“Marketers thrive on uncertainty,” said David Morgan at the annual ADMA Christmas function at Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art.

“Uncertainty is my word of the year. With the introduction of AI, marketing is changing shape, roles and titles.”

“We are people who know how to manage change and help the growth of business,” said the ADMA chair (pictured below).

The Association for Data-Driven Marketing and Advertising (ADMA) aims to empower marketers to think boldly, adapt quickly and use data to drive results.

In the panel discussion that followed Morgan’s welcome, ADMA CEO Andrea Martens led a discussion about what worked for marketers in 2025, what didn’t and what’s to come in 2026.

Lucinda Barlow, Uber’s Head of International Marketing agreed with David Morgan, saying, “those that are embracing uncertainty are having success… the ones who were cautious are close to the death spiral.”

Agentic AI is bringing “a consumer revolution” which is “changing behaviour and driving growth.”

Optus VP of Business, Emma Jensen said AI has “opened up conversations about marketing myths. Our industry is now moving fast and challenging enduring myths.”

Omnicom Oceania CEO Nick Garrett is now back in the Agency world after spending time as a consultant. In consulting you can’t say ‘I think,’ you must be sure that you know, but in the current marketing era “it is ok not to know everything,” he said, because marketers should be curious and constantly re-evaluating the marketing mix modelling in a fast changing landscape that is being driven by AI.

The Commonwealth Bank’s Sarla Fernando urged marketers to get to know how AI works under the hood. “Read the instruction book… We have to be able to explain what the AI tools are doing,” she said.

Gazing out onto a sunny Sydney Harbour evening, the panellists looked ahead to 2026 and shared these tips for the coming year:

• Focus on the things that have impact
• Base your insights on behaviour not other types of research
• Culture eats strategy for breakfast. Build a culture of passion and accuracy.
• Be forensic about effectiveness. Understand what is really effective, don’t just look for numbers.
• Move from efficiency to effectiveness to deliver extraordinary impact.
• Human Influencer creative will be more important in 2026. Build trust in a world where people may grow to distrust content created by AI.

“Rationalisation is accelerating with AI, but that can be limiting. It prevents us from taking leaps of faith. We still need smart human risk taking,” said Barlow. “In 2026, AI technology has a role to play, but don’t forget the humanity in the tech.”