Winning the race for attention in 2026

Reflections on 2025: a year of shake-up

2025 was a year of surprises and contrasts. European markets led by a strong showing for banks and defence stocks, maybe surprisingly, outperformed the US partly thanks to Trump’s tariffs increasing volatility. The UK also ran well with a yearly return of 22%, and while the autumn budget wasn’t great for individuals, it could have been a lot worse for business which added some stability to the equation.

2026 promises to be a year of winners and losers and the new year offers a vital opportunity for companies to change minds and refine their narratives.

2026: the era of creative destruction

We expect 2026 to be the year where the impact of AI starts to manifest, triggering a period of “creative destruction”. The markets have already put their bets on the winners and losers of AI, with investors going long on those who have demonstrated they are able to use AI as a key value-generator in their business and short on those where it is unclear how AI is being used or lagging in adopting it. For corporate communicators, the most significant shift is that AI will be, if not already is, the first stakeholder to read your results and reports.

AI now acts as the primary mediator, scanning content for consistency before it ever reaches a human eye. Stakeholders may no longer visit a company’s own channels or website; instead, they consume “knowledge” via AI-generated summaries. If an algorithm cannot decipher your “golden thread”, your human stakeholders likely won’t hear the story at all. Creating a clear and consistent story at your key reporting milestones will be vital to reaching audiences.

Changing dialogues but the same expectations

Investor attention is notoriously short spanning. In 2025, questions regarding AI doubled, while those focused on sustainability halved. While this may suggest that sustainability has fallen out of fashion, this is not the case. Instead of requesting information on specific sustainability buzzwords, investors are now consistently asking that sustainability is integrated into the business. It is expected that sustainability is now a core business imperative and value-driver.  As investors understanding has matured, they are moving away from “badge flashing” and towards authentic implementation.

For communicators this means assessing how sustainability drives value within your business and how it aligns with the business strategy directly. Businesses must show that sustainability strategies are not separate to business strategies.

Less is more, unless it’s different

While investors love detail and data that underscores performance, they don’t want to trawl through your RNS’ and Annual Report to find it. They partly use AI to scrape the data (understandable) but in terms of reading, they want short, sharp messages that cut-through and tell them something interesting about you.

We have seen many, if not all, of our clients ask how to make their Annual Reports shorter, reflecting this ask. Asking us to help create 30 pages of useful material out of 100+ pages of regulatory noise. While this is a challenge, the best way to deliver this may not be in the traditional printed or PDF format. Tailored engaging content online such as videos or interactive web pages is a sure-fire way to deliver your story impactfully and in a way audiences want to access it.

To succeed in 2026, comms teams must evolve from superficial reporting to authentic narratives. Prioritising clarity and a strong theme for AI-mediated consumption ensures that a company’s story will cut through to increasingly distracted investors.

Get in touch

If you’d like to discuss this, or any other subject, please get in touch with Richard Costa, Consultancy Director, at richardc@gather.london

We’d love to know what you think.