By now, a lot of us can tell marketing has reached another turning point. AI is no longer the shiny new thing. Consumer trust is fragile, platforms are all over the place, and it feels like the noise is just getting louder and louder, attempting to gain attention even tougher. As we started to approach 2026, it became clearer that the brands that will stand out aren’t the ones doing more; they are the ones doing better. The trends expected to gain traction in 2026 point to smarter AI integration, deeper personalization, creative restraint, and a return to emotional intelligence in branding. However, to achieve this, we marketers need to abandon some habits we’ve accepted over the past few years. Not everything that scales is valuable, and not everything measurable is meaningful. That said, here are a few things I think we should seriously think about ditching in 2026…and why.

AI Slop

Let’s call it what it is.

Consumers are tired of low-effort, generic content that feels mass-produced and soulless. AI slop shows up as poorly written captions, fake-looking visuals, and lifeless campaigns that exist only to fill content calendars or flood feeds. It’s ugly. It’s annoying. It wastes resources. And worst of all, it signals a brand just doesn’t care. Frankly, I hate it - especially poorly or weirdly generated images and videos. People can tell when content hasn’t been thought through. They may not be able to articulate why something feels off, but they can feel it. Major platforms are reacting to consumer complaints by rolling out features that limit AI-generated content from TikTok and Pinterest filters to YouTube, outright deprioritizing low-effort AI videos.

In 2026, attention will be reserved for the brands that demonstrate taste and intention. If your content could belong to anyone, it belongs to no one. AI is a tool. Using it without standards is how brands become forgettable at best and purposely avoided at worst.

Strictly outsourcing to AI

There is a massive difference between creating with AI and outsourcing to AI.

As someone who works with some of the greatest creatives in the industry, I can honestly say the best teams aren’t handing the keys over to AI and hoping for the best. When it comes to AI, the brightest use AI to accelerate ideation, refine and explore directions, and remove roadblocks from the creative process. The creative process still and always needs humans with vision, context, and instincts to steer the work. Treating AI as a creative lead instead of a collaborator leads to safe, bland, generic content anyone could generate. Sure, it technically works, but it’s forgettable.

AI is terrible at being cool and interesting, no matter how much you attempt to prompt it. In 2026, the gap between forgettable and not is going to widen. Brands that rely solely on AI-generated ideas will blend into the wider noise, while brands that use AI as a creative amplifier will stand out because their work maintains brand voice and still feels human.

Efficiency is not the same as impact.

Ignoring Data-Driven Personalization

Personalization isn’t optional. It’s expected.

Consumers are interacting with brands across multiple platforms, touchpoints, and formats daily. They expect things to be relevant. Ignoring available data and sending the same message to everyone continuously is no longer a neutral choice; it’s a bad one. Data-driven personalization doesn’t mean being invasive or hitting a creepy level of targeting. It means paying attention to behavior, preferences, and timing, then using that information to make experiences that feel more intentional to the audience rather than automated.

This year, brands that understand who they are talking to, why they are talking to them, and when to talk to them will get ahead. Personalization can be done well and feel thoughtful rather than creepy, disconnected, and lazy.

Discounting Metrics You Can’t Quantify

If it doesn’t fit neatly in a dashboard or report, it often gets dismissed. And that’s a mistake.

I admit I have made this mistake for far too long. Not everything valuable in marketing is measurable immediately. I’ll be the first to roll my eyes after saying “brand awareness” for the 15th time. But it’s true, brand awareness, emotional momentum, cultural relevance, trust, and resonance don’t always show up as numbers but still compound over time. Just because they can’t be perfectly quantified into Excel to show how a campaign made people feel doesn’t mean it didn’t work. Some of the most effective brand moments live in that gray area. The slow build where the perception shift is happening.

For 2026, Emotional Momentum appears to be a big trend and will let us know how people feel connected to a brand or if they are drifting away. This means marketers need to balance typical performance metrics with intuition and long-term brand thinking. A winning combination that will help with more successful campaigns that consumers respond to.

What to Be Excited About in 2026

The good news? It’s not all negative. 2026 has the potential to be a creative reset.

We’re moving toward a smarter, more intentional era of marketing. One where we use AI to support originality instead of replacing it, where data informs creativity, and where brands are rewarded for having a point of view and showcasing it. The future is going to belong to marketers who value taste and empathy as much as they do their efficiency. They know when to scale, but when to slow down. The brilliant teams that know great marketing don’t just convert, but they connect.

If we stop diluting our work with old habits and thoughtless strategies, 2026 seems to be the year marketing feels exciting again.