The Next Era for CPG Brand 2026 Report

CPG brands were built to be close to people. They live in everyday routines, shape habits over time and earn their place through familiarity and trust.
Yet today, many of the world’s biggest consumer brands feel increasingly distant from the consumers they were designed for.

This is the central irony facing the sector. Despite unprecedented access to data, technology and innovation capability, brand building has become optimised for systems rather than lived experience, prioritising efficiency and scale over meaning and emotional relevance.

Our new report, 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗘𝗿𝗮 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗖𝗣𝗚 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀, outlines why growth will not come from incremental optimisation, but from re-centering brand building around the human and designing brands that feel intuitive, resonant and in tune with how people live today.

Inside the report, we explore four growth levers shaping relevance in a disrupted world:

- Scaling Closeness
- Breaking the Autopilot
- Turning Promise into Purchases
- Designing Living Icons

Read the full report to explore the insights, case studies and thinking shaping the future of CPG brand building.