The past few years have been marked by economic uncertainty, restrained consumer spending, and geopolitical tensions. Budgets are shrinking, marketing decisions are being scrutinised more critically, and consumer habits are shifting rapidly as digital channels continue to gain importance. Despite these challenges, one communication channel stands out for its resilience: influencer marketing.
Reachbird affectionately refers to this form of communications as “marketing superhero”, consistently demonstrating its strength even in turbulent times. This year, the Reachbird “superhero” has set out on a mission to identify the most significant influencer marketing trends for 2026, offering brands, agencies, and creators valuable insights and inspiration for the future.
The new Reachbird Trend Report brings together contributions from 16 experts, highlighting five central trends shaping the future of influencer marketing:
Beyond Artificial: Artificial intelligence and human authenticity are merging into a symbiosis of efficiency and emotion, where technology enhances creativity without sacrificing genuineness.
True Partnerships: Influencer marketing is evolving from a short-term campaign tool into strategic, long-term brand partnerships founded on trust, co-creation, and shared value generation.
Trustfluence: A shift from reach-based to trust-based marketing: success is now defined by genuine relationships, credibility, and human connection, rather than mere visibility.
Next Level Professionalism: The industry is moving from spontaneous creativity to professional brand management, where authenticity, clear strategies, and partnership drive sustainable success.
Purpose-Driven Edutainment: Edutainment transforms knowledge into experience, turning social media into a space for learning, relevance, and trust.
“Our Trend Report 2026 demonstrates that influencer marketing is no longer a niche topic – it has become a strategic core element of modern communication,” explains Eva-Maria Hänel, CEO of Reachbird. “Especially in times of economic uncertainty, this channel proves its worth, creating closeness, trust and credibility – values that are more important than ever.”
The Influencer Marketing Trend Report 2026 can be downloaded for free here.
About Reachbird
Reachbird is a leading influencer marketing agency in the DACH region. It is committed to authentic communication between brands, creators and communities. With strategic campaign development, data-based analysis and creative implementation, Reachbird generates relevance instead of pure reach. Brands such as Roche, VisitBerlin and E.ON rely on this expertise. Our own “inform+educate” unit brings socially relevant topics into influencer marketing and promotes substantive dialogues through INFOencing campaigns. Find out more about Reachbird at www.reachbird.io/en
About adesso
adesso is one of the leading IT service providers in the German-speaking area and focuses its consulting and software development activities on the core business processes of companies and public authorities. adesso’s strategy is based on three pillars: the comprehensive industry-specific know-how of its staff, extensive expertise in technology that is independent of manufacturers and the application of reliable methods in software implementation projects. adesso delivers the right IT solutions to increase the ability of companies and organisations to compete in the core sectors of insurance/reinsurance, banking and financial services, healthcare and life sciences, energy supply, public administration, automotive and manufacturing industry, trade, transport, media, entertainment, lottery and sports.
adesso was founded in Dortmund in 1997 and currently employs more than 10,700 people in the adesso Group (converted to full-time equivalents/FTE), which corresponds to more than 11,500 employees in terms of headcount. adesso’s shares are listed on the Prime Standard/SDAX. Customers in Germany include Commerzbank, BayernLB, Munich Re, Provinzial, Bitmarck, amedes, RWE, E.ON, Mercedes-Benz, thyssenkrupp, Bosch, Otto, Markant, Borussia Dortmund, the Deutsche Fußball Liga, the Westdeutsche Lotterie, the Deutsche Bundesbank, the Procurement Office of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Ministry of Finance. In addition, there are numerous international customers, including Swisscom, AXA Switzerland, Alpitour, the Austrian Football Bundesliga and Swiss Federal Railways.
More information is available at www.adesso.de/en/ and:
Company blog: https://www.adesso.de/en/news/blog/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/adesso-se/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/adessoSE
adesso SE:
Nils Roos
Senior PR-Manager
Adessoplatz 1
44269 Dortmund
F +49 170 4406 148
nils.roos@adesso.de
www.adesso.de
adesso PR Agency
Palmer Hargreaves
Vogelsanger Straße 66
50823 Köln
Mail: presse@adesso.de
www.palmerhargreaves.com