Running a small business means juggling a thousand things, and keeping up with marketing changes can feel like yet another moving target. The good news? After speaking to VistaPrint Marketing experts, we’ve learnt that the biggest offline and digital marketing trends in 2026 are less about chasing shiny objects and more about practical ways to stand out and connect with people.
This year’s top marketing trends range from cheeky stunts and quirky collabs to long-form storytelling and playful uses of AI. Some live on TikTok or YouTube, others in your shop window or a local street corner—but all share one thing: they’re designed to make customers stop, notice and remember you.
In this article, you’ll find the standout marketing trends for the coming year, why they matter and specific ways your business can use them to attract more customers (regardless of your marketing budget).
What are the top marketing trends for 2026?
Small businesses don’t need to chase every fad, but knowing where marketing is headed helps you spot the opportunities worth trying. The 2026 marketing trends are all about breaking patterns, cutting through noise and showing more personality—whether online or in person.
Here’s what’s shaping the year ahead:
- Mischief Marketing—cheeky stunts that disrupt routines and spark conversation
- Show Your Receipts—radical transparency, backing claims with proof
- Radical Self-Awareness—leaning into flaws and clichés to disarm skepticism
- Reactive Absurdism—fast, unpredictable drops that create cultural moments
- Long-Form Influencer Marketing—slower storytelling through YouTube, podcasts and newsletters
- Odd Couple Collabs—surprising partnerships that feel buzzy and collectible
- Unexpected AI—using AI as a playful tool to co-create and personalize experiences
Need more ideas? Take a look at last year’s marketing trends. Or view our entire collection of articles that explore marketing ideas and trends for small businesses.
1. Mischief Marketing
One of the top marketing trends opening our 2026 list is Mischief Marketing—the art of pulling cheeky, real-world stunts designed to jolt people out of routine and get them talking. It’s playful, irreverent and engineered to create stories that spread faster than any sponsored ad. The appeal is obvious: after years of scrolling through polished campaigns, audiences are hungry for moments that feel surprising, tactile and human.
For small businesses, that’s an opening. A clever stunt can command attention on the street, then multiply its impact across social feeds without the cost of a big ad buy.
Plenty of brands are already leaning into this energy. In London, DREAMIES filled streets with giant fiberglass cats scaling billboards to claw at oversized packs of treats, a hilarious exaggeration of what every cat owner already knows.
Source: An out-of-home marketing campaign by the adam&eveDDB agency via Creative Salon
In New York, personal care brand Billie invited passersby to scratch and sniff armpit-shaped posters, a stunt so weird and on-brand that people couldn’t resist sharing it online.
Even McDonald’s got a boost from the fan-made “GamiFries” accessory—a 3D-printed add-on for the Nintendo Switch 2 that lets gamers clip a box of fries to their console.
None of these ideas relied on flashy budgets. They worked because they disrupted daily life in ways that were fun, visual, tactile and instantly shareable.
For small businesses, Mischief Marketing doesn’t mean renting a Times Square billboard or sculpting a hundred cats. Start where your audience already is—a community park, a busy café strip, the Saturday market. Keep it simple and visual.
Here are some practical ways to make it work:
- Play with scale. Build an oversized version of your product out of cardboard or foam and place it in a high-traffic area. People love snapping photos with giant props.
- Add a playful twist to the everyday. Think of your product in an unexpected setting—like coffee coupons on parking meters or miniature versions of your product hidden around town as a scavenger hunt.
- Make it interactive. Create a wall where passersby can peel off coupons, scratch to reveal hidden jokes or scan a QR code that unlocks a one-day special.
- Exaggerate the benefit. Use humor to dramatize what your product delivers, like a locksmith staging a “giant fake lock” installation or a bakery building a comically large croissant for their shop window.
- Document the stunt: Line up a team member (or friendly creator) to film reactions and post short clips to TikTok, Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts. The amplification is where small budgets get big returns.
Use ethical sticker bombing as a quick entry point. Drop witty branded stickers where they’re welcome—packaging, partner shops or community boards—and add a QR code for a surprise. Use eco-friendly paper or biodegradable stock to achieve mischief without the mess.
