Remember when a new broadcast TV spot would air, and audiences would start to see where a brand was headed? A jingle here, a drive-time radio spot or print ad there, and a campaign was born. Let’s not forget the lucky few who had budgets for a billboard in Times Square. We all know that the way audiences connect with brands has changed, but are we clear on just how often consumption habits are shifting? The crystal ball in Times Square is getting polished to ring in a new year, and for marketers, that means it’s time to move our storytelling forward as well.

HOW TO TELL AUTHENTIC STORIES

If there’s one thing we all know at this point, it’s that audiences no longer connect with a brand alone. They want to hear from the employees, the CEO, the customers who unbox, video chat and even throw shade every once in a while (the brand response can be everything). In short, a brand narrative in 2026 begs for the human touch. Brand authenticity also calls for:

• Taglines that solve a real customer problem, a corporate belief that you live up to, anything that doesn’t sound like a billboard headline from yesteryear.
• Participation that goes beyond paying attention. Brainstorm ways to ask your audience to help shape how your brand story evolves in 2026.
• Share progress, don’t showcase perfection. Everyone knows that it’s the journey, not the destination, that is interesting, right?

INVITE TECH TO THE STORYTELLING TABLE

While tech can indeed tell a story, that’s not what we’re talking about. Once brand stories are created, the tech can expand its capabilities. AI, for example, can bring customization. When individual behaviors or preferences change, so goes the story content. With immersive experiences like AR or VR, the audience doesn’t merely observe. It can enter the story, impact the outcome and even have a hand in developing the content itself. Once the storytelling content is developed, it’s AI that offers fast testing for real-time refinement. From there, creators can see what attracts engagement, where the audience drops off and define the most impactful narrative.

Humanity is still the common denominator, but brands that build upon their existing narrative in 2026—or launch a new one—had better be immersive about it.

MULTI-PLATFORM IS THE STAGE IN 2026

Let’s harken back to Times Square for a minute. We all eventually saw Calvin Klein skivvies through other mediums, but if you were in NYC in the early ‘80s, you saw the advent of the designer underwear category up close and personal. Back then, when executed in a big way, a single platform did the trick. Today, it takes the kind of storytelling that can move fluidly from social media to video podcasts and let’s not forget the present-day holy grail: mobile-first content.

We experience the world in a non-linear way. For marketing stories to not only connect but remain with us, they need to unfold along the way.

EVOLVE, THEN MEASURE

Storytelling has an easygoing ring to it, right? Sure, but ROI is a not-so-distant cousin. In 2026, brands will need to track metrics like engagement, conversion, commentary and sharing, and leave mere click rates to the amateurs. The impact of our brand work is to be measured over time, perception shifts and the kind of audience behavior that proves to be sustained.

We want people to change as it relates to what we’ve helped them see, feel, experience and remember.

THAT’S WHAT ADCOM IS HERE FOR

The future of brand storytelling starts now. Adcom isn’t here to help you be louder in a noisy world; we are primed to work with you to unearth your authentic offering. Then, we’ll help you reveal it in meaningful ways.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

As it happens, Julie Robinson was indeed in NYC in the 1980s. The billboards in Times Square were a big motivator for her early advertising aspirations. All these years later, she’s a Creative Director at Adcom who is still inspired by brands that show up in new ways.