Price-conscious consumers, avoiding distractions, and engaging the youth: The biggest challenges marketers are facing in 2026

A new year brings a fresh start and new challenges. And what marketer doesn’t like a challenge?

While some bumps in the road are unpredictable, others can be prepared for, so we asked CMOs and other top marketers from companies like Duolingo, Adobe, and American Eagle what they think will be their biggest obstacles in 2026. From AI disruptions to building for Gen Alpha, they’ve thought of it all. Here are some of their answers—and after that, be sure to check out what marketers are planning on prioritizing in the new year, AI and otherwise.

Communicating to price-conscious consumers

Greg Guidotti, CMO, Ferrara: Right now, the market is more volatile than it has been, with a lot of financial strain and uncertainty. While this is a macroeconomic challenge, our category (and our Ferrara brands) has an opportunity to provide small moments of joy and delight; to be that treat and that positive moment. We continue to keep that focus and understand what our consumers are going through every day, so we can play that positive emotional moment of joy.

Amy Martin Ziegenfuss, CMO, Carnival Cruise Line: Confidence and spending power continues to be challenged…People are spending more, but they’re getting less because they’re having to spend more on things like groceries and bills, utilities, etc., so it’s a challenging environment…How do we make sure that we’re positioning our offering as something that they shouldn’t put off, because fun is so integral to people’s happiness?…I do think that will be a challenge just given economic and geopolitical conditions.

Chris Brandt, chief brand officer, Chipotle: In an economic environment where cautious consumers are constantly hunting for discounts, we’ll need to clearly demonstrate the value and benefits of our highest-quality real food, prepared fresh every day and served in abundance at an affordable price.

Keeping the focus

Manu Orssaud, CMO, Duolingo: The hardest part will be focus. Culture is speeding up, and the volume of “reactable moments” keeps multiplying. But chasing everything is a trap.

Our job is to stay selective so the work feels sharp and true to our brand. We want to move quickly, but not at the expense of originality. Finding that balance is getting harder as the pace accelerates, but it’s also what makes the work exciting.

Sid Malhotra, VP of SMB, Snap: In everything that’s going around us right now as a human race, but also as a marketer, [the challenge] is to maintain focus on strong basics of marketing. Things like full-funnel measurement, things like safely integrating your data, things like looking at UGC content. Avoiding distractions, such as trying to fit that next amazing tool you just heard about in your stack…You do yourself a disservice, in my opinion, if you don’t understand where are your consumers and how you should be getting their attention before you start putting tools up on a shelf.

Purposeful partnerships

Craig Brommers, CMO, American Eagle: Our biggest marketing challenge may be saying “no.” Following our unprecedented marketing success in 2025, so many doors have been opened. But it’s important for us to remember that sponsorships, talent, and activations don’t define a brand—they amplify a brand. We aim to be aggressive and selective in our partnerships, so they reinforce the American Eagle story and our products.

Andy Rebhun, CMO and Chief Experience Officer, Cava: The biggest challenge—one shared across the industry—is breaking through the constant noise. Consumers are inundated with content every minute, and adding more noise isn’t the answer. That’s why discipline is so core to our approach at Cava. It guides when we take small, high-confidence swings versus going for the home run. This comes through especially in how we choose partners. We hold a high bar and only work with creators who truly reflect our ethos of bringing heart, health, and humanity to food. While that means being selective, it keeps our message authentic and our brand aligned. Cutting through the noise requires clarity, consistency, and conviction.

Balancing the branch-out

Irv Slobodskaya, director of brand marketing at Dr. Squatch: We’ve developed a bit of a reputation for the type of marketing we do, which is great. We love that people think of us as being a brand that is thought [of] and has a great sense of humor. I think for us, it’s now taking some swings in both directions. How do we continue to do that? And then, how do we also put more of a flag in the sand about the things that really matter to us, and more of a principled matter. The endemic core stuff that is, I think, a little bit richer to the DNA while still making you laugh. And I think that balance is going to become pretty important in the next chapter. So just bringing out more of the humanity along with the humor.

Keeping up with the kids

Kristyn Cook, CMO, State Farm: Building the foundation with Gen Alpha—patiently and purposefully. The entire brand economy has been focused on Gen Z. We’re looking at what’s next. This isn’t about selling right now; it’s about earning a place in the world of our future customers so when they’re ready, we already feel familiar and trusted.

But we can’t assume they are just a younger Gen Z. Gen Z grew up digital, and Gen Alpha is growing up algorithmic. They expect content to know them, adapt to them, and evolve with them in real time…So the challenge is really two-fold: build trust early on with moments and experiences they truly want, and also create a world where content is hyper-personal, participatory, and always evolving.

George Felix, CMO, Chili’s: We’ve seen a meaningful uptick in Gen Z visiting Chili’s over the past several quarters, and now the work is continuing to earn that loyalty. That means staying agile on social, taking smart creative risks, and making sure the in-restaurant experience lives up to the expectations set online. Momentum is powerful, but sustaining can be difficult—it requires discipline, clarity, and consistency across every touchpoint.

Navigating the speed of change

Mary Beech, chief growth officer, Thorne: How rapidly AI is transforming the way consumers discover, evaluate, and engage with brands. As AI-driven platforms continue to reshape search and information discovery, many companies will be forced to rethink their marketing playbooks, shifting resources away from traditional tactics like SEO toward more adaptive, AI-informed strategies.

Imri Marcus, CEO, Brandlight: We are entering a state—really we’re already in it, but it’s only going to accelerate—a state of constant change in the market. The evolution of these AI environments is so fast. A year ago, it wasn’t even on people’s radar that they need to market to AI environments. Now, everyone is talking about it…For us to be able to really be the best partners we can be and help our customers thrive in each of these new challenges, as this entire environment of AI as a marketing challenge continues to evolve, and to turn that into an opportunity rather than a challenge for them, that’s the race we're constantly in.

Josh Hackbarth, CMO, MGA Entertainment: There’s so many ways to create content now, particularly with the AI of it all. How do we create messages that really cut through and are memorable, not just from a marketing campaign perspective, but really attach themselves emotionally?…Cutting through the noise, as we’ve always said, that’s always been a problem in marketing. As attention spans get shorter, as the volume of content across all brands get more, [it’s about] how we are really focusing our messages to make sure it cuts through, essentially keeping up with the pace of culture, which is very fast every day, as I’m learning.

Dara Treseder, CMO, Autodesk: Our biggest challenge is also our biggest opportunity: leading through unprecedented change. The pace of AI adoption will accelerate even further in 2026, and marketers will have to move fast to keep up, which means we must upskill our teams so they’re equipped to lead. AI will also challenge us to deliver even better work. It will raise the floor by giving us more time and making us more effective, and it will raise the ceiling by expanding what’s creatively possible. But it will also raise the bar on expectations of excellence, and we need to rise to meet it. And finally, AI will open new ways to reach and serve customers—possibilities we couldn’t have imagined even a few years ago. But that opportunity comes with responsibility. We will need to fundamentally rethink how we market, how we create, how we measure impact, and how we show up.