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Marketing Teams Got Smaller In 2025 Even As Hiring Expanded, New Study Shows

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By Allwork.Space News Team

A new analysis of job postings shows marketing listings dropped 8.2% in 2025 — even as the number of hiring employers rose more than 5%.

After a strong start early in the year, the U.S. in-house marketing job market cooled over the course of 2025. Hiring did not disappear, but it became more selective: more employers posted roles, while overall job volume declined, signalling a move toward smaller, more senior-leaning marketing teams.

The findings are based on an analysis of more than 240,000 active in-house marketing job listings posted between January and December 2025, conducted by Taligence in collaboration with Aspen Technology Labs. The data covers full-time, in-house marketing roles only.

More Companies Hiring, Fewer Roles Per Team

Total active marketing job listings reached 241,749 in 2025, down 8.2% from the prior year. New postings fell even further, declining 10.2% year over year.

At the same time, the number of employers posting marketing jobs rose to nearly 39,000, an increase of more than 5%.

This divergence points to a clear pattern: companies continued to hire marketing talent, but did so with fewer openings per organization. Hiring momentum peaked in the first quarter, dropped sharply in Q2, stabilized in Q3, and softened again toward year-end, in part due to seasonal pauses around the holidays.

By late December, active marketing job listings stood just under 32,000, slightly higher than the same time in 2024 but down from the end of the third quarter.

Senior Roles Prove More Durable

While overall job volume declined, senior-level marketing roles showed greater resilience. Director-level and above postings increased modestly year over year, reaching nearly 30,000 roles in 2025. The number of employers seeking senior marketing talent also grew, even as the creation of entirely new senior roles remained relatively flat.

In the fourth quarter, senior postings rose compared with Q3, and year-end active senior roles were more than 12% higher than a year earlier.

Demand for experienced leaders fluctuated less than the broader market, reinforcing a transition toward “player-coach” profiles capable of leading leaner teams.

Entry-Level Hiring Remains Under Pressure

Job openings for entry-level through manager roles peaked early in the year and steadily declined thereafter. These roles struggled to recover following a sharp contraction in Q2 and ended 2025 well below their January baseline.

By contrast, higher-level titles such as Group Director, Senior Director, and Vice President recorded year-over-year growth and regained momentum in the second half of the year. The widening gap suggests employers prioritized decision-making and execution over junior headcount.

Hiring Timelines Lengthen, but Stabilize

By year-end, the average marketing job posting remained open for 39 days. That was longer than in 2024, indicating more deliberate hiring processes, but slightly shorter than at the end of the third quarter. The data suggests hiring slowed compared with last year, without further deterioration late in 2025.

Pay Transparency Improves as Salaries Rise

More than half of marketing job listings disclosed salary ranges in 2025, continuing a steady improvement in transparency. The median advertised salary reached $88,400 by late December, representing a 7.1% increase year over year.

Compensation gains were strongest in specialized and revenue-aligned disciplines. Product Marketing posted the highest median pay, while Field Marketing, Growth Marketing, and Brand Marketing saw the largest year-over-year salary increases.

Demand Shifts Toward Growth and Product Functions

Growth-oriented roles led hiring gains, with Growth Marketing, Partner and Channel Marketing, Field Marketing, and Product Marketing all posting double-digit growth. Brand and Content Marketing also expanded, though at a slower pace.

In contrast, Communications and PR, Analytical Marketing, and generalist marketing roles declined year over year, underscoring a move away from broad marketing functions toward roles tied more directly to revenue and customer acquisition.

Remote Hiring Holds Steady

Remote roles accounted for roughly 14.5% of all marketing job listings at year-end, a modest increase from the prior year. The data suggests remote work has stabilized as a structural feature of marketing hiring rather than an expanding trend.

Geography: New York Gains, Seattle Slips

California, New York, and Texas continued to lead the country in overall marketing job volume, followed by Florida, Illinois, and Georgia. New York posted the strongest year-over-year growth among large states and also saw notable salary increases.

At the city level, New York City and San Francisco recorded sharp job growth, alongside Austin, Atlanta, and Miami. Seattle dropped out of the top ten markets after a significant contraction, highlighting uneven recovery across major metros.

What the Data Signals Going Into 2026

By the end of 2025, the marketing job market was still active, but more restrained. Employers hired with intent rather than scale, favouring experienced talent and specialized skill sets while keeping teams lean.

Senior roles, growth-focused disciplines, and higher pay transparency defined the year, while entry-level hiring lagged behind. As 2026 begins, marketing hiring appears less about rebuilding headcount and more about maximizing impact within tighter organizational structures.

By Allwork.Space News Team

The Allwork.Space News Team is a collective of experienced journalists, editors, and industry analysts dedicated to covering the ever-evolving world of work. We’re committed to delivering trusted, independent reporting on the topics that matter most to professionals navigating today’s changing workplace — including remote work, flexible offices, coworking, workplace wellness, sustainability, commercial real estate, technology, and more.

Sourced from Future of Work

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Instagram and X have an impossible deepfake detection deadline

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By Jess Weatherbed

Platforms have until February 20th to start labelling all AI-generated or manipulated content.

The best methods we currently have for detecting and labelling deepfakes online are about to get a stress test. India announced mandates on Tuesday that require social media platforms to remove illegal AI-generated materials much faster, and ensure that all synthetic content is clearly labelled. Tech companies have said for years that they wanted to achieve this on their own, and now they have mere days before they’re legally obligated to implement it. The rules take effect on February 20th.

