The Ipsos Reputation Council Report 2026
Organisations are taking political factors into consideration and staying quiet on potentially divisive issues – even those they could legitimately speak out on. This is one of the key findings in the latest Ipsos Reputation Council Report, Life After Predictability, informed by 200 one-to-one conversations with senior communications and corporate affairs leaders at some of the world's largest and most influential organisations.
84% of Reputation Council Members told Ipsos that their organisation takes political factors into consideration when deciding whether to speak up about an issue. Against this backdrop, Strategic Silence – the practice of staying quiet on potentially contentious subjects – has become an established communications norm. 61% said that even if their organisation could authentically speak up, they preferred to stay quiet on potentially divisive issues, and one-third (35%) admitted that in the last twelve months, their organisation had stayed quiet on issues that it previously would have spoken out about.
The impact of Strategic Silence can be seen in ESG comms: almost a quarter (22%) of Council Members said they had consciously under-communicated credible ESG progress in the past year, while those continuing to communicate about achievements are doing so in a much more targeted way – 61% admitted that their ESG communications are more targeted than ever. However, only 17% of Council Members agree that Strategic Silence is corporate cowardice, suggesting that communications leaders increasingly view it as a matter of judgement rather than conviction, reflecting the growing complexity of deciding when, where and how organisations should engage on contentious issues.
Milorad Ajder, Global Service Line Leader, Corporate Reputation at Ipsos, said, “For many organisations, Strategic Silence has become a deliberate response to a more fragmented, polarised and unpredictable environment. The challenge for communicators today is exercising judgement: knowing which issues to engage with, which battles to fight, and how to help organisations make sound decisions when certainty is unavailable.”
The nineteenth sitting of the Reputation Council finds communicators entering a new phase. As Strategic Silence becomes entrenched, artificial intelligence transforms the information environment and stakeholder expectations become harder to reconcile, the value of communications is shifting from message-making to judgement: helping organisations navigate complexity, manage trade-offs and make sound decisions when certainty is unavailable.
Artificial intelligence emerged as a defining theme of this year's research. ‘Meaningful’ AI use among Council Members has risen from 43% in 2025 to 76% in 2026. Yet while AI has made content cheaper, faster and easier to produce, it is also placing a new premium on human judgement. Only 12% believe their organisation's existing ethical policies are sufficient for AI adoption, highlighting growing concerns around trust, accountability and governance. Council Members also consistently described LLMs becoming an "intermediary" between organisations and their audiences, influencing what stakeholders learn, believe and share, renewing the importance of earned media and reinforcing the role of reputation in organisational decision-making.
Communications leaders also describe a more fragmented stakeholder environment, where consensus is becoming harder to achieve and trade-offs increasingly unavoidable. Nearly half (46%) say populism represents a material risk to their organisation, reinforcing the need for communicators to help leaders navigate competing expectations, define non-negotiable principles and determine what backlash the organisation can afford to absorb.
Against this backdrop, the report highlights the evolution of communications from message-making to strategic counsel and organisational intelligence. Future communicators will need to combine storytelling and relationship-building with AI fluency, data literacy, commercial awareness and resilience. Across the report's findings, judgement emerges as a growing source of competitive advantage as information becomes more abundant and machine-generated.
By bringing together the collective experience of communications leaders across markets and industries, the Reputation Council Report aims to provide practical insight into how organisations are adapting to life after predictability. For further insights and to access the full report, visit ipsos.com/en/reputation-council-report-2026.