Brands
Dentsu cracks the code: three human truths that will define marketing in 2026
MUMBAI: In an era where artificial intelligence orchestrates our every click, the most valuable marketing insights remain decidedly human. Dentsu’s latest media trends report strips away the algorithmic complexity to reveal three enduring behaviours that will separate winners from also-rans in 2026: our craving for simplicity, our need to connect, and our dwindling attention spans.
The sixteenth edition of Human Truths in the Algorithmic Era arrives as brands grapple with seismic shifts—conversational search engines that blur the line between query and oracle, agentic AI that promises to shop on our behalf, and cultural formats from Japanese anime to Chinese microdramas rewrite entertainment rule books.
“Just a few years ago, the media landscape seemed dominated by a handful of platforms,” said dentsu global practice president of media and integrated solutions Will Swayne. “By 2026, the foundations may crack even further. Brands must focus on what remains stable over time by rooting their strategic thinking in core, invariable human behaviours.”
The first truth—we are simple until we are complex—captures how consumers chase convenience but rebel against algorithmic predictability. Nobody enjoys searching for parking spots or wading through bloated recipe blogs. Yet the Labubu plush toy frenzy proves the thrill of the chase still matters.
Dentsu identifies search experience optimisation as the new battleground, encompassing everything from large language model optimisation to retail search. As zero-click searches proliferate, brands must ensure content appears everywhere consumers look—whether that’s ChatGPT, TikTok or Amazon.
The report warns against “agent inflation”—rushing to deploy AI agents without strategy. With 80 per cent of chief marketing officers citing generative AI as a priority investment, dentsu urges building context-aware systems with governance safeguards, not chatbots slapped together for boardroom optics.
Then there’s the friction paradox. Whilst Amazon rolls out instant-scan shopping and same-day perishable delivery, cult brands like Knitwrth announce collection drops weeks in advance with strict no-returns policies. Trader Joe’s refuses online ordering entirely. Strategic friction, dentsu argues, can spark desire and build community—if wielded deliberately.
The second truth—we are social animals—explores how influence has decentralised. Nearly half of American adults regularly spend time with friends, and 83 per cent of consumers believe brands should facilitate human connections, not just transactions.
Reddit threads now rival mainstream media for product reviews. Substack recently surpassed The Wall Street Journal in traffic. Dentsu’s research shows promotional content from creators holds attention longer and drives greater consideration than brand ads—but only when creators retain control.
The report urges brands to invest in diverse smaller creators with authentic ties rather than chasing mega-influencers. Twice as many people engage most with influencers under one million followers than with mega-influencers. Gen Z favour Twitch and Discord; boomers prefer LinkedIn and Facebook.
Live experiences remain unmatched for forging shared memories. Streaming platforms are acquiring sports rights and launching original live programming—WWE’s Raw has ranked in Netflix’s global top 10 every week in 2025. Meanwhile, Millennial nostalgia is peaking: Oasis tours, Buffy reboots, and The Devil Wears Prada sequels are minting money in 2026.
Business messaging is finally monetising at scale. WhatsApp, WeChat and Messenger each boast over one billion monthly users, with WhatsApp reportedly opened 891 times monthly versus TikTok’s 359. New ad placements are emerging, but the real opportunity lies in unified commerce and customer experience through persistent conversations.
The third truth—we don’t read advertising—acknowledges that nobody ever has. Howard Luck Gossage nailed it decades ago: “People read what interests them; and sometimes it’s an ad.”
With exploding screen time and AI slop drowning feeds, advertisers are collectively spending more to reach fewer people. Dentsu’s answer: play the quality game, not the saturation game.
AI-generated audiences offer a way forward. These synthetic consumer profiles simulate real-world attitudes and behaviours, providing immediate creative feedback and reducing research costs. Dentsu’s Generative Audiences capability combines ID-based precision with AI-driven scale, enabling brands to engage known customers accurately whilst connecting with new audiences as interests shift.
Carat’s Brand Reset research—the world’s largest attention study on video’s long-term impact, spanning 40,000 people and ten NextGen video platforms—reveals that connected television now delivers outcomes comparable to broadcast. A single CTV exposure lifts long-term sales by 3.16 per cent over three years, approaching broadcast television’s 3.61 per cent. Even short-form vertical video in fast-scroll environments can lift sales by 6.62 per cent with proper attention.
