• by Maarten Albarda , Featured Contributor, March 13, 2026

I set myself a challenge this week: to NOT mention, write about AI or even contemplate anything to do with the impact of AI on marketing.

Let’s face it, you are probably sick and tired of hearing about it. And despite its omnipresence, you don’t have the answers or use cases that demonstrate it is making a difference for the marketing of your business or service anyway. Let’s just not, shall we?

But I’m a worrier and an overthinker. So, if we are just going to ignore the 6 billion token AI elephant in the room, what else can we worry about? Here ‘s my little list:

How about your overall tech stack (is it cheating to talk about that)? Most marketing organizations have become software hoarders. We create a tool to answer a question, then another tool to make the first tool work, and suddenly, the marketing team is spending 60% of their day managing dashboards instead of understanding customers.

How about the “attribution trap”? I have written about this before: we’ve become obsessed with measuring the measurable, often at the expense of the meaningful. We track clicks and/or “gross impressions” because they’re easy to put in a slide deck, but we have lost sight of brand-building metrics. Let’s face it: You can’t optimize your way out of a product that consumers don't care about.

Which brings me to retail media. How come every retailer or loyalty program suddenly decided that they're an ad platform, or at minimum a seller of advertising target audiences? We’re seeing brands pour 30% or more of their budgets into closed-loop networks because they promise a direct line to sales.

Often, the decision to buy is often nothing more than hoping that paying a "shelf tax" will make your product or service (more) visible in a digital aisle. Are you trading your brand’s soul for a better spot in a search result on a grocer’s app? Is that growing your brand, or just funding the retailer's bottom line?

And I can’t close this overview without mentioning trust. In a world full of AI slop, there appears to be a nascent pivot back to zero-party data. Instead of stalking consumers across the web with creepy cookies (which are finally, mercifully, dying), the smartest brands are building preference centers and interactive communities. They’re treating data like a conversation, not a heist.

Couple this with a sensory counter-revolution. In a world that’s become increasingly synthetic and screen-obsessed, there is at the same time a swing towards tactile branding.  In 2026, brands winning over consumers aren't the ones with the slickest app; they’re the ones making consumers “feel” something.

We’re seeing a surge in sensory branding. Think custom sonic logos that aren't just jingles but emotional triggers, or the way certain products are packaged, using weight and texture to create attention in a way cheap packaging never could.

Some marketers are moving budgets out of banner ads and into micro-experiences: intimate, highly curated physical activations where the scent of the room and the feel of the product in hand do more for brand equity than a million gross impressions ever would.

Since I’ve managed to get through this entire piece without mentioning the AI word (mostly), I’ll close by reminding you that you can't dashboard your way into a consumer's heart.