Something strange happened at the 2025 ANA Masters of Marketing Conference. As you’d expect there was the typical AI buzz: the new technology and the latest tools. But what was unusual was what the audience gravitated toward: Things to touch. Places to go to. Tangibility. And above all, human connection.
Image: Steve Johnson / unsplash
As the official insights partner for the 2025 ANA Masters of Marketing Conference, The Harris Poll ran live polling throughout the sessions to compare industry instinct with consumer reality.
When looking across the trends, what emerged was that the future will be won by brands that fuse digital intelligence with real-world resonance.
Here are my 4 biggest takeaways from our interactive session:
1. Physical touchpoints are resurging
- Prioritizing community events (70%)
- Experiential retail (66%)
- Pop-ups (56%)
Why? Because consumers are already there.
Online vs. IRL
- 79% of Millennials look forward to catalogs
- 64% of Gen Z keep them as decor
- 77% have planned trips just to visit a brand
- 73% say shopping a hyped retailer/pop-up feels like being part of culture
Even things like printing physical catalogues are back. I felt it myself when a physical catalog arrived on my doorstep recently. Instead of doom-scrolling through product shots, I sat down, coffee in hand, and browsed intentionally. No tabs. No distractions. Just presence. That moment wasn’t digital, but it will absolutely lead to digital purchase.
You may expect a demand for fewer digital touchpoints from Baby Boomers and not from Gen Z and Millennials, but in fact it does make sense that younger generations are hungry for in-person experiences. After all, they’re the generations that missed out on two years of in-person social events because of Covid. Or for those in their early 20s – even their first semester at college was entirely online.
These groups had to do everything remotely, and there is no longer any novelty about it. In-person experiences feel fresh, immersive, and fundamentally human. For older cohorts, it feels like coming home.
2. AI won’t replace customer decision-making, but it will influence it
There is no point competing with AI. Gen Z knows this: 63% said that they believe the future belongs to those that direct it, not fight it. Younger consumers expect to be able to offload tasks to AI when it comes to buying decisions for clothing, beauty, travel, and household goods.
Marketing professionals are preparing for this AI task delegation by taking steps around:
- better ethical and privacy standards (71%)
- optimizing content for conversational AI (53%)
- reimagining purchase path (53%)
- standardizing structured data (48%)
In a world where discovery is delegated to an agent, brands must stop designing for keywords and start designing for comprehension. If AI can’t access product attributes, fit information, stock, user context or brand story in structured form, you simply won’t be recommended.
This became real for me recently when I used ChatGPT to help select dining chairs. After uploading photos of my home, it returned viable style options with visuals. It wasn’t flawless, but it was useful. And it made me realize if brands aren’t integrating with AI retail ecosystems yet, they’re already late.
3. AI is the new search (even rivalling TikTok and Instagram)
This doesn’t mean search disappears, but it does mean that the funnel inverts.
Instead of query -> results -> consideration, it’ll now be prompt -> agent interpretation -> recommendation.
The customer goes from seeker to selector. From manual effort to digital curation.
Just like SEO reshaped content strategy a decade ago, AI-readiness will reshape product data strategy now.
4. The industry is craving stability, not just innovation
Ask a room full of marketers which career they’d recommend to the next generation and you may be surprised at the answer... 44% said electrician, beating marketing and AI. Just 30% chose marketing and 26% chose AI.
In fact, our Harris Poll data finds that 76% of young professionals prioritize stability over once-coveted tech jobs. And 77% of Americans think a plumber has better job security than a product manager.
My prediction for 2026: Retail will revive, but reimagined
Not by going backward. By going hybrid-forward.
It may look like the pendulum of progress is swinging back, but this isn’t the whole story. The winners will be the brands who make offline and online work seamlessly together.
We’ll see more reinvention stories like Starbucks, which is returning to its “third place” roots: more seating, real cups, and longer dwell time. Their turnaround isn’t complete yet, but it reflects a cultural shift: brands are rediscovering that presence is a product.
Imagine:
- Pop-ups where digital community meets physical experiences
- Samples that unlock AI-personalized product journeys
- Stores that become ateliers, studios, workshops (not warehouses)
- Catalogs designed not as direct mail, but cultural objects
This is where the value sits: not in choosing digital or physical, but in the magnetism between them.
Read next:
• Studies Reveal Severe Gen Z Burnout and Recommend Stronger Workplace Support and Clearer Expectations
• Pew Survey: 64% of Teens Use AI Chatbots, and 97% Go Online Daily
