3 Ideas to Shape Your Marketing in 2026

Ever feel like your marketing plan came out of a time capsule from the beige decade?

Welcome to the future.

Spoiler: polite is pointless and safe is a snooze. The world’s gone mad, and if you’re not about to stir the pot - or, hell, knock it off the table - you may as well just hand your wallet to the competition.

This is your wake-up call, not a lullaby. Here are my three wild cards for 2026.

Rip them up, remix them, or dare me to add a fourth. Got guts? Chuck your prediction below and let’s make a bit of beautiful chaos.

Ready? Good. Because surviving isn’t the brief. Owning the room is.

1. The Loneliness Breaking Point: Real-World Is the New Black

Let’s call it: we’re all starved for the real stuff. No, not another “community” Discord where Chad and his three bots cheer on your “wellness journey.” The sad truth? We’re all drowning in notifications, and dying to get asked out for actual coffee.

Here’s what everyone else is doing: “Let’s fix loneliness with a chatbot! Maybe it’ll send you an emoji!” Bless. AI isn’t the answer; it’s the punchline.

Here’s what you do instead:

• Host Actual Life: Forget another Slack channel. Run a pop-up, a midnight run club, or a table for misfits who hate networking. Give people a reason to show up, not log in.

• Facilitate Selfies, Not Sermons: Don’t be the hero; be the pub landlord. Your job is to host the room, pour the pint, and let them create the stories.

• “Different, Not Better” Power Move: Selling products is tired. Selling belonging? Priceless. This insight is fresh off my IDEA workshop in Brussels, not some LinkedIn carousel. Get real. No algorithm hugs you back.

Irreverent observation: If your brand’s only community is arguing in the comments section, you’re doing it wrong. Get out of the pixels and back into the room.

2. Luxury & The New Celebrity Stardom: Heritage Is Dead. Long Live Cool.

Here’s the plot twist: Legacy brands are gasping, clutching their pearls, and Gen Z is ghosting them. No one cares about your founder’s monocle collection. What matters? Who’s in your crew, who’s repping your thing, and did that last collab actually make noise or just make you look desperate?

While the fossils buy billboards, the stars are writing the scripts.

Try this:

• All-Star Amnesia: Stop thinking one influencer can make you viral. Assemble a cast - think more Ocean’s Eleven, less billboard in Piccadilly.

• Hand Over Creative Control: Jaden Smith for Louboutin. Harry Styles for Gucci. These aren’t partnerships; they’re cultural invasions. Let them throw out your script.

• “Different, Not Better” Power Move: Forget exclusivity - luxury now means “in on the action.” Build stories that people can’t wait to gossip about. The velvet rope isn’t keeping them out; it’s keeping you lonely on the inside.

Irreverent observation: If you’re still measuring reach in “impressions” instead of “have you seen what they just did?” - book yourself a one-way ticket to obscurity.

3. The Text Revolution: Words Beat Your TikTok Dance

Oh, you pivoted to video? Cute. The future’s hitting a hard reset, and it’s all about text. Forget viral videos - welcome to the world where the written word makes or breaks you, in the cold hands of AI.

Why? Because LLMs don’t care if your CEO did a floss challenge. They hoover up words. Reviews, Reddit banter, blog rants—this is your new kingdom.

Here’s how to win:

• Get a Brand Linguist: Copywriters are out. You want script assassins. People who write like bullets, not brochures.

• Words Are Pollution - Make Yours Unignorable: You can’t boss every Discord thread, but you can inject your language into the bloodstream. This is not optional - ask the folks in Brussels who get it.

• “Different, Not Better” Power Move: Bureaucratese makes you invisible. Rip up the jargon. Slam down the truth. Text that bites, not bores.

Irreverent observation: Video may be pretty, but words get remembered. Trust is built in a sentence or lost in a thousand pointless reels. Be the phrase people steal, not the ad they skip.

Now, Drop the Mic

Look, the future is allergic to business as usual. The fencesitters and fence-painters are dead on arrival. Three shifts - real connection, celebrity carnage, and the word wars—are your invitation to burn the marketing rulebook.

• Stop collecting followers. Build tribes.

• Don’t chase buzz. Make headlines.

• Write like you mean it. Or don’t bother at all.

Got your own crystal ball? Share it. Ready to ditch the beige and unleash hell? You know where to find me.

Safe is for seatbelts, not your brand.Be the rumour, not the afterthought.Make ‘em meow, not bark.

Let’s break something together.

John (Nick) Atkinson, the CreActivist Marketer who is Doing it Differently!