India has 1 billion internet users who skew young, making it one of the most critical growth markets for social platforms. So, any obligations there could impact deepfake moderation efforts across the world — either by advancing detection to the point where it actually works, or forcing tech companies to acknowledge that new solutions are needed.

Under India’s amended Information Technology Rules, digital platforms will be required to deploy “reasonable and appropriate technical measures” to prevent their users from making or sharing illegal synthetically-generated audio and visual content, aka, deepfakes. Any such generative AI content that isn’t blocked must be embedded with “permanent metadata or other appropriate technical provenance mechanisms.” Specific obligations are also called out for social media platforms, such as requiring users to disclose AI-generated or edited materials, deploying tools that verify those disclosures, and prominently labelling AI content in a way that allows people to immediately identify that it’s synthetic, such as adding verbal disclosures to AI audio.

That’s easier said than done, given how woefully underdeveloped AI detection and labelling systems currently are. C2PA (also known as content credentials) is one of the best systems we currently have for both, and works by attaching detailed metadata to images, videos, and audio at the point of creation or editing, to invisibly describe how it was made or altered.

But here’s the thing: Meta, Google, Microsoft, and many other tech giants are already using C2PA, and it clearly isn’t working. Some platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn add labels to content flagged by the C2PA system, but those labels are difficult to spot, and some synthetic content that should carry that metadata is slipping through the cracks. Social media platforms can’t label anything that doesn’t include provenance metadata to begin with, such as materials produced by open-source AI models or so-called “nudify apps” that refuse to embrace the voluntary C2PA standard.

India has over 500 million social media users, according to DataReportal research shared by Reuters. When broken down, that’s 500 million YouTube users, 481 million Instagram users, 403 million Facebook users, and 213 million Snapchat users. It’s also estimated to be X’s third-largest market.

Interoperability is one of the C2PA’s biggest issues, and while India’s new rules may encourage adoption, C2PA metadata is far from permanent. It’s so easy to remove that some online platforms can unintentionally strip it during file uploads. The new rules order platforms not to allow metadata or labels to be modified, hidden, or removed, but there isn’t much time to figure out how to comply. Social media platforms like X that haven’t implemented any AI labelling systems at all now have just nine days to do so.

Meta, Google, and X did not respond to our request for comment. Adobe, the driving force behind the C2PA standard, also did not respond.

Adding to the pressure in India is a mandate that social media companies remove unlawful materials within three hours of it being discovered or reported, replacing the existing 36-hour deadline. That also applies to deepfakes and other harmful AI content.

The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) warns that these imposed changes risk forcing platforms into becoming “rapid fire censors.” “These impossibly short timelines eliminate any meaningful human review, forcing platforms toward automated over-removal,” the IFF said in a statement.

Given the amendments specify provenance mechanisms that should be implemented to the “extent technically feasible,” the officials behind India’s order are probably aware that our current AI detection and labelling tech isn’t ready yet. The organizations backing C2PA have long sworn that the system will work if enough people are using it, so this is the chance to prove it.

Feature image credit:  Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

By Jess Weatherbed

 is a news writer focused on creative industries, computing, and internet culture. Jess started her career at TechRadar, covering news and hardware reviews.

Sourced from The Verge

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Out-of-home advertising: The unsung hero of brand-building?

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By Dan Bayford

Dan Bayford of Posterscope (part of Dentsu) argues that out-of-home ads are still undervalued in the brand builder’s toolkit.

Is out-of-home advertising a secret weapon for brand-building?

Historically during times of economic uncertainty (and despite all the overwhelming evidence that it’s a bad idea, like from Binet & Field), short-termism remains prevalent among many advertisers.

But the most recent IPA Bellwether Report makes for refreshing reading. It reveals that investment in main media advertising (the core traditional media channels, and especially events) was on the increase, suggesting that advertisers are shifting their focus to more long-term, brand-building strategies to protect and grow market share and maintain customer loyalty.

And while digital media still accounts for a sizeable proportion of ad spend, there’s evidence that while advertisers see the value in it, it is not a medium favored by consumers. Kantar’s 2023 Media Reactions report suggested that many forms of digital advertising are in fact actively ignored when compared to channels such as out-of-home (OOH) and live experiences.

So, for those advertisers refocusing on brand building, it’s time to take a fresh look at OOH. It offers a plethora of ways to enable advertisers to grab attention, increase brand recognition, and drive engagement with target audiences. There are multiple benefits to using OOH advertising for brand building. Here are six ways to make the most of this traditional yet ever-innovating medium.

1. Broad reach and local impact

OOH advertising offers a unique combination of broad reach with local impact, reaching 98% of the UK population every week, according to Route. Impossible to ignore, it can provide a 24/7 presence across the nation, reaching commuters, pedestrians, motorists, shoppers, and leisure seekers.

OOH advertising allows for geographically targeted campaigns, offering strategic ad placements in key locations where a specific demographic is known to be more prevalent. This combination of wide-reaching visibility with local relevance builds connections at both national and local levels.

2. Visual impact

OOH has a unique visual impact: a creative canvas designed to grab attention. In a world filled with digital noise and distractions, OOH ads can’t be skipped, scrolled past, or ad-blocked. They command immediate visual attention and engage viewers on a visceral level.

A well-designed ad can convey your brand’s essence and deliver your message in a split second, while digital OOH campaigns that use contextually relevant messaging can achieve a 17% more effective response.

3. Consistent brand presence

Building a brand involves fostering recognition and trust over time. OOH advertising contributes to this process by providing consistent brand visibility. When people encounter a brand repeatedly in various OOH locations, it reinforces their perception. This consistency helps to establish trust and reliability in the minds of consumers.

