Innehållsförteckning för March 2026 från Adweek

Adweek|March 2026

BRANDS ARE VIRTUE SIGNALING ABOUT AI

IF 2025 WAS the year brands began cautiously expressing their views on AI, 2026 is shaping up to be when they take clear, public stances on the technology. In the first few weeks of this year, brands including Equinox and Almond Breeze have called out AI slop and tech gimmicks in their ad campaigns. As anxieties around the technology grow, these advertisers are positioning themselves as genuine antidotes to AI’s fakery. While Dove came out early against AI’s inauthenticity in 2024, others like BMW and Aerie continued the trend last year. The anti-AI sentiment now seems to be accelerating, with even louder virtue signaling from brands across sectors. Here are some of the most high-profile campaigns, and what they’re telling consumers who have more reason to doubt advertising than ever…

2 min

Adweek|March 2026

10 AI Marketing Trends for 2026

ACROSS CES, DAVOS, and Super Bowl ads, the messaging has been clear: AI is no longer a capability story. It is an operating model story. These are 10 trends I see converging now, drawn from hundreds of conversations with marketing teams and their product and tech leaders. 1. WORK IDENTITY WILL BREAK BEFORE ORG CHARTS DO AI is eroding the middle layers of marketing faster than most leaders admit. The damage will not show up as mass layoffs immediately but as role confusion, eroding confidence and leading to quiet disengagement among product marketers, strategists, creatives, media planners, and analysts. You can see the tension in how brands are talking about “AI-first” work while still rewarding old signals of seniority such as headcount managed, decks shipped, or meetings attended. When an…

5 min

Adweek|March 2026

AI POWER FIFTY

Dr. Aaron Andalman Co-founder & Chief Science Officer Cognitiv Jeremy Fain Co-founder & CEO, Cognitiv As a Stanford- and MIT-educated neurosurgeon, Dr. Aaron Andalman brings a unique clinical expertise to human behavior that was key to developing Cognitiv, an AI marketing company focused on understanding consumer intent and making predictive decisions instead of static optimization. He was key to developing and scaling its ContextGPT media planning tool, which got a major upgrade in 2025 with natural language prompts and grew a staggering 376% thanks to a partnership with OpenAI brokered by CEO Jeremy Fain. Together, the pair have kept Cognitiv at the forefront of technological advancement. Marie Aiello Senior Vice President ContinuumGlobal With leaner budgets and shrinking teams across the industry, Marie Aiello led the development of a customized platform…

16 min

Adweek|March 2026

Catch Him If You Can

EARLY IN HIS advertising career, McCann global CEO Tyler Turnbull worked on the account of Canadian telecom firm Rogers. “They were one of those clients that you love or hate,” he recalled. “I loved them because you got to do so much work—it was intense and 24/7.” The office is not the only place where Turnbull appreciates a challenge that pushes his skills to the limit. On weekends during the winter, you’ll find him on the mountains of Ontario. “As a Canadian, you’re given a choice: You either play hockey or ski,” he quipped. “My parents gave me that choice when I was probably 4. And I wasn’t a good skater.” But he loved skiing immediately. From then until college, he skied two days a week, except for about a…

3 min

Adweek|March 2026

As AI Surges, Contracts Lag

“Just because AI helped make something possible doesn’t mean it’s less valuableMEGAN LALLY, co-founder & CEO, Highdive INSIDE AD AGENCIES, AI is already embedded in the workflow. In contracts and compensation models, it’s barely mentioned. That disconnect shows up clearly in the first wave of ADWEEK’s quarterly marketing tracker conducted with NewtonX, which surveyed 501 advertising decision-makers across the U.S. and Canada. Nearly two-thirds of respondents say AI has had a moderate or significant impact on their day-to-day responsibilities. Yet when it comes to the fine print, the shift is far less visible: 39% of agency contracts don’t address AI usage at all, and another 27% do so only in broad terms. In other words, the workflows have evolved, but the paperwork hasn’t. “Everything has changed within our walls,” said Chris…

