McKinsey’s State of the Consumer report could reshape brand messaging, earned media, and search visibility
McKinsey’s newest State of the Consumer report just took a swing at brand loyalty. According to the firm’s 2026 research, brand equity and market scale no longer guarantee a company’s spot in front of the customer. Consumers now decide who earns their attention, and they are doing it faster, more skeptically, and with less patience for generic messaging.
The report focuses on consumer-packaged goods and retail, but the four consumer trends it documents apply to any brand competing for attention in 2026: a tech-driven path to purchase, a broader definition of health, a growing appetite for experience over goods, and a more resourceful, price-aware shopper. Each trend carries a direct implication for public relations strategy and brand messaging, not just product or pricing decisions.
AI Search Changed Who Controls a Brand Story
McKinsey found that brand-owned websites drive only 1% of the sources LLMs (large language models) cite when answering questions about a company. Even the 10 most frequently cited sources, which account for roughly 22% of all citations, draw a maximum of 10% of their citations from brand sites.
That number should be a warning bell any marketing team that still treats its own website as the primary vehicle for brand truth. Generative engine optimization, or GEO, rewards the same fundamentals that have always driven strong PR. AI platforms build their answers from forums, reviews, blogs, and video content that a brand doesn’t own and can’t fully control.
Wellness Claims Need Receipts
Consumers have expanded the definition of health well past diet and exercise, into sleep quality and gut health. Yet fewer than half of consumers feel they are hitting their wellness goals, according to McKinsey’s data.
That gap matters for any brand selling into the health and wellness space. Vague claims do not survive contact with a consumer who tracks their own biometrics on a smartwatch. “Clean” and “natural” read as marketing noise to a prospective patient or consumer who already tracks their glucose levels in real time.
Providers and medical practices promoting products or new routines need to lead with transparency and expertise: named ingredients, data traceable to a credible source, years incorporating wellness into practice. That specificity is a PR function and it starts with disciplined, sourced messaging behind every health claim.
Experience Replaces Impressions as Key Metric
Activations and sponsorships now double as messaging opportunities. The global market for consumer experiences grew 2.6% between 2023 and 2025, more than triple the growth rate for nonessential goods over the same period. Travel led the way, growing 4.4%.
Brands responded by turning partnerships into identity. Ferrara’s Trolli brand spent five years embedded in a major gaming platform, building branded in-game content and hosting a takeover at the gaming convention PAX East.
Pop Mart, the company behind the global Labubu craze, expanded its Beijing theme park with a dedicated fan zone in May 2026. Turning a toy license into a physical destination.
Neither move is a product launch. Both are PR-led brand experiences designed to reinforce identity in a channel where a press release cannot reach.
Value Messaging is the New Black
Price pressure has not eased, and consumers have gotten resourceful about it. McKinsey reports 82% of consumers hold onto products longer before replacing them, and 69% repair items instead of discarding them.
This behavior is no longer confined to lower-income households, as higher-income consumers are making do by choice, not necessity. Resourcefulness itself is now a point of pride for consumers across income levels.
Brands that can prove a product lasts, and say so clearly, earn more trust than brands that simply cut price. For PR and marketing teams, this shifts what value messaging needs to sound like. Discount language reads as desperation, while durability and transparency read as confidence.
Retailers like Aldi and Lidl forced competitors in the UK to rethink pricing and product quality. Patagonia, Madewell, and Levi’s built trade-in programs that turn a used product into a brand touchpoint instead of a lost sale.
What This Means for Your Brand
McKinsey closed its report with a prompt for self-reflection: consumers are evolving, and companies have to find a way to keep up.
AI platforms cite what earned media and credible third parties keep repeating, and a wellness claim earns trust only when it’s backed by a real source. Audiences crave meaningful connection with brands, and durability messaging reads as confidence instead of a sales pitch.
Every trend comes back to the same discipline (hint: it’s what we do). We believe the answer starts with messaging. Brand equity alone won’t hold a company’s seat at the table much longer.
A brand’s PR strategy needs to move past legacy assumptions about search, wellness claims, brand experience, and price positioning. It needs to start reflecting how consumers actually search and spend.
We help brands in industries such as consumer, healthcare, real estate, and hospitality turn shifting consumer behavior into messaging and earned media that hold up.
Let’s talk about your brand’s PR strategy.