2. Show Your Receipts
If Mischief Marketing is about grabbing attention with cheeky stunts, Show Your Receipts shifts the focus to what happens once you have that attention: proving you deserve it. Among the digital marketing trends for 2026, none is hitting harder than brands being radically transparent about what they stand for, how they operate and whether their promises hold up under scrutiny. Consumers don’t just want to be entertained—they want proof.
The demand for receipts isn’t coming out of nowhere. According to Euromonitor International’s 2025 consumer trends report, people are tired of making sacrifices in their daily lives, while corporate sustainability efforts often fall flat. Governments are tightening the screws, too—the EU is rolling out a Green Claims Directive to fine companies that can’t back up their eco-marketing, while the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is revising its “Green Guides” to crack down on misleading environmental claims. In short, the era of vague commitments and rainbow-washing is over.
Some companies are already putting the Show Your Receipts 2026 marketing trend into practice.
Patagonia, a longtime champion of climate action, took its commitment further with the “Earth is now our only shareholder” announcement. The company shifted 100% of its voting stock to the Patagonia Purpose Trust, ensuring its values are legally protected, and gave 100% of its nonvoting stock to the Holdfast Collective, a nonprofit fighting the climate crisis. Each year, profits not reinvested in the business are now distributed as dividends to support environmental work.
To underline this transparency, Patagonia created an entire website, Patagonia Works, that openly explains the structure, the funding flow and the mission, turning its governance model into a public receipt. The brand also actively shares its sustainability initiatives on social media, including its Instagram page.
Source: Patagonia regularly updates consumers about its sustainability initiatives via Patagonia Works
Bobbie, the mom-founded formula brand, followed a similar path with its “TakeOurLeave” campaign. It introduced a 12-month parental leave policy—almost unheard of for a U.S. startup—and then published the full details so other businesses could adopt it.
By open-sourcing the policy, Bobbie shifted the conversation from internal perks to systemic change, showing how even a small brand can set new expectations for workplace culture.
Source: Bobbie open-sourced their TakeOurLeave policy and reflected on this in a press release via Bobbie
For small businesses, Show Your Receipts doesn’t require million-dollar initiatives. You can put this marketing trend to work by:
- Document your process. Share behind-the-scenes posts that reveal how your products are made or sourced.
- Back up claims. Link directly to certifications, supplier credentials or lab results to prove what you say.
- Own your setbacks. If something goes wrong, explain what happened and what you’re doing to fix it.
- Report outcomes. Keep a visible tally of donations, hours volunteered or resources saved and update it regularly.
- Build content from proof. Turn receipts into blog posts, short videos or newsletters that showcase your impact in action.
3. Radical Self-Awareness
In the last 2026 marketing trend, we talked about owning setbacks—explaining what happened and how you’re fixing it. Radical Self-Awareness takes that instinct further, turning slip-ups, clichés and even your own marketing playbook into the campaign itself. It’s anticorporate by design: self-deprecating, unpolished and comfortable with showing the cracks.
The appeal lies in how it effectively disarms skepticism. People are quick to tune out polished ads, but a brand that pokes fun at itself feels confident and honest. On platforms like TikTok, Reddit and even LinkedIn, this kind of raw humor often outperforms traditional campaigns because it feels real.
Big names have already tested the approach. Some of the strongest examples come from Liquid Death, a brand that has practically made Radical Self-Awareness its identity. Their “Greatest Hates” campaign turned vicious online comments into an actual heavy metal album, with tracks like Fire Your Marketing Guy and Get Slaughtered on Shark Tank. Instead of ignoring criticism, the brand put it on vinyl and Spotify, making haters part of the show.
In another campaign, Liquid Death mocked decades of soda advertising clichés, like perfect athletes claiming to chug sugar every day, models promoting super high-calorie sodas or the idea that sadness can be cured with corn syrup. The punchline? Pointing out the absurdity of those tropes while positioning their flavored sparkling water as the anti-soda. These stunts worked because they didn’t shy away from industry ridicule. Instead, they embraced it and flipped it into loyalty-building content.
The approach works outside of food retail, too. Samsung leaned into chatter about the number of lenses on its phones with “The Spider and the Window,” a short film about a lovesick spider drawn to a Galaxy device. Rather than glossing over the design detail, the ad made it part of a charming, award-winning story.
Similarly, Monzo Bank cut through financial stiffness with a tongue-in-cheek LinkedIn post asking if adults could get school-style summer holidays.
