By: Rich Rust: Global Head of Communications & Marketing, V.Group 

2025: Lesson – We’re all transformation specialists now

The single biggest lesson from 2025, for me, is that effective communicators are now always-on transformation specialists. Being “current” in change communications is no longer a niche skill,  it’s a core capability.

With a confluence of factors impacting Communications and Marketing teams simultaneously; geopolitical instability, economic pressure, technological advancement we’ve entered an era where we are expected not only to navigate change, but to prove commercial value and reputational impact in real time, against constantly shifting conditions.

It’s easy to talk about transformation in broad, aspirational terms. It’s much harder to operate in a way that genuinely adapts to adopting new technologies, systems and ways of working, while still delivering high-quality output and keeping teams motivated and engaged.

That tension will only intensify in 2026. AI, in particular, is no longer a future consideration; it’s a present-day capability shift. Whether you’re an in-house team looking at systemizing workflows and content development, or an agency re-defining its value proposition amid changing client expectations and budgets, the implications are profound and wide reaching.

For teams that have yet to fully grasp AI’s impact,  especially as it relates to search, discoverability and earned media, 2026 will represent a steep and unavoidable learning curve.

2026: Prediction – A fundamental rethink of where value is created

What this means, in practice, is a rethink of how capital, both economic and human, is deployed across the communications ecosystem.

Over the past year, I’ve heard growing discussion around “in-housing”. I see this less as a binary shift, and more as a re-allocation of value.

Done well, this should be positive for both in-house teams and agencies. A sharper focus on outcomes should mean agencies are engaged more deliberately – for higher-value, more strategic and creative work, rather than being absorbed by volume-driven “busy work” that so often serves to just frustrate everyone involved.

For in-house teams, it will demand a rapid sharpening of skills and accelerated capability-building. The reality ahead requires a deep understanding of how new tools, particularly AI-enabled ones,  can be deployed intelligently, ethically and at scale to drive reputational and commercial outcomes.

It will also continue to blur traditional boundaries between Communications and Marketing. In a world where attention is increasingly scarce and fragmented, integrated thinking and execution won’t be optional, they’ll be essential.