2026: The Year of Creativity

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I recently watched a history video where the main premise was that we are currently living in the modern version of the middle ages. As a history nerd, I found this super interesting.

People of the middle ages were living in the shadows of the fallen Romans, looking upon their achievements with confusion. 

“How in the world does this aqueduct work?” - Probably some medieval peasant in 600CE.

At the same time, creativity started to dwindle. Artists of the middle ages wouldn’t create anything new, just provide commentary of the works of past artists. 

Today, how many movie franchises are constantly being rebooted, or sequels being produced that nobody asked for?

We are living in the past, trying to emulate the work of the 20th century. 

Businesses and marketing aren’t isolated from these issues either. Turn on the TV and take a shot for every boring, repetitive ad you see…. Good luck. 

We’re stuck following rigid frameworks, and heavily relying on AI to develop our creative ideas. Not to mention riding social media trends until they die out. (Please let 67 die, please…)

But we’re too timid and scared to create anything new and unique. We’re afraid of underperforming metrics which undermine our hard work.

This is all valid.

For the year 2026, for all of my business efforts, I will be making a strongly conscious effort to be creative, original, and unique. 

This doesn’t mean reinventing the wheel, or throwing away proven copywriting frameworks. The book “Steal Like an Artist” by Austin Kleon demonstrates that you can still be creative while also taking inspiration from others. 

This means, not following the herd, listening to your intuition, and asking yourself “What’s Missing?” Develop ad campaigns that tell real stories to entertain and sell. This is what builds real connections and loyal brand advocates. 

Create genuinely competitive products that speak to consumer’s needs in a fun, and original way.

No matter how far we fall into the modern middle ages, the market will always favor creativity and uniqueness.

For example:

• Air Up: Water Bottles with flavor via scent instead of syrup
• Quest Nutrition: 20g Protein Chips
• Notpla: Edible Seaweed Packaging

What these products all have in common is that they are almost nothing like anything else in the market. Quest could have continued to produce more protein bars, but opted for protein chips. 

Fortune favors the brave, and now Quest’s chips are highly-successful and stand out from most other products in the protein niche. 

The moral of the story, be brave, be unique, be different. This is how you separate yourself, and your business from the rest.

Happy New Year! Let’s all have a prosperous 2026!

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