Source: Monzo Bank social media post via LinkedIn
As a small business, you’re free to follow in Liquid Death’s footsteps and make Radical Self-Awareness the core of your identity. But the strength of this trend is that it also works in smaller doses, letting you lean into the playful side of your brand personality—so long as it feels authentic. That’s why it ranks high among the digital marketing trends for 2026: you don’t need to overhaul everything to benefit, borrowing a few tactics is enough to spark attention without straying from who you are.
- Flip complaints into content. Turn a recurring gripe into a playful post or video that shows you’re listening.
- Parody industry tropes. Call out tired slogans or gimmicks in your niche with a lighthearted twist.
- Show imperfections. Share bloopers, packaging errors or behind-the-scenes oopsies to highlight your human side.
- Use comments creatively. Engage in witty exchanges with followers and let those conversations shape your brand voice.
As one of the top digital marketing trends, Radical Self-Awareness gives small businesses the freedom to experiment. Whether you commit fully or test it in small ways, it builds trust and shows customers you don’t take yourself too seriously.
4. Reactive Absurdism
Where the Radical Self-Awareness 2026 marketing trend leans on planned campaigns that poke fun at clichés, Reactive Absurdism pushes things into stranger, faster territory. It shares Mischief Marketing’s love of breaking patterns—except this time, the stage is often digital, and everything happens in bursts. Campaigns arrive out of nowhere, bend logic and vanish just as quickly, with their impact hinging on speed. The result is cultural moments that feel alive, not manufactured.
Its momentum in 2026 comes from a mix of culture and code. Social platforms push content that’s immediate, while audiences reward the novelty of something unexpected in their feeds. For small businesses, the strength lies in accessibility: a quirky, topical idea can generate outsized attention without the need for deep pockets or months of planning.
MSCHF’s Our Cow Angus turned absurdity into a moral test. Buyers could pre-order products made from a live cow—burgers, bags, even tokens tied to his fate—with the twist that enough cancellations could save Angus from slaughter. The project blurred art, commerce and ethics, pulling people into a conversation that was as much about values as it was about the brand’s notoriety.
Source: MSCHF publishes campaign updates via Our Cow Angus
“In a world full of polished marketing, small businesses have an edge because they move fast, embrace risk and think outside of the box. Reactive absurdism isn’t just a trend. It’s a way for small businesses to own cultural moments, lead conversations and showcase creativity (and brand) with products, content or campaigns that cut through the clutter.”— Erin Shea, Sr. Director, NA Go To Market and Performance, VistaPrint
Nutter Butter’s Nutterverse tapped into TikTok’s taste for the surreal. Rather than a traditional relaunch, the brand built a bizarre alternate universe filled with lo-fi graphics, analog-horror aesthetics and cryptic storytelling. The brilliance was in letting the community drive the narrative, weaving fan theories into future posts and keeping people hooked for the next drop of absurdity. As a result, a forgotten cookie brand suddenly felt like a cult phenomenon among Gen Z, with 249M+ earned views, 20K+ earned posts and 15M+ earned engagements.
Finally, Rewind’s battery-flavored snack leaned on parody and shock value. Promoted as a limited-run product, it played with the line between joke and reality, forcing people to question whether it was genuine. That uncertainty created buzz, proving that even a ridiculous concept can spark chatter if it feels unexpected enough.
Source: Rewind promoted an unusual snack via Rewind
These campaigns worked not because they made sense but because they didn’t. For small businesses, Reactive Absurdism doesn’t need to be a constant brand identity. It can be a repeatable tactic:
- Ride cultural waves fast. Spot a trending topic and launch a playful, offbeat take within hours, not weeks.
- Drop surreal limited runs. Release tongue-in-cheek “products”—think candles that smell like printer ink or tote bags labeled World’s Worst Tote.
- Experiment offline too. Try small stunts like labeling everyday objects in your shop with wild claims, then post the reactions online.
The easiest entry point is social media. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram thrive on speed and surprise, making them perfect testing grounds for quick, absurd drops that can ripple into culture.
5. Long-Form Influencer Marketing
The blitz-speed Absurdism trend thrives on TikTok and Instagram, where short-form reigns. But after years of being flooded with quick clips, audiences are swinging the other way. Many are hungry for depth, eager to repair dwindling attention spans and turning to creators who can hold that attention for twenty minutes not twenty seconds. It’s a shift that underlies one of the biggest digital marketing trends in 2026: Long-Form Influencer Marketing.
