Most 2026 plans ignore marketing’s geopolitical exposure, the aggressive monetization of platforms, and the erosion of trust, requiring leaders to shift from chasing reach and automation to strategic discipline, internal alignment, and building direct customer relationships, says Paul Armstrong

Most 2026 marketing plans are already built on assumptions that no longer hold, not because the tactics are outdated, but because the world those tactics were designed for has been quietly disappearing while plans were agreed. The prevailing narrative still insists that more AI, more automation, more influencers and more spending across fewer platforms will somehow fix declining attention and trust, even as the evidence points in the opposite direction.

Marketing is about to become one of the most geopolitically exposed functions in the business, yet it continues to be treated as a performance channel rather than a strategic risk surface that reflects power, dependency and narrative control. The Magnificent Seven – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Tesla, Meta Platforms, Microsoft and Nvidia – are no longer neutral infrastructure providers and have not been for some time, operating instead under regulatory pressure, national security scrutiny, supply chain constraint and intense shareholder expectations to keep growth moving even as the easy gains dry up. Switch out Tesla for X, add in TikTok and a few others, and you’ve got a recipe for a marketing migraine before you’ve checked which way the wind is blowing.

So what’s coming in 2026?

Forget better tools or cleaner experiences, expect far more aggressive monetisation disguised as innovation, with AI positioned as both the justification and the delivery mechanism. More ads are coming, not fewer, alongside a dramatic expansion of AI generated inventory that allows platforms to manufacture supply at scale while claiming improved efficiency. Automation will continue to reduce internal headcount inside organisations while deepening dependence on opaque systems that optimise relentlessly for platform outcomes rather than long term........

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