January
The Difference in 2026
With January drawing to a close, 2026 already has no shortage of change, opinions and possibilities.
This industry that has always evolved, but the pace, complexity and volume of change we’re seeing now makes perspective more valuable than ever.
We have access to the most information in history. The challenge lies in deciding what matters, and what to do about it.
Which got us thinking, creating difference that matters drives everything that we do - from how we re-imagine the limits of media, to how we show up in the industry, to how we show up for each other...
Why don't we bring all that into a regular format?
So that's what we're doing.
Each month we will be bringing you The Difference - an expert look at what’s happening now, why it matters, and how to use that insight to drive competitive advantage.
For this, we set ourselves a clear mission - to create something that makes...well...a difference.
To kick things off, this edition brings together views from the experts leading our thinking across MG, covering GenAI, Digital, Creativity, Effectiveness, Retail and Responsible Media.
We know you’re busy, so we’ll let them take over from here with everything they feel you need to know about in 2026...
Kat Bozicevich, CEO
"Digital advantage will belong to brands that focus on the 'AI skills gap.”
Moving into 2026, the main bottleneck for growth isn’t whether your business has AI tools - most do. It’s whether your workforce can wield them. And wield them well.
Despite a heavy focus on technical implementation, the "half-life" of professional skills is shrinking rapidly - now averaging less than five years.
For CMOs, this signals a critical pivot in planning. Digital advantage will belong to brands that focus on the "AI skills gap".
That means brands must cultivate a culture of continuous, adaptive learning. Prioritising a resilient "Human Operating System" that can evolve as fast as the algorithms do.
Upskilling cannot be a 'one-off' training project; it must be treated as a permanent operational imperative.
What this means:
Growth will increasingly be constrained or unlocked by how quickly organisations can adapt skills, workflows and ways of working, not by access to new tools.
Tom Nash, Chief Digital Officer
"In the Dawn of the Agentic Age, visibility alone is not enough."
We are moving into what many are calling the Agentic Age.
An era where human decisions and attention are increasingly mediated by intelligent systems. Changing the face of discovery, choice and commerce.
In that world, visibility alone is not enough. Brands need to be understood. Authority needs to be established. And journeys need to be designed for machines as well as people.
That creates three strategic priorities for the year ahead:
Understanding how the next era of the internet actually works
Building authority and discoverability in an AI-mediated environment
Rethinking the path to purchase through Agentic Commerce
In 2026, being loud won’t get you heard. You need to be legible to the systems shaping choice.
If you’re not already talking to us about Web4.0, Generative Engine Optimisation or Agentic Commerce, 2026 is the year for those conversations.
What this means:
Brands need to be designed to be interpreted by intelligent systems as well as recognised by people, because selection is increasingly happening before a decision feels deliberate.
Claire Marker, Chief Client Officer
"You need to re-frame creativity to show up and stand out effectively in 2026”
Treat Creativity as an Asset, Not a Gamble
When the world feels unpredictable, businesses tend to double down on control. In advertising, that usually shows up as tighter targeting, heavier optimisation and a quiet hope that precision will compensate for volatility.
But precision requires a static target. And today's media and cultural environment is anything but.
It’s fragmented, distracted and increasingly automated, with choices shaped by algorithms rather than shelves. In that context, you could be forgiven for thinking that treating creativity as a series of clever bets is risky.
Treating it as an asset, deliberately designed to perform across many situations, is not.
This is where effective creativity earns its keep. Not as spectacle, but as a way of improving the probability of positive outcomes at every interaction with a brand. Each execution, placement or experience doesn’t need to be extraordinary, but it does need to know what difference it is meant to make, whether that’s building memory, reducing friction or strengthening confidence.
Anyone can have a wild idea. The harder skill is judgement: understanding which creative decisions matter, where they sit in the system, and how they compound over time. That discipline is what turns creativity into something durable rather than disposable.
In 2026, the opportunity is to reframe creativity. Away from gambling on moments of brilliance, and towards investing in it consistently.
What this means:
As choice is narrowed earlier by technology, the role of retail media and planning is to strengthen memory, meaning and emotional relevance before a brand is ever even compared.
Rob Beevers, Chief Effectiveness and Analytics Officer
"It's still a human making the final call on your brand”
Retail has always moved at pace. Shaped by technology, consumer habits, the economy, the weather, and sometimes simply the mood of the nation.
As we look ahead to 2026, that pace feels even faster. There are more opportunities than ever to reach people, drive action and entertain. It’s exciting. It can also feel overwhelming.
Which is why it’s worth grounding ourselves in a simple truth: What people want hasn’t fundamentally changed. How we meet those needs has.
Don’t forget the way our brains work has evolved over thousands and thousands of years, so whilst search engines, assistants and retail algorithms increasingly narrow options before people actively browse or compare...it'sstill a human making a call on your brand.
In this new frontier, success comes from applying new capability in ways that strengthen storytelling, emotion and context. Applying innovation in service of human relevance.
What this means:
As choice is narrowed earlier by technology, the role of retail media and planning is to strengthen memory, meaning and emotional relevance before a brand is ever compared.
Gerry Ridgway, Executive Director
Matt Mint, Executive Director
James Thompson, Executive Director
"Responsible media is not just about where you appear, but how you behave."
We’re starting to hear more questions about the quality of online experience. Ideas like “peak social” and reports showing some early indicators of a decline in internet enjoyment are increasingly showing up.
Only a third of adults (33%) said they feel the internet is good for society. While nearly two-thirds (65%) of adults believe the personal benefits of being online outweigh the risks, this figure has declined by 6% in two years.
That makes the quality of the media environment increasingly important.
Responsible media is not just about where you appear, but how you behave. Authenticity, trust and brand values are expressed through execution, through the experiences you contribute to and how they make your audiences feel.
For brands in 2026, consider that responsibility isn’t separate from effectiveness. Trust is part of how brands earn attention, build confidence and perform over time.
What this means:
Where and how brands show up contributes to trust, shaping how messages are received and how confidently people engage over time.
Tim Pritchard, Head of Content and Responsible Media