McKinsey has published its State of Marketing Europe 2026 report. It includes insights from 500 senior marketing leaders across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK. Based on this data, we see a strong shift: branding is now the number-one priority for 2026, ahead of performance marketing, martech investments, and even generative AI.

The main reason – in the past three years, performance models have become less effective, while media volatility has increased. As a result, companies have only one stable source of growth left – the strength of their brand. McKinsey shows that companies with a clear brand strategy achieve +20–30% higher long-term ROI and rely less on fluctuating traffic costs. Brands that focused only on tactics have lost momentum. Brands with meaning have kept it – and in many cases increased it.

It feels, 2026 becomes a return to fundamentals. In the report, branding is defined as a system discipline: meaning, positioning, emotional differentiation, cultural relevance, and trust.

According to the report, the future belongs to brands that master this “interactive branding”: ongoing dialogue, adaptive identity, and clear, meaningful leadership. Technology and AI will stay as tools, but they cannot become the core. Not yet. And maybe not ever?

What we see now is a clear shift away from the illusion that AI or media tactics alone can drive growth. And most importantly, brands are now treated as strategic assets with higher priority, long-term investments in identity, trust, and emotional connection.
This is something I strongly believe in. And, of course, in creativity.