In his analysis, Carlos Fernando Villa Gómez highlights the marketing challenges in 2026, an election year in Colombia marked by global events like the World Cup. He emphasizes distinguishing long-term political marketing from vote-focused electoral strategies. He anticipates communications will be crucial in a landscape dominated by social media and artificial intelligence.
Carlos Fernando Villa Gómez, in his column published on January 17, 2026, in La República, reflects on the marketing landscape in a year set to be intense. He describes 2026 as a time of analysis, goals, and challenges, shaped by electoral politics, sports, and the Venezuelan process, which will affect market behaviors.
Villa Gómez points out that managing marketing communications will face the biggest hurdles, given the abundance of digital media, social networks, polls, and artificial intelligence. He mentions 'word-of-mouth' as a highly credible factor. He stresses refreshing the difference between political and electoral marketing: the former aims to build awareness and long-term followers to influence public opinion on actors, parties, or governments; the latter is a specific tactic to capture votes during campaigns.
In both, he highlights the need for message repetition, proper media selection, and careful budget allocation. He recommends one primary medium supported by at least three others, stimulating emotions and reasons based on the target segment and competition. He reminds that 'everything and everyone communicates,' and it's impossible not to.
The author hopes 2026 brings good to the country, with a return to true development, respect, and seriousness, amid the current polarization he attributes to overemphasis on electoral marketing.
