful—narrowed down to my top five.

Ready? Let’s go, pals.

1. ✨Glimmer ✨Marketing
   
   Earlier this year WGSN published their Future Consumer 2026 forecast, and it was brimming with the good stuff.
   
   It identified four shopper profiles that share the same fatigue: burnt out by relentless messaging, tired of being sold to, and ready to recalibrate how they live and buy.
   
   They’re craving simplicity, authenticity, connection, transparency, and joy. Some are moving offline, others are searching for a more human online experience.
   
   For marketers, this is our cue to create glimmers: small emotional wins that build loyalty. Think unexpected thank-you moments, surprise-and-delight emails, and memorable IRL experiences in third spaces.
   
   These gestures make customers pause and feel cared for—not just targeted.
   
   
2. Unshittification
   
   The WGSN report also names the disinformation crisis we’re in. Many consumers are pushing back on brands who rely on AI-generated content that obscure truth and authenticity.
   
   Brands have spent the last few years leaning into the excitement of new tech, but it’s created a shittified noisy digital experience. And people are demanding real, human content that they can actually trust.
   
   Since you can’t build or nurture a brand by creating more of the same, truly differentiating now means unshittifying by embracing originality, creativity, simplicity, and even imperfection.
   
   Bring weird ideas to the table. Leave room for experimentation. Build trust by showing up as a real person behind the brand.
   
   
3. Hyper-Personalization
   
   Instead of using AI to crank out more content, we can use it to say less—but at the right time. Predictive personalization segments audiences in real time and shows them exactly what they need, tailored to them.
   
   Consider an ecomm clothing brand. Instead of one product description for everyone, a brand can leverage customer behaviour data and group their customers. Then human copywriters craft several versions of a product description, each tailored to each customer group. Predictive models then match the right version to the right reader.
   
   When we centre the customer, this tech can make experiences more human, not less. Less slop. No lost jobs. Just better timing and fit. Hot!
   
   
4. Becoming the Source
   
   As AI summaries become the norm, SEO’s goal is shifting from ranking first to
   being the source AI cites.
   
   That can be good news: visibility now rewards clarity, transparency, and originality over keyword stuffing.
   
   A focus on E-E-A-T (Expertise, Experience, Authority, and Trust) lets us prove what we know—with receipts. We love receipts.
   
   One more time for those in the back: SEO isn’t going anywhere, it’s just changing. The next era of SEO will feel less like chasing algorithms and more like teaching the internet something new.

5. Hiring the Curious

For years, specialization was the gold standard. But as marketing evolves, employers want talent with range—people who can adapt, connect dots, and learn fast.

Marketers who treat themselves as lifelong learners signal flexibility and future-readiness. It’s reflected in the data, too—60% of Canadians believe upskilling is important in advancing careers.

That doesn’t mean everyone needs to be a generalist—it means staying curious, expanding your toolkit, and investing in the marketer you’re becoming next.

The jist? 2026 is looking pretty darn human—with plenty of opportunities for us marketers to lead with more clarity, creativity, and curiosity.

Here’s to less noise and more glimmers.

Talk soon,

Ines

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