🔮 Return to Real: The Marketing Trend to Watch
Marketing feels louder and emptier than ever. Consumers are tired of following brands. Social feeds overflow with AI-generated sameness. And yet something new is happening...
Hi 👋 I’m Florian Schleicher. This is the FutureStrategies newsletter. Thank you so much for reading along 💚
Being a strategist, I always collect signals, trends and insights on what is happening in marketing, consumer behaviour and where leading brands tap into new categories of branding.
Over the summer I took some time to work on one of these observations that has drawn on me for quite a while.
This led to my very first marketing trend report of my own, which I call PULSE.
And the theme of this first report is “RETURN TO REAL”.
It’s 75 slides structured in 5 chapters.
So, what is my first marketing trend report about?
I believe the next wave of brand growth won’t come from louder ads, digital media or smarter AI. It’ll come from deeper presence of marketing, real belonging, and doing less - better.
Where does this come from?
Over the last years I have seen marketing becoming even louder, penetrating (!) attention spans. Up to a point where they seem to be close to 0.
Now AI produces even more content and in many conversations friends, clients, survey participants have told me again and again:
“We are tired of digital media.”
Maybe digital media has become the new TV?
Good to reach a lot of people. But inefficient to really cut through the noise, because it has become the noise.
It feels like marketing’s loudest moment, is also its emptiest.
That’s the initial thought that sparked this report.
Then I went deep into research, data points, signals, reports and observations - to develop something that counters this movement.
Here are some of the key points that I outline in my 5 chapters:
1. WAKE UP ✴ Tensions
Phones give us everything we think we need, but the joy is gone.
Scrolls feel endless, but empty. Gen Z is reporting record levels of digital fatigue, and the promise of social platforms has thinned into obligation.
57% of Gen Z wish social media was never created
26 % are engaging in full digital detoxes
56% express fatigue from social media content
We are more connected than ever. And more alone than we’ve ever admitted.
We have built systems that anticipate our every need. But we’ve lost the inefficient beauty of needing each other. We have outsourced the village.
At the same time, paid media costs are rising, reach is falling, trust is slipping. And the AI generated content explosion is just creating less authentic and generic output.
50% of consumers can spot AI-generated copy
If spotted 25% of consumers feel the brand is impersonal, and 20% feel its untrustworthy.
If you work in marketing, this is an uncomfortable spot.
2. SIGNALS ✴ Shifts
And yet: a countertrend is emerging:
We see it in the rise of micro-events, where a few dozen people gather and walk away changed. In run clubs that grow faster than influencer channels. In book clubs that feel more magnetic than any feed. The size doesn’t matter - the depth does.
As Joseph Pine said,
“Time is the currency of experiences.”
Right now, more and more people are spending that time offline, together.
46% of adults believe offline communities create a greater sense of belonging.
1/3 of Gen Z says they plan to spend more money on in-person-events in the coming year.
Even Mark Cuban, Shark Tank Investor and Billionaire Entrepreneur, is on to it:
What drives this shift?
1. Burnout and Digital Fatigue
Years of hustle culture and hyper-connectedness have drained us. The always-on life promised productivity - but left people feeling stretched thin and emotionally flat. Now, we crave presence over performance.
2. Pandemic Effects
Covid-19 interrupted the script. For a moment, everything slowed down. And in that pause, many rediscovered what matters: in-person rituals, shared routines, time that isn’t optimised - just lived.
3. Escapism
Authenticity has been the promise for years. But now, many crave more than just real life. They’re looking for something that takes them out of it — surreal settings, dreamlike worlds, moments that feel lifted from a different reality. Worlds that feel like a pause, a breath, a beautiful escape.
3. FOCUS ✴ Brand Directions
As strategist Zoe Scaman has observed, the era of mass media and mass brands is fading fast. That means the regular marketing funnel doesn’t work anymore.
Attention has splintered, feeds overflow with AI-generated content, and reach no longer equals impact.
People don’t just want to see - they want to feel, reflect, and act instantly. That means marketing is no longer about chasing scale, it’s about creating resonance.
“Zoomers value cross-industry collaborations that result in products and services that align with their values and meet their needs. They seek novelty via exclusive collaborations and brand experiences such as in-store events and workshops.”
Elizabeth Tan, WGSN Trendforecasting
The strongest brands of tomorrow won’t just post, they’ll host: designing spaces where people gather, feel something real, and carry that feeling forward.
4. MOTION ✴ Case Studies
True influence moves through people, not platforms. Here are a few examples I explore in depth in the full trend report:
Nike’s run crews give runners a sense of belonging.
Aesop hosts intimate book circles where the product fades into the background but the brand grows in relevance.
Patagonia driving its Worn Wear van across the country to repair jackets, not sell new ones.
Co-creation projects from startups like Phia to giants like DHL show that when people are invited to build with you, they’ll stay with you.
These aren’t campaigns. They’re branded cultural rituals.
What sets them apart is the feeling of presence.
Real life isn’t a trend. It’s a strategic asset every brand can lean on.
These experiences work because they offer something platforms never can: real belonging. And belonging is the engine of commitment.
5. ACTION ✴ Clarity
So what now?
I believe marketing can create magic again.
But only if we build for what’s real - not what’s loud.
This trend report is my attempt to map that path. From clicks to commitment. From reach to relationships. From impressions to impact.
Byron Sharp, Professor of Marketing Science at the University of South Australia once wrote,
“Brands grow primarily through increasing their mental and physical availability.”
And that’s exactly what this new trend enables: Mental and physical availability through real belonging.
Belonging makes brands truly unforgettable. What looks soft today - gathering people, building rituals, showing up in person - will create long-lasting results tomorrow.
For years, we’ve been told that more screens, more data, more content will save us. But the truth is: marketing feels louder, and emptier, than ever.
Audiences are tired.
Our feeds are full.
Our tools, AIs and apps optimize us, but they don’t connect.
People don’t need another funnel.
Another channel won’t fix this.
We need presence.
Real experiences.
So that’s what the Return To Real is all about.
I’m proud of it. I’m excited. A little nervous too.
And I can’t wait for you to read it.
Take what resonates. Share it with your team. Let me know what sparks for you.
The future of marketing won’t be built in theory.
It will be built in the real world.
And for all of this, your brand will need a strategy.
A meaningful, authentic way to integrate it into your marketing mix.
Thanks for reading,