Next in digital: What's on top of Malaysian agencies' minds for 2026

As digital marketing moves into 2026, agencies are realising that technology alone isn’t enough. While AI and automation are becoming central to workflows, the real differentiator will be creativity, emotional connection, and how teams work together. From scaling personalised storytelling to improving internal efficiency, the focus is on using technology to amplify human imagination rather than replace it. Consumers still crave authenticity, and the brands that can balance precision with emotion are the ones likely to stand out.

Integration and collaboration are taking centre stage. Agencies are looking to break down silos between creative, social, media, and activation teams, while ensuring that talent is nurtured and empowered to make smarter, faster decisions. At the same time, there’s a push to scale campaigns regionally and globally without compromising the quality of storytelling or cultural resonance. Behind the technology, strong leadership and motivated teams remain the backbone of success.

Industry shifts are also reshaping the landscape. Consolidation and mergers among global networks could create openings for local agencies, while the growing adoption of AI across media, creative, and data functions is changing how campaigns are executed. For 2026, the challenge and opportunity lie in blending innovation with human insight to create digital experiences that truly connect.

Below, A+M spoke with agency leaders in Malaysia to explore how they’re approaching creativity, AI, and integration next year.

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Sandeep Mark Joseph, co-founder and CEO of Ampersand Advisory

Next year is going to see the global networks consolidate, merge and possibly decline. Dentsu ex Japan is on the block (or not, depending on rumours and news), WPP is in decline, OMG and Interpublic are merging. The fallout of this will play out in Malaysia, and lead to more clients seeking alternatives, the rise of local agencies, and more talent out looking for jobs or to switch employers. This will be the biggest flux in 2026 in the digital space in Malaysia, where over 75% of all advertising dollars are spent.

We will be focusing on AI, just as we have done in 2025. It will become core for media, creative, data and even PR. Already our teams have created award-winning integrated campaigns that involve AI. The challenge is to make AI seem human, make it engage better, and to keep using it productively to make our working lives better. In 2026, We expect to continue to do well, and keep growing.

I like variety, stories, narratives, data, film, flux. So, there won’t be one key area, but all of Ampersand Advisory’s growth will always boil down to having a very capable leadership team, an ambitious, talented ensemble of 90+, that works hard and plays harder, while delivering results for clients. So continuously motivating, engaging, exciting, guiding and mentoring this team is always the goal.

Kuhan Kumar, founder and CEO of Digital Symphony

Looking ahead to 2026, I think the next big shift in Malaysia’s digital marketing landscape will be the move toward AI-integrated processes becoming part of our everyday workflow. Not just using AI for content but developing AI agents that can support certain decision-making tasks — helping teams work faster, clearer and with more confidence. At the heart of it, our belief remains simple: same people, better outcomes. Gen-AI and agentic AI is the next step for us in making that a reality.

At Digital Symphony, we’re placing a strong focus on conversational AI for both voice and chat. Out of all the GenAI applications we’ve tested, this is the area that shows the strongest real-world adoption and the biggest impact on how teams operate and how brands engage. And importantly, the use cases go far beyond content generation — it’s about improving customer experience, internal efficiency and how we solve problems at scale.

For budgeting in 2026, we’re intentionally setting aside R&D resources to explore both conversational AI and agentic AI solutions more deeply. It’s important we understand these technologies firsthand rather than rely on external narratives. Our priority for the year is simple: build meaningful, practical AI capabilities that actually help people do better work — not replace them.

Chris Greenough, general manager of GrowthOps Asia

The next disruption won’t come from another model release; it will come from the collapse of trust and authenticity in digital environments, along with tightening regulation. Feeds are getting more artificial, trust is falling, and governments are stepping in. The pendulum is swinging back to fundamentals: work that feels real, is rooted in brand truth, and can survive a more heavily scrutinised digital ecosystem.

Everyone has access to the same AI tools now. The difference won’t be which tools you use, but how well you integrate them into your workflow and culture. The winners will be semi-agnostic: comfortable switching stacks, customising their own systems, and using AI to enable people, not replace them.