This trend swaps snackable content for immersive storytelling. On YouTube, Substack and podcasts, algorithms now reward creators who keep people engaged longer, and audiences are showing up for it. So, businesses are rediscovering the power of longer formats to build loyalty.
- YouTube makes space for in-depth tutorials and storytelling that keep viewers engaged far beyond the typical ad.
- Podcasts give brands a way to speak directly to audiences week after week, building trust through repetition and voice.
- Substack and similar newsletter platforms revive the blogging model, where detailed articles land straight in inboxes and see open rates of 40–70%, far higher than standard marketing emails.
Fashion and lifestyle brands have already taken notice. For instance, Ciao Lucia has seen up to 10% of sales driven by mentions in long-form newsletters like The Cereal Aisle by Leandra Medine and 5 Things You Should Buy by Becky Malinsky.
LA-based womenswear label, Almina Concept, saw products sell out after small Substack shoutouts—proof that influence doesn’t just hinge on subscriber numbers but also on trust.
Source: A fashion influencer article by Liv Perez via Substack
Even Free People has begun experimenting, sponsoring creators like Emily Sundberg’s Feed Me newsletter, where affiliate links and authentic storytelling are translated into real conversions.
Source: Brands now collaborate with Substack influencers to sponsor their newsletters; Emily Sundberg via Substack
Behind a paywall or in an inbox, creators can be candid and thoughtful in ways that Instagram captions and TikToks can’t support. The format rewards honesty, expertise and storytelling—qualities that audiences are actively seeking as they grow weary of disposable content.
For small businesses, the Long-Form Influencer Marketing trend opens up plenty of practical opportunities:
- Work with niche newsletter writers. Sponsor or pitch your product to Substack creators whose readers trust their recommendations.
- Collaborate with YouTubers. Partner on tutorials, reviews or “day in the life” videos that naturally showcase your product.
- Explore podcast partnerships. Sponsor episodes, send products for discussion or guest on shows in your niche.
- Feature in long-form roundups. Aim for inclusion in curated lists or essays where your brand fits the theme.
- Start your own channel. Launch a branded podcast, YouTube series or newsletter to share expertise and customer stories directly.
The key to tapping into the Long-Form Influencer Marketing trend successfully is alignment. Choose creators whose audience overlaps with yours and let them integrate your brand in ways that feel authentic.
6. Odd Couple Collabs
Up until now, we’ve talked about collaborating with influencers, but partnerships in 2026 won’t stop there. One of the top 2026 digital marketing trends gaining steam is Odd Couple Collabs: unexpected brand pairings that make people pause, laugh and share. The stranger the mash-up, the bigger the buzz.
These collaborations thrive on surprise. For instance, Dove joined forces with Crumbl Cookie for dessert-inspired body scrubs and moisturizers that had shoppers rushing to Walmart. The social-first campaign generated 3.2 billion impressions, and more than half the buyers were new to Dove—proof that a quirky collaborative stunt can double as a serious acquisition play.
Source: Products from the Crumbl x Dove collaboration via Unilever
Oscar Mayer found a similar sweet spot with its bologna sheet masks. Inspired by the childhood habit of biting eyeholes into slices of lunch meat, the brand worked with Korean skincare company Seoul Mamas to release hydrating hydrogel masks designed to look like cold cuts. The limited drop sold out on Amazon almost instantly, while headlines spread globally.
“Collaboration isn’t about fitting in, it’s about standing out. Partnering with a different, yet like-minded, brand lets you combine strengths and create something unique. Together, you grab attention, surprise your customers, and build a stronger community. Don’t lose sight of who you are, but don’t be afraid to build a connection that gets people talking, either.”— Erin Shea, Sr. Director, NA Go To Market and Performance, VistaPrint
Source: Oscar Mayer x Seoul Mamas bologna sheet masks via Business Wire
And Crocs, never shy of quirky partnerships, teamed up with Duolingo to stamp the green owl onto clogs—complete with custom Jibbitz charms.
Source: Shoes from the Crocs x Duolingo collaboration via Hypebeast
Each of these pairings worked because they felt unlikely yet perfectly timed, turning limited-edition products into cultural talking points.
