So… Who Are You Really Marketing To Now? 👀
Humans, algorithms, or AI agents? A clear-eyed recap of 2025 and the new rules for 2026.
Happy New Year from all of us at Welcome Tomorrow ✨🥳
We hope you’re starting 2026 rested, inspired, and excited for what’s ahead.
We appreciate you reading along with us, here’s a quick TL;DR before we dive in. 🏊🏾♀️
TL;DR:
2025 was the handover: We lost manual control as Google and Meta moved fully to AI-driven targeting and “Zero-Click” search.
The “Human” cliché: Everyone is preaching “authenticity” now, making the advice as generic as the AI ads it’s trying to fix.
Strategic Friction: In a world of deep fakes, being “frictionless” feels suspicious. Use “Trust Checkpoints” to prove you’re real.
Agentic Marketing: You’re no longer just selling to humans, you’re selling to the AI agents doing their research. If you aren’t a verifiable authority, you don’t exist.
If 2025 felt like a bit of a blur, it’s probably because the ground was moving under us every few weeks. We didn’t just get new tools, we saw the entire way people find things and buy things, shift.
Here’s the monthly breakdown of what that looked like:
Q1: The Algorithmic Handover
January: Google integrated Gemini into the core of Performance Max, automating not just the bids, but the generation of the actual ad headlines and imagery.
February: Meta’s Andromeda retrieval engine began its global rollout, fundamentally changing how ads enter the auction.
March: The March Core Update fundamentally devalued “SEO-first” content. Sites that existed to satisfy a crawler, rather than a human, saw traffic evaporate.
Q2: The Death of the Destination
April: AI Overviews (AIO) became the default search state. “Zero-Click” search volume spiked to 60%. The goal of search shifted from driving traffic to securing a citation.
May: Meta officially retired most Interest Stacks. Creative became the only targeting lever left, if your ad didn’t find its own audience through its “hook,” the algorithm simply stopped spending.
June: African Gen Z was highlighted as a major force shaping influence and digital consumer behaviour, driving brands to rethink regional strategies.
Q3: The Pivot to “Vibe” and Trust
July: Meta launched Threads Ads, introducing a “Vibe-First” ad format that penalised traditional high-pressure CTAs in favour of conversational engagement.
August: TikTok upgraded to Engaged Session ads, measuring success by how long a user stayed with the content, not just the initial click.
September: Kenya and Nigeria issued their first major data enforcement fines, making “First-Party Data” a survival strategy rather than a legal footnote.
Q4: The Rise of the Agents
October: OpenAI launched ChatGPT Atlas, a direct search browser competitor. Marketing departments scrambled to learn “Generative Engine Optimisation” (GEO).
November: Gemini 3 launched, offering “Nano” models for mobile that allow for real-time, on-device ad personalisation.
December: We finally admitted that “Last-Click” measurement is broken. Brands shifted toward looking at the big picture, causal modelling and real business growth.
2026: What you actually need to do now
“ Be human” is the latest marketing cliché. We spent two years using AI to strip out friction, creating a faceless, generic blur and now we’re trying to fix it with advice that sounds just as robotic.
To actually stand out in 2026, don’t just “act human”, focus on this
1. Give people something to lean into (Strategic Friction)
We spent years trying to make everything “frictionless.” But in a world full of AI scams and deep fakes, a little bit of friction is actually a good thing.
The move here: Use “Trust Checkpoints.” In our markets, people want to know there’s a real person at the other end. Instead of a faceless “Buy Now” button, try inviting a conversation on WhatsApp. It sounds slower, but it builds a moat that a bot can’t cross. In 2026, being “too easy” can actually feel a bit suspicious.
2. Build for the “Agent” Customer (Agentic Architecture)
Pretty soon, a lot of your “visitors” won’t be people, they’ll be AI assistants. They’ll be checking your prices and reading your reviews before the human ever sees your brand.
The move here: You need to make sure your brand is “Agent-Friendly.” I’m not talking about more keywords but about being the cited source when an AI answers a customer’s question. If an AI can’t easily verify that you’re an authority, it won’t recommend you. We’re moving into a Bot-to-Bot economy where clarity is your best ad.
App Growth Summit Africa is coming to Nairobi!
The third edition of App Growth Summit Africa is coming to Nairobi 🇰🇪 Same energy, but this time, we’re diving even deeper.
We’ll be bringing together some of the brightest minds in Africa’s app ecosystem, founders, marketers, and product leaders, to explore what it really takes to drive growth, retention, and long-term impact in Africa.
🗓️ Friday, 13th February
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