Every year, events like CES remind us just how loud the modern brand landscape has become. Thousands of product launches, “breakthroughs”, and visionary keynotes vie for your attention over just a few days. In an ocean of announcements, cutting through the noise is becoming increasingly difficult.
While CES is behind us for 2026, its core themes continue to affect everything we do. AI has made it easier than ever to produce noise, but harder for your brand to be heard. Audiences are more attuned to credibility, context, and consistency, and most can spot inauthentic or homogenized messaging. So, how can you attract attention in 2026? Here are five reasons why successful companies are making PR a central part of their strategy this year.
- As AI noise becomes pervasive, human-led storytelling will be a differentiator.
As generative AI enables content creation at speed, audiences have become skeptical. Journalists cannot be fooled by a slick AI-generated pitch, even as they receive hundreds or thousands every day. AI-created pitches are becoming easier to spot, even without detection tools. If you don’t want your message to go in the trash bin, you must stand out for the right reasons.
Findings from the Meltwater State of PR Report 2026 underscore the need for smarter targeting, better storytelling and more data-driven insights as it becomes harder to secure earned media. Similarly, the CISION Inside PR Report states that ‘storytelling and content creation’ will be the No. 1 in-demand skill of 2026, closely followed by media relations.
Experienced PR teams don’t just create content; they understand what needs to be said, how to say it, and who can help to promulgate the message. In a landscape flooded with AI-generated messaging, this elevates storytelling, cutting above the noise to deliver visibility to your brand.
- Trust is harder to earn, and relationships come at a premium.
Journalists, analysts and other industry experts are increasingly selective about who they engage with and when. Growing adoption of AI is leading to a rising distrust of brand messaging and new PR agencies. Consequently, the Meltwater State of PR 2026 report found that the majority of respondents expect earned media to be harder to secure in the next five years.
Audiences crave authenticity, but building media and analyst relationships takes time! In today’s crowded and skeptical environment, long-established relationships have become invaluable. Working with a PR agency that brings those relationships, your brand can benefit. We leverage them to add weight to your messaging and help you cut through the noise.
- The rise of misinformation in 2025 has pushed brands to prioritize accuracy, nuance, and trust.
We’ve all seen how quickly misinformation is amplified and the damage that it can cause. Gen-AI hallucinations, fake customer stories, and conspiracies can spread within minutes and damage your brand’s reputation. As more of your audience relies on AI-generated summaries in response to Google searches, rather than clicking through to fact-check, this issue is only increasing.
While you can’t control what is being said, you must be vigilant. You can leverage tools that scan social media posts, automate media monitoring, and alert you to mentions in real time, helping to spot potential issues. It’s vital to develop strategies that inform the next steps to tackle misinformation about your brand, when to stay silent and when to act, refuting social media narratives, or working with journalists and analysts to correct the record.
Misinformation can, of course, begin in-house, too! It’s fine to leverage Gen-AI to research articles, blogs and other messaging. But without properly fact-checking quotes and stats, you could be distributing information that has legal implications for your brand. Rubbish in, rubbish out has never been so relevant as every piece of misinformation published further fuels Gen-AI engines!
- Growing crisis complexity is forcing leaders to seek deeper expertise.
While misinformation management is ongoing and can aid in crisis prevention, it’s impossible to stop some issues from crossing the threshold. You shouldn’t think ‘if’, but when a crisis will occur. You must identify potential threats, devise a strategy for each, formulate messaging, train and inform teams, and adjust crisis plans regularly.
You must also be aware of how a crisis can evolve, how it can intersect with geopolitical, legal and social messaging and how to manage it from every angle. An experienced PR team is invaluable here, in anticipating crises, planning for them and responding to them.
- Corporate marketing teams are leaner, while expectations keep rising.
As budgets get tighter, in-house PR teams are shrinking. The expectation that AI can help you do more with less doesn’t match reality. The demand for “always-on” content and growing pressure to demonstrate the measurable success of marketing activities are creating new challenges.
The Meltwater State of PR 2026 Report found that 24% of PR professionals cite a lack of resources as their biggest challenge, with 21% struggling to measure ROI and prove business impact. Additionally, nearly 70% of budgets are expected to stay the same or decrease. In this environment, a PR agency can become a strategic extension of your internal teams.
Navigate 2026 Complexity working with a PR Agency
This year, your PR expertise will be focused on navigating complexity. As AI accelerates content creation, misinformation will continue to erode trust, making it harder to break through the noise. You should work with partners that bring years of strong relationships, human insight and expertise to the table. The smartest organizations are those that manage this by investing differently and more deliberately in PR.
Partnering with an experienced agency like 27-year old Calysto Communications will deliver a natural extension to your in-house marketing team. With decades of experience and relationships built over time, we can help you shape your narrative, create original content, tackle misinformation and ensure your voice breaks through the noise to reach the right audiences.
Contact us to see how we can help you rise above the noise in 2026.