The new year has brought fresh momentum, and 2026 looks set to reward brands that create real value in exchange for attention.
As part of our annual Three Trends series, we asked industry leaders to share their key takeaways.
Next, we speak to Miki Sim, Platforms & Culture Director at VaynerMedia APAC.
Miki explores the rise of social shows as brands compete in the interest graph era, the strategic return to analog experiences as fuel for scalable online impact, and Asia’s growing cultural influence on the global stage.
Looking Ahead:
What are three trends to look for in the coming year?
1. Entertainment becomes the brand.
This year, more brands will move beyond social trends and into social shows.
Over the past few years, organic social has delivered outsized returns for companies investing in brand-building. The shift to the Interest Graph has enabled both brands and creators to distribute content without first building massive follower bases.
But as the supply of content continues to explode, attention has become harder to earn. To compete, brands must increase the value they offer in exchange for time.
2025 sits at the intersection of fun and fear. And it’s only the beginning.
One of the most effective ways to do this is through social shows: short, episodic video series made for social platforms. These don’t require blockbuster production budgets or scripted micro-dramas. What matters is a repeatable format with a clear point-of-view—something that hooks audiences and gives them a reason to come back, episode after episode.
2. The return to analog is real and strategic.
The swing back toward the physical world will accelerate into 2026 as an antidote to widespread digital fatigue. From coffee raves and digital detoxes to the nostalgic pull of 2016, offline is cool again.
Brands are already leaning in. We’ve seen experiential activations like Coach Bar and Squid Game-inspired events from Netflix. Even luxury fashion houses are experimenting with tactile play, like Miu Miu releasing a board game with UNO.
The swing back toward the physical world will accelerate into 2026 as an antidote to widespread digital fatigue.
But brands that stop at “offline-only” are missing the bigger opportunity. The real leverage comes from using physical experiences to create scarcity and then translating that into social content. Take Peggy Gou’s coffee rave in Paris: a small, intimate event capped at possibly 100 people, yet its owned and earned content traveled globally at massive scale. Offline is the spark; online becomes the amplifier.
3. Asia’s cultural gravity continues to rise.
In 2026, more pockets of Asian culture will assert themselves on the global stage. Last year, Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle proved the anime’s box office power worldwide. On social, trends like #Chinamaxxing reflect young Americans experimenting with Chinese lifestyle habits, from drinking hot water in the morning to adopting traditional Chinese herbs.
Meanwhile, Thai pop culture is quietly building global prestige. As its perceived cultural value rises, we’re seeing Thai talents step into the luxury stage: Lingling Kwong fronting campaigns for Calvin Klein and Dior, and Nychaa becoming the first-ever Thai ambassador for Michael Kors. The cultural center of gravity is shifting to Asia.
Looking Back:
Favorite or least favorite trend of 2025:
“AI Slop” is both my favourite and least favourite trend of 2025.
Generative AI has radically lowered the cost of production, making it easier than ever to create content at scale. But when creation becomes frictionless, intention often disappears. The result is what the Internet has started calling AI Slop: content that’s fast, hollow, and meaningless.
We’ve already seen brands fall into this trap. A handful of AI-led campaigns were quickly labeled “AI Slop” by audiences. Because they felt lazy.
At the same time, this same collapse in production cost is unlocking entirely new creative behaviour. A new class of AI-native creators is emerging: people who understand that volume, speed, and diversity are the medium. Accounts like Explainy Things use AI to flood organic with high-volume content, allowing ideas to spread like wildfire through repetition rather than polish. In this context, what looks like slop is also… kind of genius.
This is the paradox of AI creativity: the same tools that produce meaningless noise can also enable strange yet prolific work. Slop and brilliance can sit uncomfortably close to each other.
AI doesn’t kill creativity. It destabilizes it. And in that instability, new forms—messy, excessive, occasionally profound—are already taking shape.
If you could sum up 2025 in one emoji:
👾
We used to log on. Now we’re always in.
AI became our therapists, the friend we text at 3 a.m., and our always-on personal editor. We used generative AI to imagine perfect partners, turn ourselves into toy figures, and explore the most exaggerated versions of who we could be. 2025 sits at the intersection of fun and fear. And it’s only the beginning.
What was your 2025 New Year’s Resolution, and did you keep it?
My theme for 2025 was “balance”, and I spent the year trying to live up to it while navigating a full-scale home renovation project. In social lingo, it became my personality. But beyond the chaos, it was deeply fulfilling to work on this creative project that is completely detached from marketing or advertising. Something entirely my own. With the major work now behind me, I’m stepping into 2026 lighter, clearer, and ready for what’s next.
