As we rapidly approach the end of January, we’re taking a look at the agencies, brands and businesses that you should be keeping an eye on in 2026.
Not necessarily the best, nor necessarily the worst. Instead, this a list of the brands we feel will have a year for the history books.
We’re looking at beauty empires and banks to global sportswear giants and airlines. But all are proving that trust, accountability, and storytelling will be key themes in the year ahead.
So, for the good, the bad and the ugly, here are the brands to keep an eye on in 2026!
Check out the rest of B&T’s Ones To Watch.
Rhode
If you’re anywhere near the world of pop culture, you’ll have heard of Hailey Bieber’s beauty brand rhode.
It has taken social media by storm and pioneered a trend for ‘clean beauty’ which, apparently lends insiders the desired ‘glazed doughnut’ look.
In fact, such is its import in the world of modern beauty (and presumably to the self esteem of dougnuts) E.l.f. Beauty purchased rhode for a whopping US$1 billion in May last year.
This year, Australians will finally get to see what the fuss is all about as the brand officially launches Down Under on 12 February.
Rhode will arrive in MECCA stores both in-store and online. In the US, Canada and the UK, the brand is stocked in Sephora. European countries are set to stock the brand soon, but shipping is already available for several countries.
“We are proud to announce our global expansion to Australia and New Zealand, bringing the world of rhode to even more places and faces,” Bieber said in a statement.
“When launching into the Australian market, we looked for a globally aligned partner and MECCA was that perfect fit”.
As rhode enters the Australian market, watch this space–particularly to see how it appeals to this local market.
Commonwealth Bank
CommBank seems to be in rude health.
Its cash profit rose four per cent to a record $10.25 billion profit for the 2025 financial year. It was also ranked the most valuable brand in Australia by Kantar BrandZ for the second year in a row, dethroning Woolies. CommBank was also the only Australian brand included in Kantar’s global BrandZ list.
But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. CommBank, along with Westpac, Bendigo and Adelaide Bank and ANZ, was accused by ASIC for charging excessive bank account-keeping and overdraft fees to low-income customers.
ASIC said CommBank should pay $270 million back to customers. Next month, it will start paying some of the fees back, to the tune of $68 million. CommBank’s total payments will rise to approximately $93 million, including the approximately $25 million already paid in response to ASIC’s Better Banking for Indigenous Consumers Report
CommBank also received its fourth Shonky Award from consumer group CHOICE last year, becoming the most-awarded Australian company in the ignominious awards 20-year history.
But in Jo Boundy, CommBank has one of the country’s best and most-experienced marketers at the helm. There’s a reason she’s one of the few four-time B&T CMO Power List inductees. With its new ‘Doubt Never Did’ brand platform, it’s going to be an interesting 12 months for CBA.
Ben & Jerry’s
In September, it was announced that Jerry Greenfield, one of Ben & Jerry’s eponymous founders, was resigning. His co-founder Ben Cohen, with whom he had helmed the brand for nearly 50 years, would steer the ship alone.
Greenfield’s decision to leave the company was, according to him, due to the brand’s parent company, Unilever, stifling Ben & Jerry’s ability to speak out on social and political issues, something that has been a core part of the brand’s DNA since its inception.
The situation raises the question of whether purpose-led marketing can co-exist with multinational conglomerates. Do brands need to remain small and localised in order to place values-based action in the centre?
Unilever purchased Ben & Jerry’s in 2000 in a $326 million deal that allowed the company to operate independently, giving it the freedom to continue its social mission without interference. Cohen and Greenfield remained at the company but moved away from operational roles to focus on social missions.
In recent months, the duo have butted heads with the company over politically focused social media posts that Cohen said Unilever opposed and threatened to fire people over.
Last year, Ben & Jerry’s was spun off from Unilever into a new company called The Magnum Ice Cream Company, which began publicly trading in December 2025.
Values-driven brands often scale faster than the systems that protect those values. Ben & Jerry’s social activism could be centred when the brand was small, and values were enforced culturally.
Inside Unilever, those same stances could create legal, geopolitical and shareholder risk. The result: purpose becomes tolerated until it clashes with corporate risk management.
It remains to be seen whether the ice cream brand’s holy trinity of product, economic, and social – or peace, love and ice cream – will be carried forward by this new subsidiary.
Adidas
Nike has faced some hurdles over the past two years, with both global revenue and cultural relevance taking a hit. Nature abhors a vacuum, however, and Adidas has filled the gap.
Nike’s market share slipped from 15 per cent to 14 per cent, while Adidas grew from 8.2 to 8.9 per cent. It shows that even the most dominant brands cannot take leadership for granted.
The question remains: can Adidas maintain its position as a big player, possibly overtaking Nike?
Heritage silhouettes like the Samba, Gazelle and Spezial have re-entered the cultural zeitgeist, marrying sport, street and lifestyle. At the same time, Adidas has rebalanced its distribution strategy, moving away from an overreliance on DTC and rebuilding strong wholesale partnerships.
Adidas will need to sustain momentum and deliver culturally relevant moments and high-quality performance. For Nike, it will mean continuing its reboot strategy and building on the ‘back to basics’ push seen last year, reasserting its unique offering.
With the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico, and the LA 2028 Olympics ahead, the global spotlight will shine on Nike’s backyard. It gives the brand a platform to retake its dominance across performance, culture and grassroots sport. For Adidas, the challenge will be to sustain momentum, not just rely on a fleeting wave of right time, right place.
Chinese cars
Chinese automotive brands are no longer fringe players in Australia — they’re fast becoming category shapers. What began as a value-led EV proposition has evolved into a full-scale brand moment, with BYD, GWM, MG, Chery and Polestar (yes, it’s now owned by Geely, Volvo’s parent company) pouring significant investment into local marketing.
BYD, in particular, has proven that Chinese brands can compete not just on cost, but on design, technology and trust.
What makes this wave especially interesting from a brand perspective is the speed at which perceptions are shifting. Once burdened by scepticism around quality and longevity, Chinese brands are now positioning themselves as smart, future-facing alternatives to legacy automakers, and Australians are buying in.
As more Chinese brands enter the market in 2026, the challenge will move from awareness to differentiation. The next phase isn’t just about being cheaper or electric; it’s about brand storytelling and lasting relevance. To do so, these brands are aggressive advertisers, too, employing some of the country’s leading agencies to spruik their wheels.
Their messages appear to be cutting through, too. According to the most recent sales data, GWM’s market share grew from 3.5 to 4.4 per cent year on year in December and BYD’s rocketed from 1.7 per cent to 4.3 per cent.
The United States of America
The brand of good ol’ US of A has been in shambles during the past year.
In 2025, annual visitation by Australians fell by 3.5 per cent, and stringent visa requirements, which included mandating visitors to hand over their social media data, mean that many Australians aren’t packing their bags anytime soon. Brand USA is trying to change that.
The recent news about ICE shooting citizens in the streets is unlikely to help matters.
How the recent ‘America The Beautiful’ campaign from Brand USA, the country’s tourism marketing body, moves the needle remains to be seen.
The campaign targets nine key tourism markets for the US: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, India, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, South Korea and the UK. Industry estimates put the cost of the campaign at between $US12 million and almost double that, based on previous global pushes.
Will the land of the free and home of the brave manage to woo Aussies this year?
