Fifteen years ago, I was the global executive vice president of marketing and business development for an interior architecture firm specializing in luxury hospitality, with studios on six continents and a brand the industry trusted without question. During that time, I saw transformational change come to the hospitality market. But like so many changes, it didn’t start loudly. It started with signals.
Boomers were approaching retirement with time and money, seeking ultra-luxury at a scale the industry had never served. At the same time, the generations beneath them wanted something completely different, walking away from the same Waldorf Astoria clock in every lobby on every continent in favor of a local chef, a curated experience, a hotel with character that a brand standard could never deliver. The market wanted both things at once, and neither one was going away. That tension is what created the lifestyle segment, an entire category built to serve travelers the traditional luxury brand no longer spoke to.
There was no trend report calling out a name or category, just a shift you could see if you were paying attention, and it showed up long before it ever reached an RFP. The firms that noticed early changed how they hired, how they packaged their services, and how they sold. The ones that noticed late paid for it, because later is always more expensive.
That instinct, catching the signal before it has a name, is exactly why I serve as a trustee with the SMPS Foundation and research for a living. You, the marketers and business developers reading this, sit closer to the market than almost anyone else in your firm. You hear why a project was won or lost; you watch a competitor walk out of the interview; and you see what’s coming before the rest of the building does. That isn’t overhead. That’s intelligence, and it’s one of the most valuable assets your firm can have.
Many of you are living a version of this right now, perhaps for different reasons, but still rooted in a changing market. And that means you are evaluating how you are going to organize your teams, message to the market, and compete from a marketing and business development standpoint.
Clarity and Focus Instead of Noise
Our profession is loud right now, and the temptation is to answer that noise with more: more initiatives, channels, and tools. The research the Foundation produces exists to push back on that instinct, because what your firm needs isn’t more. It’s clarity and focus about what matters most.
That’s what the 2027 Emerging Trends in AEC Marketing and Business Development research delivers. Built in partnership with Stambaugh Ness and grounded in firm leader interviews, focus groups, and a national survey, it didn’t hand us 20 things to worry about. It handed us three: a shift in the talent your firm needs, an untapped opportunity sitting inside the clients you already have, and a technology gap that’s quietly shaping who gets found and who doesn’t. The three are connected, so pulling on one means feeling the other two move.
None of this happens without the trustees and volunteers who give their time to see this research through every year, on top of their own careers, because they believe firms deserve better than guesswork. I won’t give away the findings here, because that’s what the full report is for and it deserves to be read in full rather than secondhand. Some of it will confirm what you already suspect about your firm. Some of it won’t.
A Resource for Leading Your Firm
The full report is dense with research, and it should be. That depth is what makes the findings credible. But not everyone in your firm needs to sit with the full methodology to get value from it, and you shouldn’t have to choose between the rigor and getting people on board.
That’s why we built four companion sheets alongside the report: a summary of all three trends and a dedicated page for each one, each with what the trend is, the actions to take, and the metrics that matter. They’re designed to move through your firm the way the full report can’t, from a leadership meeting down to the principal who needs convincing on one specific point. The full report stays available whenever someone wants the evidence behind it. It’s meant to be a resource you lead with, not a document you file away.
Read It and Fund the Next One
The 2027 Emerging Trends report is available now. Download it, share it with someone outside marketing who needs to see it, and let it shape your strategy, hiring plan, and campaigns. It will change what you track and what you report going forward, and it will give your organization the why behind it.
This research exists because people chose to fund it. If it helps you think differently or moves you from insight to action, consider a donation to the SMPS Foundation so we can keep delivering research like this to the community. The market is already sending signals. This research names them, and your support keeps that work going.
Article written by SMPS Foundation President Sarah Kinard.