OOH (and digital OOH) are among consumers’ and marketers’ top five most preferred media channels in Kantar’s Media Reactions report, reinforcing its status as a liked and trusted medium.

Consistency extends beyond just the visuals of the ad; it also involves delivering a consistent message and tone. Consistency builds brand recognition and makes brand more memorable in the long run.

4. Driving online brand engagement

Contra the notion that OOH and digital marketing are mutually exclusive, they complement each other very effectively. Businesses can incorporate QR codes, hashtags, and URLs into OOH ads to drive online engagement; this seamless integration enables potential customers to transition swiftly from seeing an out-of-home ad to visiting a website or online shop to make a purchase.

OOH ads can also be a powerful catalyst for online discussions and user-generated content. Encouraging the sharing of out-of-home ads on social media platforms can initiate a conversation online. This cross-channel synergy helps amplify brand messaging, increases its reach, and drives deeper brand engagement.

Research by the OAAA and Harris Poll revealed that social media is a potent amplification tool for OOH campaigns, with 91% of gen Z and 82% of millennials expressing willingness to reshare OOH ads on social media.

5. Creativity and innovation

In OOH, creativity knows no bounds. Brands can experiment with unconventional ad formats and locations to create memorable experiences. From interactive bus stop panels and full location dominations to full-motion digital panels and anamorphic 3D billboards, OOH advertising allows brands to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation.

Meanwhile, innovative OOH campaigns increasingly go viral, generating significant buzz and media coverage. These campaigns build brand awareness and demonstrate a brand’s commitment to creativity and originality.

6. Measurable effectiveness

Like all media, out-of-home measurement grows in sophistication all the time. Brands can utilize a variety of tools to track the effectiveness of their OOH campaigns. You can employ geolocation data to understand foot traffic around OOH sites, conduct surveys to gauge brand recall among target audiences, and perform real-time data collection and analysis. This enables adaptation and optimization of campaigns on the fly.

It’s time to recognize the enduring power of OOH advertising for brand building. Its broad reach, visual impact, consistency, and ability to enhance digital marketing efforts make it an incredibly valuable tool. It is accessible and proven to be effective for a wide range of business, from start-ups and scale-ups to established high-street retailers and global brands. By harnessing creativity, data-driven insights, and the unique strengths of OOH advertising, businesses can effectively drive brand awareness, recognition, and connection with their audiences in ways that are increasingly important in challenging market conditions.

By Dan Bayford

Sourced from The Drum

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Meeting the 2026 shopper: building value in a shifting market

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By TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods

The rules for consumer packaged goods have changed. For the past 13 years, TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods has tracked the food and beverage industry to see how it’s evolving. In 2026, we expanded our study beyond the US to include the UK and Australia. We surveyed over 3,000 shoppers to understand exactly how their habits are shifting on a global scale.

As brands look ahead, three main challenges are defining the market: tighter household budgets, a lack of interest in constant price wars and fading brand loyalty. To succeed in 2026, companies need to move away from old tactics and focus on three specific areas: price optimization, flavour innovation and brand differentiation.

Maximizing margins through price optimization

Even as inflation levels out, consumers remain cautious. Our 2026 findings confirm that price is the top factor influencing purchase decisions across all three global markets. In the US, 71% of shoppers say they are willing to switch brands for a better price.

This price-driven behaviour has fuelled the rapid rise of store brands. When shoppers are focused on the bottom line, national brands must find ways to prove their value without relying solely on deep discounts. Success in 2026 will come down to using regional scenario planning to optimize promotions, ensuring that your brand reaches deal-seekers effectively while protecting your margins.

Driving growth with flavour innovation

Constant price-cutting is a race to the bottom that can damage brand equity. Flavor innovation has emerged as a powerful way to break out of this cycle. Our research shows that 59% of consumers will switch brands to experience a unique or exciting new taste.

Focusing on flavour allows brands to justify full-price purchases even when budgets are tight. For instance, Heinz in Australia successfully bypassed price competition by launching ”UnBEANlievable″ regional flavours like Taco and Peri Peri.

Earning the shopper’s choice with brand differentiation

With 55% of global shoppers making their final choice while standing in the aisle, the physical shelf remains the most critical point of influence. The brands that will win in 2026 are those that differentiate themselves through clear, functional benefits—such as clean ingredients, sustainability, or health perks.

In the UK, brands like Clipper Teas have used sustainable packaging to stand out in a crowded market. Making your brand’s unique “hook” immediately visible at the shelf is essential to capturing the attention of a distracted shopper.

Winning locally: tailoring your strategy for global growth

While global trends exist, every market requires a localized lens to be successful. American shoppers are the most brand-loyal group we studied, yet their loyalty is constantly being tested by a digital-first search for value. Because 52% of US consumers now make their final purchase decisions at the shelf, brands must win the moment of choice both digitally and in-aisle.

Meanwhile, shoppers in the UK and Australia show a higher sensitivity to specific ingredient claims and sustainability. These distinctions prove that success in 2026 requires more than a one-size-fits-all approach. Success requires tailoring sales and loyalty strategies to connect with your target shopper.

Turning insights into action

In a dynamic landscape, data-driven decisions are the only way to move forward with confidence. TELUS Agriculture and Consumer Goods provides the digital solutions needed to navigate evolving consumer behaviour, from using trade promotion management to model promotion scenarios to monitoring shelf compliance in real-time with retail execution.

By focusing on the core pillars of price, flavour, and differentiation, you can move from simply reacting to the market to leading it.

