Marketing insights gap and the strategic importance of intellectual property

A new report from Cision, titled ‘The Marketer of 2026’, identifies a growing insight gap in the marketing profession. Despite increased access to data, only 25% of surveyed marketing professionals report understanding their audiences ‘very well’. The report suggests the role of marketers is shifting from campaign execution toward interpreting fragmented signals from social platforms, search engines, and AI tools to understand the ‘why’ behind consumer decisions.

In a separate business discussion, Lashify founder and CEO Sahara Lotti highlighted the importance of intellectual property as a competitive advantage. Lotti detailed how Lashify utilized patents to defend its innovations against counterfeiters, including a significant legal victory. The discussion emphasized using patent protection and direct-to-consumer models to safeguard brand value and fund legal enforcement in the beauty industry.