By Kate Frost, head of optimisation at Intermedia Global (IMG)
Smarter thinking around AI
From our conversations with businesses, our main hope for next year is that marketers will stop simply assuming that any AI anywhere in their business will generate growth and make things easier. It doesn’t work like that.
Ideally, people will become savvy to the view that AI is only useful when used in the optimal way and at the right point in their process.
If it’s used where it will add the most value, it will be a game changer. However, the assumption that ‘more technology will fix everything’ is as likely to cause pain as reduce it.
If AI just ends up adding to the already ‘Frankensteined’ martech world, with tech stacks composed of bolted-together legacy systems and tools, it will certainly make things far more difficult.
Fundamentally, 2026 should be the year marketers move from experimenting with AI to structuring for it. The smartest teams will stop chasing the next shiny tool and start building the foundations that make AI and automation actually deliver.
Getting it right means CMOs need to invest in taking the time and upfront investment to identify the optimal approach, define a rollout plan, and develop an appropriate change strategy
Clear workflows, connected data and consistent content processes will define success. The winners will not be those with the most technology, but those who know how to make it work together.
The AI bubble bursts?
However, 2026 also looks set to be the year that the AI bubble bursts. Given the amount of AI hype and the sheer number of new Gen AI platforms on the market, we should be realistic that not all of them will prove useful – and they can’t all survive.
Certain tools will likely go bust, or be acquired by others, meaning your terms of license and service may be changed with a new owner. That requires more due diligence, as a new owner might not be able to operate in a part of the world that doesn’t have the same rules on data/AI usage, such as EU vs. US.
This could all mean increased cost and complexity for the martech stack, plus the potential ‘rug pull’ risk of a service you relied on not being there anymore.
Data and efficiency
Finally, there will be two big challenges next year when it comes to marketing data: first, businesses will have to get their data into a usable state so it actually drives insight and marketing activity.
Second, many will start realizing they’ve stripped back so much in the name of simplicity that they’ve lost their growth edge. The focus now should be on cleaning, automating the basics, and then using that foundation to build growth back in.
As a result, the opportunity now for businesses is integration: getting every individual part of the marketing journey to talk to each other. The best teams will strip back to fewer platforms that really work in sync, rather than relying on a profusion of technology tools that don’t communicate well with each other and are underpinned by suboptimal data flow.
2026 promises to be a year of great technology upheaval, so it’s never been more important to get the martech stack in order. It won’t necessarily be easy, but introducing AI and good data flow into a streamlined set of processes offers the promise of massive ROI. Get it right next year and the AI hype will prove correct over the longer term.
Experienced Marketing Operations Consultant with expert knowledge across Project Management, Creative Studio Management and Process Improvement from within both creative agencies as well as the financial service industry. Strong communicator with a love of all things creative. Skilled in Project Management & Transformation, Process Improvement, Lean Six Sigma Certified, Adobe Workfront Core Developer Certified, People Management and Team Development.
