Dentsu Launches New Consumer Vision Study: ‘Mothers Of Reinvention’

• Spanning 25 markets and one of dentsu’s largest global foresight studies to date, the report provides a comprehensive view of the forces set to reshape business over the next decade.
  
  
• Brands that fail to inspire risk irrelevance: 87% of consumers say brands that help them grow will be most memorable.
  
  
• Based on insights from 30,000 consumers and 20 experts, the report explores how brands must evolve to stay relevant in an era of AI, reinvention and rising expectations.
  
  

Dentsu has launched its latest Consumer Vision report, Mothers of Reinvention, a new global thought leadership study exploring the shifts set to reshape technology, culture, consumers and brands over the next five to ten years. This report is the third edition of Consumer Vision, following in the footsteps of The Age of Inclusive Intelligence (published in 2021) and The Era of the Insight-to-Foresight Pivot (published in 2024).

Dentsu analyzed data from a survey of 30,000 consumers in 25 countries to understand expected shifts in consumer attitudes, values, and behaviors. In addition, dentsu’s research team spoke with 20 experts and futurists in the fields of cultural sociology, AI law, and consumer psychology to understand what they see as the most likely disruptions and innovations in their fields.

Designed as a strategic compass for marketers, Mothers of Reinvention examines how people’s growing exposure to AI, changing expectations around originality and trust, and evolving ideas of progress and identity are beginning to redefine what consumers want from brands, identifying four major forces that brands need to prepare for now:

FORCE 01: THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY: SYMBIOTIC SYSTEMS
AI is moving from tool to partner, with consumers increasingly relying on agents that act on their behalf. This creates a new dynamic where brands must engage not only with people, but with the agents that represent them across media spaces.

FORCE 02: THE FUTURE OF CULTURE: INGENUITY AWAKENED
As AI accelerates content creation, originality becomes more valuable. Consumers are placing greater importance on human creativity and expect brands to actively support and reward it.

FORCE 03: THE FUTURE OF CONSUMERS: INFINITE REINVENTION
Consumers are shifting from need-based purchasing to purchasing based on who they want to become. Enabled by AI and new tools, they are constantly testing new identities, behaviors and lifestyles, while also seeking human connection through entertainment and big cultural moments.

FORCE 04: THE FUTURE OF BRANDS: WAYFINDER BRANDS
In this context, the role of brands is evolving. The most effective brands will not simply respond to demand, but will act as guides, helping consumers navigate change and unlock new possibilities.

Taken together, the findings point to a more demanding landscape for brands. As functional interactions become increasingly automated, distinctiveness will be driven less by convenience and more by meaning, with 78% of consumers already showing lower tolerance for generic messaging.

To remain relevant, brands will need to design experiences that inspiring and emotionally resonant, reflecting the expectations of 81% of consumers who want their purchases to not simply represent the means to an end, but a step change that helps them unlock their potential. At the same time, growth will depend on balancing scale and personalization with trust and integrity, particularly as 9 in 10 consumers saying that, as algorithms become more individualized, it will be more important for brands to be consistent with their values and actions.

Consumer expectations are evolving quickly, as they experience the future being shaped by AI in real time. They want AI to be a partner that multiplies their ability to learn new skills, reinvent themselves, and helps them co-create unique outputs that reflect their individual personality, rather than something they fully delegate to and ends up taking over.

Understanding what’s around the corner is no longer a nice-to-have for brands; it’s an imperative. In another dentsu study published earlier this year, the CMO Navigator – Media Editon: Rethinking Marketing in the Age of AI, 56% of global Chief Marketing Officers said that 5 years from now most of their companies’ revenues will come from products, services, and businesses that don’t yet exist. In this context, future-facing studies like Consumer Vision are critical as they trace the new paradigm for brand excellence businesses need to start building for as of now.

Beth Ann Kaminkow, Chief Executive Officer, Americas & Chief Global Client Officer, dentsu said: “What stands out in this year’s findings is that consumers are not only expecting brands to become smarter and faster, they are looking for brands that can help them personally progress and pursue their ambition. There is a growing desire to reinvent themselves, with brands providing inspiration and guidance along this journey. That has implications not just for media and creativity, but for product design, customer experience and the role brands play in peoples’ lives.”

As AI development compresses the time it takes for us to learn new skills, advancements in healthcare continue to extend the lifespan of human beings, and the premium placed by culture on human ingenuity grows taller, consumers will be driven by the desire to constantly reinvent themselves, and will actually have the tools to pursue this aspiration to an extent they never did before – the study finds.

“The notion of AI acting as a force multiplier that does not replace human creativity, but rather unlocks its full potential is really powerful. Consumers are embracing this role of AI augmenting the human. This reflects the way we are evolving at dentsu,” Kaminkow continues. “Human contextual understanding, vision, creativity, intuition and judgement, multiplied by AI’s unprecedented speed and scale in information processing, and pattern recognition. This is the next frontier that will enable us to truly be a ‘Super Human Agency’ and unlock growth for clients by providing scale and depth without sacrificing either.”

This latest edition of Consumer Vision builds on dentsu’s ongoing focus on understanding consumer behavior and long-term brand growth, including initiatives such as The Brand Reset study, developed in partnership with Lumen Research and Kantar. One of the industry’s largest studies into video attention and effectiveness, The Brand Reset spans tens of thousands of data points across multiple platforms and markets, linking attention to long-term brand outcomes. Together, these programs reflect dentsu’s continued investment in helping clients navigate shifts in attention, behavior and effectiveness, and translate emerging signals into practical strategies for growth.

Consumer Vision: Mothers of Reinvention is available now here.

About the research
Consumer Vision draws on dentsu’s global intelligence platform and combines proprietary consumer research with expert input. The study was conducted with consumers across 25 markets: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Vietnam.

About dentsu international
Part of Dentsu Group, Dentsu International is a network designed for what’s next, helping clients predict and plan for disruptive future opportunities and create new paths to growth in the sustainable economy. Dentsu delivers people-focused solutions and services to drive better business and societal outcomes. This is delivered through six global leadership brands - Carat, Dentsu Creative, Tag, dentsu X, iProspect and Merkle, each with deep specialisms.

Dentsu International’s radically collaborative team of diverse creators unifies people, clients and capabilities through horizontal creativity to help clients create culture, change society, and invent the future.

Powered by 100% renewable energy, Dentsu International operates in over 145 markets worldwide with more than 46,000 dedicated specialists, and partners with 95 of the top 100 global advertisers.

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