2026 Brands to Watch
Happy New Year! Each year I highlight a few brands that are worth following. These are brands poised for interesting years. Some are positioned to do well, and others are likely to struggle.
You can see my 2025 post here.
Tylenol
Talk about a bad year! Tylenol, a long-trusted brand, suffered a massive hit when the Trump administration attacked it for causing autism and being unsafe.
In September, HHS Secretary Kennedy, Mehmet Oz and Donald Trump held a press conference to highlight the dangers. According to Donald Trump, “Taking Tylenol is not good — I’ll say it: It’s not good.”
The publicity was disastrous for Tylenol and its parent company Kenvue. The firm’s stock price slumped and Kimberly-Clark took advantage of the situation and agreed to acquire the firm.
Will Tylenol bounce back?
I suspect it will. The brand has enormous equity. People have used Tylenol for years with no negative impact. The story has faded away in the news. I predict Kimberly-Clark will be a big winner, picking up Kenvue’s collection of valuable consumer brands at a discount.
Kraft Heinz
Struggling Kraft Heinz announced in 2025 that it would be splitting in two, and CEO Carlos Abrams-Rivera stepped down at the end of the year. The new CEO is Steve Cahillane, formerly CEO of Kellogg and Kellanova.
The question: What will happen to Kraft Heinz? Will the company proceed with the split? If so, how will it play out?
Steve Cahillane isn’t against splits; he split up Kellogg and the two resulting firms were both acquired at a premium.
I’m not sure he will do the same thing with Kraft Heinz.
The problem at Kraft Heinz is that there isn’t a fast-growing group of brands to split out. Heinz ketchup will apparently join one firm, for example, and Kraft Singles will join the other. How does this create value? Both Heinz ketchup and Kraft Singles are mature, stable brands.
Keep an eye on Kraft Heinz and watch how Steve Cahillane navigates things.
67
If there is a phrase of the moment, it is 67. The catchy, popular 67 fits today’s environment. How are things going? I’m feeling 67. What’s ahead for the economy? Sort of 67. How is 2026 starting out? 67?
While 67 fits the moment, I predict it will quickly fade away. People have short attention spans and quickly get bored. There is a fine line between being trendy and being old. At the end of 2026 people will have a new phrase.
Pete Buttigieg
This might be the year when Pete Buttigieg emerges as a front-runner for the presidency.
At the moment, the next presidential race seems to be a battle between the combo of Donald Trump and JD Vance, and California’s Gavin Newsome. Both sides have embraced a competitive, sarcastic, negative tone.
Some thought Donald Trump was unique in his abrasive comments. This was incorrect: Newsome has adopted the same style.
Buttigieg has a different approach. He is direct but thoughtful. He is willing to call people out and disagree, but he does so in a respectful manner. He seeks the good. He doesn’t mock, attack or denigrate his opponents.
Buttigieg is making the right moves. He generates lots of content. He is out on social media. He is holding town halls. This is all important groundwork.
It might be that Buttigieg’s approach can’t work in our abrasive world. I predict (and hope) this isn’t the case.
Generative AI
Marketing strategy is soon going to become important in the world of Generative AI. There are now multiple platforms competing in the market: Chat GPT, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot…the list goes on. All of the companies are growing and investing.
The problem is simple. Where is the money? Who will pay for these products?
To capture value, differentiation will be critical. And that means marketing strategy will become important.
The platforms can’t all be good at everything. In a world like that, price will dominate – and that destroys margins.
In 2026, look for firms to make some choices. How is one platform different than the next? Why should someone believe that difference?
If firms can’t differentiate, look for people to start asking questions about the economics behind generative AI. Given the valuations, these will not be happy questions.
Movies
The movie business has been struggling, and I anticipate this will continue in 2026. Ticket sales in 2025 were about 780 million, sharply lower than 2019’s 1.2 billion.
There are two key factors driving down the business. The first factor is streaming. It is easy to watch shows and movies through streaming platforms. Why go to the theater?
The second, bigger problem is that the movie-going experience is tired. I went a few weeks ago. The first thirty minutes were just a collection of preview and commercials. Who wants to pay to watch commercials? The snacks were expensive. The theater felt old. The ticket price seemed high, but I suspect this was only because the experience was weak.
And then the movie was available on Netflix a few weeks later.
The only way to get people going to movies is to deliver a special, unique experience. Without that, streaming platforms will continue to grow and the days of going to the movies will more and more fade into the past.
Zohran Mamdani
All eyes are on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a declared socialist who calls on people to embrace the warm idea of collectivism.
The question? What happens now? Will Mamdani succeed?
The branding question here is a little different: will Mamdani appear to succeed?
Branding is all about perceptions. Whether Mamdani’s policies lead to favorable outcomes is an interesting question, though largely irrelevant in terms of branding.
The bigger question. What will people see? What perceptions will they form?
Mamdani desperately wants to see wins. He is a savvy brand builder, so look for him to declare victory on many fronts: new affordable housing here, new development there, free child-care and free buses.
His opponents want to create the opposite impression. Look for them to highlight crime, fraud, homelessness and all the rest.
This is marketing battle of the first degree. I suspect Mamdani might do better than we expect at shaping perceptions. Remember, this is a fellow who went swimming on New Year’s Day to reinforce the idea that he was going to freeze your rent. He knows how to work social media and build a brand.
All the best for the new year.
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