By: Zeinab Elamrawy: Marketing Director EMEA, Subway

One Lesson from 2025 and One Grounded Bet on 2026

If 2025 taught me one clear lesson in marketing, it’s that attention—not technology, creativity, or budget—is the real constraint. For years, we relied on volume to make up for weak positioning: more content, more channels, more campaigns. In 2025, that stopped working. Audiences didn’t disengage; they became selective. The shift wasn’t driven by algorithms as much as by people protecting their time and focus.

The defining lesson of 2025 was that clarity beat scale. Brands that knew exactly who they were for, what they stood for, and why they existed cut through. Everyone else blended into noise. I saw campaigns with impressive reach but no lasting impact, while smaller, more focused efforts actually changed perception and behavior. That forced a reset in how I approach marketing. Instead of asking how fast we could grow something, the better question became whether it deserved to exist at all.

2025 also reframed trust. It stopped being a brand value and became a performance metric. Overpromising caught up with companies quickly. Messaging that drifted too far from product reality eroded credibility, not just conversion rates. 

Looking ahead, my grounded but bold prediction for 2026 is that marketing will move from persuasion to proof. People don’t want to be convinced anymore; they want to verify. Brands that show their work—how they think, build, decide, and improve—will win. Transparency, consistency, and product truth will matter more than clever narratives.

2026 won’t reward louder marketing. It will reward disciplined marketing—Local relevance, clearer positioning, and the confidence to commit to less, but do it better. Fewer, Bigger, Better !