2026: NEWaukee’s Year of Joy
At NEWaukee, we’re declaring 2026 our Year of Joy. Not as a slogan, but as a filter for everything we do:
→ Did this spark real joy for real people, in real life?
Because right now, joy is not optional. It’s necessary.
Why Joy Matters Now
We’re tired.
The news is heavy, our feeds are noisy, and a lot of what we see online feels like it was written by a robot for another robot. There’s more content than ever and less connection.
In that context, joy is not frivolous. Joy is how we remember we’re human.
Joy happens when neighbors share a laugh at a street festival, when coworkers dance at the end of a long conference day, when a stranger becomes a friend over a shared experience. Joy softens our defenses. It helps us see each other with more generosity and less suspicion.
That’s the ground where trust grows.
From Joy to Trust: Brand Trust Quotient in Action
Over the past year, we’ve been building the Brand Trust Quotient (BTQ), our way of helping organizations measure whether people actually trust their brand because of how it shows up in their lives.
Trust doesn’t come from a logo refresh. It’s built in the moments people experience with your brand:
Did they feel welcomed?
Did they feel seen?
Did they feel a spark of joy?
When people experience joy with your brand:
They lower their guard.
They attach a positive emotion to you.
They talk about you to others.
BTQ gives us the metrics and structure. Joy gives those numbers meaning. Without joyful, human experiences, trust stays shallow.
Cutting through the AI Slop
Let’s be honest: a lot of the internet now feels like AI slop.
There’s a flood of generic posts, auto-generated emails and content that all sounds the same. It might be technically correct, but it’s emotionally empty. Your customers can feel that. We all can.
AI can mimic language. But it can’t stand in a room and feel the exact moment when the energy shifts. It can’t see the way a crowd leans in together, or the way a person’s entire posture changes when they feel like they belong. That’s the work we care about.
Joy is how brands will cut through the noise. Not by cranking out more content, but by creating in-person moments that are unmistakably real. Moments people remember in their bodies, not just in their feeds.
Joy is not a content strategy. Joy is an experience strategy. It is the moment someone encounters your brand, feels something in their body, and thinks:
“I am so glad I made time for this.”
“I did not realize how much I needed this.”
“I want to share this with someone else.”
You cannot fake that. And you definitely cannot automate it.
Joy is Embodied, Not Abstract
People don’t experience brands in decks. They experience them in their minds and bodies.
They feel:
The warmth of a genuine hello at the door
The buzz in the room before a big reveal
The ease of knowing they’re welcomed exactly as they are
The release of laughter after a hard week
Their shoulders drop. Their face softens. They stay a little longer than they planned.
These sensations are the building blocks of belonging. And belonging is the strongest form of brand loyalty there is.
What JOY Means for NEWaukee in 2026
When we say 2026 is our Year of Joy, here’s what we’re committing to:
Joy as a design lens. Every production, large or small, will start with: Where is the joy here? When will people feel it?
Joy baked into every experience. From civic festivals to founder gatherings to brand activations, we’ll create more playful, surprising, human moments that invite people in.
Joy as a success metric. We’ll still track attendance, engagement and media wins. But we’ll also pay close attention to the stories, the smiles, the “I’m so glad I came” comments that signal real resonance.
Joy and trust, linked. Through the Brand Trust Quotient, we’ll help partners see how joyful, embodied experiences deepen trust, loyalty and advocacy over time.
This isn’t about ignoring what’s hard in our world. It’s about creating spaces where people can refill, reconnect and remember what’s possible together.
An Invitation
To our clients, collaborators and communities: thank you for trusting us to design the moments where your brands come alive.
In 2026, our team is fired up to bring even more joy to the neighborhoods, companies and sectors we touch. If you’re feeling the fatigue of generic content and shallow engagement, let’s build something different:
Experiences that people feel in their bones
Memories that live in stories, not just screenshots
Moments that build trust because they are joyful, honest and human
Here’s our declaration:
2026 will be NEWaukee’s Year of Joy.
We can’t wait to live it with you, in person, together.