Feature image credit: Getty Images

By TELUS Agriculture & Consumer Goods

Sourced from FOODDIVE

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FROM CAMPUS TO CEO: HOW TO BUILD A BRAND BEFORE GRADUATION

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By Najah Black

Have you ever wanted to start your own business, but you don’t know where to start? Trust me, I’ve been there; it all starts with building your brand. As a business owner of five years who built my brand while in college, I know just how hard it is to build your own brand. I am a makeup artist, and my brand is “Najah Slayed That.”

I began building my brand in January 2020. Little did I know that in just a few months, the COVID pandemic would begin, and life as I knew it would change immensely. Although the pandemic started and everyone had to live their lives inside their homes, I didn’t let that stop me. I chose to pivot. I continued practicing my makeup looks on myself, creating my logo, and the digital media for Najah Slayed That’s Instagram. As the year progressed, and face-to-face contact became more controlled and regulated, I welcomed family and close friends to practice more makeup looks on. This allowed me to gain more content to use for digital branding and invite potential clientele. By 2021, I had established myself in my business and prepared a plan for promoting Najah Slayed That as I entered the college fall semester. So, it’s important to note that when faced with an obstacle, you know how to pivot because your reward is always on the other side.

The first thing you must do to build your own brand is to discover your niche. Ask yourself what you’d like to present to the world. Whether it’s a service, an item/object, or yourself, it’s important to hone in on your product. After discovering your niche, you must decide how you want to package it. For example, if you are aiming to be a service provider such as a makeup artist, you must decide the type of makeup you would like to specialize in. From there you will decide on your presentation. Presenting your product with your desired branded backdrop, certain colours, and signatures of your choice encourages individualism. Presentation is key because it is what draws in your consumer. Deciding on branding like your logo, brand fonts, brand colours, slogan, etc., is what will differentiate you from your competitors and entice your consumer.

Once you have developed your brand, you will then have to promote yourself. The easiest way to promote yourself is through social media and word of mouth. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there and tell people about your brand. Especially on a college campus, reach out to your peers and student leaders and ask them to look at your work or follow your social media platforms. Ask your roommate if she wouldn’t mind being a model for your brand. Remember, your customers are out there and waiting for you. You may start slow, but you will grow with time. Following these steps will ensure the success of your brand.

Feature image credit: Christina @ wocintechchat.com from Unsplash

By Najah Black

Hello! My name is Najah Black, a graduating senior in Mass Communications with a concentration in Public Relations. I am from Houston, Texas. I am a current Marketing and Development intern with the non-profit organization Genesys Works, where I work in event planning, marketing, and content creation. I am also a content creator popular on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok, specializing in fashion, lifestyle, and beauty content. I am a current member of the writing committee of HerCampus SUBR. I am so excited to begin my journey with HerCampus and welcome the chance to express my creativity through this organization.

Sourced from HER CAMPUS

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The generation advertising can’t sweet-talk

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Sourced from CREATIVE BOOM

As the UK’s HFSS restrictions take hold, food brands are losing their oldest emotional shortcuts. In this opinion piece, Loren Aylott of Manchester creative agency Dinosaur explores how the end of sugar-coated storytelling could reshape creativity, culture, and trust.

New year, new laws. It’s the week the industry has been preparing for: the official ban on junk food advertising before 9pm takes effect. The new HFSS regulations aren’t just a line in government policy; they mark a cultural reset. For the first time in modern advertising, a generation will grow up without being targeted by the seductive storytelling of sugary, salty, fatty foods.

The UK’s new HFSS advertising restrictions fully take effect, with a 9pm watershed on TV ads and a total ban on paid-for online promotions for “less healthy” food and drink, the impact won’t be loud or immediate. Kids won’t notice fewer cartoon mascots or glossy food-porn spots, but eventually their emotional and behavioural patterns will quietly shift.

And that shift changes everything for marketers.

The end of indulgence as a shortcut

For decades, food marketing has traded in fantasy, nostalgia, indulgence, and the comfort of “you’ve earned it.” We’ve sold sweetness as self-care and sugar as celebration, wrapped in slow-motion drips, glossy burger close-ups, and impossible perfection. But the old emotional shortcuts are disappearing, and what replaces them will define how the next generation connects with food. This festive season did feel a little quieter, more ‘demure’.

For years, festive advertising has wrapped indulgence in emotion, golden turkeys and overflowing puddings, families framed in warm light, as the soundtrack swells. This year, we saw more emotional connections, more community, and less pudding.

But as HFSS regulations take hold, the traditional language used in all food advertising will face new creative constraints. Expect brands to lean into togetherness, generosity, and ritual rather than indulgence; to show that joy can feel rich even when the food doesn’t. The future of food communication will reinvent “treat culture” and rely more on curiosity. Brands that want to connect with tomorrow’s consumers will have to offer something more nourishing, both emotionally and nutritionally.

The most successful food brands won’t be those that shout the loudest, but those that teach, play, and inspire. Brands that turn food into experience, and as the visual vocabulary of indulgence fades, creativity must work harder to earn emotion.

At first, the change will feel invisible – research from Leeds University found that when supermarkets reduced HFSS placements, shoppers didn’t notice. Yet, HFSS sales still dropped by two million items a day. Behaviour changes quietly when the cues disappear.

Invisible change, lasting impact

Children, too, will be subtly influenced by fewer in-store prompts and a rebalanced media landscape. Fewer sugary signals in their world will mean fewer impulsive habits and more space for mindful ones to grow.

For marketers, that opens up a new creative frontier: connecting through experience, play, education, or storytelling that celebrates curiosity. This is where the creative industry comes in. HFSS isn’t the death of marketing, but an opportunity for brands to think smarter and work harder in this category.

