MANILA, PHILIPPINES – How are brands building, training, and tuning models they can truly trust?
This is the central question posed by Kantar, the world’s leading AI-native marketing data and analytics company on their 2026 Marketing Trends as Chief Marketing Officers seek to plan for growth with greater confidence, accountability, and clarity this year.
According to Kantar, 2025 has already shown that generative AI is about “far more than speed and efficiency.” When used responsibly, AI has the power to deepen human understanding, sharpen decision-making, and help brands create value that is both measurable and meaningful.
“Ultimately, any digital transformation will need to be harnessed to drive value — and not ignore the fundamentals of brand growth,” Kantar noted.
Anchored on this belief, Kantar’s experts have identified ten defining marketing trends shaping the year ahead — signals that reflect how technology, data, and creativity are converging to redefine how brands are built, experienced, and sustained.
Agents of change: from attention to intention
The conversation has shifted from whether brands should use AI to whether they can trust it. Trustworthy models are now a competitive advantage, built on high-quality data, transparency, and responsible governance. For marketers, this means investing not just in tools, but in systems that are explainable, auditable, and aligned with real human insight.
“CMOs will need their brands (and their agents) to actively service these non-human consumers, while continuing to persuade and entertain humans through traditional attention-seeking channels,” Kantar Chief Insights Officer Jane Ostler underscored.
She added, “Brands that accelerate their AI visibility strategy in 2026 will be better placed to drive growth.”
Brand building with AI: human connection through machine selection
Per Kantar, the path to purchase will look very different this year. Increasingly, buying decisions will be mediated by generative AI tools and autonomous agents — technologies designed to scan, summarise, and recommend brands and content on behalf of consumers.
From AI-powered shopping assistants to conversational search, these systems will act as powerful gatekeepers, shaping what options people see first and which brands earn consideration.
Yet despite this shift, Kantar firmly believes that technology doesn’t buy products — people do. Algorithms may shortlist, rank, and recommend, but it is still human emotion, trust, and preference that ultimately close the sale. Hence, this places CMOs at a critical intersection. Their job is no longer just to build brands people love, but also to ensure those brands are sufficiently visible, legible, and credible to the AI models influencing choice.
“The strongest brands will be those that shape the story AI is telling. Brands that fail to differentiate risk being lost in a sea of sameness — if you’re not the default recommendation, you’ll be optimised out,” Kantar Global Thought Leader Mary Kyriakidi said.
Synthetic data, augmented audiences
As artificial intelligence becomes more deeply embedded in marketing, its real value is beginning to emerge — not as a replacement for human insight, but as a powerful way to augment audiences and sharpen understanding.
Kantar said that marketers can move beyond surface-level segmentation and develop strategies grounded in deeper, more dynamic insight by using AI to enrich audience data. For instance, synthetic data.
When used correctly, synthetic data allows marketers to work at greater speed and scale, modelling behaviours and scenarios that would otherwise be costly, slow, or impossible to observe in the real world. However, its effectiveness depends on a careful balance between speed, scale, and accuracy. Not all algorithms are created equal, and results can vary dramatically depending on the dataset, methodology, and use case.
According to Kantar Global AI & Analytics Director Cynthia Vega, the company’s own synthetic data boosting delivers 94–95% accuracy when measured against ground truth data, demonstrating that synthetic approaches can be both reliable and actionable when built on strong foundations.
Thus, accuracy is not optional; without it, synthetic data risks becoming an echo chamber rather than a source of truth.
Transform creative optimisation into creative intelligence with AI
Generative AI is reshaping how creative effectiveness is measured and improved. Real-time testing, predictive evaluation, and agentic optimisation will allow campaigns to adapt dynamically based on performance and audience response.
However, human judgement remains essential to ensure authenticity and emotional resonance. For Kantar, the brands that win will be those that combine AI speed with high-quality training data and strong creative instincts.
“In 2026 there will be a focus on the quality of training datasets for the AI-based tools that make automated decisions, to ensure that the insights are robust and trustworthy. CMOs need to test and learn now, to ensure that creative effectiveness drives brand growth,” Kantar Global Creative and Media Lead Duncan Southgate explained.
