Brand3 Conversations
A conversation with Tav Laskauskas, Director of Marketing Services at Brand3
Interviewed by Matt Wolfe, Director of Brand Strategy
Transcript edited and abbreviated; for more of the conversation, watch/listen to the recording below.
As businesses look toward 2026, many leaders are feeling unsettled. Economic uncertainty, rapid shifts in technology, and the accelerating influence of AI have made marketing feel more fragile than ever. According to Tav Laskauskas, Director of Marketing Services at Brand3, that unease is understandable—but panic-driven marketing decisions may do more harm than good.
In this conversation, Matt Wolfe sits down with Tav to unpack what brands should really be doing to plan their marketing strategy for 2026. Her answer is refreshingly human: stay grounded in who you are, stay connected to your customers, and don’t abandon your brand in the name of short-term survival.
Matt Wolfe: Tav, what’s the biggest mistake you’re seeing brands make with their marketing right now—and why will it matter even more in 2026?
Tav Laskauskas: Panic. I’m seeing a lot of panic. Brands are doing things that are completely off-brand because they’re just trying to stay afloat. There’s a lot of uncertainty, and people look at what worked last year and think, “That’s not working anymore, so we’re going to throw everything out and go in a totally different direction.”
That’s where the danger is. If you’ve always sold yourself as a high-end or luxury brand, why would you suddenly start offering coupons? You see other brands doing it, so you jump on that train. Brands are doing what they feel they need to do to survive leaner times, but ultimately they’re hurting themselves in the long run.
Matt Wolfe: So it feels strategic in the moment, but it’s really just reacting.
Tav Laskauskas: Exactly. It’s not grounded in strategy—it’s grounded in panic.
Matt Wolfe: Your brand strategy is what protects you from that, but when people hear the phrase stay on brand, it almost goes right past them. We’re not used to thinking that way. You coined a phrase for us — brand-marketing symbiosis. Can you explain what that means and why pulling those things apart is a problem?
Tav Laskauskas: Let’s start with understanding what brand actually is, and a lot of people think it’s just visual—logos, fonts, colors. But brand is really perception. It’s how you show up in the market and how your ideal customer experiences you.
Going back to that panic example — if your brand is built on luxury and suddenly you’re advertising in the Pennysaver, we’ve got problems. If you’ve spent years building a reputation and suddenly your marketing takes a sharp turn in a different direction, people lose faith. They don’t trust you anymore. There’s already so much uncertainty in the world that consistency and stability actually help people make buying decisions.
Brand-marketing symbiosis means your marketing has to match who you really are.
Matt Wolfe:
We talk a lot about brand-first marketing — strategy as the guiding North Star. You also describe brand as the “why” and marketing as the “how.” Can you unpack that?
Tav Laskauskas:
The “why” gets lost when people get excited about the “how.” They chase trends, muddy the waters, and add extra reasons that were never there to begin with.
Doing the latest social media trend might be fun, but what are you actually saying? Are you just adding to the noise, or are you creating marketing that connects and converts?
If your “how” isn’t grounded in your “why,” you’ll just be swimming in circles.
Matt Wolfe:
You mentioned trust earlier. There's a fundamental trust issue in the relationship between the brand and its audience. When that’s damaged, everything falls apart.
Tav Laskauskas:
Exactly. That’s the root of all of this. This is where I'm so very thankful that I decided to study psychology because how people think and how they make decisions is at the heart of the power of marketing.
People make buying decisions when they know, like, and trust a brand.
That’s why it’s so important that your marketing stays on brand — not just aesthetically, but in the message and meaning behind it. If it doesn’t, it sets off alarm bells for people.
Matt Wolfe:
It’s true. Your brand has to stay aligned with that ideal customer — not just based on data, but on who you actually want to serve and who you get the most joy out of serving. People feel that.
Tav Laskauskas:
Yes.
Matt Wolfe:
So our advice is to stay true to who you are and who you’re talking to.
But another thing freaking people out is AI. It’s transforming marketing fast. What concerns you about how brands are using these tools?
Tav Laskauskas:
Well, you have to maintain human connection. My concern is that AI erodes that connection — and when that happens, the “know-like-trust” factor erodes too.
Why would someone buy from you if they feel like they’re talking to a robot? Or being talked to by a robot? So make sure that even if you’re automating some things, you preserve moments of human connection. There are moments of authenticity and realness that you can still create and foster.
Matt Wolfe:
That’s a great guidepost for 2026. You also use the word “empathy” a lot when you talk about marketing, especially as a differentiator in an AI-driven world.
Tav Laskauskas:
Empathy allows you to see beyond your own worldview. It helps businesses understand what their ideal customer is feeling, what they’re struggling with, and what’s influencing their decision-making.
We identify that they have a problem and you have a solution that's going to help them. But what are the other factors that kind of go into their decision making process? How can you make this as easy as possible?
When you put yourself in the shoes of your ideal customer and really understand
their experience, you can give them what they need to go to the next step and continue
on the path to purchase with as little friction as possible.
Matt Wolfe:
We're going into 2026 with a lot of panic and a sense of urgency about what's going on in the world. People hear “strategy” and think it means slowing down. Why does strategy have such a bad reputation?
Tav Laskauskas:
There are two reasons. One is people think they don’t have time. But really, how can you afford not to?
The other is that the word “strategy” is overused. People say “marketing strategy” when they really mean tactics. You’ll never regret stepping back to do strategic work. Life changes, markets change, and strategies need to be revisited.
Matt Wolfe:
As people look ahead to 2026, what pillars should they focus on?
Tav Laskauskas:
Start with data. Look at what you planned for 2025 and what actually happened. Did you deviate? How much? That matters.
Then audit how true you stayed to your brand. If you panicked, that’s okay — it happens. The question is how you walk it back and reestablish trust.
Talk to your VIP customers. Understand how their needs and behaviors are changing. That’s a human connection — and it matters.
Then build a flexible roadmap. Start with what you need to keep the lights on — the things you’ll do no matter what. That’s your baseline. From there, you can add campaigns and experiments, but you always protect the foundation.
Matt Wolfe:
As a final thought, what’s one essential thing brands should do heading into 2026?
Tav Laskauskas:
Don’t lose connection — to your brand, your customers, or who you are. That North Star keeps you grounded when everything feels chaotic. Stability matters, and people need it now more than ever.
Matt Wolfe:
That’s such human advice — for business and for life.
In uncertain times, that human connection may be the most
strategic decision a brand can make.
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Ready to build a brand-first marketing strategy for 2026?
Schedule a conversation with Brand3 and let’s create a plan grounded in clarity, empathy, and long-term growth.
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