Why it matters:
- Consumers are taking control of midlife, creating the “new young” that will force marketers to forget generational cliches. In fact, breaking patterns and revealing the unanticipated will benefit marketers in the coming year.
- Bold colors in living spaces, as well as reading and meditation retreats, are gaining traction as people intentionally create how they want to live and relax.
- Clean beauty products targeting teens, tweens, men, and people of color will help drive the $22 billion natural and organic personal care category.
Self-empowerment and intentionality are the motivations behind how consumers are redefining life stages, leisure, and self-care—and it’s reshaping their purchasing behaviors.
Here, forecasters and industry analysts tell CO— the trends in attitude, travel, home design, and beauty products for the coming year that will help brands think strategically and future-proof their business strategies.
The new young: An extended midlife stage translates into new approaches to products, services, and marketing
Traditional life stages are being upended, with longevity increasing and typical milestones becoming more fluid. According to the 2026 Global Consumer Predictions report from Mintel, a global market intelligence agency, the result is an extended middle of life, ripe with new product and service opportunities.
“Adulthood is being redefined,” said Diana Kelter, Mintel’s Director of Consumer Trends, North America, in a recent webinar on 2026 predictions. The trend has been decades in the making, sparked by the 2008 recession as millennials saw the adulthood they expected was not matching reality, disrupting life stages, said Kelter. Increasing burnout and stress since 2020 has more consumers wanting to define their own purpose beyond what society tells them, she added.
Kelter views this redefinition of life stages as a reclaiming of the midlife crisis. “It’s not a crisis, it’s empowerment,” she said. “It’s about taking control.”
The shift is redefining preconceptions from previous generations. Rather than consumers saving for the future, they are doing what satisfies and brings them joy and experiences now. People from their 30s to their 60s are embracing a second act, whether that is career- or dating-related, or pursuing ambitions they previously put off. Retirement is increasingly delayed. “We’ll see more of a trail off [of working] rather than a hard stop,” Kelter noted.
Mintel expects consumers will demand flexible products and services to meet their changing needs and lifestyles, and brands will need to shift to help them navigate new chapters. In the 2026 Global Consumer Predictions webinar, BJ Pichman, Principal Consultant, noted that marketing is beginning to reflect the over-55 segment as the “new young.”
"The gray hair is still there, but they’re shown kayaking and riding mountain bikes,” he noted. One example is luxury beauty company Bluemercury’s Up Next campaign, which is redefining aging as growth, not decline.
“Brands need to remove clichés and think cross generationally,” said Kelter, highlighting that Gen Z is enjoying crafts like knitting that would seem to suit baby boomers, while boomers are leaning into activities like fitness. Embrace the muddiness, she advised. “Brands have to think about their product beyond what generation does it [traditionally] fit. Don’t limit it to that.”
When a business does something surprising in the real world, like disruptive signage or an interactive product display, it feels more like a genuine interaction than a sales pitch.Erin Shea, Vistaprint’s Senior Director of North America Marketing
Bold, personalized living spaces: Consumers are turning to color-drenched interiors and kitchens to reflect their lifestyles
Consumers are increasingly craving more personalization in their living space. The neutrals that dominated home spaces over the past decade are waning, as color drenching in bold shades begins to trend, according to the latest Home Trends Report from Zillow, the real estate marketplace.
Zillow’s analysis is based on key word data from millions of listings on its platform. “We look at sales listings where we know [real estate] agents choose every word strategically because of limited space,” Amanda Pendleton, Zillow’s Home Trends Expert, told CO—. Color drenching, a specific technique where the walls, ceiling, and baseboards are all the same color, has increased in listing mentions 149% year over year.
“People don’t want a blank canvas anymore,” said Pendleton. Homes with navy blue bedrooms or olive green kitchens, for example, are selling for more than expected, and darker colors are selling for more than lighter ones.
Whereas homeowners have often previously kept decor simple and neutral as a selling point, Pendleton points out that people are staying in their homes longer, an average of 14 years. “So, it is not just a showpiece for the next buyer,” she said.
On a macro level, Zillow’s report shows a broader shift to more personalization in design. Golf simulators and batting cages, for instance, are becoming more popular.
Pendleton speculates that the trend’s origins stem from the pandemic-era shutdowns. “People got crystal clear on how they wanted to live and what they wanted from the perspective of how their home works for them. They are freer to say they want to reflect their lifestyle,” she said.
The color drenching trend is expected to last longer than a passing fad. “Home trends tend to have a five- to 10-year lifespan, longer than fashion,” Pendleton said.
Bold color extends into home products as well. In a related trend, Whole Foods Market’s Trend Council named Kitchen Couture a top 2026 prediction as consumers seek out products like Bianco DiNapoli organic crushed tomatoes packaged in bright, bold colors and designs that can enhance countertops or kitchen shelves.
