The Chaos Advantage: How Brands Win in a Volatile World
At Cannes Lions 2026, Contagious editorial director Alex Jenkins opened his main stage keynote How to Win in a Volatile World‘ with a simple provocation: the defining characteristic of this decade is unpredictability and organizations can no longer afford to treat it as temporary.
Our new Chaos Advantage research reinforces the point. 86% of marketing leaders say the current business environment is significantly more unpredictable than it was just three years ago and 78% expect to operate under moderate to high uncertainty for the next 12 months. Jenkins argued this is not a moment to wait out. It is the new condition and it demands a fundamentally different response.
Part of that response, he said, comes down to where organizations look for answers. Jenkins cited Richard Rumelt, widely regarded as one of the most influential strategic thinkers in the world, who told him that for any brand, studying competitors in the same category is significantly less effective than looking well outside it. The further afield, the better. In volatile conditions, the organizations that adapt fastest are the ones drawing from the widest range of signals.
What ‘The Chaos Advantage’ Research Shows
We surveyed 1,000 senior marketing and communications leaders across five markets in North America, EMEA and APAC. The findings expose a costly gap between conviction and action.
The pressure shows up in the work. In the caution from legal. In that one phrase that ends every good idea: “Can we make it a little less?” A little less provocative. A little less like it has a point of view.
88% of respondents believe bold work outperforms safe work. 78% say their organizations produce mostly safe work anyway. The instinct driving that gap is risk management. The data suggests it isn’t working. Safe brands and bold brands experience public backlash at exactly the same rate: 1 in 5 for both.
The competitive cost of waiting is concrete. 42% of leaders say they have watched a competitor take market share while their own organization hesitated. 66% say their internal risk management processes block action more than they enable it. Safe work doesn’t avoid failure. It disguises it in a way most brands aren’t accounting for. In a permanently chaotic world, caution is no longer a risk mitigation strategy but a risk multiplication strategy.
The Creative Argument
The same instinct that produces safe work is now reshaping how organizations respond to AI. The technology competes on cheap and fast. For companies already defaulting to caution, that framing is easy to embrace. Jenkins argued it is also a trap.
Cheap and fast are objective measurements that lead to a race to the bottom and, ultimately, commoditization. Good is subjective and has the power to override both. Jenkins pointed to Christopher Nolan shooting the upcoming “Odyssey” on IMAX film, knowing the format is expensive and cumbersome because he still knows what the story requires and what audiences need.
The brands that sustain value have redefined what good means in their category. None of them won by getting cheaper or faster. This matters more now, not less. Consumers are living under sustained uncertainty, and the brands that break through are the ones that create meaning, build memory and deliver something that feels genuinely human.
Jenkins put it plainly: “You must build a system to not just defend creativity, but to valorize it. A system that champions the incredible power of value creation and creativity’s role in that. Because your business is not to make things cheaper or faster. Your business is to create.”
What’s Next
FleishmanHillard is sharing early findings from The Chaos Advantage this week at Cannes Lions. The expanded report, developed in partnership with Contagious, publishes in September 2026.
More Chaos Advantage From Cannes: Why Playing It Safe Is the Riskiest Move | Leaders Know Bold Work Wins. They’re Just Not Moving Fast Enough | How To Get Bold Work Into the World
