Brands touting values-led marketing now face growing consumer cynicism, as shoppers increasingly call out efforts that feel performative rather than genuine.
Colleen Ryan, partner at The Research Agency (TRA), said people used to trust what brands told them but are now more likely to believe artificial intelligence (AI).
She likened AI platforms to the white coats, often seen in toothpaste ads as a symbol of trustworthiness.
“Because of the interface you get with these tools, it’s like you’re talking to a human being, but this ‘human’ is way more informed,” she told Mediaweek.
“It speaks with authority, and as human beings, we’re very susceptible to authority bias. It sounds authoritative because it’s gone away and done the research, so we incline to believe it.”
Consumers value control and spontaneity over perfect outcomes
A TRA study on the future use of AI by companies found that people value feeling in control.
Ryan said most people would “accept a worse outcome” as long as they kept the freedom to choose, adding that “serendipity is fun.”
“The danger people see in a world where organisations direct their lives is that they miss out on discovering things,” she said.
“We’re designing to get rid of friction and the unexpected. Teams are creating products and services that take it all out, and people end up thinking, ‘This is a dull life.’
“It’s going to be an interesting journey for brands as they invest in AI, which can deliver really good, predictable outcomes for people, but they won’t necessarily be thankful for it.”
Ryan warned that some brands are taking personalisation too far.
“Brands know so much about you that they can personalise messages and even the tone of voice they use,” she explained.
“If you hated green and their logo was green, they could present everything to you with a blue logo. We thought people would like that, but what they were really saying was that brands are part of culture.
“If you make a brand really personalised, it no longer has shared meaning. It only has individual meaning.”
What this means for marketers
Ryan urged Australian and Kiwi marketers to be transparent in 2026.
“Nobody wants to be completely honest and open. Remember when restaurants started to have open kitchens? A lot of them said, ‘We can’t do that,’” she said.
“That level of transparency is very scary, but it’s a brave organisation that does it, and in the future it will actually build trust.”
On the other hand, Ryan said organisations should stop designing the joy out of life.
“They should stop creating everything to be frictionless, seamless and predictable, and instead introduce spontaneity and discovery,” she said.
“It doesn’t always turn out well. We’ve all done something spontaneously and thought, ‘Yeah, not a great idea,’ but you probably still got a buzz out of it, even if it didn’t quite work out the way you hoped.”