It’s a call for brands to re-evaluate their tone, their role, and their cultural contribution. Hospitality brands like Nando’s are already shifting how they speak, reframing the removal of free refills as a positive, health-first change rather than a loss of fun. It’s a small but powerful signal that transparency and progress can live comfortably alongside joy and flavour.

For agencies, this is a creative and strategic responsibility. The job now is to help brands rethink how they show up through repositioned messaging, a reset of owned-channel strategies, and an exploration of new targeting tactics.

What replaces the sugar rush

This is a massive opportunity to help brands build consumer trust through healthy product messaging and to support some with a shift to bigger, brand-led strategies – whatever the next step, agencies need to encourage clients to use these new rules as an opportunity to behave differently and thrive creatively.

The next generation will remember fewer jingles about chocolate bars and more stories about curiosity, balance, and joy. The brands that grow with them will be those that feel emotionally honest, that teach, entertain, and empower rather than just sell.

When the sugar rush of advertising fades, what’s left has to mean something. The new regulations require brands to grow up alongside their audience, replacing manipulation with meaning and excess with intention.

The next era of food marketing will be defined not by what brands are no longer allowed to say, but by what they choose to say instead. Those who embrace this moment with creativity, responsibility, and emotional honesty won’t just survive the change; they’ll help shape a healthier, more thoughtful relationship with food and prove that constraint, when handled well, can be the most powerful creative catalyst of all.

Feature image credit: Adobe Stock

Sourced from CREATIVE BOOM

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Why Almost Every Brand Is Moving Upmarket

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By BoF Insights, McKinsey & Company

Value players are elevating their brands defensively against ultra-low-cost rivals such as Shein and Temu, whose business models remain difficult to undercut, even as policy shifts erode some of their cost advantage. For example, value brands Bershka and H&M have reduced the share of SKUs in their lower price tiers across categories and markets between 2023 and 2025, according to data from EDITED.

Mid-market players are tapping into the growing demand for “affordable aspiration” from consumers who remain price-sensitive but increasingly prioritise quality and design. Zara has pioneered this strategy, taking aim at trend-focused shoppers seeking fashionable designs at more affordable prices than luxury ready-to-wear collections.

SoF Elevation Chart

Premium/bridge and affordable luxury players are seizing the white space created by the increase in luxury prices, which rose 61 percent on average between 2019 and 2025. Many aspirational consumers, also squeezed by inflation and seeking more creative inspiration from luxury brands, are opting to spend their disposable income elsewhere. Brands like Ralph Lauren are capitalising on this shift, increasing focus on categories like outerwear and bags, where customers are familiar with paying more. Similarly, French affordable luxury giant SMCP has reduced reliance on discounting to support the elevation of its brands, which it outlined as a key priority in 2025.

SoF Elevation Chart

Brand elevation depends on three pillars — price, product and brand experience

1. Price: increasing the share of products in higher price tiers and growing full-price sales

31% of global customers are willing to splurge on fashion, driven by both tangible and emotional factors.

Price architecture: Drive value perception by shifting more of the assortment into higher price tiers and introducing “hero” products in premium categories, reinforcing stronger brand positioning

Discounting: Preserve brand value by scaling back promotions and discounting, ensuring pricing signals remain consistent with an elevated image

Channel exposure: Protect brand equity by carefully restricting distribution through outlets and off-price channels, particularly for signature products

2. Product: improving product quality, durability and relevance

51% of global customers say quality is a key driver in creating a high-end brand perception, the highest of all attributes.

Quality: Elevate customer perception by investing in higher-grade materials that align product value with rising expectations for price-to-quality balance

Design: Strengthen long-term appeal by focussing product development on durability and versatile styling that extends wear and relevance

Collaborations: Expand reach into higher-spending segments by partnering with premium brands, leveraging their equity to enhance desirability and brand stature

3. Experience: elevating perception through retail stores and brand marketing

47% of global customers say a brand’s story is a key driver in creating a high-end brand perception.

Brand marketing: Build stronger resonance by refining brand voice and narratives, and by actively engaging in cultural conversations where relevant

Stores: Differentiate the brand experience by enhancing store formats and visual merchandising

E-commerce: Invest in creating editorial content, elevated visuals and improved customer journeys

Ambassadors: Amplify cultural impact by partnering with aspirational, brand-aligned influencers

Product and pricing adjustments are core to an elevation strategy

Many value brands are retreating from ultra-low-price tiers where players like Shein and Temu increasingly dominate. In the UK, Bershka reduced the share of SKUs priced below £25 (approximately $34) by 15 percent between 2023 and 2025, according to EDITED. H&M made similar moves during this time, reducing the share of bags in this bracket by 25 percent in the UK. H&M has been diversifying its offering with premium ranges and capsule lines, such as H&M Premium and the Studio Collection, as well as collaborations with designer brands.

In the mid-market and premium segments, brands are incrementally increasing core assortments within most price bands. They are also introducing hero products in the higher tiers that create a halo effect that lifts consumer perception of the entire collection. For example, COS released its £1,000 ($1,355) Nappa leather shearling jacket in 2025. This is part of a 9 percent increase in the share of outerwear SKUs priced over £175 ($237) between 2023 and 2025 in the UK, according to EDITED.

Brands should be cautious about raising prices too quickly or steeply, as this can alienate the customer and call into question the balance between quality and value and the brand’s right to play within the price segment. Brands can use consumer research and peer benchmarking to calibrate pricing moves.

