Perspective: The Power Of Personality And The Premium It Commands

(MENAFN- PRovoke) Where is the personality in this idea?

It's the question I've found myself asking more than any other lately, of teams, of clients, and increasingly, of our own work.

Working on Axicom's 2026 State of the Media Forecast has been both a moment of reflection and prediction. As we identified trends for 2026, what stood out wasn't a new platform or the latest hot take on GEO, but something more fundamental.

Personality.

At first, we hesitated to lean into it. Our forecast is meant to be bold and forward-looking, and personality, otherwise known as character-driven storytelling, isn't exactly new. But its renewed and surging value is.

Personality has always carried power. In 2026 and beyond, it will command a premium.

When I talk about a personality premium, I mean the disproportionate attention, engagement, and loyalty that accrue to people, platforms, and brands with clear, recognizable personalities that audiences can consistently recognize and return to.

What's different about this shift is that it is more culture and preference-driven than a result of AI. AI is part of it, but mostly as an enabler. We're hearing more and more that AI enables creators (legacy and independent) to streamline run-of-the-mill reporting, so they can flex their personalities and deliver strong, original content that communities crave. Ultimately, this is about people wanting to connect with individuals, and therein lies the power of personality and the premium it commands.

Personality Commands Connection and Community

We are all increasingly organizing our media diets around people, not platforms. Pew Research shows that more than a third of 18-29-year-olds, and over a quarter of those aged 30-49, regularly get news from influencers.

Axicom's Young Tech Decision Maker (YTDM) research revealed similar findings, with young B2B tech buyers relying on credible individual voices to make sense of news and purchasing decisions. Lastly, data from Kantar shows that 61% of brands will increase investment in creator content in 2026, signaling internal recognition of the importance of investing in personalities.

Gravitation to individual personalities has been felt most by platforms like Substack, which has recently crossed more than five million paying subscribers. And if you want further proof of the personality premium, look no further than The Wall Street Journal, which recently expanded its Talent Lab to invest more in visible voices to strengthen subscriptions and capture the community independent creators on Substack are enjoying.

Personality has become the bridge between quality and community. The premium is loyalty: followers who return engage more deeply, and build community, over time.

Personality Makes the Story Stick

Journalists and creators are no longer just reporting stories, they are present inside them. Reporting journeys, personal context, and visible points of view are now part of the narrative architecture.

A recent favorite example is Isabelle Bousquette turning to ChatGPT to coach her through the New York City Marathon. It was a unique melding of reporting, experimentation, and lived experience into a single story.

Format shifts reinforce this trend. YouTube now leads podcast watch time, surpassing Spotify and Apple. Listening isn't enough, people want to experience these personalities, and their guests, in full. This means many executives will need to get comfortable in new interview settings and learn to balance talking points with personality.

But make no mistake, the presence of personality is the premium, and it will be the difference between whether people stick around for the whole thing.

Personality Strengthens Corporate Reputation

Leading with personality is not always practical. I get that. Geopolitics, polarizing societal issues, time investment, and the complexities of the technology ecosystem can often make silence the default setting.

But silence is not a strategy for executive leadership, particularly CEOs. According to Axios, 60 percent of people say a CEO affects their opinion of a company, directly linking leadership assessment to brand perception among the public. Axios found that only three in ten people can name the CEO of their favorite brand.

When paired with Russell Reynolds' Global CEO Turnover Index, showing that half of the 58 S&P 500 CEO departures were driven by activist pressure, it becomes clear that executive personality and visibility matter more than ever.

This doesn't mean unchecked individualism is the answer. We've all seen how that can go. Executive platforms work best when they're rooted in authentic personality and corporate mission, paired with clear calculus about when to be bold, when to be measured, and when to step forward.

There is a real premium, and in some cases, a layer of protection, that comes from visible, credible executive personality.

The Takeaway: Let Personality Power Your Story

The personality premium is a reweighting of value, driven by the public, commercial b2b buyers, shareholders, and employees. As this trendline develops, we'll see audiences consistently prioritize people and voices they can connect with over options that feel distant, abstract, or easily sourced in answer engines.

The question for communicators now isn't whether personality belongs in the story. It's whether we're willing and prepared to let it lead.

Jake Green is executive vice president of strategic planning at Axicom.

Note: This article reflects the views of the author and is published as part of PRovoke Media's opinion section. It does not necessarily represent the views of PRovoke Media or its editorial team. We welcome a range of perspectives and invite readers to submit thoughtful responses or counterpoints for consideration to [email protected].

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