Essential Analytics Strategies Marketers Need for Effective 2026 Planning

Marketers entering 2026 must rely on advanced analytics strategies to plan effectively and stay competitive. Essential approaches include leveraging predictive analytics to forecast consumer behavior, using real-time data for agile decision-making, and integrating cross-channel insights to create cohesive brand experiences. Marketers also need to adopt AI-driven tools to enhance targeting, personalization, and performance measurement. These analytics strategies empower brands to optimize campaigns, allocate budgets efficiently, and drive stronger outcomes in an increasingly data-driven landscape.

AI hesitation has no place in the year ahead; brands that thrive will be those laying strong data foundations today and transforming AI buzz into real-world action. Kantar has put together a practical checklist to guide your 2026 brand strategy.

Last year was packed with excitement and high hopes for AI, with marketers rating its transformative power almost perfect, according to Kantar. Yet they admit they’ve barely begun tapping into its value in any substantial way.

That’s why 2026 must shift from hype to hands-on AI adoption. The winning brands will be the ones investing early in scalable systems, analytics, and infrastructure that actually deliver. It’s time to focus less on lofty promises and more on AI-ready data, automated workflows, and tools you can depend on daily.

Kantar has analyzed the trends and surfaced the insights you need for effective 2026 planning. Their latest Brand Planning Toolkit highlights four essential lessons.

Bring digital signals into your everyday processes
Marketers aren’t short on data, but they’re often starved of meaningful signals. These are the clues that reveal when pricing authority is weakening, when internal culture stifles creativity, or when quick wins secretly sabotage long-term gains. Sometimes, the earliest hints of brand movement aren’t in your tracker, they’re hiding in your search data.

Kantar’s findings show that, when properly cleaned and analyzed, search activity can reliably reflect brand equity indicators. The signals that matter, visibility, relevance, intent, already exist in plain sight. The competitive edge lies in connecting these threads faster and better than rivals.

Cynthia Vega, Global Analytics and AI Director at Kantar, puts it simply: search is the world’s most honest window into consumer intentions. And when combined with survey insights, it exposes the precise moments when consumers drift from curiosity to purchase or walk away. Most marketers, she says, are still ignoring their most truthful data source.

Focus on cause, not coincidence
Correlation is fun to look at, but it rarely explains why your brand rises or falls. Understanding the real drivers requires path modelling, a technique that reveals actual cause-and-effect relationships instead of surface-level links. Although this approach isn’t new, it’s long been underutilized and often dismissed as too complex. Making it work requires a mindset shift across the organization.

One coffee brand did just that. Without increasing its budget, it used Kantar’s BrandStructures tool to identify what truly fueled growth, uncover missed opportunities, and refine its message. The payoff? A 42% increase in a declining market.

Test and expand synthetic data boosting
Marketers face growing pressure to understand new and hard-to-reach audiences at scale. This is where synthetic data boosting becomes a game-changer. By generating realistic data from your existing sets, brands can rapidly expand their understanding of key customer groups.

A global tech company tapped Kantar’s Synthetic Data Boosting tool to reach elusive cloud decision-makers, doubling its global sample and quadrupling it in a major market. It’s no surprise that the synthetic data industry is expected to surge more than tenfold by 2030.

Still, synthetic data isn’t a shortcut, it’s only as strong as the real data beneath it, the tech supporting it, and the strategic plan guiding its use. Brands need thoughtful piloting, seamless integration, and precise targeting of specific segments. Done right, it fills gaps without replacing real human insights.

Open access to insights across the organization
The era of insights being locked behind specialist teams is ending. With agentic AI and new technologies, organizations can share brand intelligence widely and instantly. Kantar’s KAiA assistant is one example, bringing insights to more teams, faster.

But to benefit, brands must be willing to evolve. This means redefining roles, upgrading data and AI skills, training AI agents with company IP, unifying access, and starting with well-scoped use cases. And when the stakes are high, humans remain in control.

Ultimately, 2026 favors bold brands. The winners won’t wait for data to report what’s already happened, they’ll take action, evaluate results, and stay in motion. In an AI-powered landscape, measurement isn’t just reporting; it’s a strategic radar, a pricing tool, and often a boardroom advantage.

As Mary Kyriakidi, Global Thought Leader at Kantar, explains: the future of brand-building won’t be about watching trends, it will be about leading them. Don’t just track history. Shape what comes next. Move markets, influence minds, and push your business ahead. If you’re still unsure, consider this your push to act.

For questions or comments write to contactus@bostonbrandmedia.com

Source: thedrum‍