As we move into 2026, the landscape of brand storytelling is cluttered with the wreckage of “optimized” content. We have more tools than ever to reach everyone, yet we find ourselves connecting with almost no one. The industry is currently locked in a race to the middle— a safe, sterile space where brands hide behind algorithms and “global visions” to avoid the risk of being truly seen. But the audience is exhausted by the polish. They are starving for something tactile, something messy, and something honest. The future doesn’t belong to the brands that can produce the most; it belongs to the brands that have the bravery to stop performing for the algorithm and start putting genuine thought into what they are actually doing.
‘Be Yourself’ Has Never Been More True
Authenticity is not a marketing tactic; it is the state of being known— not by what you tell people, but by what you show them. It is the difference between a curated projection and a lived reality. A lot of brands operate out of a quiet, pervasive fear of offending a hypothetical observer, and they end up not saying or doing anything. They shrink to obscurity through a thousand decisions to hide themselves from critique.
Bravery is the act of being who you are despite that fear. For many of us, this means abandoning the hollow pursuit of “Global Vision” and leaning into Local Specificity. It is the willingness to actually be something for someone instead of vanishing while trying to appeal to everyone. When you speak to a specific subculture, a neighborhood, or a niche problem with the language and nuance and boldness only a peer would know, you light a beacon for them to follow without care for those who ignore it anyway. You become a “must-have” for a few because you had the courage to stop being a “maybe” for the masses.
This doesn’t mean act without care! We don’t need another celebrity “Imagine” video, or “Good Jeans” spot. Just remember, those weren’t coming from a place of authenticity (but if they were, it’s probably best they received the scrutiny they did).
The AI “Efficiency” Trap
Efficiency in 2026 is a double-edged sword. Most organizations use AI to widen their net, hoping that if they can produce ten times the content, they can capture ten times the attention. But this is a trap. Widening your surface area without increasing your depth only makes your brand’s signal thinner and easier to ignore.
The empowerment of these tools should be used to deepen the waters. If a tool can automate the “administrative slop”— the research, the formatting, the sorting— then you must use that reclaimed capacity to invest in your craft. It shouldn’t be used to make cuts, but to buy back the time required for Radical Creativity. This is the work that cannot be optimized: the hours spent obsessing over the “soul” of a project or engaging in the messy, non-linear work of human connection. The goal is to allow yourself a greater understanding of a narrower scope. Use the machine to handle the boring stuff so that you have the mental capacity to do the weird, high-stakes work that a predictive engine would never suggest.
AI does not replace creative works. AI steals from creative works.
Embracing the Human Glitch
We have reached a point of “perfection fatigue.” When everything is hyper-polished, “perfect” begins to feel sterile and untrustworthy. We see this in modern cinema— movies so over-processed and color-graded that they lose the grounding immersion of practical effects or the organic grain of actual film.
Consider the difference between a high-fidelity studio recording and the physical experience of a vintage record player. There is a deep, psychological comfort in the “glitch”— the fuzz, the scratches, and the mechanical arm not-quite-finding the groove. That texture provides a sense of place.
In your brand storytelling, these “Human Glitches” are your Proof of Life. It is the stutter in a video, the unfiltered behind-the-scenes reality, or the decision to keep the “seams” of your process visible. These imperfections provide the “tactile” grounding that people are starving for in a digital-first world.
But most importantly, these Human Glitches are relatable! I’m really resisting the urge to type out the entire “maybe you’re perfect right now. Maybe you don’t want to ruin that” scene from Good Will Hunting— highlighted by the fact the end of the scene is basically an “unusable” outtake left in because the honesty of the laughter is just so damn enduring.
Radical Transparency
Transparency is often discussed as a PR risk, but that fear is largely a misunderstanding of what transparency actually does. The fear of being seen stems from a “Perfection Trap”— the belief that a brand must appear as a flawless, finished product to be respected.
In reality, transparency serves as Proof of Work. It is the story of the process, the mistakes, and the mundane “boring” wins that happen in the shadows. When you share the reality of your supply chain or the specifics of a failure, you aren’t just being “honest”; you are giving your audience a reason to trust the outcome. They see the effort, the human judgment, and the integrity required to fix a mistake.
The fear that transparency will “destroy” a business is only legitimate if the business is built on a lie. If the “behind the scenes” is a dumpster fire, hiding the smoke doesn’t put out the flames— the business is failing regardless of who sees it. But for a brand with integrity, transparency is an invitation for the audience to participate in a real story. It moves the relationship from “transactional” to “relational” because the audience is finally seeing the truth of the work.
Does this mean I’m suggesting that you share stories of your missteps? Your screw-ups? Your moments of “I really hope nobody saw that”?
Yeah! I am. Sometimes. Learn to laugh at yourself. Learn that others might just appreciate the effort to fix things more than the illusion of perfection.
This piece was written by a human using AI as a tool for editing and supporting tasks.