Are CMOs neglecting brand building just when it matters most?
AI is rightly a focus for many CMOs pursuing efficiency or innovation. But this cannot be at the expense of brand building.
A strong brand remains the best way for marketers to protect themselves against the vicissitudes of a changing media landscape.
As barriers to entry for content creation are falling, many trend reports highlight a ‘sea of sameness’ and ask whether brands have what it takes to cut through online.
Sailing the 'sea of sameness'
In short, is your brand interesting or memorable enough in a world of doomscrolling and AI slop, and does it appear in the right places?
This might involve going back to fundamentals such as your brand’s history, positioning, distinctive assets, and ability to stay the course with consistent messaging.
Differentiation isn’t easy, of course. Conformity is a powerful social influence, and many marketers use the same tech, the same processes and the same research methodology.
AI search has added another strand to the conversation, as marketers entertain a future in which consumers are less likely to click onto their websites. This zero-click engagement happens when brands are mentioned or recommended by AI (such as in ChatGPT or Google’s AI Overviews).
Life in a zero-click world
Purchase journeys are becoming more fragmented as a consequence, and AI has the potential to speed up the consideration phase as consumers use AI for product comparison and problem solving.
And of course, this can become a virtuous circle. Brand perception – drawn from press coverage, user-generated content, social media, video and your wider community – aids visibility in search (and vice versa) as AI gains confidence in your brand as an entity. But despite these network effects, challenger brands can still gain a foothold if they move quickly and create unique content.
This raises the question for every brand of how much they currently rely on paid or organic search, and whether they might be exposed if these channels are further disrupted by AI.
There are echoes here of one of the central debates of the digital advertising era – brand vs. performance. Optimisation and short-term sales should not undercut a brand’s attempt to grow demand.
In a world of AI, marketers must be confident that the tech serves, rather than distracts from, their wider objectives.
This is an excerpt from CTI Digital's report, 2026 Trends: Marketing in the Age of AI.
Content marketing manager at CTI, Ben is a writer and editor with 15 years experience in the marketing industry.