First Footers 2026: A Brand Is a Brand Is a Brand

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. Here Peter Figge, chief executive officer at Jung Von Matt, argues for differentiation, not interchangeability in brands,

​2026 will be a year in which our industry must prove its value all over again. Not because the external conditions have become tougher – they have – but because relevance is no longer negotiable.

Our client brands will only remain strong if the people advising them are taking their own brands seriously. That does not necessarily mean having size, reach or tools. Rather, it is about having an identity, inspiration, innovation, a clear point of view and a clear value proposition.

But how can we as agencies do that for clients, if we don’t manage our own brands properly and lead them with the same foresight we apply to our clients? I believe that should be our priority in 2026: agencies must once again take themselves seriously as brands. We need to inspire, challenge and motivate, but also to be as distinct from each other as possible (something that does not seem to be of much value for big players in the industry at present).

And what are the consequences?An industry that not only reacts to trends but sets its own agenda. One that doesn’t just describe complexity but reduces it. One that doesn’t manage brands but strengthens them. If we want to be true partners to our clients, we must remember why brands need us in the first place. Not because we organise processes more efficiently. Not because we can feed an AI better than others. But because we create meaning. Because we bring orientation into fragmented environments. Because we enable brands to project clarity in a world that is becoming increasingly unclear. Relevance emerges where we set topics instead of waiting for them. Where we decode cultural movements instead of trailing behind them. And where we become – in the best sense – difference-makers for our clients.

Complexity is the biggest business field in our industry – and at the same time its biggest blind spot. Brands operate in an environment that grows faster than people can absorb: new platforms, new spaces, new dynamics, new gatekeepers. Our task in 2026 is not to add even more but to filter out what truly matters. Reducing complexity means setting priorities. Making connections visible, enabling focus and helping brands rediscover what they stand for or what they don’t. Our clients don’t need more information; they need more clarity. Not more channels, but more impact.

Culture marketing will not be a chapter next year, but the operating system of brand leadership. The pop-cultural core determines whether brands remain emotionally relevant. Culture is where people negotiate meaning - and brands are invited, but they are not automatically part of it. Those who do not show up in today’s pop-cultural environments will lose their place in people’s lives tomorrow. New cultural spaces such as Roblox, Fortnite Creative, virtual social worlds or AI-native platforms are not toys. They are serious territories for brand identity. But they do not function according to traditional communication logic. You do not win by being present; you win by contributing and by being culturally resonant while remaining differentiated.

For us, this means we must not only understand these spaces, but shape them. We must give them creative value. And we must help our clients be actors there, not visitors. Relevance does not emerge from presence but from participation. This is how we can build emotional competitive advantage for our clients.

2026 is not a year for caution in agencies. It is a year of focus, of self-assurance and of returning to our own identity. Those who dare to move forward with self-confidence will win those clients who are seeking orientation. Brand leaders want partners who do not merely react, but set the agenda; partners who recognise opportunities before they become visible and who do not fear complexity but can navigate it.

We enter this year with optimism. Not because it will be easy, but because it is full of possibilities. If we allow ourselves to be bold, if we allow ourselves to design rather than administer, if we treat our cultural competence as a strategic force, then 2026 will not be a year that happens to us - it will be a year we shape. And that is exactly what agencies should aim to do.