As we edge closer to 2026, it’s clear that the only certainty is, well, uncertainty. And with shifts expected in trade policy, AI, the economy and more, you may be left scratching your head, wondering how to plan for the year ahead.
But what if we told you uncertainty can actually be a good thing? And for brands willing to adapt quickly and strategically, it can create opportunity rather than hinder it.
Below, we show you how, as we take you through WARC’s latest Marketer’s Toolkit. We’ll highlight the five big trends that will shape how we connect with consumers in 2026.
Let’s get started.
1) The vanishing middle
First up, let’s talk about the declining middle class. From Europe to Asia, middle-income households are being financially squeezed, forced to make drastic decisions on how and where to spend their disposable income. People are focusing on the categories that matter most to them and scaling back on anything that feels less essential.
What this means for brands
The traditional advice was to build for the middle class and then scale into premium and budget. That playbook doesn’t hold up anymore. Today, it’s about choosing a side or serving both ends with intention.
Here’s what to consider:
- If you’re going premium: You can’t cut corners. Premium brands only stay premium when people feel the difference in the craft, quality and emotional connection they create. So, invest in the brand, because that’s what protects your pricing power during turbulent economic times.
- If you’re targeting value-conscious shoppers: Remember, they’re not simply bargain hunters. They’re thoughtful spenders who weigh every purchase. Show that you understand the trade-offs they’re making, and speak to the value that genuinely matters to them.
- Consider a barbell approach: Offering both everyday value and premium options can keep your brand relevant to more people. It’s less about stretching your business and more about giving consumers choice.
The opportunity
Affluent boomers are on track to represent a $15 trillion market by 2030. They’re also more adventurous than any generation before them.
At the same time, younger consumers are prioritising living in the present, with a focus on experiences and mental health. Both groups require a considered approach but offer growth opportunities for brands that understand what drives them.
2) The creator gamble
The creator market has exploded. However, most brands are still treating it like a tactical consideration rather than a core strategy. Case in point: 61% of marketers plan to increase creator investment in 2026, but most are still allocating less than 10% of their budgets directly to creators.
The measurement gap
There’s another problem: 79% of marketers use basic engagement metrics such as likes and shares to measure creator impact.
Crucially, though, IPA data shows that creators are far more effective as brand builders than pure performance channels. With 80% of creator-driven revenue coming from indirect effects, many brands are only seeing a fraction of the potential business impact.
How to plan for the creator market
- Organisational alignment: Creators shouldn’t be falling through the gaps. They need to sit firmly within your core comms planning, and not as an afterthought. That means getting every team aligned on how creators will support your campaign KPIs.
- Creative practice: A huge amount of creator spend still goes to waste because the basics aren’t being done well. Early branding, optimal content length and clear distinctiveness are essential if you want your investment to work harder. Only 27% of creator content tested by Kantar is strongly linked back to the brand. This shows how much room there is for improvement.
- Paid amplification: Choosing the right creator is only the starting point. The real impact comes from how you amplify their content, whether through smart cut-downs, platform-specific edits or paid support that keeps your brand present in every format.
- Sharing data: Sharing performance data with creators leads to better work on both sides. When they know what’s resonating, they can create stronger content, grow their audience and deliver the outcomes your brand cares about.
3) Building emotionally immersive experiences
Consumers are exhausted. Life satisfaction is falling. Mental-health leave is rising. Gen Z women are even booking convent retreats to escape burnout.
And the digital landscape?
Packed with AI-generated clutter, doomscrolling loops and customer experiences that feel weaker every year.
It’s no wonder the escape economy is forecast to reach $13.9 trillion by 2028. People are searching for respite, realism and genuine human connections. And this shift is reshaping how brands engage with their audiences.
Beyond transactional marketing
Social media engagement for friendship and self-expression has fallen 25% since 2014. Digital channels are struggling to deliver emotional connection, yet 78% of marketers continue to rely on them as their main route to engagement.
The goal now is to rethink how digital can create meaning again.
- Lean into real, messy life: Authentic storytelling that reflects real life resonates more than polished perfection.
