AW SHORTS – BRANDS + MARKETERS

This isn’t just an AriZona story. It’s a warning for every brand navigating inflation, loyalty, and cultural relevance. When trust is part of your equity, protecting it isn’t optional—it’s the work.

Every platform requires its own strategy. Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube are not interchangeable.

It’s time for agencies to get beyond the Mad Men thinking. Their job isn’t to ask how to get the right message across a particular channel to maximise efficiencies, it’s how to get the most useful message out to drive growth where it’s most needed.

We asked industry leaders if they are expanding their thinking, or shifting it away from craft and judgement towards systems, speed and scale.

At what point does buyer insecurity harm conversions? It could be argued that it reduces purchase intent even before web visitors have taken their first action.

These brands don’t just grow faster—they’re also more resilient. During economic downturns, Go-to Brands lose only half as much market value as their peers.

Creators with meaningful audience relationships demonstrate that influence isn’t about size, it’s about impact

The bottom line? 2026 looks like a year of maturation. The shiny-object syndrome is fading, replaced by a focus on what actually works.

With game day just around the corner, now’s the time to pressure-test whether your measurement setup reflects how marketing actually works: in spikes of attention, shifts in timing, and campaign effects that ripple across channels.

Brands that build assets with these models in mind, and supply them with consistent, well-defined signals, are more likely to appear accurately and consistently as AI-first experiences expand.

In 2026, the luxury sector is poised to regain its sparkle, but only for the brands willing to rethink the fundamentals.