Dive Brief:
- Marketers in 2026 need to contend with consumers who are feeling creeping unrest while holding onto hope for a better future, according to VML’s 12th annual “The Future 100” report.
- The lengthy report, which identifies 100 rising tech and cultural trends across several categories, coined the term “dysoptimism,” a portmanteau of dystopia and optimism, to describe the current consumer outlook. As they turn to brands for value and simplicity, 76% of respondents agreed few brands stand out as distinctive.
- VML emphasized how digital and physical behaviors continue to blend together, creating what the agency called hyperreality. Amid this convergence, artificial intelligence is further muddying the waters, with 71% of respondents believing the technology makes it more difficult to discern what’s true.
Dive Insight:
VML’s latest “The Future 100” report spotlights several trends that sound like a sci-fi writer’s paradise but pose contradictions that could be tricky for brands to unwind. Among the areas for marketers to watch are algospeak, hyperreality and omnisurveillance, underpinning how digital technology continues to encroach on everyday life and even influence language. The convergence is particularly apparent among Gen Zers, four in 10 of whom agree that there is little distinction between virtual and physical reality.
“The brands poised for leadership in 2026 are those that can operate confidently in blended realities and navigate these myriad shifts in consumer behavior,” said Naomi Troni, global CMO at VML, in a statement. “We must design for both the ambitious and anxious sides of consumers.”
The overarching dysoptimism theme posited by VML suggests that marketers cannot afford to be Luddites in the face of fast technological change, but also must preserve a sense of joy and human connection in a world that is skewing increasingly artificial. Winning strategies could come in the form of brand anthropomorphization — i.e. employing mascots like the Duolingo owl — and exploring emergent content formats, such as microdramas.
Consumers aren’t necessarily looking for brands to act as unifiers, however, creating a complex messaging needle to thread. Levity is one inroad to engagement, as 86% of consumers are seeking experiences that inspire awe or a renewed worldview. Some of the typical ways people reset, such as vacations, are in flux against a rocky economic backdrop. Consumers are prioritizing what VML called nano trips — ultra-short getaways that keep costs and time saved in mind — and “treatonomics,” or partaking in small indulgences, as they reconsider their discretionary spending.
Economic anxiety hangs over several of the topics analyzed in the report. Cost of living landed as the No.1 problem facing society today, cited by 48% of respondents, 10 percentage points higher than both war/unrest and violence/crime. A different poll showed 32% of consumers believe a brand’s role is to save them money, followed by making life simpler (31%) and improving health and well being (30%). That contrasts with 22% of consumers who believe brands’ top mandate is to create a more hopeful or positive future and 13% who believe they should bring people together and foster community.
Even still, 79% of consumers want their money to go to brands that align with their values. VML pointed to the wave of cancellations Disney+ experienced after the streamer’s parent temporarily pulled “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” from air as an example of a brand getting caught in the political crossfire.
Perhaps no subject better encapsulates the uncertainty of the moment than AI. Seventy-one percent of consumers believe the technology is a deterrent to human connection while 76% agreed it can make the world a better place. Over half of consumers also stated that finding out an ad was primarily made with AI wouldn’t affect their opinion of it. Generative AI is known for pumping out squeaky clean, uncanny valley imagery, but creative aesthetics could take more cues from grit, dirt and decay in 2026, according to VML.
“Dirt is a cultural signal that the status quo has run its course; brands that treat breakdown as a brief for reinvention position themselves as designers of what comes next,” the report reads. “By embracing metamorphosis — designing for change, repair, and regenerative systems — they signal future possibility.”
