New consumer research reveals a growing divide between AI-powered discovery and purchasing decisions, suggesting that brand recognition may become even more valuable as algorithms reshape how people shop.
Read MoreCreator marketing has become a permanent fixture in brand strategy, but the industry is still treating campaigns as temporary investments. The real value may come from what happens after the campaign ends.
The holiday shopping season is shaping up to be bigger, more competitive and more complicated than ever. Consumers are spending, but they’re also scrutinizing every purchase. Here’s what marketers need to understand before the year’s biggest shopping event.
As AI reshapes how consumers find and evaluate products, marketers are racing to improve visibility in AI-generated recommendations. But the real competitive advantage may have less to do with search optimization and more to do with the people willing to recommend a brand. For years, brands have invested heavily in…
Consumers are discovering apps through personal recommendations, questioning subscription value, and approaching AI-driven discovery with skepticism. For marketers, the next phase of app growth will depend less on acquiring downloads and more on earning a permanent place in people’s lives.
As financial anxiety reshapes holiday shopping behavior, marketers face a fundamental challenge: generating demand is no longer enough when consumers are increasingly uncertain about their ability to spend.
NordVPN’s new partnership with the Los Angeles Lakers is the latest example of a growing relationship between technology brands and professional sports.
As AI agents take control of product discovery, comparison and purchasing, marketers face a fundamental challenge to how brands create value. The real threat isn’t that consumers will stop caring about brands, but that brands may lose the opportunity to influence the decisions consumers increasingly delegate to machines.
Read MoreThe future of marketing will be shaped by technology. The brands that win, however, will be the ones that remember technology was never the point. People were.
As AI-generated content floods every channel, the brands that win will be the ones that focus less on production volume and more on differentiation, narrative agility, and content operations built for a fragmented digital world.
The biggest lesson from Wednesday is that Cannes 2026 feels markedly more mature than recent editions. At least the discussions are anyway.
Pop culture has become one of the last forms of mass attention in a fragmented media environment. Brands aren’t borrowing cultural moments because it’s fun or trendy. They’re doing it because shared cultural moments have become increasingly rare, and attention is increasingly difficult to earn.
The brands that thrive in the years ahead will not be those that create the most data-driven advertising or the most creatively celebrated advertising. They will be the ones that successfully connect the two.
Technology can facilitate those relationships, but it cannot replace them. As automation becomes more deeply embedded across media and marketing operations, the ability to build trust may become an even greater competitive advantage.