SoF Elevation Chart

Higher prices demand superior quality and refreshed designs

Customers are expected to become more cautious with their spending in 2026. For those who do splurge, they will be paying special attention to signifiers of value for money, such as craftsmanship, durability and sharp creative direction. Brands that raise prices without improving quality or design risk alienating consumers and eroding brand equity.

Creative vision will play an outsized role in proving worth. For example, the wave of luxury creative director appointments at mass brands — including Zac Posen at Gap and Jonathan Saunders at & Other Stories — has injected a higher-end aesthetic into lower parts of the market. Gap also launched the premium line GapStudio in 2025, designed by Posen and featuring items like silk slip dresses and worn by celebrities on the red carpet.

Collaborations offer another route to import design authority and relevance into accessible price points. Partnerships such as JW Anderson with Uniqlo and Victoria Beckham with Mango deliver both credibility and access to a more aspirational audience. These collaborations are often positioned as limited editions, which generates desirability and exclusivity among consumers — even in a more price-conscious environment.

Marks & Spencer:

Marks & Spencer is elevating the style, fabrics and fit of its fashion offering. For example, the brand is leaning into real leather across coats, minidresses, skirts and shoes and is generating excitement by increasing novelty, refreshing two-thirds of its assortment each season while dedicating one-third to core basics. Fashion, Home & Beauty sales increased 3.5 percent in the fiscal year 2024 ending March 2025. Its premium Autograph range performed particularly strongly, with sales up 47 percent over the same period.

43% of global consumers say they care more about quality than ever before, up from 30 percent in 2023.

Uniqlo:

Uniqlo’s elevation strategy is centred around design authority and quality basics. Its premium essentials, such as its affordable cashmere sweater range, provide an alternative to trend-driven fast fashion. In 2023, the brand launched Uniqlo:C, a sub-label by Clare Waight Keller — formerly creative director of Givenchy and Chloé — focused on elevated everyday essentials and outerwear. In 2024, Keller assumed the role of creative director for the entire brand, expanding her remit to include Uniqlo’s core offering. Parent company Fast Retailing’s revenue grew 10.6 percent year on year in the nine months to May 2025, while operating profit expanded to 17.2 percent of revenue.

50% of global consumers say exclusivity creates a high-end brand image.

Product elevation only works when reinforced holistically across the brand experience

Borrowing aesthetic cues from luxury — across campaigns, editorials, photography and retail — can help justify elevated product positioning. For example, COS staged a ready-to-wear runway show at New York Fashion Week in September 2025, signalling its ambitions to extend its brand beyond the high street. While not every mass brand has a credible place on fashion week calendars, COS’ design-led aesthetic makes the case. Meanwhile, Zara’s use of famous fashion photographers such as Steven Meisel and Mario Sorrenti helps position it closer to high-end fashion.

Redesigned retail environments can offer similar signals and in-store service adds further weight. Aritzia’s personal style advisor approach to customer service is the backbone of its store experience, offering a high-touch styling journey like luxury department stores, which reinforces its premium positioning.

The same principles extend online. Websites and apps increasingly reflect elevated positioning through streamlined interfaces, lifestyle-driven storytelling and immersive visuals that replace function-focused user experiences.

There is a 76% correlation between a positive store experience and consumers’ perception of a brand as premium.

Zara’s High-Tech Concept Store:

In August 2025, Zara reopened its Manchester flagship in the UK with a new concept designed in an elevated format. The layout includes a series of curated rooms, each dedicated to collections such as Zara Origins, highlighting higher-value product lines. This zoning approach borrows from luxury retail, moving away from the uniform mass-market feel typical of fast fashion.

Technology is central to the redesign. Automated product sorting from fitting rooms to online orders, assisted return stations and app integration reduce friction and allow staff to spend more time on high-value customer interactions.

There is an 87% correlation between memorable and creative advertising campaigns and consumers’ perception of a brand as premium.

How should executives respond to these shifts?

Redesign product pyramids to signal elevated positioning

Build a product pyramid informed by consumer insights, balancing core assortments for the existing customer base with premium tiers aimed at capturing “splurge” purchases and recruiting more aspirational audiences.

Invest in material quality, craftsmanship and fit. Ensure consistency across the assortment to build credibility and trust with customers, which can translate into pricing power.

Introduce halo products in categories such as outerwear and leather goods that lift the perception of the entire brand.

Hire recognised creative talent to inject creativity and originality, or use capsule collections and designer collaborations to import design authority and generate excitement.

Adjust pricing architecture over a long-term horizon

Plan a multi-year brand elevation roadmap, emphasising gradual progress across multiple seasons over one-off drops or store renovations.

Use a combination of internal sales data and social listening tools to gauge price sensitivity across categories and define the brand’s price ceiling.

Place smaller-volume orders to limit overstock risk and reduce reliance on discounting to protect brand equity.

Reinforce positioning across the brand experience

Roll out the elevation strategy across the full brand experience — from communications to in-store environments. This means placing emphasis on elevated brand storytelling and cultural relevance while ensuring store design, visual merchandising and service standards signal the same aspirational positioning.

Online, brands can reinforce these cues through improved visuals, editorial content and frictionless user journeys that feel both premium and intuitive.

Higher-touch experiences more commonly found in luxury — such as personalised clienteling or exclusive community activations — can also build advocacy and deepen customers’ emotional connections

This article first appeared in The State of Fashion 2026, an in-depth report on the global fashion industry, co-published by BoF and McKinsey & Company.

