Brand Strategy 2025: Quit Chasing Trends. Build Brands That Last.
A trend is fun until it turns into wallpaper. That's where a lot of marketing landed in 2025-volume over voice, platforms over principles, and AI treated like a strategy instead of a tool.
We asked CMOs and brand leaders across categories what they consider overrated right now and what to do instead. Their answers point to a simple mandate for 2026: fewer, truer, and unmistakably on-brand.
1) Trend-chasing is a tax on brand equity
Greg Guidotti, CMO at Ferrara, didn't mince words: "Go viral" shouldn't be an objective. George Felix at Chili's echoed it-consumers can spot forced attempts instantly. Andy Rebhun at Cava warned against FOMO-driven marketing: "Not every meme, sound, or platform deserves a brand's attention."
Dara Treseder at Autodesk summed up the path forward: pick your moments, speak with a spine, and back statements with real proof.
Make this your filter (use all five):
- Fit: Does this align with our brand POV and values?
- Audience: Is there meaningful overlap with people who buy or will buy?
- Distinctive: Can this only be done by us (clear brand assets, tone, cues)?
- Outcome: What business metric does this move?
- Resourcing: Can we execute excellently without destabilizing our long-term plan?
Metric to watch: Distinctive-to-brand ratio (of total impressions, what % used your assets-logo, color, character, sonic, pack-together?). If it's low, you're feeding the category, not your brand.
2) Going too big: more content ≠ more relevance
Manu Orssaud at Duolingo: volume works only if the creative has a strong point of view. Josh Hackbarth at MGA warned that platform-chasing with the same content everywhere is dangerous. Zynga's Matt Sharpe called out the obsession with short-term metrics at the expense of the bigger brand story.
Operate like this:
- Channel roles: Define the job of each platform (reach, education, community, conversion). No "post everywhere" autopilot.
- Cadence: 1 Hero (brand-building), 3 Hub (ongoing series), 9 Help (service/utility) per cycle. Keep the signature visible.
- Brand signature: Every asset must feature at least 2 distinctive cues (character, sonic logo, typography, pack, tagline).
- Scoreboard: Track effective frequency, not just views. Optimize for branded recall, not raw reach.
3) Going too small: over-indexing on micro and single-channel bets
Sid Malhotra at Snap sees SMBs putting eggs in too few baskets. Larry Allen at Comcast FreeWheel called out micro-influencers: hard to scale, messy ROI.
Run a 70/20/10 plan:
- 70% Proven channels with strong ROAS and reach
- 20% Emerging formats with clear hypotheses and KPIs
- 10% Wildcards and quick experiments with strict kill rules
Influencer guardrails: Cost per lifted reach, brand fit score, content reuse rights, and halo on organic search. If it can't scale or be repurposed, pass.
4) AI isn't your strategy
Andrew Fried at Mint Mobile said it plainly: AI is a means to an end. Kristyn Cook at State Farm stressed that creativity is still the differentiator-if the work doesn't stop the scroll, the science won't save it. Mastercard's Raja Rajamannar warned against "tech theater," and Bichoi Bastha noted AI won't replace everything.
Use AI like this:
- Acceleration, not answers: Briefing, variants, QA, tagging, and personalization at scale.
- Creative first: Start with a tight concept and brand voice; use AI to explore, not decide.
- Data loop: Feed real performance back into prompts and templates weekly.
- Governance: Approvals, disclosure, model selection, and bias checks documented.
AI KPIs to track: Cycle time per asset, cost per concept, creative diversity score, and lift in branded recall. If quality drops, slow down.
If your team needs to level up on prompt skills and marketing workflows, explore this resource: AI certification for marketing specialists.
5) Traditional social listening is noisy (and easily gamed)
Chris Brandt at Chipotle flagged the rise of bots amplifying negative chatter. Treat social listening as a signal, not the source of truth.
Triangulate with:
- Sales trends and retail velocity
- Site analytics, in-app behavior, and search volume
- Loyalty engagement and CRM cohorts
- Customer-facing team feedback (weekly pulse)
Use social to spot issues and ideas. Validate impact with hard data before you re-route strategy.
6) From crisis management to opportunity design
Craig Brommers at American Eagle pushed for a stronger POV. The old "wait it out" playbook is losing steam. Either stand for something tied to your business and values, or sit it out entirely.
3-step stance:
- Own: Clearly state what you stand for and why it's tied to your products, people, or partners.
- Offer: Pair statements with real commitments, programs, or product actions.
- Operate: Keep showing up after the news cycle ends-consistency builds trust.
7) Legacy SEO won't carry you into AI search
Imri Marcus at Brandlight sees brands over-indexing on old SEO tactics. Strong SEO still matters, but AI-driven experiences are changing how people find and evaluate brands.
Refocus for 2026:
- Entity-first: consistent brand data, schema markup, and authoritative profiles across the web
- Depth over volume: expert content with evidence, examples, and clear POV
- Proof signals: real reviews, case studies, first-party research, and citations
- UX and speed: useful, fast, and human-readable pages (AI or not, people bounce from slow pages)
8) The CMO role is expanding into growth leadership
Mary Beech at Thorne sees the shift speeding up: marketing is a growth engine, not a support function. Expect tighter links between brand, product, data, and revenue.
If you lead marketing, act like a CGO:
- Co-own revenue with product, finance, and sales
- Run a unified growth roadmap across brand, lifecycle, and GTM
- Build a measurement layer that connects brand effects to demand and retention
- Organize around outcomes (acquisition, activation, retention, expansion), not channels
Do less. Do it better. Make it unmistakably yours.
The throughline from every leader here: clarity beats speed. Strategy beats FOMO. Creativity beats commodity.
Quick checklist for 2026:
- Kill "go viral" goals; set brand and business outcomes
- Adopt a trend filter; enter with intent or skip it
- Right-size channel mix; define distinct roles per platform
- Balance long-term brand with short-term demand (60/40 is a useful starting point-see industry research like the IPA's work on long vs. short)
- Treat AI as acceleration; protect the craft
- Triangulate social signals with sales, search, and loyalty data
- Evolve the team around growth, not silos
If you're building AI muscle inside the marketing team, here's a curated place to start: Latest AI courses for marketers.
For more on balancing long and short, this overview is worth a skim: The Long and the Short of It (IPA).
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