Marketing trends 2026: Emotions, algorithms, brand, understanding people, measurability - and of course AI
Anniina Pyykönen,
Head of Media & Digital,
Sinebrychoff
AI becomes the customer
Marketing is at a turning point: AI will no longer just support purchase decisions – it will start making them. Algorithms will recommend products, compare prices, and choose brands on our behalf. Brands must convince not only humans but also machines. The purchase journey is no longer linear; it’s an ongoing dialogue between humans and AI. Future marketing will optimize not just visibility but understandability for AI logic: how does the brand appear through the lens of data? Those who build trust both emotionally and algorithmically will win in this new era.
Ida Virkki,
Marketing Director,
K-Market & Own Brands
Price volatility continues, but those who invest in the brand win
Although there’s a slight positive shift towards brand marketing, price-driven efforts continues. The big challenge for marketers is how to build a brand when there is strong pressure to make short-term sales. Communicating your competitive advantages in a way that appeals to your customers over the long term, will build your brand equity. It's the only way you can stand out and be remembered. I would like to say that there is more faith in the brand, but I fear that the pressure to be tactical is increasing.
AI can raise the baseline level of work, reduce costs, and speed up processes. It brings efficiency to ad targeting, media planning, and better use of analytics, but in creativity, AI tends to homogenize. Those who dare to create bold, distinctive marketing will win.
The fragmentation of the media landscape is becoming clearer every year. Moving image is still the most powerful and effective way to build a brand, but the 3 seconds in social media will not do it. Those marketers who can leverage moving image in different ways and systematically build a brand under their own distinctive marketing concept across channels will win this race too.
Veli-Pekka Ojamaa,
Senior Strategy Director,
Dentsu Finland
Maximizing impact through optimal investments
As marketing investment levels become more stable, advertisers are increasingly focusing on efficient and optimal allocation of resources. The goal is to find the right balance between brand-building and tactical actions across different product categories, campaigns, target audiences, as well as ATL and BTL activities.
The aim is also to combine brand and tactical interventions into packages that support both short- and long-term objectives.
There is a growing need for advanced impact measurement and analysis. There is a desire to identify metrics relevant to business growth. A shift is therefore underway from traditional measures of awareness and consideration towards mental market share models and calibrated modelling of media contributions.
Jonna Musa,
Head of Marketing,
Lidl Finland
Humour and building customer loyalty are emphasized
Long-term brand building has been a key focus this year for those who have been able to invest in it. Many companies have relied on humor in their marketing communications. I’ve noticed that the same materials have been used for a long time. From that perspective, this is a good thing: while marketers may feel the material is already old, the consumer has probably only seen it a few times. On the other hand, I’m concerned about how this trend will affect creative agencies.
I expect the use of humor to remain strong over the next year. Marketers have the oportunity bring joy to people in this grey world and create emotional emotional impressions, so let's take that opportunity! Where possible, I would like to see companies bring a charitable angle to their marketing campaigns. It’s needed now more than ever.
Building trust between business and customer is becoming even more important. Customers expect personalised, two-way communication and attention. Leveraging data in targeting will be emphasized to ensure the right messages reach the right people at the right time.
AI will remain a big topic of conversation next year. Only few players are yet very deep into the use of AI, although there is a lot of talk about it. Next year's game changer will be to finally put into practice and exploit the tools of AI that have already been much talked about.
Katri Laitinen,
COO,
IPG Mediabrands Finland / Initiative
Performance becomes measurable
As the uncertain times lengthen, delivering results cost-effectively, and especially proving it, has become an increasingly important topic in marketing.
Justifying the role of marketing budgets and marketing requires clear metrics, regular monitoring and response. An understandable set of metrics is needed that shows a direct link to strategic objectives.
In media advertising, too, proving effectiveness is key to justifying media budgets and measures in a tighter economic climate. Traditional media metrics have not become irrelevant, but reach, frequency and clicks alone are not enough; it is necessary to estimate how actions are truly noticed and how they influence consumers.
Now, if ever, to create effective and efficient marketing, it is important to know your target audiences and potential consumers, understand your objectives and create metrics to measure and verify the true effectiveness of your measures.
Teppo Juuvinmaa,
Account Director,
Folk Finland
Impactful, entertaining and captivating marketing makes a comeback
The basics are back in the spotlight. Emotions, stories, and humor will once again capture consumers’ attention—sparking conversations at coffee tables and across social media. Let’s remember: in a country the size of Finland, there’s no such thing as a wasted contact—everyone is a potential customer.
In 2026, two factors will come together. Brands that have been built consistently and over the long term will continue to grow and claim an even larger share of consumers’ minds. Newcomers will focus on quick wins to reach the starting point of profitable growth. Together, these create a joyful undertone in marketing that rewards viewers and listeners time and again. Lukewarm middle-ground players will lose their share.
In 2026, the winning brands will be those that stay true to their roots and entertain people. The winning brands will be those that fill a gap we didn’t even know existed. And always—past, present, and future—the winning brands will be those that are present both in consumers’ minds and across distribution channels.
Petra Kakkola,
Head of Marketing,
Mobile Business and Devices, DNA
From guesswork to data-driven decisions
The marketing trends that will dominate in 2026 have been emerging for years, but they remain highly relevant. Advertisers and media planners can no longer afford to overestimate customer interest in their company, brand, or advertising. We must stop creating ads for ourselves. If we set the ambition level in advertising design to surpass the threshold of “nobody cares,” we’re on the right track. We need to ensure we produce genuinely engaging content that seamlessly aligns with the brand. Consistency and long-term thinking will continue to lead the way.
