The Brand Reset: What to Commit to (and Cut) This Year

In partnership with

The Future of Shopping? AI + Actual Humans.

AI has changed how consumers shop by speeding up research. But one thing hasn’t changed: shoppers still trust people more than AI.

Levanta’s new Affiliate 3.0 Consumer Report reveals a major shift in how shoppers blend AI tools with human influence. Consumers use AI to explore options, but when it comes time to buy, they still turn to creators, communities, and real experiences to validate their decisions.

The data shows:

• Only 10% of shoppers buy through AI-recommended links

• 87% discover products through creators, blogs, or communities they trust

• Human sources like reviews and creators rank higher in trust than AI recommendations

The most effective brands are combining AI discovery with authentic human influence to drive measurable conversions.

Affiliate marketing isn’t being replaced by AI, it’s being amplified by it.

Download the full report to see what this means for your brand.

What To Double Down On—And What To Delete

January has a way of pulling founders in two directions at once.

On one hand, there’s urgency. New goals. New numbers. New pressure to move faster than last year.

On the other, there’s exhaustion. A creeping sense that you’re already doing a lot—and not all of it is moving the needle.

Most brand advice at the start of the year adds to the pile. More channels. More content. More initiatives labeled “important.”

But, after working with early-stage teams year after year, I’ve learned that the brands that break through don’t grow because they do more. They grow because they edit and do less better.

So this is your brand reset for the year ahead—what to commit to, and what to cut.

Commit To: Fewer, Sharper Ideas

If your brand is trying to say ten things, your audience hears none of them.

Strong brands in 2026 are built around a small number of ideas repeated with discipline. They don’t chase novelty; they chase recognition.

Commit to:

• One primary positioning statement

• Two or three core beliefs you’re willing to repeat all year

• A clear “before / after” worldview

If your content feels scattered, it likely is. Remember: less is more.

Cut: The Pressure to Sound Smart

Cleverness ages fast. Clarity compounds.

Founders often over-index on sounding impressive instead of being understood. The result is language that looks polished but fails to land.

This year, cut:

• Overwritten headlines

• Jargon that signals sophistication but hides meaning

• Messaging that requires context to make sense

If a first-time visitor can’t understand what you do in under ten seconds, your brand ain’t doing it right.

Commit To: Proof Over Promise

In earlier stages, confidence can carry you. In 2026, confidence without evidence stalls.

Buyers are more skeptical, more informed, and less patient. They want to see results, not aspirations.

Commit to:

• Concrete examples

• Specific outcomes

• Real customer language

Screenshots, metrics, and visible traction do more brand work than any manifesto ever will.

Cut: Content That Exists Just to Stay “Active”

Posting for the sake of presence is one of the quietest ways to dilute your brand.

Not every week needs a new idea. Not every channel needs to be fed.

Cut:

• Low-effort posts that don’t reinforce a core message

• Formats you can’t sustain consistently

• Content that disappears the moment it’s published

In a feed that increasingly behaves like an archive, forgettable content doesn’t just fail—it actively works against you.

Commit To: Clear Internal Brand Alignment

One of the most overlooked brand multipliers is internal clarity.

When teams aren’t aligned on how the brand speaks, prioritizes, or evaluates decisions, inconsistency leaks everywhere—from sales decks to product UX to support emails.

Commit to:

• A shared internal narrative of what the brand stands for

• Clear guardrails for tone, language, and decision-making

• Fewer “interpretations” of the brand across teams

Brands don’t feel strong externally unless they’re coherent internally.

Cut: Treating Brand as a Separate Workstream

Many founders still treat brand as something adjacent to “real” work.

A deck here. A campaign there. A refresh when things slow down.

Cut that thinking.

Brand is not a parallel effort—it’s the lens through which product, marketing, sales, and customer experience are interpreted.

Cut:

• One-off brand projects with no follow-through

• Isolated brand decisions made in silos

• The idea that brand work can be paused without cost

When brand isn’t integrated, it fragments. And fragmented brands don’t scale.

Final Thought

A brand reset isn’t about changing how you look. It’s about changing how you think.

It’s the discipline to focus on what actually earns attention and trust—and the restraint to cut what doesn’t.

The strongest brands don’t win because they’re louder or more prolific. They win because they’re clearer, more consistent, and harder to misunderstand.

As you move through the year, pressure will build to add more. More channels. More formats. More ideas.

Resist it.

Say fewer things.
Say them with conviction.
Repeat them until they’re unmistakable.

That’s how brand stops being an expense and starts becoming leverage.

And that’s the reset that lasts.

Best,

Edwin