Brands Put Fans In The Designer Seat As Co-Creation and Transparent AI Power Modern Experiences

In 2026, the most successful consumer brands are building with their audiences, not just treating them as an audience. Across industries such as gaming, entertainment, and retail, consumers are craving nostalgia and comfort and they also expect to participate. Community trust is starting to matter more than raw impressions, and brands that invite fans into the process early are seeing stronger traction.

Valerie Vacante is Managing Partner at Collabsco, where she partners with both global brands and startups to identify "Connected Play" growth opportunities. Previously the SVP of Product and Solutions Innovation at dentsu and a longtime member of the SXSW Interactive Innovation Advisory Board, she reviews pitches and programming that often preview where consumer experiences are heading. Her work ranges from global tech scouting for Hasbro and Mattel to helping Differin become the first acne-care brand on Roblox. Boasting a personal collection of retro Transformers, Hot Wheels, and Nintendo figures, Vacante brings genuine fandom to every product sprint she runs.

"I am a fan of fans. Every brand needs to be. You cannot have a great experience if you're not co-creating and involving the community," Vacante says. Her "Future of Play" concept mixes physical toys with digital participation and taps into a multi-generational love of fun and nostalgia that isn’t showing any sign of slowing down. With global toy sales rebounding thanks to adult collectors, known as the “kidult” market, Vacante’s insights showcase that comfort and joy are cultural magnets, and the brands that succeed are the ones inviting their communities to play along.

• Pen, paper, pixels: Capturing play experiences that resonate often means letting go of the reins. Vacante put that into action during a product sprint for Mattel's Hot Wheels ID, a connected toy with AR components and NFC tags. Instead of keeping development in the lab, her team brought the toy into homes in Austin, using the city’s mix of families to see how it actually played out before asking for feedback. "We put the consumers in the designer seat," she explains. "We would give parents and kids pen and paper and have them sketch out how the product could be better." That hands-on approach uncovered ways to improve the toy that hadn’t been realized before.

• Dubs on demand: Effective co-creation means keeping pace with the community. Vacante points to anime as a growing cultural strategy, highlighting Crunchyroll’s expanded sponsorship and presence at SXSW 2026. Delayed translations or staggered global releases can create major friction points for superfans. "They used to have to wait six months for a dub, which meant they couldn’t join the conversation when an episode came out. They were late to the party," Vacante explains. "Now, dubs drop within two weeks." She predicts that eventually, more dubs will launch simultaneously, letting global communities celebrate and engage with an IP at the same time. “Fans don’t want to wait. They want to participate in the moment.”

To keep up with fast-moving consumer trends, many brands are turning to AI as a hands-on tool. Vacante uses AI daily to condense research or create quick visual keyframes for pitches, but she draws a line between AI as a helper and AI as a replacement.

• Support, not spotlight: Consumers want clear disclosure around AI use, Vacante notes, and they are savvy enough to spot the difference. "Gen Z finds it a huge turn-off. They instantly recognize when something is AI and lose interest," she shares. "If it's AI-first, people see through it. It can feel soulless or empty." She treats AI as a helping hand on top of human ideas, using it in immersive retail and mixed-reality experiences. “It’s your editor, your co-writer, your researcher, but it’s not the final product.”

• Bot, but make it honest: Vacante highlights the award-winning JCPenney GiftBot, an AI-powered shopper assistant she helped create. To build trust with the retailer's core customers, her team kept it simple and upfront, labeling the tool exactly what it was. "We wanted to be honest with JCPenney customers. Let's not try to be cheeky," she says. "So we just called it the JCPenney GiftBot." The concept launched from a social ad straight into a one-to-one conversation, eventually winning a Shorty Award for media innovation.

• Respect the Cheetle: Vacante took the same approach to PepsiCo's "Chat with Chester," a conversational AI experience that brought the Cheetos mascot to life. Limiting the AI's knowledge strictly to approved recipes and brand lore helped prevent errors around hallucinations, keeping the experience playful but reliable. "We made sure everything Chester shared was brand-approved and delivered in a conversational way. It was all sourced directly from the Cheetos website, sprinkled with Chester's mischievous personality," she says. Fans could ask Chester anything, including questions about Cheetle, the official name for the orange dust left on fingers after eating Cheetos. “It was about making AI feel fun, but still trustworthy,” she says.

For established brands juggling older systems, managing risk is a daily reality. Big retail tech projects such as digital in-store screens, 3D signage, or AI-driven experiences can feel overwhelming if tackled all at once. Vacante simplifies the process with her “Now, Near, Next” approach that allows brands to test ideas safely and build confidence step by step. 

• Start small, show impact: Vacante frames the "Now" phase as granular and low-risk. “Brands get overwhelmed because they think they have to do everything at once,” she says. “They just have to start.” Teams can create a workable prototype completely separate from the company's main tech stack, using existing content to keep costs low. "I've gone into stores, photographed the product on the shelf, and mocked up what a one-to-one digital experience might look like on a shelf talker," she says. "Building a functional demo this way is a very low investment, but it gives immediate feedback, helps you decide whether to move forward, and shows how to measure success."

• Test, then amplify: Once brands have accessible offline prototypes, they can enter the "Near" phase, which focuses on validating real consumer responses and data before scaling. "This includes testing in a specific market, gathering feedback, and then rolling it out more broadly," Vacante says. “Build a functioning prototype, even if it’s scrappy. Use what you have and see how people respond.”

• Scale what sticks: If the concept proves successful, the "Next" phase expands it across other brands or categories. The framework also serves as a competitive radar. "After prototyping and learning, you go into the markets, and once you feel comfortable, you can roll it out to other brands," Vacante says. “If no one else is there yet, grab it. Own it, learn from it, and move fast."

The brands building durable relevance in 2026 are the ones that treat their audiences as collaborators, not consumers. Whether it is handing a parent a pen and paper to redesign a toy, dropping an anime dub fast enough to keep the global conversation alive, or naming an AI bot exactly what it is, the common thread is trust built through participation. "I am a woman of many hats, and I try to keep those hats in that space of gaming, entertainment, play, and retail, creating joyous experiences," Vacante concludes. “The world’s a weird place. Why not have a little comfort and joy in it?"