Treatonomics: enjoying every day
In an era of economic uncertainty and shifting life milestones, consumers are finding comfort in small indulgences. This “treatonomics” mindset — celebrating everyday wins and personal milestones — continues to gain momentum. Social commerce fuels this behaviour, making joy more immediate and transactional. For brands, the challenge in 2026 is staying culturally relevant as trends fragment faster and vary across markets, while consistently delivering moments of everyday delight.
This was also lauded by Kantar Consulting Associate Director Bia Bezamat. For her, CMOs need to ask if their brands are meeting consumers where they are, by creating joy in the everyday.
Experiment to accelerate: innovation as an engine for growth
Innovation remains a proven driver of long-term value, yet many brands still hesitate to take risks.
In 2026, Kantar emphasized that playing safe will increasingly mean falling behind. Brands that embed experimentation into their culture — while grounding innovation in clear brand purpose and consumer insight — will be better positioned to grow. With AI tools becoming widely accessible, the imperative is to ensure innovation amplifies meaningful differences rather than chasing technology for its own sake.
“Brands that make experimentation their default in 2026 will grow and shape the future. Does your culture reward smart risk-taking? After all, the biggest risk is still not taking one,” Kantar Global Innovation Lead Dr. Nicki Morley said.
Brands at the crossroads: authentic inclusion drives growth
In this idea, Kantar amplified that inclusive marketing is no longer optional, but rather a pathway to growth. Despite ongoing backlash against Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, consumer expectations continue to rise as people also increasingly value brands that demonstrate real commitment to diversity, access, and representation.
In 2026, Kantar noted that successful brands will move beyond performative messaging to inclusive innovation, culturally fluent programmes, and action-led storytelling that clearly reflects their values.
Through this, Kantar Inclusive Growth, Sustainable Transformation Practice Global Leader Valeria Piaggion underscored that in this year, marketers should “double down on inclusive innovation, culturally fluent programmes, and authentic representation on both sides of the camera.”
Unlocking retail’s media potential: growth through collaboration
Retail Media Networks are rapidly becoming central to the media mix, delivering strong performance across the purchase funnel.
With investment set to rise, brands are demanding greater transparency and clearer ROI measurement. The mainstreaming of shoppable ads on connected TV will further blur the line between media and commerce. As a result, growth in 2026 will depend on closer collaboration between brands and retailers, supported by integrated data across touchpoints.
“Brands and retailers will need to collaborate closely in 2026 to create consumer-focused advertising, with success hinging on data integration from different retail touchpoints,” Kantar Chief Media Commercial Lead Nicole Jones said.
Creators need to earn their place at the marketing effectiveness table
As investment in creator marketing increases, so does scrutiny. Engagement metrics alone are no longer enough; brands must demonstrate ROI and brand-building impact. The shift for 2026 is toward long-term creative platforms that align creators and brands around shared ideas.
Success will require clearer guardrails, better measurement, and a willingness to co-create — balancing brand clarity with creative freedom.
As Kantar Global Creative Thought Leadership Director Věra Šídlová believes, CMOs must set clear guardrails for creator content, solidify and share success metrics, then let creators do what they do best — in ways that manifest the brand’s meaningful difference.
Micro-communities become a major force in social media marketing
As algorithm-driven feeds become more crowded and less personal, consumers are gravitating toward smaller, interest-driven communities where trust and relevance matter more than reach. In these spaces, brands succeed by contributing genuine value and engaging consistently, often alongside credible creators.
With strong peer-to-peer trust and proven ROI, micro-communities will play a growing role in social media strategies this year.
“In 2026, marketers will need to pay close attention to ROI through authentic engagement and organic advocacy in micro-communities,” Kantar Chief Operating Officer, Greater China Chirantan Ray noted.
Looking ahead, Kantar’s marketing trends 2026 reveal a future where growth is driven by the intelligent use of AI, deeper cultural understanding, and renewed focus on meaningful difference.
The brands that thrive will be those that balance technological advancement with empathy, experimentation with purpose, and scale with authenticity while building connections that resonate with both people and the systems increasingly shaping their choices.