Although the products of Odd Couple Collabs from big brands were, well, literal products, this 2026 marketing trend doesn’t have to be. A collaboration can just as easily be content—a joint social post, a blog written together or a playful video series.
And it doesn’t have to stay online. Partner with another business in your community to create something unexpected in-store or on the street. The trick is to make the pairing odd enough to spark conversation, yet logical enough that people nod once they see it:
- Partner outside your lane. Team up with a business in a completely different category to generate surprise.
- Drop limited runs. Create short-lived products that encourage urgency and collectability.
- Play with nostalgia. Lean into retro flavors, formats or rituals your audience remembers fondly.
- Use humor as glue. Let the collaboration tell a joke people want to pass along.
- Create shareable merch. Think packaging, stickers or freebies customers will want to show off.
- Leverage local press. Pitch your odd pairing to community outlets—quirky partnerships make for easy, buzzworthy stories.
To create more social buzz around your unexpected brand collaborations, launch a hashtag or TikTok trend that encourages your audiences to share it in creative ways.
7. Unexpected AI
Few technologies have advanced as fast—or divided opinion as sharply—as artificial intelligence. In 2026, it’s no longer tucked away in ad optimizations or headline generators. Instead, it’s becoming a creative tool in its own right, giving marketers the ability to spin up campaigns that feel interactive, personal and fast-moving. The beauty is that you don’t need to be an engineer to make it work. Easy-to-use platforms are lowering the barrier, making AI less about code and more about creativity.
Source: Customers can generate songs with AI using Radio Optimism via LG
LG’s Radio Optimism campaign showed how powerful that shift can be. Instead of presenting AI as a replacement for artists, LG used it to help people create personalized songs for friends and family. Users typed in names, picked a genre, added a message and within minutes received a track and cover art to share.
The campaign aligned with LG’s “Life’s Good” mantra, sparked conversation in English and Spanish markets and turned digital tools into something that built human connection. It worked because it felt joyful and collaborative—not cold or corporate.
That distinction matters.
Consumers are split on AI: some are excited by its potential, others deeply skeptical. Brands that treat it as a gimmick or lean on it to replace human creativity risk backlash.
The smarter approach is to treat AI as a creative partner—a tool that helps audiences express themselves, personalize experiences and interact with your brand in ways that wouldn’t be possible otherwise. Used this way, AI can build stronger connections and add a sense of play to campaigns.
And just as with the Show Your Receipts and Radical Self-Awareness trends, transparency matters. If AI is part of the process, say so. Being upfront turns potential skepticism into trust.
For small businesses, the applications are both realistic and affordable:
- Interactive content. Let customers design AI-powered postcards, stickers or packaging on your site.
- Personalized add-ons. Offer AI-generated poems, playlists or digital art as small extras with purchases.
- Social engagement. Launch a challenge where followers co-create content with an AI tool, then feature the standouts.
- Live activations: Set up an event kiosk where visitors create AI-generated keepsakes they can take home.
The key is tone and transparency. Make it clear how AI is used, keep the focus on people and frame the technology as a spark for creativity.
Tap into offline and digital marketing trends in 2026
The trends for 2026 all point in the same direction: brands that stand out are the ones breaking patterns. Whether it’s cheeky Mischief Marketing stunts in the street, surreal Reactive Absurdism drops on TikTok or Odd Couple Collabs that no one saw coming, the goal is the same—stop people mid-scroll or mid-walk with something they didn’t expect. In a world of polished sameness, surprise is currency.
But surprise on its own isn’t enough. To cut through the noise and stay memorable, businesses need to back up the buzz with proof. Show Your Receipts made clear that customers expect evidence of your claims, whether that’s certifications, behind-the-scenes posts or data on your impact. In the same way, Radical Self-Awareness shows that even mistakes can be turned into moments of trust if you own them openly. The lesson is consistency: every bold move should still connect back to who you are and what you stand for.
For small businesses, the takeaway is practical. You don’t need a global campaign to tap into the top marketing trends in 2026. A transparent blog post, a playful collab with a local shop, a podcast chat about your process or a limited-time product twist can all make an impact. The key is balance: bold enough to disrupt patterns, but consistent enough to stay on-brand.
And you don’t have to go all-in on every trend. Borrow the parts that fit, mix and match and execute at a scale that works for you. Just make sure your ideas are backed by solid planning and quality marketing materials— both print and digital—so they land the way you intend.
