“Rage bait” was Oxford’s 2025 Word of the Year. Merriam-Webster followed close behind with “slop.” That alone tells you everything you need to know about the marketing climate heading into 2026.
We’re operating in a world of hyper-connected consumers, nonstop culture-war landmines, and economic uncertainty where moving fast is mandatory (“use AI!”), but one wrong move can turn a campaign into a brand crisis overnight.
That doesn’t mean you can’t take creative swings or make bold marketing strategies. But it does mean leaning into solid data, not gut feeling.
To help you navigate, we’ve distilled our SurveyMonkey Trends 2026 findings into three critical investments for marketers. Based on millions of surveys and original research, here’s what you need to know to rise above rapid change and bet on your brand.
Turn brand insights into brand armor
From the Cracker Barrel logo refresh to that firestorm American Eagle campaign, last year reinforced how brand perception can swing overnight.
Judging by their research habits, marketers were feeling the heat. Brand-related template use increased year over year in 2025¹, including Brand Attributes (167%), Brand Tracking (75%) and Campaign Awareness (33%).
We expect that emphasis on brand strength and market research to continue.
In 2026, it’ll pay to track your overall brand health, keep an eye on campaigns, and double-check whether your ideas click with consumers. In fact, in a recent episode of the popular Marketing Brew podcast titled “Is Ragebait a Viable Marketing Strategy?”, host Katie Hicks advised listeners: “One of the most important things is having people with different perspectives evaluating a brand campaign at the outset and asking, ‘What interpretations have we not considered?’”
Priority moves:
- Keep up with perception: Regularly monitor your brand perception, so you have a baseline of sentiment and can catch shifts before they become viral crises.
- Test everything: Run ad tests, messaging tests, and logo tests to ensure your ideas resonate with your specific audience.
- Gauge campaign impact: Use our Brand Personality survey template to see if your campaigns changed consumers’ perception of your brand.
Tariff woes? Play the CX card.
Tariffs and supply chain disruptions are a top concern for 38% of business leaders in 2026². Since "tariffs" was the fastest-growing research topic on our platform last year¹—up 923%—it’s clear that smart teams are aiming to reduce risk with proactive strategies.
Your best defense against tariff uncertainty and shifting consumer spending is a superior experience. Our research found that 96% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a company with a reputation for good customer experience (CX) and 57% weigh price and CX equally when making a purchase. For marketers, this means it’s critical to do more showing and less telling when it comes to your brand’s CX rep.
Priority moves:
- Double-down on customer advocacy: Gather customer testimonials to capture the voice of your brand champions and create content that spotlights their 5-star experiences.
- Highlight value: Sift through your customer satisfaction data to understand which features or service perks are especially popular, then promote them across your channels.
- Do your pricing research: Pay close attention to price-for-value data from your brand tracking surveys. Use pricing optimization studies to find exactly how much you can raise prices before customers switch to a competitor. If you do have to raise prices, these insights will help you make smart decisions and craft the right messaging.
Fuel event FOMO
From seminars to industry conferences, a full 70% of full-time workers attended a work-related event within the last year. About three quarters (76%) of them experienced event fatigue and nearly half (47%) attended at least one event they felt wasn't worth their time³.
It’s all too easy for an event to get labeled “cringe”. And a poorly-executed event is more than a budget drain, it’s a missed opportunity to build brand loyalty and an engaged customer base.
That’s why you need actionable event insights, not vanity metrics or simple high-level data. Staying agile means collecting feedback before, during, and after events on everything from event timing and organization to the speakers, topics, and relevance. Because you can’t optimize and continuously improve without feedback to guide the way.
Priority moves:
- Personalize the experience: Get more out of your registration forms by collecting info on attendee expectations so you can build tailored content.
- Embed feedback loops: Treat post-event surveys as the start of the next event experience, not the end of the conversation.
- Go granular: Don’t just measure high-level event satisfaction; use session-level feedback to improve events from the ground up.
The marketing takeaway
In 2026, brand success isn’t about reacting to the news cycle or economic shifts—it’s about using data-driven foresight to invest in clear strategies.
Ready to lead with confidence? Explore SurveyMonkey Trends 2026 for more insights and resources.
¹Template use percentages are based on template deployments, defined as any survey launched using a SurveyMonkey template that received at least 5 responses. Data compares the period of September 27, 2024-September 27, 2025 with September 27, 2023-September 26-2024.
²This SurveyMonkey study was conducted from October 14-17, 2025. We surveyed 523 adults, 18 and older, who live in the United States and currently work as a manager, director, or executive. The sample was balanced by age, race, gender, education, and region, according to the US Census.
³This SurveyMonkey study was conducted from November 4-5, 2025. We surveyed 555 adults, 18 and older, who live in the United States and are employed full-time. The sample was balanced by age, race, gender, education, and region, according to the US Census.