4 min

Adweek|March 2026

LUXURY AT A PREMIUM

AS AN ACTRESS, model, producer, and entrepreneur, Shay Mitchell spends a good portion of her life at 30,000 feet. Since finding fame in 2010 playing Emily Fields on the mystery-thriller series Pretty Little Liars, Mitchell has added to her fan base (35 million on Instagram alone) through her travel expertise—her Shaycation series on YouTube, Thirst with Shay Mitchell on HBO Max, and tips dispensed via Béis Travel, the luggage and accessories brand that she founded in 2018. So when a canceled flight stranded her at JFK in the middle of the night recently, surrounded by a grim visage of deserted gates and shuttered stores, Mitchell had an ace in her wallet. Capital One’s lounge—a refuge in Terminal 4 with a cafe, a bar, and cushy velvet chairs—was open around the…

12 min

Adweek|March 2026

ARCHITECTS OF CULTURE 26

TED ALCAREZ CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER, FIG For more than 25 years, Ted Alcarez has been shaping workplaces where people can truly thrive. One of Fig’s earliest hires, he built a people-first model anchored in trust, flexibility, and shared success that motivates people to do their best work. Employees receive standout benefits such as free health coverage, unlimited PTO, 401(k) matching, and FitCoin, a $1,500 annual wellness stipend. Individualized long-term career plans and profit sharing tie personal growth to agency performance. In 2025, Fig hit its diversity goal to mirror broader U.S. demographics and maintained an 83% retention rate. Alcarez’s formula can be described simply as: Invest in people, and they’ll invest right back. EMILY BARRON CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER BASIS At Basis, flexible frameworks—not rigid rules—have created a high-performance culture. A…

15 min

Adweek|March 2026

How AI Is Changing Work

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ISN’T eliminating marketing jobs at scale, but it is changing what those jobs demand. According to proprietary data prepared for ADWEEK by the research firm NewtonX, most organizations report little to no AI-driven headcount reduction. At the same time, a majority of marketers say their day-to-day responsibilities have already shifted, with expectations rising around speed, complexity, and output. The survey collected responses from 501 advertising decision-makers in the U.S. and Canada, split between 82% brand marketers and 18% agency leaders; 20% of respondents are at the C-suite level. The findings suggest a new reality for the profession: AI may be expanding marketers’ capabilities, but it’s also compressing timelines and raising the performance bar. JOBS ARE CHANGING FASTER THAN THEY’RE DISAPPEARING Despite widespread concern that AI would trigger layoffs,…

4 min

Adweek|March 2026

THE SCIENCE OF POINTS MAXXING

Americans carry four credit cards on average, according to credit reporting agency Experian. That would make Nick Ewen anything but average. According to his biography on The Points Guy, he has 23 open and active cards. “I need to update that,” Ewen said. As of last month, “it’s actually 28.” Ewen’s job is to help consumers get the most out of the benefits dangled by their credit cards, and he leads by example. Over the last two decades, he’s vacationed in 50 countries (and every state in the union) by using his accumulated miles, credits, and points, with little out-of-pocket costs. Depending on how you look at it, Ewen is both a luxury credit card issuer’s dream—he’s a loyal and reliable customer—and a nightmare. He really does use each and…

2 min

Adweek|March 2026

JCPENNEY’S TURNAROUND PLAN

JEFF BEZOS’ WEDDING to Lauren Sánchez in Venice was among 2025’s biggest news stories, with an eye-watering $46 million price tag. They should have just gone to JCPenney. That was the thinking inside the retailer’s marketing department, at least. With the happy cooperation of Estefany Gomez and Leonardo Rendon, a young couple who’d dreamed of a wedding in Venice, Calif., JCPenney staged, styled, and paid for “The Other Venice Wedding,” a budget-friendly proxy to the Bezos affair. The total tab—including flowers and decor ($1,200), a ring ($1,041), and a gown from house brand Premier Amour ($99)—was $10,000. The stunt is classic Marisa Thalberg. The JCPenney marketing chief’s sharp wit and smarts have made her among America’s most visible and acclaimed industry leaders. In her three-decade career, Thalberg has walked the…

4 min