Every year I publish the Cultural Signals report, a deep dive into the movements shaping culture and what they mean for brands. The 2026 edition explored five signals: Curation & Intimacy, Craft as Cultural Identity, Decolonisation & Cultural Reclamation, Heritage Celebration, and Hyperlocal as Premium. Each signal includes 40+ examples drawn from music, fashion, art and lifestyle, and a strategic read on what it means for brands.

The report was distributed to 200 contacts across my network and shared via LinkedIn and Substack. It generated 1,500+ visits to my website and was downloaded 80 times by people entirely outside my network. Jolyon Varley, co-founder of social media agency OK Cool distributed it directly to CMOs. It was added to a curated paywall-free trend report library shared across agencies and geographies amongst reports by Adobe, BoFxMcKinsey, Digital Fairy, Edelman, Mintel, WGSN and Pinterest and featured in two Substack newsletters including Outside Perspective and Nouvot.

The Cultural Signals report is one of the clearest expressions of what I do: paying close attention to what's shifting in culture, connecting the dots across music, fashion, art and design, and translating that into something useful for brands.

You can read and download the full report at mariekeneleman.com/signals2026.