This article originally appeared in Fast Company.
A scarcity of taste
AI will continue to pollute the world of marketing and communications, contributing noise, clutter, confusion, and complexity through artificial imagery, videos, messaging, and brand elements—something the world isn’t asking for and surely doesn’t need more of. If you look at the Jaguar, American Eagle, and Cracker Barrel of it all, these brands made noise, and some were immediately rewarded for it.
But they could have seen better outcomes if they committed to answering some essential, tough questions beforehand.
We will see more cases like this next year as budgets continue to tighten, and as the competition for attention intensifies. At the same time, we’ll see the opposite from truly great brands making investments in what not to do and where not to show up.
As asset creation becomes cheaper, marketing budgets will reallocate to high-quality foundational brand building (clarity, consistency, voice). Since audiences can now smell the faintest BS more easily, smart marketers will ask, What do we actually stand for, and how do we say it clearly? This will give rise to the intermediary expert in 2026.
The winning brands will almost appear to play it safe, when in fact they’re just intentional, consistent, focused. Deliberately narrow in their ambition and crystal clear in their positioning. They won’t sound like they were written by the algorithm—they’ll sound like someone who knows exactly what they believe, who they’re talking to, and why it matters.
If that sounds simple, it’s because it is. But committing to simplicity, clarity, and authenticity so that your customers “get” you requires the opposite of what AI offers. It requires taste.
—Jason Cieslak is Global President of global brand consultancy Siegel+Gale.