Budgets are still getting tighter. A deeper understanding of workflow automation — and the trade-offs between standardisation and customisation — will be essential. Rapid testing will also play a big role, helping brands validate ideas quickly before scaling spend. Budgets will consolidate around platforms and partners that can prove effectiveness, not just efficiency.

To fight the fake, brands will need to pull back the curtain and show the raw, unfiltered process of making things. The brands willing to get uncomfortable and to show the behind-the-scenes outtakes will be the ones that stand out.

Jo Yau, group CEO of Invictus Blue

The next wave in digital marketing won’t just be technological—it will be emotional.

After years of post-pandemic digital acceleration, Malaysian brands are realising that the pendulum has swung too far toward performance efficiency, focusing heavily on mid- and lower-funnel conversions. While measurable, this has left a void: a lack of genuine human connection. Consumers now live in an algorithmic world but crave authenticity. They scroll endlessly yet seek moments that feel real — brands that see them, not just sell to them.

The next transformation is a rebalancing of brand love and performance precision, where digital maturity equates to emotional maturity. AI, automation, and hyper-personalisation will continue to advance, but the true differentiator will be who can “touch better,” using technology to build trust and continuity of meaning.

In 2026, our focus will be on AI tools that enhance productivity while nurturing talent capable of merging intelligence with imagination. Budgeting will prioritise integration, ensuring creative, social, PR, and activation teams work seamlessly together, while investing in technology that drives smarter decisions.

Our key focus is advancing integration and expanding regionally, particularly in Indonesia, exporting our integrated philosophy to create connected, culturally resonant ecosystems across borders.

Ryan Ong, CEO of Kingdom Digital

In this AI era, Southeast Asia’s digital marketing landscape is rapidly evolving as creativity, media efficiency, and automation converge. We believe the future belongs to brands that harness AI not to replace creativity, but to amplify the power of human imagination. In 2026, Kingdom Digital will double down on our Creative-First approach, where storytelling leads and technology enhances meaningful brand expression.

Meaningful ideas start with people: how they feel, behave, and connect. AI adds dimensions by helping us scale these ideas intelligently. By investing in AI-driven capabilities, we bridge insight and innovation, giving our teams more room to explore, adapt, and personalise storytelling while keeping authenticity at the core. This unlocks possibilities such as rapid content localisation and richer narrative variations tuned to real-time needs.

Our Digital Creative Automation (DCA) solution is key to solving real business problems and helping brands go-to-market faster. By integrating AI capability to achieve personalisation at scale, DCA optimises cost while producing, localising, and refining thousands of creative variations for multi-channel use, including video animation. This enables brands to scale communications globally without compromising storytelling quality or design integrity.

From strategic brand building and people-first campaigns to AI-led creative automation, we help brands achieve meaningful differentiation. Every solution is driven by purpose, emotion, and possibility, underpinned by insight, creativity, and innovation.

Dan Kalinski, APAC Managing Director of NP Digital.

We are expecting moderate growth in Malaysia as clients continue to navigate the economic, geopolitical and platform/ AI related challenges. We expect the budgets to move toward outcome-based efficiency. Rather than increasing spend, brands will channel investment into tools, automation, and measurement frameworks that can prove ROI at every stage of the funnel.

Naturally, AI will lead the disruption including GEO, which is transforming the already fragmented ecosystem at a warp speed. But accurate measurement and ROI are becoming even more elusive with the recent AI led changes. So, how can you determine a value of activity if there are no clicks?

To solve this puzzle, we are continuing to invest in our own platforms and are partnering up with third party tools. Consumer behaviour is evolving quickly across platforms and AI is reshaping how brands interpret intent, personalise communication, and scale performance. Hence, strengthening our own tech and investing in our talent and GEO capabilities will be the key areas of our focus in 2026.

In Malaysia, our focus for 2026 centres on sustaining NP Digital’s growth by helping clients scale intelligently. Through AI-enhanced performance strategies, we aim to make every marketing dollar work harder, every campaign smarter, and every impression count toward tangible growth.


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