Every yr, the PR and communications business prepares for its annual ritual of daring forecasts: declarations of upcoming transformation, predictions of breakthrough applied sciences, and assured guarantees that the following twelve months will redefine the panorama of the occupation.
The narratives are often optimistic, forward-leaning, and typically assume that progress is linear.
Interestingly, Dr Karine Lohitnavy-Frick, founding father of Midas PR and chair of PRCA Thailand, gives a distinct perspective on the yr forward.
Indeed, her outlook is considerably frank and sincere: she expects a yr of inertia fairly than acceleration.
In the next piece, Lohitnavy-Frick explains her mindset and how completely different elements of the sector might evolve all through 2026.
Entering a plateau
I believe that the approaching yr won’t be outlined by dramatic disruption or groundbreaking innovation.
Instead, we are going to enter an period of stagnation with a gradual settling of the business right into a plateau throughout nearly each main dimension.
The most sensible prediction for 2026 is that professionals ought to higher put together for a panorama during which the absence of movement turns into the primary dominant pattern.
The first and maybe most seen type of stagnation is technological, seeing how synthetic intelligence has been the centrepiece of business conversations for numerous years.
But the hype cycle has peaked, and AI is getting routinely built-in into each day workflows. Its capabilities (in addition to its limitations) are extensively understood: AI excels at automating low-level duties, accelerating drafting, summarising data and producing infinite volumes of content material.
Yet everybody working with AI by now realises that it has additionally contributed to a flood of spinoff and superficial outputs often known as “PR slop.”
I might not count on AI to ship exponential breakthroughs in 2026; the know-how is coming into a part of small incremental refinement.
We will see fewer hallucinations and errors, however no revolutionary transformation.
Ethical debates and calls for human oversight will proceed, however these operate extra as stabilisers than catalysts.
Arrested growth
The media panorama displays an identical sample of arrested growth: after years of contraction, conventional newsrooms have adopted the footsteps of printed media and radio.
They have shrunk to what’s doubtless their minimal sustainable measurement and can’t realistically minimize extra with out risking structural collapse.
At the identical time, social platforms, which as soon as have been the engines of cultural evolution, have reached saturation.
User progress has slowed, codecs have homogenised throughout platforms, and behavioural patterns have stabilised.
No new disruptor has emerged able to reshaping how audiences have interaction with data, because the final actually transformative shift (TikTok and brief video format) occurred years in the past, and since then the ecosystem has settled right into a type of monotony.
Practitioners will proceed to depend on acquainted playbooks not due to an absence of creativeness, however as a result of the atmosphere itself is not providing new strategic floor.
Quo vadis, influencers?
Another area the place stagnation is turning into apparent is the influencer economic system.
Although the sector nonetheless grows in scale, it’s not evolving in substance: influencers proceed producing the identical codecs, utilizing the identical monetisation buildings, and working inside the identical behavioural patterns.
“Authenticity,” as soon as the poster baby of the creator economic system, has change into a components to fulfill the algorithm.
Even probably the most profitable influencers function inside an more and more predictable rhythm of name partnerships, affiliate promotions and curated private narratives.
The ecosystem nonetheless features successfully, however I don’t see a lot innovation there both.
This connects on to a broader stagnation shaping the communications area.
For all of the instruments and platforms out there, the artistic outputs of manufacturers and businesses really feel repurposed.
I see lots of acquainted story arcs, aesthetics, and narratives: content material throughout industries more and more echoes the identical templates with empowerment journeys, authenticity confessions, and heaps and a lot of nostalgia.
Even campaigns positioned as daring or boundary-breaking are inclined to recycle earlier ideas.
This shouldn’t be the issue of PR and company communication solely: our tradition is stagnating.
It has grown repetitive and risk-averse, formed by speedy backlash cycles, politicised discourse and intense public scrutiny.
As a end result, artistic groups function inside narrower boundaries, and conceptual experimentation has been changed by warning.
I don’t keep in mind when was the final time I noticed a very daring marketing campaign.
Where has the aim gone?
The stagnation of name objective additional reinforces this artistic stagnation.
The objective motion, as soon as an vital pillar, has misplaced its power.
CSR, ESG and DEI narratives now really feel drained and outdated, predictable and typically insincere to audiences who’ve change into extra sceptical.
Brands that genuinely aspire to guide with objective discover themselves trapped in an atmosphere the place overuse has diluted the impression of significant commitments.
Of course, manufacturers nonetheless must have a objective, however in addition they want a brand new storyline that has but to emerge.
Audience behaviour has additionally plateaued: shoppers are fatigued, they’re over-targeted, overstimulated and overwhelmed by fixed content material.
They nonetheless scroll, however the course of shouldn’t be thrilling any extra, seeing how phrases like “doom-scrolling” and “brain-rot” have firmly entered our vocabulary.
There isn’t any pleasure about being on social media, it’s extra of a shameful responsible pleasure, and I don’t see any rising behaviour sample that may revitalise content material engagement.
Politics and economics have an element to play right here
Economic situations additional entrench stagnation: as the worldwide economic system continues to function in a state of sluggishness, there may be literal stagnation with low progress and lingering inflation.
As a end result, company decision-makers stay cautious, and funds are directed towards effectivity.
In PR, this interprets into shrinking budgets, slower hiring, and a stronger emphasis on campaigns that ship measurable returns.
The communications business, like many others, is shifting right into a logic of optimisation, designed to outlive unstable situations.
Political turbulence provides one other layer of inertia.
The disruptions to globalisation from the previous a number of years stay unresolved.
Regional tensions, commerce constraints, election-driven volatility and provide chain fragilities created a fragmented international atmosphere that makes cross-border communication troublesome.
Campaigns that used to function seamlessly throughout markets now require a number of layers of cultural, regulatory and political adaptation.
Even regulation, typically seen as a possible catalyst for change, stays caught.
Governments proceed debating AI governance, privateness protections, platform accountability, teenage entry to social media, and digital ethics, but substantial coverage strikes stay gradual.
Mostly we see the ends in the type of fines imposed by the EU on US tech firms.
The regulatory ambiguity leaves manufacturers not sure of the place innovation is protected and the place it’s not, and this additionally contributes to the general business stagnation.
Taken collectively, these forces create a communications atmosphere during which probably the most sensible prediction for 2026 is that the business will stay suspended in a plateau.; so, I count on a yr of stagnation.
This is to not say that completely nothing might be taking place; after all, issues will occur, however I don’t count on any main tidal waves.
However, I’m a pure optimist, so I see it as a possibility: within the absence of any large waves we are able to count on the ocean to be calm…and calmer seas are simpler to navigate.
About the knowledgeable
As founding father of Midas PR and Chair of PRCA Thailand, Dr Karine Lohitnavy-Frick gives practically 20 years of worldwide PR experience.
Named to Campaign Asia-Pacific’s 50 Over 50, she leads with strategic perception, multicultural fluency, and a ardour for impactful storytelling.