Entertainment presents untapped white space. Sports docuseries reach 40 per cent of global consumers monthly, capturing women, Gen Z and emerging markets where traditional sports lag. Gaming still captures less than five per cent of global media investment despite massive user bases. And 50 per cent of Gen Z watch anime at least weekly—more than any major sports league in the United States.
dentsu creative and media brands in South Asia chief executive Amit Wadhwa frames the challenge starkly: “In a world ruled by algorithms, human truths remain our compass. Technology opens doors, but empathy, creativity and understanding people will determine who truly wins.”
The report, developed by 30 global media experts, positions media not as a channel but as a growth engine connecting creativity, commerce and culture. Brands that anchor strategy in enduring human truths whilst embracing new formats—from agentic AI to microdramas—can move beyond mere survival.
Because in 2026, as algorithms reshape everything from search to shopping to storytelling, the brands that win won’t be those with the most agents or the biggest ad budgets. They’ll be the ones that remember we’re still human—simple when we can be, social when we need to be, and utterly unmoved by advertising that forgets what interests us.
Brands
Creative Intelligence: Using AI to Predict Which Ads Will Actually Convert
Priyanka Aeron, Director & Co-founder of Thrive Global AI
MUMBAI: In a heavily populated digital landscape, simply being creative with your advertising will not guarantee that your ad will be successful. In fact, brands today are producing more content than ever. However, very little of that results in actual engagement or sales. However, Creative Intelligence, powered by AI, is fundamentally transforming the advertising industry.
Creative Intelligence utilizes data, machine learning, and statistical behavioral insights to analyze and predict how well a creative asset will perform prior to it being published. Therefore, marketers no longer have to rely on either their gut instincts or post-campaign analytics for making informed decisions before production. That said, AI-powered creative intelligence greatly improves results and decreases wasted dollars spent.
Moving Beyond Guesswork
In the past, making ads was a mix of gut feeling, experience, and A/B testing. These methods were useful, but reactive by nature. People have already spent their budgets by the time the results are looked at. AI models can find patterns that are linked to higher engagement and conversion rates by looking at huge datasets. These datasets can include things like past campaign performance, audience behavior, and visual elements like color, composition, and facial expressions. This helps marketers guess which ads will do well even before they go live.
Decoding What Truly Drives Conversions
AI-powered creative intelligence allows for an evaluation of advertisements that is not limited to the basic data but also explores the elements of an effective advertisement through subtle reactions; clarity and directness of the ad message and how well the ad captures audience’s attention in the first three seconds. AI can also provide insights into the successful use of advertisements directed to human faces, which connect through eye contact based on media channels, and how advertisements that utilize shorter but clear calls to action may produce more clicks from certain populations. The insights, provided through AI, provide marketers with the ability to think beyond creating more advertising material and additionally create more effective ad campaigns that actually convert.
Personalization at Scale
Consumers expect relevance more than ever. Irrelevant mass messaging is not going to work in a society inundated with information. Hyper-personalization, using AI, allows companies to create content that suits individual segments within their target markets based on their demographics, interests, and behaviors. Rather than having one single message that aims to reach everyone, brands can have many versions of their messages tailored to each segment within the market. Such flexibility is what makes campaigns successful nowadays.
Faster Iteration, Better Results
Another advantage to using AI in creative decision-making is speed. Companies must improvise because their campaign cycles are shorter than ever before, and having the ability to iterate rapidly is more important than it has ever been. There is no greater way to do this work than through AI, as new technologies give brands the ability to test multiple creative avenues and figure out which ones are working well. This reduces a lot of the testing that companies would otherwise have to do and makes the process faster.
With AI, brands can also make creative changes in real-time during a campaign, allowing the, to make vital decisions and adjust their creatives, rather than waiting out. This allows for faster adaptability, well-tested campaigns and reduced lost ad spend.
The Human-AI Collaboration
Even though AI is capable of performing certain tasks, its purpose is not to eliminate human creativity. Successful campaigns require human collaboration with computer intellect since both complement each other. While computers are capable of dealing with massive amounts of information, discovering patterns, and providing predictions, humans are the one to inject stories and emotions into campaigns.
The Future of Advertising
As the complexity of advertising becomes harder with the passage of time, Creative Intelligence will play a significant role in helping marketers formulate a strategic approach. The yardstick that will set standards for determining whether a marketing firm has fulfilled its responsibilities will be the forecasting of future outcomes, as well as personalized content and optimization of creative elements in real-time. In contrast to the existing scenario where the campaigns remain fixed, these campaigns will be capable of adjusting themselves according to the customer interacting with the brand, as well as other trends on social media channels. This will enable brands to offer customers an engaging experience that will exceed expectations. The biggest hurdle marketers will face will be finding ways to utilize these capabilities without compromising branding and enhancing the creativity of the team involved.
