Report explores the dynamic landscape shaped by shifting trends, emerging technologies, and evolving consumer expectations
CHICAGO, IL, UNITED STATES, January 13, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — The American Marketing Association (AMA) released a new research report today, 2026 Future Trends in Marketing, that highlights five trends that will transform the marketing landscape over the next five to ten years. The AMA believes that marketers are not just responders to change, but active innovators shaping the future through their work. This new report was developed with input from over 30 professional marketers with diverse perspectives and highlights the key steps marketing teams can take to successfully navigate the coming changes.
AMA’s 2026 Future Trends in Marketing report provides a deep dive on these top five trends:
1. The Age of Autonomous Agents: AI agents are poised to revolutionize marketing by acting as intermediaries between consumers and brands, automating everything from shopping decisions to campaign execution.
2. Consumer Discovery Shifts to Scroll: Consumer discovery is shifting from traditional keyword-based search engines to scroll-native social platforms and AI chatbots. Brands need to create emotionally resonant, feed-optimized content and partner with creators while adapting to a landscape where social media and AI interfaces have become the primary discovery engines for consumers.
3. Portfolio Careers and the Liquid Workforce: The traditional full-time career model in marketing is being replaced by a “liquid workforce” of fractional leaders, freelancers, and portfolio careerists who combine multiple roles and income streams while companies increasingly rely on flexible talent and AI to stay agile in uncertain times.
4. Innovation Imperative in Sustainability: Forward-thinking marketers are maintaining sustainability investments and innovating through circular design, smart packaging, and green storytelling to differentiate their brands and meet growing consumer demand for environmental responsibility.
5. Building Brand Trust in a Fragmented World: In an era of AI-driven misinformation and fragmented identity-based communities, brands must earn trust through transparency, cultural fluency, and authentic participation in the rituals and values of digital communities rather than relying on traditional demographic targeting or broad messaging.
“With this new research, the AMA is equipping marketers not just to keep pace with change, but to lead it. The 2026 Future Trends in Marketing Report is designed to help our members and the broader marketing community make informed decisions that will drive growth, spark innovation, and unlock opportunities for the profession,” said Bennie F. Johnson, CEO of the AMA.
This report also features scenarios on the future of marketing. Below are snapshots of four possible marketing futures that could unfold in the next 5–10 years. They are not predictions, but provocations that explore how today’s trends might converge and evolve.
• Sofia in the Infinite Marketplace: In a world of abundant energy and AI-driven hyper-personalization, Sofia navigates life as both a consumer managed by an AI health coach that constantly markets to her and a fractional marketer who provides the “human filter” of authenticity that burned-out consumers crave.
• Malik in the Age of Enough: After catastrophic climate disasters forced global rationing and austerity measures, Malik works as a marketer helping communities adapt to resource constraints by crafting messages of solidarity and shared sacrifice rather than promoting consumption.
• Alex in the Free Attention Zone: Following a reckoning around the attention economy and its negative impacts on society, the world is divided between “protected” attention zones and unregulated Free Zones. Alex works as an underground cognitive broker helping people and brands navigate the fragmented landscape of attention regulation.
• Riley and Marketing Reimagined: As AI agents take over all transactional marketing functions, Riley reinvents themselves as a “Creative Resonance Designer” who creates imaginative, emotionally resonant experiences that algorithms cannot replicate in a world where human meaning-making is the only remaining differentiator.
Want to learn more? Visit AMA.org to view the research summary or download the full AMA Future Trends Report.
Methodology: 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.
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About the American Marketing Association (AMA)
As the leading global professional marketing association, the AMA is the essential community for marketers. From students and practitioners to executives and academics, we aim to elevate the profession, deepen knowledge, and make a lasting impact. The AMA is home to five premier scholarly journals including: Journal of Marketing (https://www.ama.org/journal-of-marketing/), Journal of Marketing Research (https://www.ama.org/journal-of-marketing-research/), Journal of Public Policy and Marketing (https://www.ama.org/journal-of-public-policy-marketing/), Journal of International Marketing (https://www.ama.org/journal-of-international-marketing/), and Journal of Interactive Marketing (https://www.ama.org/journal-of-interactive-marketing/). Our industry-leading training events and conferences define future forward practices, while our professional development and PCM® professional certification (https://www.ama.org/certifications/) advance knowledge. With almost 70 chapters and a presence on 350 college campuses across North America, the AMA fosters a vibrant community of marketers.
The association’s philanthropic arm, the AMA’s Foundation, is inspiring a more diverse industry and ensuring marketing research impacts public good. The AMA Foundation strengthens and elevates the marketing profession by advancing knowledge, building a global community of marketing leaders, and supporting marketing initiatives that drive innovation and societal impact.
AMA views marketing as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. You can learn more about AMA’s learning programs and certifications, conferences and events, and scholarly journals at www.ama.org.
Download AMA’s Future Trends in Marketing Report (https://www.ama.org/marketing-news/2026-trends-report/)
Amy Gwiazdowski
American Marketing Association (AMA)
agwiazdowski@ama.org
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