The AARON Awards has released AARON Signals 2026, a global report on changes in advertising and brand storytelling linked to artificial intelligence. The study draws on submissions and discussions from the awards' inaugural programme.
The report examines how AI is moving from experimentation into commercial production, focusing on creative processes, operational design and governance. Its findings are based on awarded work, jury discussions, creator interviews and observations across agencies, AI-focused studios, brands and independent artists.
One of its central conclusions is that simply using AI is no longer enough to stand out. Instead, the market is beginning to reward creative judgement, workflow design, production expertise and clearer direction of AI systems.
This marks a shift from the earlier phase of generative AI adoption, when access to tools often drew attention on its own. AARON Signals 2026 argues that, as AI becomes more common in production environments, the emphasis is shifting to systems thinking and execution.
Commercial gap
The report highlights a gap between experimental work and commissioned campaigns. Speculative and self-initiated projects still dominate the global AI creative community, suggesting much of the sector is testing the limits of AI storytelling and production outside mainstream client work.
In the inaugural awards, the most-entered category was Best AI Spec Ad for Brand. By contrast, the volume of fully commissioned commercial AI work was relatively limited, with brands and agencies still working through governance, workflow and operational questions.
The study also identifies hybrid production as the main emerging commercial model. It points to a growing divide between premium AI craft and more commoditised content, alongside the rise of AI-native studios and new production roles.
Another theme is the hidden complexity behind AI production. Businesses are weighing creative opportunity against issues such as risk management, process design and oversight as they decide how deeply to embed AI into their operations.
Australian showing
Australian entrants performed strongly relative to their share of submissions. While 7% of total submissions came from Australia, the country accounted for 21% of all shortlisted entries.
Among the winners was independent Australian agency Thinkerbell, which won Best Hybrid Production for The Last Order, created for Menulog Australia. The result was cited as part of the report's broader picture of Australia's visibility in AI-led creative work.
Organisers said the report was intended to document what they have observed across the field as AI production develops. It also reflects input from the wider network built around the awards.
"For us, it was important to document and share what we're seeing through AARON to help the industry evolve. Through the submitted work itself and conversations with the people actively making this work every day. There's a huge amount of learning happening across the community right now, but not enough of it is being properly captured or shared," said Marie-Céline Merret Wirström, co-founder of AARON Awards and MC&V.
The organisation said it has built a global community of more than 2,000 AI artists, creatives and makers. Many of the report's observations, it added, came directly from practitioners developing AI workflows and production methods.
"We've built a global community of more than 2,000 AI artists, creatives and makers around AARON, and many of the insights in this report come directly from the people shaping this space in real time. Voices like Rory Flynn, Hugo Barbera and many others who've been experimenting, building workflows and pushing AI production forward for years now. What makes this report different is that it's grounded in the day-to-day reality of making the work, not just high-level theory of corporate forecasting. These are the people actually building what the industry is seeing out there," said Schifferstein Vidal.
The AARON Awards was established to recognise AI-driven advertising and brand storytelling as a creative discipline in its own right. Named after the pioneering AI artist system AARON, the programme judges work independently of specific tools or platforms and focuses on the human direction and craft behind the output.
The inaugural jury included executives from Monks, Google, Jellyfish, Code and Theory, Edelman, Springboards, Envato and LTX Studio. The findings suggest the industry is entering a new phase in which the quality of ideas and the design of production systems matter more than the novelty of the tools themselves.