2026 is here, and after everything we’ve seen over the past year, we’ve got a few thoughts about where things are heading. Last year was busy and, at times, a bit exhausting. New formats, new platforms and constant change, and brands are under more pressure than ever to keep up.
Based on the work we’ve done and what we’ve seen perform (and not perform) in 2025, these are the three sentiments we think will shape how brands approach social media and marketing as we move through 2026.
- Increased longing for human creation and real interaction
AI isn’t going anywhere. It’s already baked into how platforms work, how ads are served and how content is created. We’re not anti-AI, we actively use it to streamline the parts of the job that slow us down with tools like note takers in meetings. No one enjoys writing minutes, and automating that means more time spent on strategy, design, creativity and content.
Through our work alongside Technology in Professional Services (TiPS), helping professional service firms adopt AI in practical ways, this sentiment has become clearer. AI is useful when it removes admin, repetition and bottlenecks. It’s far less effective when it’s expected to replace judgment, personality or experience.
AI content is everywhere, whether people realise it or not. Entire YouTube channels are built using AI-generated scripts, voices and visuals. Short-form platforms are full of uncanny videos, from surreal “Italian brainrot” memes to fake animal interactions, AI-generated podcasts and completely fabricated “news” moments. Children are consuming AI content daily without any real way of distinguishing it from something made by a person.
Coca-Cola revealed that one of its festive adverts had been created using around 70,000 AI prompts. The reaction was largely negative, and viewers criticised the lack of human presence, the uncanny visuals and the strange, almost surreal animals that filled the screen. People could tell something was missing.
At almost the same time, Apple released a three-second intro animation and updated logo for Apple TV. Rather than leaning into scale or spectacle, they followed it up with a behind-the-scenes video showing how the clip was made. The process was practical, with real people, physical effects and careful craft. That short logo animation received far more positive attention than Coca-Cola’s full-length advert. People weren’t just reacting to the final output, they were responding to the process behind it.
As the internet fills up with content that feels hollow, people start to crave human interaction with real stories, opinions, faces and experiences. Brands that rely too heavily on automation will start to blend in or receive negative reactions, while those that put people at the centre of their content will stand out.
- Brands will prioritise personality just as much as their products
“Authenticity”, “cultural moments”, and “brand storytelling” are phrases most people are tired of hearing (we definitely are). They’ve been overused to the point of meaning very little. But people do like to know the narrative behind the product or brand they’re purchasing from, and when given the choice between two similar services, personality becomes the differentiator.
We’ve seen this clearly in our social campaigns for student recruitment. The social content that performed best was led by students and tutors speaking in their own words, sharing their real experiences and opinions. Prospective students heard directly from people who are already there, talking honestly about subjects, support, social life and day-to-day reality. This led to a 15% increase in enrolment at The Deanery Sixth Form and a 49% increase in applications to Morecambe Bay Academy.
That’s why, moving forward, more brands will put themselves front and centre. Campaigns will feel less polished and more personal, and that often means getting comfortable on camera. We found this to be a successful tactic on our own social media channels. Check out our 2025 year in review here.
- Brands that stick to their identity will succeed in the long term
It feels like every month, social platforms release a new algorithm update or promote a new “best practice” to follow. Alongside the push towards digital-only, paperless futures, brands often end up changing their messaging, tone and visuals to stay in favour, frequently at the expense of consistency.
Brands that perform best will be the ones that stop chasing algorithms and start backing themselves. If a brand’s entire presence is built around what the algorithm wants today, it ensures that their content will be dated in a month.
Lancaster University is a good example of consistency. Despite having a strong digital presence, they continue to invest heavily in physical prospectuses as physical print consistently converts better than online-only alternatives. Prospective students spend more time with them, they’re shared with parents and teachers, and they carry a sense of weight and credibility that digital formats often lack.
The brands that perform best long term will be the ones that back their identity, their audience knowledge and their data. Strategy should start with who the brand is and how people actually behave, then choose the right channels and formats to support that. When the next platform or trend inevitably arrives, those brands won’t need to start from scratch.
This brings us nicely onto the announcement of our new blog series, Unprompted. With the growing prominence of AI, Unprompted will be a space for us to regularly share our unfiltered thoughts on what’s happening across brand, digital and strategy. Questions only ‘we’ can answer.
Future predictions, thoughts on current trends and observations that come from our own work and results.
Keep an eye out for the first Unprompted article – coming soon.
