This year’s six new cultural shifts show why human presence is becoming the new value signal.
Backslash, the cultural intelligence unit serving the agencies of Omnicom Advertising, today launches its 2026 Edges report. The annual report identifies global cultural shifts with the scale and longevity to help brands capture a greater share of the future.
This year’s six new Edges point to culture’s search for ‘Proof of Human'. After a year of AI slop infiltrating every corner of our world, audiences are developing a radar for what’s synthetic and what’s real. Now, the pendulum is swinging back toward craft, toward provenance, toward messy human fingerprints that signal someone actually cared and put in effort.
“We’re entering a moment where output is cheap, but meaning is not,” said Cecelia Girr, director of Cultural Strategy, Backslash, and co-author of the report. “Technology can do more than ever before. The harder question is whether we want it to. In this next chapter, humanity itself becomes the differentiator.”
The six new Edges for 2026
- Dark mode: As algorithms flatten taste, people are retreating to private spaces and one-of-a-kind expressions. Meaning now lives in what doesn’t scale.
- Digital friction: After decades of chasing seamlessness, culture is demanding tech that promises the opposite: intentional friction. Boundaries and built-in limits are being reframed as human preservation.
- Discomfort zone: In an over-optimised world, struggle, risk, and discomfort are becoming aspirational again – because the payoff is feeling fully alive.
- Awakened world: Tired of running on auto-pilot, people are seeking experiences that deepen awareness and re-enchant the mind.
- Modern civility: After dissolving every norm and throwing out every rule, culture is realising that total freedom can be exhausting. Now, common codes of conduct are offering a route back to mutual respect.
- Archive authority: Culture is turning its attention to who controls our digital footprint. The next battle will be a fight to decide what endures, what gets erased, and who can access our history.
Our South African specialists across the South African Collective, are equally excited about these shifts. Comments from those in the know are:
Olivia Matterson, head of Innovation at TBWA\SA
Olivia Matterson, TBWA\SA, head of Innovation
Over the five years I’ve been at TBWA\South Africa, I haven’t seen a cultural shift quite like this. These six new Edges feel markedly significant. They’re the result of an always-on, hyperconnected, perfectly postured world reaching a tipping point. What we’re seeing now is culture recalibrating, pulling back toward what feels human again. This is a big shift, and brands that ignore this will fall behind.
Lara Chatzkelowitz, strategy director at TBWA\Hunt Lascaris
Lara Chatzkelowitz, TBWA\Hunt Lascaris, strategy director
Every agency worth their salt has proprietary insight tools, but Edges is fundamentally different. The merit is that it's a living system contributed to and evaluated by local teams, quantified, and deeply rooted in the realities of South African culture (not just global future states) making it immediately applicable to the work we do and the impact we create here. The 2026 edition is somehow even more provocative and truthful.
Ekta Parsotam, regional lead for Africa, Backslash, and senior strategist at TBWA\Coastal
Ekta Parsotam, regional lead for Africa, Backslash and senior strategist, TBWA\Coastal
At Backslash, we know change is constant and adaptation is necessary. We believe that longevity is founded in truly understanding the cultural shifts shaping our world today. Since 2018, Backslash in Africa has been powered by a network of global and local spotters that have driven the exploration of innovative business opportunities and guided our clients in shaping perspectives that resonate.
The full 2026 Backslash Edges glossary is available at www.backslash.com/edges.
