It's officially Q4, which means that while most of us are still trying to figure out where 2026 went, we're also supposed to be planning for 2027.
Marketing has changed a lot this year. AI is becoming part of everyday workflows, social platforms are evolving faster than brands can keep up with, and audiences are becoming increasingly selective about what deserves their attention.
I've been thinking about what all of this means for the next year; not just about what platforms or technologies will be popular, but how brands will need to change the way they connect with people.
Here are five predictions I'm willing to put in writing... We'll see how well they age.
1. Brands Will Start Taking Their Communities Offline
We've spent years building communities online. Now, people are craving something a little more tangible.
There's been a lot of conversation around third spaces, places outside of home and work where people can gather, socialize, and feel like they belong. Think Central Perk in Friends, or the bar you begrudgingly drag yourself to after a long workday in the dead of winter, only to realize you actually needed that drink with your coworkers. Just me? Anyway... as more of our lives happen behind screens, these physical spaces are becoming increasingly appealing.
And brands are paying attention.
Take Café Rhode, which transformed a Paris café into a branded experience. Or Audible Story House, which brought books and storytelling into a physical space through listening stations, live events, and community activities. Pinterest's Manifestival encouraged people to put their phones down and interact with the trends they'd normally just save to a board.
My prediction? More brands will invest in experiential marketing, pop-ups, community events, and spaces that give people a reason to show up.
And ironically, some of the best organic social content will come from these offline experiences. Would ya look at that.
2. AI Will Become So Normal That We'll Stop Talking About It
As AI becomes more common, I think we'll reach a point where brands won't feel the need to announce every time they've used it. It'll simply become another tool in the creative process, much like the technologies we've adopted before.
Of course, there's a difference between using AI responsibly to support creative work and using it to replace the people and ideas that make that work meaningful. And I think audiences will continue to care about that distinction.
My prediction? The conversation will shift from whether AI was used to how it was used, and whether the end result is actually any good.
3. Production Studios Are Becoming the New Creative Agencies
This one might be a little biased, considering where I work. But hear me out.
For years, brands have relied on agencies to develop campaigns and production companies to execute them. And while that model isn't disappearing, I think we're going to see more brands looking for partners who can do both.
The line between creative agencies, entertainment companies, and production studios is getting pretty blurry. Why? Because audiences don't want to be advertised to. They want to be entertained, understood, and occasionally surprised.
I think we'll see more brands experimenting with original series, short films, documentary-style storytelling, and content that feels less like an advertisement and more like something you'd choose to watch.
Look at the work involving Ken Eurich and Columbia Sportswear. It's an example of the kind of creator-driven, entertainment-first branded storytelling I'm talking about.
But producing this kind of work takes more than a social media manager and a phone. It takes creative strategy, writing, directing, production, editing, and a team that understands how to turn one big idea into content that can live across multiple platforms.
That's where production studios have an interesting opportunity.
At TRG, we've spent years building the teams and infrastructure to execute complex productions. This year, we've also expanded our creative strategy capabilities, bringing more of the ideation process under the same roof as the people who actually make the work.
I think that combination is going to become increasingly valuable.
4. Social Media Will Become Entertainment Media
Remember when social media was primarily about keeping up with your friends? Those were the days. Also, remember when you could get to the end of your Instagram feed? Remember TURNING YOUR PHONE OFF? I could cry.
Now, you can spend an hour scrolling without seeing a single person you actually know.
Social platforms have increasingly become places for entertainment, discovery, education, and following people we've never met. We're developing relationships with creators, personalities, and brands that feel familiar, even when those relationships are entirely one-sided.
I don't think that's going away. In fact, I think brands will have to get even better at creating content that people actively want to consume, rather than simply showing up in their feeds.
But here's the other part of my prediction: I think we're going to see a renewed appetite for actual social interaction. We're already seeing brands experiment with this through comment sections, where a clever response on an unrelated TikTok can sometimes feel more culturally relevant than an entire planned campaign.
The brands doing this well aren't necessarily talking at their audiences. They're participating in the same conversations.
Could that mean a comeback for more conversational platforms like Threads or X? Maybe. Or maybe something entirely new will emerge.
Either way, I think the distinction between entertaining an audience and actually interacting with a community is going to become increasingly important.
5. The Traditional Campaign Rollout Is Losing Its Grip
This might be the prediction I'm most confident about, partly because it's something I've already started reconsidering in my own work.
For years, campaign planning has followed a relatively predictable structure: tease something, launch it, then keep the momentum going with supporting content.
The problem is that algorithms don't care about your carefully planned timeline.
Someone might see your fifth campaign post before your first. They might discover a behind-the-scenes clip weeks after your launch. Or they might encounter a single piece of content without knowing anything about the larger campaign.
I recently read an excellent article, Your Campaign Needs More On-Ramps, by strategist Matthew Stasoff in Rachel Karten's Link in Bio newsletter (truly THE BEST newsletter), that explores this exact problem.
Stasoff makes the case for creating multiple entry points into a campaign, so audiences can discover and engage with it regardless of when they encounter it.
That idea has stuck with me.
From a production perspective, I think this changes how we should be planning shoots.
Instead of creating one hero video and cutting it down into a few shorter versions, brands should be thinking about an entire ecosystem of assets from the beginning. That could mean standalone short-form videos, alternate storylines, behind-the-scenes content, creator collaborations, photography, and smaller moments that make sense without the context of the full campaign.
The goal isn't necessarily to produce more content for the sake of it, but to make sure every piece has a reason to exist, and that each one gives someone a way into the bigger story.
In 2027, I think the most successful campaigns will be designed for discovery, not just distribution.
What's the Bigger Picture?
Looking at these predictions together, I keep coming back to the same idea.
People want more from brands than products. They want experiences, entertainment, and a sense of connection.
That doesn't mean every brand needs a pop-up café, a short film, or a witty TikTok personality. But it does mean marketers should be asking bigger questions about what their audiences actually want to spend time with. And from a production standpoint, it means thinking beyond individual deliverables and considering how creative ideas can work across formats, platforms, and experiences.
If there's one thing I'm betting on for 2027, it's that the brands willing to think beyond the traditional campaign will have the most interesting opportunities.
Ask me again this time next year how accurate I was.
