Creativity is entering 2026 under pressure.
Sustainability challenges are growing, audiences are harder to reach, and charities and purpose-led businesses are having to rethink how they communicate impact in a world that’s more sceptical and more distracted. But pressure can also be where the best work happens. It forces us to rethink how we work, develop ideas that cut through the noise, and push for the kind of creativity that moves things forward.
So as we head into the new year, instead of making a trends predictions list, we asked our team what they hope to see this year: the shifts in design, storytelling, production and branding that would lead to better, more responsible creative work across our sector.
Here is what the world needs from creativity in 2026.
2026 will likely see even more pressure put on purpose-led businesses navigating growing sustainability challenges and tougher expectations. For creativity to actually help, we need clearer accountability, stronger collaboration and ideas that actually bring people into the story.
Alex - Client Services Director
"I want more agencies to hold their clients to account - pushing them to talk about their sustainability commitments while asking themselves if they should be working with certain clients who are not responsible businesses. Use our power as an industry to take a stand. It's our job to use creativity to make people take notice, let's not waste it."
Yumna - Senior Project Manager
"In what was a very challenging year across the world, I saw the intersections between the causes we champion and work on. My hope for 2026 is that we see more collaboration that brings our clients together in support of the values we all share for a more inclusive, ethical, and sustainable world."
Matt - Senior Designer
"In a world that feels more divisive and regressive than ever, it’s encouraging to see a positive shift in the creative industries toward more inclusive design practices. These practices include everything from tools like accessible typography to creative output that champions greater representation. My hope for 2026 is the continuing rise of inclusive design in creative work, which will help reach wider audiences and create a more lasting impact."
Brand strategy needs more bravery. With every organisation fighting for attention, actual differentiation will come from taking risks, telling sharper stories and stepping away from the familiar.
Lily - Associate Creative Director
"Purposeful brands and charities are sitting on golden eggs. Everyone needs to realise it. The stories, epic. The messages, powerful. The impact, real. Give these campaigns the same love as tech and trainers, and the creativity will be off the charts. Beyond geo-political unrest and factors out of our control, what's blocking it? Too big? Too complex? Too scary? Not to us. May 2026 be full of creative work that turns heads, minds, and tides. Or as we put it, creative work the world needs.
Sam - Design Lead
"I want designers to take more risks. It sounds simple but the world’s problems aren’t going to be solved by blindly following visual trends and watering down the creative pool. We’ll make work that actually works when we poke our heads above the parapet and challenge each other, our clients and the status quo a little more."
Georgia - Junior Designer
"In 2026, I hope for purpose-led creativity to be braver, more radical, and more willing to take political risks to really cut through. I’d like data-heavy impact reporting to become more accessible, engaging, and inspiring to real people, not just experts. I want to stop hearing that AI is going to take all our jobs and instead for it to be embraced as a creative tool, used ethically and transparently, not feared or used to replace real people."
As communication challenges get more complex, we need to lean into the human element even more than before - humour, craft and imperfect playfulness over algorithmic perfection.
Hayley - Senior Copywriter
"I want writing to get wierd…and imperfect. In an era when so many brands are increasingly sounding the same, I’ve come to understand that prioritising playfulness is the way forward when it comes to pleasing people, not algorithms. I know all too well how tempting it is to tie ourselves up in existential knots about why generative AI is bad (I think it is very bad). But, in 2026, I want purpose-driven copywriting to go beyond telling stories about action and rebellion; I want it to become a story of action and rebellion in and of itself."
Peter - Creative Director
"The world is seriously overwhelming right now, and I don't believe adding more doom to the scroll is the way we're going to move the dial on purpose and sustainability. So I'd love to see more light-heartedness and humour be the way we bring people into important issues in 2026."
Serafima - Film Director
"I hope that filmmakers still exist in 2026. ChatGPT can’t outthink a great copywriter, AI footage can’t touch what a talented DOP can capture, and no machine can deliver the emotional punch of a human voiceover."
All our hopes seemingly point in the same direction: action.
Whether it’s holding clients to higher standards, challenging visual trends, or embracing more honest storytelling, creativity moving the dial is our biggest hope for 2026.
Share similar hopes for creativity? Let’s talk…