The American Marketing Association’s 2026 Future Trends in Marketing report identifies the five key forces reshaping the marketing landscape over the next five to ten years. Developed through a modified Delphi process with input from over 30 marketing professionals, the report offers evidence-based guidance on how marketers and brands can adapt to each trend. The findings emphasize that while AI will automate much of transactional marketing, human creativity, cultural fluency, and authentic storytelling will become the primary differentiators for brands.
Top Five Trends
- The Age of Autonomous Agents
- Consumer Discovery Shifts to Scroll
- Portfolio Careers and the Liquid Workforce
- Innovation Imperative in Sustainability
- Building Brand Trust in a Fragmented World
Short on time? Get the report highlights in the Executive Summary.
Not a member? Explore membership or enter your details to download the report.
More Original Research
Level Up in 2026
FAQs
This report used a modified Delphi process combined with elements from the Institute for the Future’s foresight methodology, bringing together over 30 marketing professionals from May to August 2025. The panelists, selected for their diverse expertise and backgrounds, participated in strategic foresight training, independently nominated trends, engaged in multiple rounds of voting and discussion, and examined future scenarios using the STEEP framework (considering social, technological, economic, environmental, and political factors). Throughout the process, they provided evidence-based insights to forecast how marketing might evolve over the next five to ten years, and what marketers and brands should do now to stay ahead.
The marketing trends were nominated and selected by a panel of volunteer marketing professionals. This Foresight Panel comprised marketing practitioners and thought leaders primarily from North America, with additional global representation. The AMA selected applicants based on their experience and expertise in marketing, with an emphasis on those in senior leadership roles. Selection decisions were also made with the goal of bringing together varied perspectives spanning multiple industries, personal backgrounds, functional specialties, company sizes, and employment contexts (in-house versus agency, B-to-B versus B-to-C). All panelists were practitioners working in or closely with marketing teams, and some also brought their perspective as academic researchers, marketing educators, and graduate marketing students. Panelists came from organizations such as Google, Densu, Ogilvy, Uber, NYU, and UNC Health. A full list of panelists with their affiliations is available in the downloadable report.
Jen OBrien, Director for Research and Innovation at the AMA, was the lead researcher, panel facilitator, and report writer. Additional writing support came from Amy Gwiazdowski, VP of Communications at AMA, and Latha Sarathy, Founder and CEO of SALIENT HQ.
Most trends reports aggregate survey data to surface what’s popular right now. The AMA’s 2026 Future Trends in Marketing report takes another approach, and that’s by design. Rather than running a single survey and averaging the results, the AMA brought together more than 30 marketing professionals and trained them in strategic foresight methodology. Panelists were asked not just what they’re observing today, but which signals are already quietly reshaping the profession and what the marketing landscape might look like in five to ten years as those signals become the new norm.
Director for Research and Innovation, American Marketing Association