[Read more: Cooking Convenience Trends Are Driving Sales for Food and Beverage Companies]
‘Whycations’ and ‘Hushpitality’: Intentional itineraries—many designed for quiet—will drive travel trends
As in home design, personalization will drive 2026 travel trends. Top priorities: comfort and control via “intentional itineraries,” according to Hilton’s 2026 Trends Report, which surveyed 14,000 travelers across 14 countries with insights from more than 5,000 Hilton team members and feedback from 1,000 Hilton Honors loyalty members.
The overarching new travel trend? The "whycation." According to the report, the first travel question is no longer where we are going, it is why we are going. Travel is increasingly driven by emotional motivations, whether that manifests as the desire to reconnect or to rest. More than half of survey respondents (56%) named “to rest and recharge” as their top motivation for leisure travel in 2026. Some say they desire to secure peace, either through solo travel (26%) or seek quiet moments while on group trips (28%).
The craving for quiet is advancing the rise of a sub-trend: "hushpitality." Whether through silent activities or experiences that nourish the mind, body, and spirit, hushpitality is taking several forms. One beneficiary of the trend is literary tourism, a $2.4 billion global market that Future Market Insight reports will grow to $3.3 billion by 2034, with destinations like the Louisa May Alcott Orchard House and the Hemingway Home & Museum. Similarly, Hilton’s data shows that 57% of U.S. travelers express interest in a reading retreat. Other silent or calming experiences trending among American travelers include a heightened interest in nature immersion retreats (67%), spiritual retreats (60%), and meditation/silent retreats (56%).
Travelers are looking for increased focus. “Being offline is often an important part of the quiet experience,” Lisa White, Director of Strategic Forecasting for global trendspotting company WGSN, told CO—. White points to Unplugged’s tech-free cabins and digital detox retreats as well as The Offline Club sponsoring a one-hour reading rave in a park, where hundreds of people read together in silence with their phones turned off.
“This movement towards low-stimulation travel will be evolving from niche to mainstream, particularly among Gen Z, millennials, and high-net-worth individuals,” she added.
As digital marketing grows and AI-generated content becomes more common, 'physical, in-person moments that feel spontaneous and tactile will stand out even more,' continued [Vistaprint's Erin] Shea.
Clean beauty products will home in on new demographic segments, especially teens and tweens
According to New Hope Network’s 2026 predictions of natural product trends that will reshape retail shelves, an expansion of the clean beauty products segment will help drive the $22 billion natural and organic personal care category.
Jessica Rubino, Vice President, Content and Summits, and Adrienne Smith, Director of Content, expect the category to broaden by more heavily focusing on specific demographics, especially teens and tweens. “We’ve all heard a lot about younger women’s beauty routines and here brands are creating super clean, age-appropriate products,” said Smith in New Hope’s The Natural List podcast episode “CPG Trends for 2026.”
The idea, Rubino said, is to help them “create beauty routines earlier and empowering them to make good decisions for themselves and practice self-care.”
Product examples include organic Wild Purple Sea Moss Moisturizer from Just for Teens and skincare company Everyday for Future Lolli Lip Pop Trio.
Clean beauty also is expanding with more products for men as well as people of color. These are all important demographics that are expected to lead to 6% to 7% growth in natural and organic personal care, Rubino noted.
“These are products starting to hit shelves now and that retailers and brands should be thinking of,” Rubino continued. “In the next year we’ll be seeing more of them.”
[Read more: Targeting Him: How Men Became the Next Frontier in Beauty Brand Expansion]
Unexpected marketing: Consumers are responding to the element of surprise—whether irreverent, interactive, or playful
Just as trend forecasters say neutral palettes, jam-packed vacations, and marketing to traditional life stages are waning, consumers are tired of polished, impersonal marketing. According to a list of the top marketing trends of 2026 from Vistaprint, “mischief marketing”—defined as the art of pulling cheeky stunts designed to jolt people and get them talking—is on the rise. Companies like McDonald’s and shaving brand Billie are embracing campaigns that range from playful (a Nintendo Switch 2 console that holds McDonald’s fries from GamiFries) to irreverent (scratch-and-sniff armpit posters, anyone?)
“When a business does something surprising in the real world, like disruptive signage or an interactive product display, it feels more like a genuine interaction than a sales pitch,” explained Erin Shea, Vistaprint’s Senior Director, North America Marketing.
Mischief marketing doesn’t have to be expensive or big brand focused. Low-cost creativity, whether cardboard, posters, chalk, stickers, or clever signage, often outperform expensive builds, said Shea, who also recommends a physical presence over a digital one. “A window display, sidewalk sign, sticker, or pop-up moment [can] work better than something purely digital or easy to scroll past,” she added. But shareability is still important. Amplification of short website or social media clips yields big returns.
As digital marketing grows and AI-generated content becomes more common, “physical, in-person moments that feel spontaneous and tactile will stand out even more,” continued Shea. “We expect Mischief Marketing to become a regular part of how businesses use storefronts, packaging, signage, and community events to create buzz long after 2026.”
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