Future Gazing: 2026 with Ricardo Schell, Director of Noizze Media
COLLECTIVIST: First question. Thinking about this year, what will the very best tech marketing managers and PR managers be doing differently?
Ricardo Schell, Noizze Media: There’s a quote in Harry Potter that I like, where Dumbledore, talking with Harry, discusses change and choice. He emphasises the idea that it’s not our abilities that determine who we are, but our choices that determine who we truly are.
In that sense, I believe that this year – when everybody is talking about AI, fake news, and uncertainty – making the choice to be true to ourselves is very important.
Turning that into PR activities, I think we have a responsibility and a duty to help brands express themselves ‘as they are’, and to steer them away from trying to be ‘whatever comes next’ just because others are doing it.
I believe that being true to yourself will be key this year.
Speed is also going to be important, to adapt to customer demands, to be ready to face challenges, and to anticipate citizen needs, especially around security and protection, which is one of the key issues and thought-leadership topics this year.
COLLECTIVIST: What is your big, bold prediction (if you can choose just one)?
Ricardo: I would say Spain winning the World Cup in football for the second time!
But in the PR world, I like the idea of human content creation, human stories and human interaction.
Most companies are talking about AI to create content and to do things like work, tasks, activities, etc. However, I read an article this morning in The Guardian saying that readers want to read human-written stories. I think that is going to be important, because people are noticing that real interactions matter.
So, I think this year we will be betting on human interaction.
COLLECTIVIST: How do you think AI might shape our campaigns this year? Is there any role for AI?
Ricardo: AI is going to be important. It will help us and become part of our lives, changing how we do things. But I remember when I started working as a journalist in 1998, when the internet didn’t exist. People said the arrival of the internet would kill certain activities, yet today you can still find people selling sporting tickets in-person as well as online, for example.
Things have changed with the internet, but not as dramatically as predicted. I think AI will follow a similar path.
The question is how and why to use it. It’s easy to create a prompt and get an image in a couple of seconds, or a blog post, or whatever. Last year, we helped with a survey for a client, and the results showed that many marketers used AI to write things quickly when they didn’t have time.
But in the end, what they were really looking for was creativity and ideas, and that’s something I believe we can still provide as humans: being creative, looking at what’s happening around us, adapting to trends, and taking advantage of circumstances or events.
COLLECTIVIST: What will a dream campaign or client look like this year?
Ricardo: What we like – and what we’ve been doing for the last 15 years – is working with diverse customers and sectors. We love that. We have a long tradition in technology, but we also work in sports, finance, and future energy.
Last year, we also worked on many crisis situations, which was interesting. It gave us a lot to learn from and helped us move forward. We don’t love crises, but they help us understand and improve!
Otherwise, a dream campaign is when a customer says, “We have to do this,” and we suggest a different approach. We then convince them, work on it, and succeed. Then the customer says, “Thanks for insisting and being honest.” We like to be consultants.
We’ve had customers say, “You are the expert. We need your help.” That’s the most important thing. We know what we do well, and when we need another expert, we bring them in. If everyone does what they do best, success follows.
COLLECTIVIST: What thought leadership topics and issues will clients focus on in 2026?
Ricardo: In Spain, we have many political issues that suppliers should be aware of. It’s interesting because international customers often don’t know what’s happening here (although, we also don’t always know what’s happening in other countries!). We’re global, but we think locally.
Sports will be very interesting this year with the World Cup. I like writing about technology and sports, and I think that’s where investment will go. Technology in sports is changing everything, from training and methodologies to health and athlete tracking, smart stadiums, and more. Many Spanish teams have innovation hubs and are partnering with startups.
In the UK, they’re trialling individual stadium photos so fans can buy a picture of themselves celebrating—or crying! In the USA, there are immersive physical and virtual stadium experiences. Actually, in Spain, Real Madrid football club are also working on immersive stadium ideas.
COLLECTIVIST: What about events and conferences? Are you attending the Madrid Tech Show again?
Ricardo: We have a long event calendar. Every year, we start with a major event related to tourism, then security events, Mobile World Congress, and others throughout the year.
What we see is that technology is always present. Last year, we supported a customer from Costa Rica selling pineapples at a food exhibition. There was a whole section on technology and R&D in the fruit sector – from seed selection, humidity measurement, and more. Technology is gaining a presence in all types of industry and at all types of events.
COLLECTIVIST: How do you think we’ll measure the success of those campaigns? Will there be any change in approach?
Ricardo: It’s always difficult to define success because it’s different for every customer. There’s coverage volume, ROI, earned media value, etc. It depends.
We recommend a combination of volume and quality.
A few years ago, we had a customer appear in Expansión—the equivalent of the Financial Times in Spain—on the day of a very important business meeting. The value of that timing is impossible to measure.
I would caution, PR managers often compare PR to paid media – clicks from Google or Facebook ads – but we’re not only generating leads. We’re building brand image and awareness, which is harder to measure.
COLLECTIVIST: Last question. When we have this conversation again in December 2026, what will you be celebrating?
Ricardo: Hopefully, having new customers, and even more. But even keeping the same ones means we’re doing things right.
We build relationships based on trust, not just contracts. Customers recommend us to others, and that’s how we’ve grown across sectors.
Being happy, growing with the team, and connecting with everyone in the Collectivist agency network—that’s what we’ll celebrate.