Feature image credit: Uniqlo

By BoF Insights, McKinsey & Company

Sourced from BOF

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Why Every Career-Minded Professional Needs A Website In The Age Of AI

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By William Arruda

One of the earliest turning points in personal branding, one that made career-minded professionals understand that they’re responsible for their careers and the visibility that shapes them, was the launch of LinkedIn in 2003. Since then, career visibility has followed a simple rule: polish your resume, keep your LinkedIn profile current and compelling, and show up to meetings awake. But that rule no longer holds, thanks to AI.

In The Age Of AI, Career Visibility Works Differently

Although we’ve all become skilled Googlers, search is no longer a simple query-and-results experience. It’s increasingly AI-assisted. People are asking Google, other search engines, and AI platforms questions like “Who’s the leading expert in storytelling?” or “Identify people who understand video production and graphic design.” This shift is often referred to as Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO. Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on ranking pages, GEO is about making your expertise easy for AI systems to understand, trust, and recommend. But AI tools and the AI summaries that appear atop Google searches just don’t have access to your LinkedIn profile. That means the hard work you did to make it reflect who you are and what makes you exceptional no longer delivers the same visibility it once did.

At the start of the personal branding boom, I recommended that professionals have a brief website/blog to showcase their expertise. LinkedIn, at the time, was rudimentary in what it offered, and with a website you had total control of how you tell the world about yourself. Over the years, though, LinkedIn has added features that made your profile a near equivalent of having your own home on the web. The customizable banner, the Featured section that allows you to use multimedia to highlight your brilliance, and the ability to include long-form content to showcase your thought leadership are just a few of the many enhancements LinkedIn has made over the past two decades. But, because LinkedIn is a mostly closed ecosystem, accessing much of its content requires authentication. That means AI systems have limited crawl access, limited visibility of content that is public, and may not be able to attribute content you created to you. That’s a major personal branding challenge.

What AI Search Changes About Personal Branding

If you don’t own a piece of the internet that AI can actually read, you’re invisible to a growing share of opportunities. When an AI Overview is present, the average click-through rate for top-ranking organic links can drop by 34.5% to nearly 50%, according to Pew Research Center. People are relying on the AI summaries to answer their questions. That’s why a personal website is once again valuable, now, as your AI-readable career home base. AI systems favour:

  • Open, crawlable content
  • Clear authorship
  • Consistent themes across pages
  • Signs of expertise over time

AI looks for structure, clarity, and patterns. Different audience, different rules. And the impact on your career can be serious. If AI can’t see you, it can’t recommend you.

What A Personal Website Does That LinkedIn Can’t

Having your own website puts you in control of three things that AI cares deeply about.

  1. Context. You can explain not just what you do, but why you do it, who you help, and how you think.
  2. Depth. AI favours original thinking. Articles, insights, frameworks, and your unique point of view matter more than job titles.
  3. Ownership. Your site is stable. Platforms and algorithms come and go. Headlines change. Your site is the one place your story doesn’t get rearranged by someone else’s design team.

How AI Actually Finds People

AI tools don’t search the way you do. They synthesize. They look for:

  • Repeated themes across content
  • Clear positioning language
  • Specific problems you solve
  • Evidence you’ve been thinking about this for a while

They reward clarity over cleverness. Specificity over buzzwords. Humanity over hype. Those are key branding trends for 2026 and beyond. And that’s good news for those who seek to be real in the virtual world. If your expertise is buried inside a profile behind a login, AI wasn’t designed to connect the dots. Your website, though, gives it dots to connect.

What To Include In A Career-Smart Website

Here’s the good news. Having your own website does not mean you need 20-pages of content and an intricate design with multiple tabs. What you need is brand clarity. At a minimum, include these five elements.

  1. A clear homepage statement
    In plain language, say who you help, what you help with, and why it matters. No mystery. No keyword games. AI prefers direct sentences.
  2. A human About page
    Tell your story like a person, not a resume. What life experiences shaped your thinking? What do you believe? What’s your purpose? This is gold for AI and even better for building an emotional connection with fellow humans.
  3. Proof of thinking
    Articles, essays, talks, newsletters, or case studies. Original content screams expertise far louder than boring, trite jargon like “results-driven, team-oriented professional.”
  4. A focus area or services page
    Be specific about your primary focus area, not all the things you can do. Focus on just those you want to be known for. AI rewards focus, and personal branding is about being known for something, not 100 things.
  5. Demonstration of credibility
    Include media mentions, speaking, certifications, notable clients (for brand association), and projects. These help you build trust with both humans and machines.

AI Visibility Best Practices Without The Tech Headache

You don’t need to be an SEO wizard. You just need to be consistent.

  • Use the same language across pages. If you help leaders build thought leadership, say it more than once. AI notices patterns.
  • Write like you talk. AI models are trained on natural language. Stiff corporate writing actually works against you.
  • Update occasionally. Fresh content signals relevance, but you don’t need a blog schedule that takes over your life. One thoughtful, on-brand piece every two to three months will suffice.
  • Make authorship obvious. Your name, bio, and perspective should be clear on every piece of content. Anonymous wisdom doesn’t rank, and it won’t get associated with you.
  • Connect your site to LinkedIn. Think of LinkedIn as the front porch and your website as the rest of the house.

Your Website Signals A More Modern Career Strategy In The Age Of AI

This isn’t really about websites. It’s about augmenting platform-dependent visibility with owned visibility. You still need to master LinkedIn, but AI is changing how opportunity finds you. Recommendations will increasingly come from synthesis, not SEO or search results. The people who show up will be the ones who make it easy for AI to understand who they are, what they stand for, and why they matter. In other words, get clear on your personal brand!

