Marketing Trends 2026: McKinsey Report
- catlinpuhkan
- 9 hours ago
- 3 min read
One of Europe’s most important marketing studies, McKinsey’s State of Marketing Europe 2026, is based on a survey of 500 senior marketing leaders across five major European countries.
The findings are organized around three core themes: be trusted, be effective, and be bold.
1. Be trusted: strong brands are the anchor in an uncertain world
Across Europe, marketing leaders rank brand building as their number one priority.
This shift is driven by:
economic and political uncertainty
growing customer demand for trust, clarity, and consistency
the challenge of standing out in a saturated digital environment
As the report notes, branding is no longer a “nice-to-have” in the B2B World, but a stabilizing force in volatile markets.
As Richella Odebrecht, Senior Vice President of Global Marketing at Schneider Electric, puts it:
“Our priority is making long-term investments and building trust: customers want to know who will be there for them in the long run.”
For B2B companies, brand strength increasingly determines whether a company is even considered during the buying process. Trust reduces perceived risk and simplifies complex decisions.
2. Be effective: a shift toward operating models inspired by startups
While 72% of European marketing leaders plan to increase their marketing budgets, the pressure to justify those investments is growing at the same time.
The report highlights a shift toward operating models inspired by startups and scale-ups, including:
tighter integration of marketing, sales, and customer experience
agile ways of working and continuous test-and-learn cycles
Marketing is no longer evaluated on activity alone, but on measurable business outcomes.
As McKinsey notes, credibility at the C-suite level increasingly depends on the ability to link marketing investments directly to company-wide performance metrics
3. Be bold: gen AI and agentic AI improve marketing efficiency
Although generative AI and agentic AI rank surprisingly low in stated priorities, the report argues that their importance is systematically underestimated.
Key findings include:
only 6% of European companies consider themselves mature in gen AI usage
leading adopters report efficiency gains of more than 20%
main barriers include fragmented data, weak technology foundations, and limited organizational readiness
The report warns that hesitation carries real strategic risk: if the gap between AI leaders and laggards persists, European companies may lose competitiveness to global competitors.
B2B marketing trends for 2026
The report identifies a fundamental change in B2B buying behavior. Only a small percentage of buyers are actively in the market at any given time, yet most already have a shortlist of preferred vendors.
This makes brand awareness and trust critical, particularly in industries with long sales cycles and high-value offerings. As Odebrecht explains:
“Only 5 percent of buyers are actively shopping in the market, yet 80 percent already have a vendor in mind before they start researching.”
In this context, brand presence long before demand emerges becomes a decisive growth lever.
B2B is increasingly adopting B2C marketing approaches
The report clearly shows that B2B marketing is moving away from purely technical communication. Companies are rapidly adopting B2C-style formats, including:
community and event-driven engagement
emotional and authentic storytelling
behind-the-scenes content
user-generated content and employee advocacy
McKinsey notes that these formats are expected to grow faster in B2B than the market average over the next two years, reflecting changing buyer expectations
Human storytelling matters even in technical industries
One of the strongest qualitative insights from the report is that technical excellence alone is no longer enough.
As Odebrecht states:
“It is easy to list features, but telling the story of why a customer chose a technology and how it helped them reach their ambitions brings complex technologies to life.”
B2B buyers increasingly respond to stories that explain outcomes, decisions, and real-world impact rather than product specifications.
Full-funnel thinking and tighter sales–marketing integration
71% of European marketing leaders report adopting full-funnel, multipurpose campaigns that connect brand building with sales activation. These programs replace isolated campaigns and align marketing and sales around shared objectives
AI will shape B2B marketing, but it will not replace creativity
While AI adoption is accelerating, the report strongly emphasizes the continued importance of human creativity.
Most leaders agree that AI raises efficiency and speed, but differentiation still depends on people. As the report concludes, gen AI can scale content and insights, but human teams remain irreplaceable when it comes to creating distinctive, credible brands.