Simon Cetin, Partner at iPROM and Founder and Head of the Retoba Laboratory, has outlined seven key trends for the Slovenian Marketing Association that will decisively shape marketing, brand building, and product development in 2026. His analysis is grounded in shifts in human behaviour and decision-making, changes that have been accelerated in recent years by artificial intelligence.
He emphasises that 2026 will not be a turning point because of new tools, but because of a deeper understanding of how people now make decisions: a move away from traditional information search toward the expectation of immediate, clear answers; the growing importance of explainability as a competitive advantage; and the central role of first-party data as the fuel for the effective use of artificial intelligence.

Simon Cetin, Partner at iPROM and Founder and Head of the Retoba Laboratory, highlighted key shifts shaping digital advertising and the wider digital economy in Marketing magazin as part of its 2025 year-in-review and outlook for the year ahead. His contribution forms part of a broader editorial overview in which contributors examined projects, approaches, and strategic directions expected to have a significant impact in 2026.

In a fragmented digital environment, traditional identifiers are losing reliability, meaning that mere presence across multiple channels is no longer sufficient. The key challenge in marketing has become the coordination of all user touchpoints, as siloed channel activities lead to audience overlap, inefficient budget allocation, and communication that appears effective but fails to deliver real impact. The answer to this challenge lies in multichannel orchestration, which is grounded in an understanding of user journeys and the role of each touchpoint in achieving business objectives.

Simon Cetin, a partner at iPROM and head of the Retoba laboratory, commented for Marketing Magazine on how data practices have evolved over the two decades since the digital world embraced the notion that data is the new oil. In the article, he reflects on the key shifts that have shaped the modern data economy and outlines the direction in which the field is likely to evolve over the coming years.

Marketing today is no longer merely a matter of communication, creative solutions, or brand visibility. It is increasingly becoming one of the key drivers of business growth. At a time when the economy is slowing, markets are fragmenting, and consumers have higher and more clearly defined expectations, it is becoming evident that competitive advantage will belong to companies that no longer manage marketing manually, but instead manage it systematically, supported by data and technology.

Brand, digital marketing, user experience, and CRM leaders today face the challenge of maintaining a high level of personalization at a time when traditional tracking tools, such as third-party cookies, are disappearing. Customers expect brands to recognize them and cater to their preferences at every step, from the website to the point of sale and customer support. In a cookieless digital world, this means companies must connect data across multiple channels more intelligently and build personalization on a foundation of first-party data. Instead of anonymous tracking of website visitors, the focus shifts to a direct relationship with the customer. The data users share with a company becomes the key fuel for delivering an outstanding user experience. Let us take a closer look at how this works.

In advertising, context shapes the value of the message. The environment in which an ad appears determines how the audience reads and understands it. Research shows that brands appearing in trusted, high-quality premium media environments earn greater consumer trust, stronger associations, and higher purchase intent. Quality media, through editorial integrity, user experience, and appropriate ad placement, creates conditions in which advertising achieves higher effectiveness. The key question is how to measure this effectiveness and incorporate it into campaign planning.

In today’s digital landscape, user attention has become one of the rarest and most valuable currencies, measured in just seconds. In this brief window, advertisers make a series of micro-decisions: which content to select, when to display it, and through which channel to deliver it. The shift from static, one-way advertising campaigns to dynamic, multi-channel, data-driven campaigns delivered in real time has become an essential part of modern marketing.
The importance of this transformation was also highlighted in an analytical article by consulting company McKinsey Unlocking the next frontier of personalized marketing. In it, the authors emphasize that the success of digital campaigns increasingly depends on a brand’s ability to reach users with the right message at the right moment. Personalized and timely offers are not merely an upgrade of existing practices but are becoming a sustainable competitive advantage.

The European Commission’s decision to fine Google €2.95 billion for abusing its dominant position in advertising technology is more than a legal measure. It represents an opportunity to reshape the future of programmatic advertising in Europe and our region. Rather than being just another penalty, it signals a move towards a more transparent, fair, and innovative digital advertising ecosystem, in which publishers and advertisers will gain greater influence and independence.

The European Commission has imposed a €2.95 billion fine on Google after finding that the company holds a dominant position in the digital advertising technology market. The investigation revealed that Google’s tools – DoubleClick, Google Ads and DV360 – were used in a way that gave preferential treatment to its own AdX exchange, affecting competitive conditions in the advertising ecosystem. Since the Commission’s decision is also likely to influence future developments in digital advertising in Slovenia, Marketing Magazin sought the opinions of local experts on its implications for the domestic market.