The 2026 Marketing Playbook: Atlanta Leaders Share What’s Next

If there’s one thing marketers have learned over the past few years, it’s that the ground beneath us keeps shifting. But 2026 feels different. This isn’t a year of wholesale disruption. It’s a year of decisive action. The questions that have been swirling – how to operationalize AI, where discovery is heading, what role experiences should play, how to build trust in a skeptical world – are demanding not just answers but action.

We asked five senior marketing executives across Atlanta what’s shaping their strategies this year. What emerged was a strikingly unified vision, even across different industries. Here’s what they’re seeing, what they’re betting on, and what it means for the rest of us.

AI Gets a Real Job

The AI hype cycle may have peaked. Now comes the harder work: making it useful. According to Forrester, only about a third of employees feel confident adapting AI systems for work. With marketing being one of the professions at the forefront of AI adoption, that’s a gap marketing leaders are closing rapidly, moving AI from experimental toy to embedded teammate.

Jackie Choice, Senior Manager of Marketing at AJC Ads, puts it simply: “Casual use of Gen AI doesn’t feel like an advantage anymore. In 2026, the shift is embedding it consistently to improve speed, personalization, and decision-making without sacrificing brand judgment or quality.”

That sentiment is echoed across the board. At Truelio, AI is being deployed for real-time media optimization and predictive analytics. At G2, teams are moving from chatbots to automated workflows that boost productivity without replacing people. The common thread? AI is finally being treated as infrastructure, not innovation theater.

But as Patrick Blanchard, VP of Partner Solutions at Truelio, notes: “As AI accelerates execution, human judgment, taste, and strategic clarity become more, not less, valuable.” Smart teams are using AI for horizontal scale (breadth, variation, speed) while human talent goes vertical (strategy, creativity, emotional connection).

From SEO to AEO

Gartner predicts traditional search volume will drop 25% by 2026, thanks to GenAI solutions. Nearly 60% of Google searches already end without a click. The era of ten blue links is fading.

Enter AEO: Answer Engine Optimization. Palmer Houchins, VP of Marketing at G2, is betting big: “We are moving from an SEO era to an AEO one. We’re investing more into AEO, both in terms of content and measuring influence.” Success now means being cited as the trusted answer when someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity a question.

The implications are profound. Success in 2026 won’t be measured by traffic alone, but by whether AI systems recognize your brand as the authoritative source worth citing. That requires structured, answer-ready content, consistent entity information across your digital presence, and the kind of earned credibility that comes from third-party validation.

The Experience Economy Grows

In a world drowning in digital content, real-world experiences have become the ultimate differentiator. The experience category grew 10.5% last year to $128 billion, according to Ad Age. People are hungry for connection, and brands that deliver memorable moments are winning.

Keisha Taylor Starr, CMO of The E.W. Scripps Company, sees 2026 as a turning point: “This year will be the year of experience. The brands that win will be the ones creating experiences people actively seek out, turning marketing into an event audiences want to participate in.”

The Netflix House launch is the kind of example that shows where this is heading: brands moving beyond screens and scrolling to actively engage audiences in ways that drive culture. For marketing teams, this means thinking beyond impressions to impact.

And this isn’t just about B2C pop-ups and brand activations. It extends to B2B. Palmer Houchins notes G2 is investing heavily in in-person events – both large and intimate – because “you just can’t replicate the in-person experience.”

Authenticity and Integration

As AI floods the market with content, a countertrend is emerging. The brands that survive won’t be the ones that scream the loudest with AI-generated content but the ones that make people actually feel something.

Raj Choudhury, CEO of Alloy, frames this as an existential challenge: “Brands are losing their soul by over-indexing on efficiency. The winners won’t be those who scream the loudest with AI-generated content, but those who use story-driven purpose to weave a central narrative that actually makes people feel something.”

Choudhury also sees the traditional divide between brand building and performance marketing collapsing: “You can no longer afford to treat them as separate stages of a funnel. Storytelling must drive immediate action, and performance tactics must build long-term brand equity simultaneously.”

Jackie Choice echoes the trust imperative: “Audiences are more fragmented and skeptical, making credible environments, first-party data, and authentic partnerships far more valuable than raw reach.”

First-Party Data and Community for Growth

First-party data has become foundational. Even though Google has delayed its cookie deprecation timeline, Safari and Firefox already block third-party cookies and the privacy landscape keeps tightening. According to Digiday, 71% of publishers now recognize first-party data as a key source of positive advertising results, and 85% expect its importance to grow in 2026.

Patrick Blanchard calls this a strategic priority: “Building stronger relationships through reliable, privacy-forward data collection supports more accurate measurement and more meaningful personalization across channels.”

Meanwhile, Palmer Houchins sees community as a growth lever: “Branded communities, peer-to-peer advocacy, customer advisory boards: third-party voices carry disproportionate influence, especially in B2B purchase committees. Communities extend retention and advocacy.”

Team Evolution

All of these shifts require new capabilities, new mindsets, and new ways of working. Our contributors described teams that are upskilling on AI, breaking down channel silos, and building muscle in areas (like experiential marketing) that demand both strategic thinking and hands-on execution.

Raj Choudhury’s philosophy captures the direction: “Scale horizontally with software, scale vertically with human intellect.” AI handles the breadth; humans focus on strategy, problem-solving, and emotional connection.

Keisha Taylor Starr offers a concrete example of this evolution in action: “We have continued to broaden the expertise of our internal event marketing team to build not only B2B, but also B2C activations. We are also actively engaging external agencies to support our growth in this area.”

The Year Ahead: Decisive Action

The single theme across these conversations: 2026 rewards marketers who act decisively on what they already know. The trends aren’t new. The question is whether you’re moving from experimentation to execution.

• AI needs to become operational.
• Discovery is shifting from search to answer engines.
• Experiences matter more than impressions.
• Authenticity beats volume.
• First-party data is your foundation.
• Community builds loyalty and influence.

The marketers who build their strategies accordingly won’t just survive 2026, they’ll define it.

• • •

Thank you to our contributors: Patrick Blanchard (VP, Partner Solutions, Truelio), Jackie Choice (Senior Manager, Marketing, AJC Ads), Raj Choudhury (CEO, Alloy), Palmer Houchins (VP of Marketing, G2), and Keisha Taylor Starr (CMO, The E.W. Scripps Company).