But really, is it?
I don’t think so. But I’m pretty sure that the high-speed development of increasingly versatile LLMs (large language models) like ChatGPT will alter our approach to branding massively.
The main reason: The future of consumerism is tightly linked to AI, which will have obvious impacts on brand strategy and design. Just look at the impacts of AI on online search (e.g. the Gemini integration on top of Google searches).
Recent data compiled by Bain & Company suggests that:
- 80% of US consumers rely solely on AI recommendations for about 40% of their searches and will not go through the trouble to do additional, manual research
- HubSpot has found that traffic to many company websites has decreased by up to 30%
- At the same time, AI referral traffic to company websites is growing by about 40% every month
- Traffic from gen-AI to retailer websites has increased by over 1000% (!) since February 2025
That means that as consumers outsource friction to our new robot friends, we are turning traditional digital customer journeys on their heads.
Because we will trust the robots more than the influencers we built unhealthy parasocial relationships with, and probably more than our actual friends, which we won’t be telling all our darkest secrets (unlike: the robots).
More and more, the main voice we will collectively listen to for advice on what and where to buy is going to be an AI-generated one.
Brands won’t need to build trust anymore, but deliver on a trust-advancement bestowed upon them by our AI companions.
So, while direct website visits will tumble even further, none of that makes a well-constructed brand experience less important — quite the contrary, actually.
It just needs to be engineered with a different focus.
Brands won’t need to build trust top-of-funnel as much, but instead deliver on a “trust-advancement” they’ve achieved by well-executed AIO (AI optimization, the art of making LLMs organically mention you and your product).
A trust which can be very easily lost, if the transition from AI guidance to brand infrastructure doesn’t live up to the expectations of the consumer. Or, in simpler words: If your brand looks off, untrustworthy, disappointing — no sale.
So, if you’re building a product, marketing funnel, website or e-commerce business today, it’s vital to take into account that our whole shopping infrastructure will be in constant flux, and while the access to building digital products is going to be democratized, brand is what’s going to set you apart in the end.
Also, this can actually give purpose-driven startups a massive leg up — bigger entities will likely be much slower to implement for this massively changing landscape, and will struggle to keep up.
Two questions I don’t have answers to yet:
- Is this the dawn of the Swiss-army-knife brand creative?
- How will other, less digital branding touch points evolve because of AI?
If you have thoughts on that, send me a note.
