As featured on LBB

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Zackary Hendrickx, VP, Strategy at Allen & Gerritsen (A&G)

In the ‘Age of Uncertainty’, a strategist’s confidence doesn’t come from a fixed map but from a solid compass. With budgets, timelines, and technology in constant flux, our job isn’t to create the picture-perfect plan – it’s to build a North Star for the brand and stay nimble enough to actually reach it.

If strategy used to be about finding a ‘right’ answer and sticking to it, our goal in 2026 is to be experts in adaptation – knowing when and how to pivot and combining the efficiencies of technology with the human insight and intuition needed to filter out the abundant noise.

A key aspect of this is how we approach research as strategists in the age of automation. As AI accelerates and commoditises baseline research (industry analyses, competitive audits, social listening, etc.), the need for true breakthrough insights will be more critical than ever. That’s why at A&G, we are investing in the type of research that AI can’t do. Qualitative research is taking centre stage, but we’re building our research engine to deliver at speed. Months-long research efforts are giving way to nimble approaches that can surface insights and drive priority marketing decisions in real time.

Most of what gets called strategy today rests on an assumption that certainty is achievable. That, with enough analysis, the future will eventually settle into something predictable.

It won’t.

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