By: Poonam Lakhani: Strategy Director, UM MENAT

The defining lesson of 2025 was not about media or platforms, but about product and the communities built around it.

Across markets, brands learned that attention could no longer compensate for weak or undifferentiated offerings. Content travelled fast, but audiences disengaged just as quickly when the experience did not live up to the promise. At the same time, trust shifted away from brand-led messaging toward peer validation. People relied less on what brands said in their marketing and more on what others in their space were actually experiencing and recommending.

This shift was accelerated by maturing audiences, converging formats, and a growing gap between promise and delivery. Marketing could spark curiosity, but belief increasingly came from community.

The strongest brands treated product as the foundation and community as the multiplier. In travel, Emirates continued to invest in experience and consistency, reinforcing trust through delivery rather than noise. In retail, IKEA benefited from decades of user-led advocacy built around usefulness and everyday problem solving. In beauty, Huda Beauty demonstrated how proximity to its audience and visible product iteration can turn customers into invested participants rather than passive consumers.

What stood out in 2025 was not who marketed best, but who listened best.

In 2026, growth will be driven by products that earn advocacy and communities that sustain momentum.

Media will not become less important, but its role will shift from persuasion to amplification. The most credible growth will come from users, creators, and operators who feel invested enough to speak on a brand’s behalf. Product excellence will be the entry point, but community engagement will be what compounds it.

Virality will still occur, but it will increasingly originate inside communities before spilling outward. In a market where audiences are informed, selective, and sceptical of polish, the brands that win will be those that build great products, invite people into the process, and let community do the talking.