2026 Marketing Predictions
Brand is back. AI is everywhere (and exhausting). Agencies are fragmenting, content is exploding, and marketers are being asked to do more with less patience for nonsense.
Every January, marketers collectively dust off their crystal balls.
Budgets are being reset, strategies are being rewritten, and everyone is quietly wondering the same thing: what actually matters now?
In this episode of Canned, Ben van Rooy (Human Digital) and Steph Quantrill (Cue Marketing) kick off 2026 by doing exactly that.
2025 was, for many, a year of survival. Budgets tightened. Teams shrank. AI exploded faster than most organisations could sensibly absorb. By early 2026, the mood is cautiously different. Not euphoric. Not boom-time. But more optimistic, more pragmatic, and far less tolerant of waste.
This conversation is about navigating that reality.
Theme 1: Brand is back (and performance-only thinking is hitting a ceiling)
One of the strongest predictions from the episode is simple but significant: brand investment is no longer optional, especially in B2B.
For years, performance marketing dominated the conversation. Lead volume, cost per acquisition, short-term returns. Many organisations doubled down on lower-funnel activity at the expense of long-term brand building.
That strategy is starting to crack.
Ben’s view is clear:
Overreliance on lead gen is producing flattening returns
Short-term optimisation without brand is making growth harder, not easier
The brands seeing momentum are those rebalancing top, middle and bottom funnel activity
In markets like Australia and New Zealand, where brand investment has historically lagged, this creates a real opportunity. The brands willing to stay the course and educate boards and CEOs on why brand matters will pull ahead.
Steph adds an important qualifier: this only works if leadership can hold their nerve.
Brand investment doesn’t pay back in weeks. It requires belief, evidence, and marketers who can sell the value of metrics beyond immediate revenue.
Theme 2: AI is everywhere – and audiences are already pushing back
AI is no longer emerging. It’s embedded.
But the tone around it has shifted.
Both Ben and Steph describe a growing sense of fatigue – not with AI itself, but with how lazily it’s being used.
Key realities discussed:
AI makes it easy to produce huge volumes of content
Much of that content is interchangeable, generic, and forgettable
Audiences can feel when brand personality has been flattened
Steph frames this as a craving for “realness”.
As AI adoption increases, people are placing more value on:
Human presence
Physical experiences
Distinct points of view
Brands that feel intentional rather than automated
There’s also a generational insight worth noting. Younger audiences are often better at spotting bad AI than older ones. What looks “good enough” to some demographics is instantly rejected by others.
The takeaway isn’t anti-AI. It’s about where AI belongs.
Bottom-of-funnel, transactional content? Perfect. Brand storytelling, positioning, cultural relevance? Still a human job.
Theme 3: The agency model is fragmenting – and that’s not a bad thing
Another major prediction for 2026 is the continued rise of specialist agencies.
After years of consolidation, large agency groups are under pressure to justify their margins and complexity. At the same time, brands are becoming more sophisticated buyers of marketing services.
The result:
More niche, specialist agencies with deep expertise
More in-house teams owning strategy and core execution
More use of fractional, project-based and specialist talent
Steph highlights the human impact of this shift.
Junior roles are changing. Traditional agency career paths are less clear. Some work is disappearing due to automation, while new forms of value are emerging.
The opportunity sits with people and teams who:
Double down on a clear craft
Understand where AI genuinely saves time
Can translate strategy into execution
This isn’t an industry imploding. It’s an industry rebalancing.
Theme 4: Content volume will explode – quality will decide who wins
If 2026 has a defining tension, it’s this one.
Content has never been easier to produce. And that’s the problem.
AI has removed friction from creation, which means feeds, inboxes and platforms are filling faster than ever. In that environment, average content doesn’t just underperform – it disappears.
Ben frames it clearly:
Quantity has a role, especially at the bottom of the funnel
Quality is what builds brands, trust and long-term advantage
The gap between mediocre and excellent content will widen
Steph adds an interesting counter-trend: the rise of long-form.
As short-form accelerates, there’s renewed appetite for:
Thoughtful writing
Long videos
Podcasts
Substack-style commentary
Not because everyone consumes it, but because the right people do.
Depth becomes a filter.
Theme 5: B2B buyers now expect consumer-grade experiences
One of the quieter but more important predictions is around B2B experience.
B2B buyers are not comparing your website to other B2B sites. They’re comparing it to:
Consumer brands
Streaming platforms
E-commerce experiences
Well-designed digital products
Tolerance for:
Generic messaging
Clunky UX
Faceless brands
is dropping fast.
This creates a genuine opportunity for B2B brands willing to:
Invest in design
Show their people
Develop a clear point of view
Build confidence through brand, not just credentials
You don’t need a Super Bowl ad. But you do need to look like you care.
Challenges and realities marketers need to face
Throughout the episode, a few hard truths surface:
Budgets are unlikely to explode in 2026
Cost of living pressures are still real
Many teams are being asked to do more with less
AI will continue to remove some types of work
But there’s also cautious optimism.
Projects that were paused are restarting. Businesses are planning again. Growth may be steady rather than spectacular, but it’s moving.
The marketers who succeed will be the ones who:
Make deliberate choices
Resist chasing every new tool
Invest where it actually compounds
Practical takeaways from the episode
If you strip the conversation down to action, a few clear principles emerge:
Balance brand and performance rather than swinging between extremes
Use AI to remove friction, not personality
Invest in content quality where it matters most
Be clear about what you specialise in
Design experiences for humans, not funnels
Or, as Steph jokingly predicts, maybe what we really need is a new role altogether.
The vibe translator.
Someone who can read the room, navigate competing agendas, and sense when something feels right or deeply off.
AI can analyse sentiment. People still understand nuance.
2026 is about intent, not noise
Marketing in 2026 rewards intention.
Being clear about who you are. Where you play. What you automate. What you protect. And what you invest real human effort into.
The tools will keep changing. The platforms will keep shifting. The fundamentals – trust, clarity, relevance and confidence – haven’t moved at all.
If you want to go deeper into this conversation, watch or listen to the full episode of Canned.
And if you’re navigating these questions inside your own team or business, subscribe so you don’t miss what’s coming next.
Next episode: customer experience, journey mapping, and why understanding the path to purchase is becoming a core human skill again.
See you there.