Building Community When Nobody Wants Another Slack Group Tobias Dahlberg October 06, 2025 – 2 min read Share this post Marketing Aspiration Has Changed: The New Status Symbols of 2026 Are you ready to look at how culture and values are changing for 2026 and beyond? I thought so. Here's the pattern: From wealth → wellbeing → wisdom → autonomy. What brands must signal to feel modern and desirable. In Brief Aspiration has quietly rewritten itself. Money no longer signals status By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read Marketing The Relevance Gap Starts In The Corner Office The Relevance Gap™ is a term I coined to illustrate the disconnect that happens between brands and customer choice. And while Relevance is a function of many external forces (from cultural shifts, macro trends, category dynamics, and most of all, changes in consumer tastes, values, etc. the problems rarely starts By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read Marketing The Shifting Role Of The CMO Times are changing. But aren't they always? CMO's need to adapt to a new role. SIGNAL — What’s Happening? The marketing department — once the temple of storytelling — is being rewired into an operating system. AI isn’t replacing marketers. It’s replacing marketing as we knew By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read Brand Levi's - Relevant or Redundant? Levi’s is one of the most recognizable apparel brands on the planet — a century-old symbol of American culture, youth identity, and “authenticity.” It practically invented denim as we know it. But the category it once defined has fragmented into micro-cultures, fast fashion cycles, secondhand ecosystems, and aesthetic tribes that By Tobias Dahlberg • 3 min read Marketing Aspiration Has Changed: The New Status Symbols of 2026 Are you ready to look at how culture and values are changing for 2026 and beyond? I thought so. Here's the pattern: From wealth → wellbeing → wisdom → autonomy. What brands must signal to feel modern and desirable. In Brief Aspiration has quietly rewritten itself. Money no longer signals status By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read Brand Relevant Or Redundant? – BOSS I came back from London late last night, and after strolling the streets for a few days, (mostly waiting while my wife and daughters shopped like there is no tomorrow), I did what I suppose most brand-builders do...analyse brands and concepts. What follows is a new content series I By Tobias Dahlberg • 3 min read Marketing The Relevance Gap Starts In The Corner Office The Relevance Gap™ is a term I coined to illustrate the disconnect that happens between brands and customer choice. And while Relevance is a function of many external forces (from cultural shifts, macro trends, category dynamics, and most of all, changes in consumer tastes, values, etc. the problems rarely starts By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read Brand & Marketing I Analysed Dozens Of FMCG Brands - Here Is How Many Are Drifting I’ve run a good amount of Brand Relevance Scores for FMCG brands this last month. Here’s the uncomfortable pattern: the categories aren’t stale — the brands are. Most FMCG brands aren’t losing relevance because of competition. They’re losing relevance because culture moved and they didn’t By Tobias Dahlberg • 1 min read Teach & AI AI will change everything about brand-building. Except what matters most. Why the Future of Brand Still Belongs to Humans — Even in an AI-Driven World. After 20+ years at the intersection of of brand strategy, innovation, design, and marketing for companies across industries, countries, and stages, I’ve learned one thing with absolute certainty: AI will change how brands are built. By Tobias Dahlberg • 5 min read
Marketing Aspiration Has Changed: The New Status Symbols of 2026 Are you ready to look at how culture and values are changing for 2026 and beyond? I thought so. Here's the pattern: From wealth → wellbeing → wisdom → autonomy. What brands must signal to feel modern and desirable. In Brief Aspiration has quietly rewritten itself. Money no longer signals status By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read
Marketing The Relevance Gap Starts In The Corner Office The Relevance Gap™ is a term I coined to illustrate the disconnect that happens between brands and customer choice. And while Relevance is a function of many external forces (from cultural shifts, macro trends, category dynamics, and most of all, changes in consumer tastes, values, etc. the problems rarely starts By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read
Marketing The Shifting Role Of The CMO Times are changing. But aren't they always? CMO's need to adapt to a new role. SIGNAL — What’s Happening? The marketing department — once the temple of storytelling — is being rewired into an operating system. AI isn’t replacing marketers. It’s replacing marketing as we knew By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read
Brand Levi's - Relevant or Redundant? Levi’s is one of the most recognizable apparel brands on the planet — a century-old symbol of American culture, youth identity, and “authenticity.” It practically invented denim as we know it. But the category it once defined has fragmented into micro-cultures, fast fashion cycles, secondhand ecosystems, and aesthetic tribes that By Tobias Dahlberg • 3 min read
Marketing Aspiration Has Changed: The New Status Symbols of 2026 Are you ready to look at how culture and values are changing for 2026 and beyond? I thought so. Here's the pattern: From wealth → wellbeing → wisdom → autonomy. What brands must signal to feel modern and desirable. In Brief Aspiration has quietly rewritten itself. Money no longer signals status By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read
Brand Relevant Or Redundant? – BOSS I came back from London late last night, and after strolling the streets for a few days, (mostly waiting while my wife and daughters shopped like there is no tomorrow), I did what I suppose most brand-builders do...analyse brands and concepts. What follows is a new content series I By Tobias Dahlberg • 3 min read
Marketing The Relevance Gap Starts In The Corner Office The Relevance Gap™ is a term I coined to illustrate the disconnect that happens between brands and customer choice. And while Relevance is a function of many external forces (from cultural shifts, macro trends, category dynamics, and most of all, changes in consumer tastes, values, etc. the problems rarely starts By Tobias Dahlberg • 2 min read
Brand & Marketing I Analysed Dozens Of FMCG Brands - Here Is How Many Are Drifting I’ve run a good amount of Brand Relevance Scores for FMCG brands this last month. Here’s the uncomfortable pattern: the categories aren’t stale — the brands are. Most FMCG brands aren’t losing relevance because of competition. They’re losing relevance because culture moved and they didn’t By Tobias Dahlberg • 1 min read
Teach & AI AI will change everything about brand-building. Except what matters most. Why the Future of Brand Still Belongs to Humans — Even in an AI-Driven World. After 20+ years at the intersection of of brand strategy, innovation, design, and marketing for companies across industries, countries, and stages, I’ve learned one thing with absolute certainty: AI will change how brands are built. By Tobias Dahlberg • 5 min read