- Create low-stakes joy: Create content that provides unexpected moments of positivity and fun for your audiences.
- Become modern mythmakers: Interactive content that teases, hides references and makes viewers “earn” satisfaction drives deeper engagement.
The importance of experience
74% of marketers now include experiences in their brand strategy. It’s easy to see why too: In-person moments create stronger memories, deeper emotion and higher brand affinity.
This matters even more in sectors like hospitality, where people want to feel that every spend delivers value. They’re looking for connection and community, rather than another surface-level interaction.
4) The zero-click customer journey
AI is transforming how people discover information and how they buy.
AI-generated results on Google have increased from 2.2% to 6% in a single year. But when users are shown an AI summary, click-through falls from 15% to 8%.
What does this show? For one, that we’re moving into a zero-click environment, where AI provides the answer and may even complete the purchase without the user ever visiting your site.
Already, 39% of consumers are using generative AI for shopping tasks. This is the early stage of AI agents interacting directly with other AI agents, making purchases with minimal human input.
Reasons to be optimistic
Only 11% of marketers feel unconcerned about this shift, while 24% have already shifted from SEO towards Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO).
But crucially, 95% of Gen AI tests deliver no tangible returns after six months, and 40% of agentic AI projects will be cancelled by the end of 2027.
Where does that leave marketers? Find out as Performance and Innovation Strategy Director Matt Holmes and Head of SEO Phil Morgan explain in their recent discussion.
5) The consumer milestone reset
Forget traditional playbooks
The long-held beliefs that once shaped consumer behaviour are losing relevance. Milestones like marriage, children, home ownership and graduation used to predict how and when people would spend. Today, those patterns are shifting or disappearing altogether.
In fact, the share of adults under 50 who don’t plan to have children has risen from 37% in 2018 to 47% in 2023.
Multi-generational living is becoming far more common, with 37% of people now sharing shopping decisions across age groups. Only 5% of marketers strongly believe that segmenting by age, income and family structure still reflects real consumer behaviour.
The opportunity
The change runs deeper than fewer children or more single-person households. People are motivated by new priorities and entirely different life structures. Examples include:
- DINKs (double income, no kids) are funnelling more money into pet well-being, such as dog hotels offering queen-size beds and blueberry facials.
- Renters are opting for furniture they can take with them rather than custom-built pieces.
- Single people are turning Valentine’s Day into a self-care moment instead of a romantic event.
- Blended and multi-generational families are travelling together, and their shared decision-making needs to be recognised in marketing.
What’s needed? Strategic adaptation
Understanding how people make decisions helps brands stay connected to customers whose lives no longer follow predictable patterns.
Brands need platforms that hold onto their core identity while adapting to new behaviours, contexts and usage moments. Consistency comes from integrating everything around a clear, well-defined brand idea.
There’s a real opportunity for marketers to interpret changing customer needs. By investing in focused research and identifying new category entry points, marketers can shape campaign activity and the wider direction of the business.
Let’s turn uncertainty into opportunity
Marketer optimism may be down 11 points from last year, and economic pressures are still very real. Even so, there are reasons to be positive.
WARC is forecasting global ad spend to rise by 8.1% to $1.27 trillion in 2026, and more than half of marketers expect business performance to improve.
The brands most likely to grow in this environment are those that:
- Define a clear market position rather than trying to operate in the disappearing middle.
- Build creator strategies that connect with measurable business outcomes.
- Invest in experiences that offer emotional lift and genuine connection.
- Explore AI with purpose while maintaining the strength of proven approaches.
- Rethink the milestones and motivations that drive consumer spend.
Consult, craft, connect
At Trunk, our unique way of working allows us to use uncertainty as a space where strategy and creativity can deliver meaningful growth for your business.
- We consult with curiosity, acting as long-term guardians of your brand and helping you navigate changing behaviour with confidence.
- We craft with impact, using insight to build ideas that cut through.
- And we connect every dot, linking brands and audiences across the entire journey, so nothing gets lost between channels.
