The sense of a stable middle ground will continue to erode across several aspects of marketing in 2026. Studies indicate the middle class is thinning, altering important consumer milestones. Monoculture is also on the wane as people spend more time engaged with algorithms hypertailored to their interests.

On the industry front, marketing services are gravitating toward two polarities in the wake of historic consolidation: White-glove models and plug-and-play ones built around artificial intelligence. Feeling some of the most pain from these developments are the employees who make the industry hum but are facing a grim job market.

“There has been a rampant uptick in the past few years of putting the focus on shareholder value,” said Dustin Black, executive creative director at Preston Spire. “Culturally, the difference between decision-makers and makers has never been greater.”

The advancement of generative AI could encourage mediocrity — “slop” was deemed a 2025 word of the year for a reason — but also benefit marketers moving against the grain. To grab attention, brands may embrace messaging that is deliberately button-pushing or bold.

“A lot of the output is trending toward the median,” said Taryn Crouthers, CEO of Spcshp, about AI in marketing. “It’s about pulling against the median because all of the content is merging to look very, very similar.”

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