We’re moving from guesswork to data-driven marketing. Data provides deep, scalable customer insights and reveals the true impact of advertising. Alongside the metrics inflated by the digital bubble and more holistic measures like eSOV, SoS, and eMMM, new standardized metrics will emerge to support advertising effectiveness, including media buying.
Innovation and marketing will lift Finland out of the slump. As a society, we must understand that investing in marketing pays off—even during downturns. Let’s finally make marketing a trend in Finland! To achieve this, marketers need to speak the same language as the rest of the organization. Break down silos. Product development, pricing, and sales are marketing—and marketing is economics.
Annika Suomela,
Category Director,
Berner
Understanding consumer behaviour is more important than ever
Finnish consumer behaviour continues to change. In the land of loyalty cards, we are increasingly choosing shopping destinations based on price and promotions.
Although price plays a major role, price alone doesn’t sell. Fragmentation in consumer behavior persists, and extremes are becoming more pronounced. A single consumer may act like a different person depending on the product category: always willing to invest in a €50 face cream, yet insisting on the cheapest possible laundry detergent.
The long-standing fragmentation in media use also highlights the role of the place and situation of buying in brand building. Retail environments reach consumer flows, offer inspiration and impulses, and create brand-related perceptions. Strong brands stand out, and for consumers, a brand is often part of building their own image and identity. Understanding the consumer and their behavior is more important than ever.
Minna Andersson,
Executive Director,
ToinenPHD
A strong brand wins in a competition
I hope that by 2026, advertisers will invest in building strong brands and driving their growth. In 2027, Finland’s media market will change as gambling advertisers enter the scene. It may become harder for a brand’s voice to be heard, which is why I would prioritize brand-building no later than 2026. A strong brand performs better in competition, and tactical actions deliver better results when the brand is strong. Growing a brand requires patience—results may only become visible in the long term.
Marketing is still not widely seen as an investment. Dear advertisers: be bold when creating brand advertising, experiment with new approaches that leave a lasting impression on consumers. Brand-building is an investment that pays back many times over. It lays the foundation for long-term growth, competitive advantage, and customer loyalty.
Alongside brand-building, another hot topic is, of course, AI and how it will transform marketing practices. In the future, marketers will increasingly focus on interpreting AI-generated insights, making ethical decisions, and leading advanced, AI-driven strategic initiatives. Those marketers who prepare effectively for this shift will succeed and guide their organizations toward continuous innovation and strategic competitive advantage.
Teemu Neiglick,
Planner, Co- Founder,
Viisi Agency
Genuine human understanding is essential
Leveraging AI will streamline operations across the entire value chain. However, the explosive growth of marketing messages, fragmented media consumption, and fierce competition for attention will become unsustainable.
We need to remember once again that people are not just cheap contacts or demographic groups. Every individual is unique, and only by truly getting to know them can we understand what resonates with them. That’s why next year’s biggest trend will be genuine human understanding.
Marketing will turn to psychology for help in influencing people.
Psychology makes marketing more relevant and bold—shaping attitudes and changing behaviors. Leading companies and agencies have already hired behavioral scientists, and the rest of us will soon follow.
Markus Nieminen,
Head of Group Marketing,
OP Pohjola
The transformation forces companies to restructure their marketing operations
The ongoing transformation both forces and enables marketing to be done in an entirely new way. The old principles still hold true, but each of them now needs to be rethought—or risk being overshadowed by global players.
Marketing leadership must operate simultaneously at both strategic and operational levels. This means being able to manage the future and the present at the same time. It requires accepting the conflict between intersecting goals while still delivering value across both time horizons. Sales must happen efficiently today, but at the same time, added value must be built for the long term.
For marketing, this means building and protecting competitive advantage and developing competitiveness through the opportunities this transformation creates.
At the level of marketing communications, the most significant trends appear as a reorganization of channel and media roles. Social media and digital channels are drowning in suboptimal clutter, and achieving impact comes with a higher price tag. At the same time, the prices of traditional media will rise significantly in the coming years, as the opening of the gambling market brings new changes to the landscape. From an investment perspective, this is a challenging equation—and only distinctive content will be truly effective.
Those that can create their own approach in this transformation and, through it, capture customer attention with standout actions—whether physical, digital, or psychological, will be winners.
Tiina Kosonen,
Marketing Strategist,
Sanoma Media Finland
Size matters
Thinking big—both creatively and in media—will become increasingly important. Under economic pressure, we’ve streamlined marketing communications too much. Activities have fragmented into tiny pieces across target groups, channels, and even creative approaches.
Marketing communications are fragmenting faster than consumers’ media usage. As a result, we’re influencing audiences that are too small to create meaningful change. We need to think bigger and focus on impact.
Thinking big doesn’t have to mean changing the world. From a creative perspective, it’s about evoking emotions—any emotions—rather than clinging to pure rationality, creating recognizability, and even sparking opinions. You won’t start a conversation without emotions. In media, alongside reach, the quality of attention will grow in importance—where you appear matters. Find the channels that best influence your customer potential and design creative work primarily for those channels.
Large, well-executed campaigns deliver more impactful results than many small, average ones. This way, you reach a sufficiently large share of your potential audience and truly influence them. The same thinking applies to smaller brands—but remember to think bigger than your size.
