2026: A Forecast
Image: Crystal Ball, 2026
Another brand new year begins. Another foray into the unknown. More so than other months, January is fertile ground for dwelling on what the future holds.
As a creative studio focused on brand strategy, we’re naturally drawn to headlines that ask, “What’s trending in 2026?”. But we soon become suspicious of their very definitive answers. That model worked, so long as there were clear top-down orders from an elite set who made all our decisions for us. It doesn’t anymore.
In today’s hyper-digital world, where social platforms have decentralised this process of decision-making, we know that anyone with a smartphone (so, basically everyone) is a potential tastemaker. A viral TikTok, a cleverly crafted meme, even a subreddit thread can ignite a global movement overnight. Anything can happen, and it’s both exhilarating and exhausting.
If there’s one thing the 2020s has taught us, it’s to expect the unexpected.
But we’re also internet-literate enough to know that “potential” is the operative word here. In this murky realm of algorithms, shadow bans, bots and strategic PR boosts, the churn is often cartoonishly blatant, as it spits out recycled mutations of what it condescends to know about us. It’s hard to tell what’s organic from what’s been carefully calculated and paid for.
What’s in a trend anyway? Is it all just a helpless bid for control? Faced with the spectre of impending doom—AI, war, inflation, polarisation, our planet in polycrisis—do we cling to micro distractions as a coping mechanism for how overwhelming the big picture is? Like, we might not be able to stop fascism, so let’s solve gut health and skincare?
It’s easy to delude ourselves into thinking we’re above trends, but at its core, a trend is simply a collective human moment. So what if it originated in a strategy meeting? Somewhere, somehow, it struck a chord. It means, we’ve all agreed––impossible as it is these days––on SOMETHING.
At its lightest, this may be a great summer bop that’s now forever linked with a special time and place. At its best, it could be a once marginalised phenomenon finally getting its ray of sun. Good, bad, ridiculous or ugly––trends say something about who we are as a society. Even if that something is not always comfortable to look at in the mirror.
Our rule of thumb? We’re here to listen to the wind, but only champion what we truly believe in—confident that when the time is right, it will enter the collective mainstream and trend, for whatever that’s worth. As we forge into the unknown this year, our plan is to make one intentional choice after the other, and allow ourselves to go where that takes us.
JANUARY FAVES
Here are three fitting works we’re bringing into 2026. Consume them, as you please, and always at your discretion.
READ Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI by Karen Hao, an eye-opening account of arguably the most fateful tech arms race in history that is reshaping the planet in real time, straight from the cockpit of the company that’s driving the frenzy.
LISTEN The Devil You Know by Sarah Marshall, an eight-part podcast series about the Satanic Panic of the 1980s and 90s. Satan and his followers were accused of brainwashing children, sacrificing babies, and infiltrating North American society on a massive scale—yet these alleged Satanists were nowhere to be found. Marshall deconstructs this dangerous groupthink in a way that’s highly entertaining, as well as informative.
WATCH Our Oceans on Netflix, a documentary series that explores the wonder of Earth's oceans. It features incredible cinematography, and is presented by none other than Barack Obama. Released in November of 2024, it remains as evergreen (or blue) and vital as ever.
And lastly, here’s some GOOD NEWS to start the month on a positive note: The Breakthrough That Could Solve Ocean Plastic
Go lightly x
