As part of our whitepaper ‘The vision of 27 marketers and content creators for 2026’, we asked Creative Strategist Sofie Decoster for her vision for 2026 and two practical tips she would give to readers. You can read her response below.
Who is Sofie Decoster?
Sofie Decoster is a Creative Strategist with a particular fondness for brands that lead with their heart as much as with ambition. With a background that spans agency, consultancy and in-house roles, Sofie has built strategies and concepts for organisations across sectors, including Carrefour Belgium, KBC Bank Insurance, Securex and Sensoa.
Since 2023, Sofie has been working as a freelance Creative Strategist through The Social Supper, where she and her creative partner in crime Julie Fluyt help brands uncover their distinctive voice and translate it into meaningful, coherent communication.
Every year the industry declares a new big shift: AI will change everything and attention spans are shrinking. And while some of that is true, 2026 brings something deeper. A mood shift. A cultural swerve. A quiet rebellion against the hyper-optimized, over-polished, always-on digital life we created.
As a Creative Strategist, 2026 feels defined by a small set of shifts that are hard to ignore. People are craving escape. They’re gravitating toward content that feels human. And they’re reshaping what “social” means in social media. Together, they point to the same truth: people don’t just want brands to communicate, they want them to feel better.
After years of climate anxiety, rising costs, global instability, and doomscrolling-on-autopilot, consumers aren’t looking for more information, more performance, or more “please like/share/save” content.
They want out.
People are increasingly drawn to anything that offers a breather: small moments of joy, emotional lift or experiences that pull them out of the daily grind. It’s a rising ‘escape mindset’, a desire for content and experiences that let them step sideways from reality.
For brands, this opens up an opportunity to become a softer corner of the internet instead of another demand on people’s attention. What works? Surprisingly small things. Light-touch creativity. Soft humor. Imperfect human moments. Less grand spectacle, more low-key delight.
The most effective brand experiences won’t be the biggest. It will be the ones that make people exhale.
UGC has left the “cheap and cheerful” era far behind. It has become a serious creative force, one that now shapes how brands are built and how they stay relevant. A great example is Apple’s Shot on iPhone campaign: a years-long brand platform powered by the creativity of everyday users.
The reason for its success? People trust other people.
Smart marketers aren’t just using UGC, they’re designing concepts built for co-creation. Ideas with enough elasticity that people can add humor, emotion or personality to the concept without breaking it. Every version looks different, but the brand’s creative spine stays intact.
This is creativity that scales horizontally, with many voices, and one idea.
The big, glossy social feed once defined the internet. In 2026, people are choosing smaller circles instead. Quieter digital spaces where the tone shifts from performing to simply being. Group chats, niche Discord servers, hobby subcultures and Close Friends Instagram Stories are thriving. Consumers are moving into places that feel safer and more meaningful.
This doesn’t mean audiences are disappearing. They’re becoming increasingly selective. Instead of broadcasting to everyone, people prefer interacting with those who share their humor, habits or obsessions. They go where conversations feel genuine.
For marketers, this changes the game. Brands that show up in micro-communities, through niche creators, interest-based content or community-powered ideas, earn something scale alone can’t deliver: trust, connection and lasting loyalty.
Marketing in 2026 isn’t about being everywhere. It’s about being somewhere that feels good. Design moments of escape. Build platforms people can play with. Create spaces that feel breathable, not demanding.
Brands that embrace this softer, more human approach won’t just be liked, they’ll be chosen.
If 2026 has one clear message, it’s that people don’t need more noise. Instead, they need more room to breathe. So, don’t push harder, build work that softens the edges.
This might be a cliché, but always put quality before quantity. Instead of doing a weekly newsletter, send one edition that genuinely earns its spot in someone’s inbox. And rather than building a 20-slide deck, write the one-pager that actually sharpens your point. Keep campaigns equally focused: skip the pile-up of messages, features or visual cues, and choose the one thing you truly want people to take away.
The goal isn’t to impress people, it’s to give them a moment of relief in a hyper-demanding feed. Less “do something now” calls-to-action, more “stay here a moment.” It’s the simplest way to move from tolerated to trusted.
The era of polished, one-way content is fading. In 2026, the brightest marketers design ideas that can be picked up, remixed, personalized and played with, especially inside micro-communities.
Start with concepts that have elasticity: a clear creative spine with enough openness for people to add their own humor, perspective or identity without breaking the idea. That turns passive viewers into active contributors, and active contributors into advocates.
A running club making its training mantra open-source. A retailer turning customer hacks into a community playbook. A food brand letting home chefs reinterpret a core product through their own cultural lens.
Don’t ask yourself: “Will people watch this?” Ask: “Can people join this?”
Would you like to discover the other 26 marketers’ and content creators’ visions for 2026? Download the whitepaper here.
