On 13 January 2026, at the National Gallery in London I attended Campaign’s Year Ahead breakfast briefing. It was inspiring backdrop for a morning of big-picture thinking and industry insight. Designed for senior marketers, agency leaders, strategists and anyone who cares about where the marketing, media and advertising world is heading, the briefing brought together some of the sector’s most influential voices to share their predictions, strategies and honest takes on the year ahead.
For me, one message came through loud and clear: the marketing landscape isn’t just shifting, it’s re-configuring.
I came away from the event with a sense that the next 12 months will reward clarity and honesty, balance and strategic rigour, over hype.
Amongst the noise of tech, inflation and mass audience fragmentation is a renewed focus on the fundamentals.
All senior marketers repeatedly returned to the importance of trust, not as an abstract brand aspiration but as commercial currency. Brands that can consistently deliver against expectations with transparency and relevance to consumers will be best placed to secure long-term value.
Binet has highlighted a neglect over the years of brand building activity in favour of ROI, (so not something new to those in the industry) however opinions from marketers at Campaign’s Year Ahead indicated a return to long-term branding. It is of course, a balance, and for at least one marketer, considered a ‘luxury’ to be able to focus on the long and the short term, particularly with those short term pressures.
Unsurprisingly, a consistent topic throughout each panel and presentation was the increased use of AI. Opinions framed AI as an amplifier of capability, where it can remove friction and accelerate insight, enabling better decision making, but not replacing human judgment. As one speaker noted:
The risk of not using AI is greater than the risk of using it.
Media is maturing fast, and we consume a very rich ‘mixed media diet’. The traditional executional media buyer role is giving way to deeper commercial partnership. Measurement is increasingly tied to business outcomes, and understanding client P&Ls is crucial for agency-client relationships.
Managing all of this can come at a cost, with burnout topping the list of reasons why people reached out to NABS (the industry wellbeing charity). Sue Todd, from NABS highlighted that “Saying I don’t know is OK”, and with the ever-changing capabilities we see weekly, I think that’s something we need to remind ourselves of.
The future will reward agencies that value insight, use tech with purpose, and measure what truly matters. Combine this with creative work that earns attention, it can only get better.
I’d like to think that’s something Join the Dots are set up for.
