First Footers 2026: Realness, Resilience, and Relevance - the 3 Non-Negotiables for Brands this Year

​First footing is a Scottish Hogmanay (or New Year) tradition. The first person to cross your threshold after midnight is your 'first footer', and who they are and the gifts they bring set the tone for the coming year (you want someone bringing coal, money, whisky or food!). With that in mind LBB is inviting the advertising and marketing world's first footers to set the tone for the industry this year with op-eds that look to tomorrow – rallying cries for issues the industry needs to tackle, future-casting insights for the trends and themes we'll likely come across and reflections on how they plan to navigate the shoogly, shifting path ahead. Anibal Casso, chief strategic officer at Ogilvy North America does just that in this piece.

As the holiday season draws to a close and we step into 2026, I find myself considering the energy brands – and us, as brand builders – must bring to the year ahead. Like how the true spirit of the holidays is found not just in what's under the tree, but in the connections formed around it, brand effectiveness in 2026 will similarly be defined by its depth of connection. 

Today, consumers – let’s be real: people – are highly discerning and value-driven. Success won't stem from the most elaborate or showy campaigns or biggest viral moments; instead, the brands that cultivate meaningful impact will be those that commit to the quiet, consistent work of genuine transparency, relentless resilience, and a nuanced understanding of human culture.  

Here are the principles that I believe will truly define a brand's success (or struggles) in 2026. 

 Transparency Theatre Isn't Working Anymore 

 The same technologies many feared would enable more sophisticated brand deception are doing the exact opposite. They're making fake transparency impossible to sustain, and forcing brands to build the real thing.

Social media gave every stakeholder a broadcast platform. Your employees are on Glassdoor. Customers screenshot your failures in real-time. Activists document your supply chain before you've crafted a response.

AI makes this accountability even more powerful. It analyses patterns across thousands of interactions, cross-references claims against reality, detects inconsistencies across markets and timelines. If AI can generate synthetic authenticity, AI can detect it too.

The breakthrough: These technologies haven't made transparency harder – they've made fake transparency impossible.

The brands thriving aren't fighting this reality. They're embracing it. They've realised that in an environment where everything is visible and verifiable, the strategic move isn't better messaging – it's better operations.

The old transparency was about controlling what people could see. The new transparency is about building organisations that can withstand being seen from every angle, at all times, by everyone.

Social media and AI haven't made trust impossible. They've made fake trust impossible. And that's created the first real opportunity in decades to build something genuine. 

Survival Isn't Strategy (But Maybe It Should Be) 

 While a five-year plan sounds great in theory, the world feels like it's constantly shifting underfoot. Whether economical, political, social or technological, relentless change is the norm. And somewhere in the middle of all this, regular people are just trying to live their lives. So, when it comes to something simple but necessary like shopping, people want dependability – they're not merely purchasing products; they're looking for stability when everything else feels uncertain.

Brands have become an unexpected source of comfort. The consistency of a beloved coffee shop or the reliable delivery of a preferred service provides a sense of familiarity. In a world where everything feels shaky, consistency is a luxury.

But here's the catch: The brands that survive aren't the ones with the perfect plan. They're the ones that can adapt. When something breaks, they figure it out. When the playbook stops working, they write a new one.

This isn't about being unshakeable, for nothing truly is. It's about organizational resilience – the capacity to absorb shocks, pivot, and continue moving forward. Brands that master this will cultivate deep loyalty. Their customers will know, "They'll still be here tomorrow."

Reading the Room in Real Time 

We all know the feeling of walking into a party and picking up a vibe – innately knowing whether you belong and how the night will go. People do the same thing with brands every single day.

Culture today is made up of intricate, constantly evolving subcultures across platforms like TikTok, Reddit, Discord, and IRL spaces. And the people deeply embedded within these communities can smell an outsider from a mile away.

Culture moves so fast that brands are often late to the party – perpetually a step behind or slightly out of touch. In an effort to be relevant, brands fail to acknowledge there's a massive difference between participating in culture and interrupting it.

It's like your dad attempting to use slang he heard from a younger colleague once. Dad means well – but he just doesn't understand the context. He's performing earnestly but not truly connecting.

The same goes for brands – consumers can tell instantly. When a brand "gets it," it feels natural. But when they miss? It's painful. Sometimes it even feels exploitative, like they're trying to cash in on something sacred without respecting it.

The solution lies not in louder pronouncements, but in deeper listening and genuine curiosity. It's about knowing when to contribute meaningfully and when to step back, recognizing that not every conversation is for every brand. Authenticity cannot be faked; people inherently know.

Setting the Course  

Here's what becomes clear: These aren't independent things you can pick and choose from. They're a system, not a strategy.

Transparency without resilience means exposing problems you can't solve. Resilience without cultural relevance means solving problems nobody cares about. Cultural relevance without transparency is performing values you don't practice – and audiences see through it immediately.

Every brand will encounter these insights in 2026. White papers will be written. Keynotes delivered. Publications will overflow with posts about authenticity and resilience.

The difference between brands that thrive and those that plateau won't be awareness of these principles. It'll be the speed and conviction with which they act.

These principles are obvious in retrospect and deeply uncomfortable in practice –everyone will nod along, but few will rebuild their operations to match.

Brands that move first gain a compounding advantage. Trust builds on trust. Resilience creates space for bolder moves. Cultural fluency opens doors that remain closed to outsiders. Those that wait for proof, validated case studies, safe guarantees – they'll be studying what you built.

The question isn't whether these principles matter. It's whether you're willing to act on them while they still feel uncertain, while the path isn't yet clear.

Be the case study, or study the case studies. 

2026 rewards the former. It's less forgiving of the latter.​