Reflecting on 2025 and looking to 2026
As we approach the end of the year, it’s clear to me that 2025 has been one of the most transformative periods in the Wise & Zeal journey. We’ve seen changes across the marketing landscape, some fuelled by AI conversations, others by changes in how people consume content and the type of content they need to educate themselves, which have been relentless and energising. The team has worked hard to encourage each other to think differently, and to serve our clients strategically and with care. We defined our North Star, created new outcome-driven services delivering significant client impact as soon as they were launched, we released our first research insights, and I’ve finally been able to deliver on a personal passion – to help people return to work.
If this year has been defining, 2026 will be incredible.
Expanding our horizons and our associate network
One of the clearest signs of growth this year has been the expansion of our valued associate network. As work demands surged from clients seeking deeper engagement with C-suite audiences, so too did our need to scale and strengthen our capabilities.
By connecting deeper into our networks, we have been able to bring in highly experienced specialists across sales enablement, content strategy, customer advocacy, research, and executive engagement, to support the team and deliver the value our clients rely on.
The result is a team more diverse in perspective, confident in solving complex marketing challenges and more equipped than ever before to support the marketing and sales leaders that rely on us to help achieve (and exceed) their marketing goals. This is the approach by which I started Wise & Zeal, and will remain core to how we operate.
Launching our new Peer-to-Peer guide
A standout team moment was the launch of Wise & Zeal’s new Peer-to-Peer Guide – a concept designed to deliver actionable answers to technology challenges faced by the C-suite, written by the C-suite. Launched in December, the market reaction was instant and overwhelmingly positive to the first published Peer-to-Peer Guide supported by Sales and Marketing Activators.
Our client’s C-suite readers told us they found the content market leading and it enabled them to actually drive change. We’ve empowered sales and marketing with Activator packs which have bridged enablement gaps and to already facilitate conversations with the C-suite readers to increase share of wallet.
In a world of content diluted with generic thought leadership, these Peer-to-Peer guides hit different – straightforward, practical, insights from experienced C-suite executives that enable vendors to build engaging and valuable relationships.
Refining our brand to reflect Wise & Zeal today
2025 was also the right time to fine tune and refine our brand, ensuring that our identity truly reflects the value we deliver and the C-suite audiences we serve.
Our specialist offerings are now anchored to three core pillars:
- C-suite Engagement: enabling senior leaders to access insights, content, and programmes designed specifically to cut through the complexity of their roles
- Customer Advocacy: empowering organisations to amplify authentic customer voices; building credibility through shared success
- Sales & Marketing Activators: delivering strategies and assets that help marketing and sales teams align with clarity to make an impact.
Our positioning is more precise and will soon be reflected on the website, whilst our visual identity has also shifted slightly to better represent the depth and quality of the work we do with ambitious scale-ups and large enterprise organisations.
Helping people return to work
I am passionate about providing education to enable people to live the life they want to live. It’s why our nominated charity is TheirWorld, and for several years I’ve wanted to run a programme to help people return to work after a career break. Not just return to a job, but return to working in a role that they have confidence in, and that they enjoy.
Sponsored by Wise & Zeal, and partnering with Lean In, we launch our pilot programme in early 2026 during which the cohort will work through some of the challenges to build their confidence to understand how to work in today’s world. If you know of someone who would benefit from joining a future cohort, please message me or one of the WZ team directly and we’ll let them know when the next dates are available.
Wise & Zeal insights: launching our first international C-suite research project
A major highlight was the launch of our first large scale C-suite research project, which has already attracted considerable attention from the market. The response underscores a growing appetite among senior leaders for data-driven, peer-level insight that cuts through the noise and gets quickly to the point with clear action plans in place.
This project has also allowed us to expand our role as a trusted partner to the clients we support, offering robust, evidence-based perspectives on topics that are often difficult to quantify but critical to business performance.
And we’re only getting started. The next wave of research – targeting organisations with a minimum of 10,000 employees – will provide even richer intelligence on how C-suite audiences are engaging with, or disconnecting from, content. And our third study will also explore how sales and marketing teams can strengthen alignment to accelerate revenue, improve customer experience and ultimately operate together to drive greater efficiency. Leaders can register here to be alerted as the research studies are available to help them make informed, strategic decisions.
Looking ahead: my predictions for 2026
Shaped by the conversations we’re having daily with senior leaders across global markets and our own experiences, several clear themes are emerging – and are reinforced by the research we have done.
- Insightful content that educates will become the new standard. Generic content and messaging no longer resonates. Executives are searching for content that demonstrates an understanding of their specific challenges within the context of the technology challenge. But more importantly, with answers that help them take action.
- Peer-to-Peer insight will outperform traditional thought leadership. More so now than ever before, leaders want to learn from each other, not read abstract viewpoints. Peer-led content formats will continue to rise and drive significantly higher engagement and revenue outcomes.
- Sales enablement will become the lynchpin to marketing success. As AI enables sellers to become more productive, and content informs the C-suite to a higher degree, marketing needs to look hard at how they enable sellers to leverage marketing campaigns, and have engaging conversations with the C-suite. Marketers that get this right will be groundbreaking.
- Customer advocacy will lead marketing strategies. Authentic customer stories build brand trust and carry more influence than vendor-led narratives. Advocacy can shape how organisations engage with prospects, enabling decision-makers and buyers to have more confidence in the purchases they make.
Closing thoughts
2025 has been a year of change and clarity. We’ve launched new content styles and formats, refined our identity, and delivered research that will help marketing teams navigate a shifting commercial landscape. We enter 2026 with clarity, focus and humble pride, ready to continue shaping the future of C-suite engagement, customer marketing and sales activation.
If you’d like to learn more about our research, peer-to-peer guides or our return to work programme, please contact me or one of our amazing team.
Wishing you all a fabulous festive period, and a prosperous 2026.