It’s Time To Build An AI-Friendly Personal Brand Engine

In a world where AI is doing the asking, your website is how you answer before anyone even knows your name. And the rules of working with AI are empowering. It goes beyond trying to game algorithms by having all the right keywords in everything you post. The next era of visibility goes back to the origins of personal branding. It’s about being the real, human you, consistently without apology or hesitation.

Feature image credit: Getty

By William Arruda

Find William Arruda on LinkedIn. Visit William’s website.

William Arruda is a keynote speaker, author, and personal branding pioneer. He speaks on branding, leadership, and AI. Watch his AI-Powered Personal Branding Session to learn more about the intersection of AI and personal branding.

Sourced from Forbes

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How Brands Can Make a Home Fit For Gen Z

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By Ella Palmer

For years, brand homes—dedicated spaces where consumers can immerse themselves in a brand’s story, values, and products—have prioritized either exclusivity or mass accessibility. Activations have often cantered on exclusive ultra-high-net-worth experiences, while easily accessible brand history-focused locations risk veering into tired museum territory—rarely giving visitors a reason to return.

But the next generation isn’t interested in velvet ropes or a dull brand history lesson. Those are the experiential codes of the past. Today’s brand home must speak in a language that chimes with the younger audience it’s trying to captivate.

Embracing a New Aesthetic

Gen Z have finely tuned visual tastes. They’re drawn to the surreal and captivated by AI-powered imagery. For them, everything is subconsciously expected to be ‘aesthetic’ and Instagrammable—even the most functional spaces. ‘Fridgescaping’ videos are on the rise over on TikTok, for example, while Pinterest boards showcase airport security trays artfully arranged with visually pleasing objects.

As the digital generation, Gen Z crave real-life experiences as a form of escapism—but only those wrapped in exceptional execution. A brand home targeting this audience will win by translating Gen Z’s AI-driven visual sensibilities into real-world environments that feel born from an algorithm and built to be shared. Spaces that look like they’re plucked straight out of a social feed.

In 2025, following the success of the Back to Nature rebrand, UK agency, LOVE hit the road (literally) with a joy-packed ‘Snack Stop’ pop up on the California coast—which took snackers on a nostalgic trip to a time when life was simple, and snacks were great. Popping up at the iconic Abbot Kinney, the gas station-inspired space had a bright, bold shop exterior, while a stylized gas pump and pink convertible Cadillac filled with goodies added a cool photo op for both visitors and passers-by. Throughout the space, props tapped into the brand’s tone of voice while providing content for the ‘gram

Back to Nature’s Pop-Up Snack Shop

Fan the FOMO

Harnessing Gen Z’s FOMO will be a critical part of future brand home strategy. We’re hardwired to feel the ‘fear of missing out’ when something—or somewhere—is temporary. Spaces needs to constantly deliver new, time-sensitive news to give people a reason to return.

Gen Z are digital natives, shaped by fast-scrolling, ever-changing feeds—and they crave experiences that mirror this pace. For brand homes, this means crafting permanent spaces with a pop-up mentality: modular, shapeshifting environments that transform with the time of day, season or cultural—environments that lean into the temporary and the fear of missing out. Selfridges’ ‘The Corner Shop’ leads the way—a pioneering retail concept that allows guest brands to creatively take over the space.

This mindset extends to the way Gen Z travels. They sidestep tourist clichés in favour of cultural ‘hidden gems’—places they can discover and share before they hit the mainstream. For brands, this means seeking out locations that feel both relevant and unexpected, and designing them as culturally rooted destinations that reward early adopters. IKEA turning up for a ‘Hack House Party’ in a north London neighbourhood, staged ahead of its Oxford Circus store opening, is a great example.

Enable Community and Connection

Another powerful driver is Gen Z’s desire for community. Togetherness and connection should sit at the heart of every brand home brief. This generation looks to brands for a sense of belonging and for cultural moments that feel like a reward for their loyalty. A brand’s cultural involvement with its surrounding community can have a significant impact on a consumer’s purchasing decisions. It reflects a cohort that values creativity and brand-relationships through the lens of connection and self-expression, not status and exclusivity.

The James Beam Distillery offers varied experiences and is a cultural destination in the Clermont Kentucky community with events ranging from bourbon tastings to Kentucky Derby parties.

Gen Z also seek knowledge exchange through creative, enriching spaces. Brand homes should be reframed as cultural hubs and creative playgrounds – places where guests will want to come and stay.

The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin offers an immersive, multi-floor experience at St. James’s Gate

Tapping into our ever-expanding opportunities for entertainment and experience, brand homes are most successful when they are multifaceted, merging art installations, music, food, fashion and performance. Product buy-in will follow. Prada Mode’s travelling club embodies this approach: a destination for contemporary culture, offering guests unique art experiences alongside music, dining and conversation.

So, this is where brand homes are headed. In the future, they must be living, breathing spaces that evolve with shifting tastes and values, keeping pace with a new generation. By blending heightened aesthetics, ever-changing experiences, and a genuine sense of community, brands can create spaces that not only attract visitors, but ignite cultural movements.

By Ella Palmer

This industry perspective is by Ella Palmer, culture and strategy manager at Manchester, United Kingdom–based creative agency LOVE.

Ella Palmer is the culture and strategy manager at Manchester, United Kingdom–based creative agency LOVE., which partners with global brands across the arenas of sport, luxury, food, alcohol and beauty. Guided by the mantra “We see what you won’t,” LOVE. has shaped strategies and campaigns for clients including Heineken, Hendrick’s, JBBDCo., Laithwaites, Lucky Charms, Moët Hennessy, Nike, Penfolds and SK-II. A trend forecaster and strategic thinker, Palmer combines cultural insight with creative curiosity

Sourced from PRINT

 

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