Branding in the age of AI:
A new playbook
AI is here, and it’s reshaping marketing fast.
It’s making content faster, cheaper, and more accessible than ever before. It’s driving search, shaping richer customer interactions, and flooding every channel with hyper-personalised messaging.
But here’s the catch. It’s drowning out what makes your brand stand out.
Marketing’s box of crayons now has just one colour.
Once, marketers were the masters of a vibrant spectrum of ideas. Now, every piece of content, every query, every interaction feeds the same algorithm. Your unique voice, your brand identity—once the things that set you apart—are being pulled into the algorithmic undertow.
Think AI grey, not IBM blue or Cadbury purple.
And while we’re playing with the tools, the game is changing.
AI is outpacing traditional performance marketing—leapfrogging keywords, hijacking SERPs, and flooding channels with machine-made content. The tactics are evolving. The hard truth is, without a differentiated brand, you’ll get lost in the noise.
AI is making content easy, but marketing increasingly complex.
The satellite view of AI in marketing
The sea of sameness
AI is spraying out content in endless waves, all following the same tired formula. Brands are getting lost in the churn, their unique voices drowned in a tsunami of algorithm-generated noise. Keeping your head above it all? Nearly impossible.
With AI producing an overwhelming amount of content, the challenge shifts from creation to differentiation.
The black
hole of search visibility
Google’s AI tools and ChatGPT are giving users answers directly, bypassing your website altogether and keeping you in the dark. Yesterday, search gave you 10 blue links. Today, zero-click search gives one answer. And if it’s not your brand, you're invisible.
“80% of consumers rely on “zero-click” results at least 40% of the time, reducing organic web traffic by an estimated 15% to 25%. ”
The creativity desert
AI may be efficient but at what cost? The more it runs the creative process—finding insights, designing ads—the human touch slips away. Without it, your brand risks becoming another predictable, algorithmic response.
Keep creativity human-led. Only people have the empathy to understand emotions, cultural shifts, and complex consumer behaviours needed to make the bold creative leaps with which customers connect.
Flash floods of clicks
Like a teenager posting on social for that dopamine hit, AI-driven marketing optimises for clicks and conversions. But just like those fleeting likes won't improve your teenager's long-term self-esteem, short-term engagement metrics don’t strengthen brand equity either).
Ensure your focus includes sustainable growth. Balance short-term performance with long-term brand strategy that compounds over time.
Erosion of trust
AI might be efficient, but it’s also impersonal. Customers are hyper-aware of the uncanny valley where chatbots, automated responses, and generic messaging live. When a brand lacks a human touch or a clear identity, trust erodes.
“In an oversaturated market with endless choices, brand trust is more important than ever. ”
Everybody's going to be a brand marketer over the next decade, because direct response traffic sources are going to go down, by and large.
— Kipp Bodnar, CMO, Hubspot
There are good reasons why brand investment still pays off in an AI world
AI lacks authenticity—brands don’t
Trust is non-negotiable. As automation rises, authenticity becomes your sharpest edge.
“AI-driven interactions can make individuals feel less connected or question a brand’s authenticity”
Strong brands tend to outperform
Brands that can convey their value amidst the noise attract and retain customers, yielding stronger returns.
“During COVID-19 and the 2024 slowdown, the world’s strongest brands gained value while others lagged. ”
AI accelerates vision. But only people can create it
AI can help you move faster—but it can’t set the vision. Strategy, direction, and meaning still come from people.
“Brand that over index on AI risk losing their strategic edge.”
Distinctive brands break through the noise
If your goal is for customers to easily recall and identify your brand (and hint, with zero-click search, it should be), you need to be innately distinctive and memorable.
How do you know you’ve made it? When your brand becomes a verb like Google or Xerox, or heralds the start of the season like Spotify’s Year Wrapped or John Lewis’s Christmas ads, it’s a pretty good sign you’re part of the furniture.
Ready? Let’s go.
The playbook
1. Lead with emotion
People don’t connect with logic. They connect with feeling. it's the brands that make us laugh, cry, or shake our fists in solidarity that earn a permanent spot in our minds. Whether your customer is a sleep-deprived new parent or a cybersecurity lead juggling a million risks, your brand needs to say: “we get it.”
Be specific. Be real. Be relevant. The brands that win hearts are the ones that survive.
Action items:
Research emotional triggers in your audience.
Revise customer personas to include emotional and cultural insights.
Use storytelling that resonates emotionally.
“Relying only on AI-generated content risks generic or formulaic branding. Branding should evoke emotion. This human touch is still vital in the creative process.”
2. Find your voice
Sounding like everyone else is the fastest way to disappear. Your tone needs to be as recognisable as your logo. Don’t be bland. Anything but bland. Remember you’re battling with a robot and you’ll never win.
Action items:
Define your brand’s unique voice.
Audit content for consistency in language and tone.
Create a brand voice guide so every touchpoint, from human to chatbot uses unified messaging.
3. Build trust through authenticity
People can smell fake—you know it yourself. They want raw. Real. Honest. They want to know who’s behind the brand—and why it matters. Whether it’s through images, videos, or words, your brand must show up authentically.
Action items:
Commit to transparency in messaging and show real and behind the scenes moments.
Use testimonials and user-generated content (UGC) to reinforce trust.
In sensitive industries like healthcare or finance, highlight regulatory transparency and ethical practices.
“99% of consumers say authentic images and videos are pivotal to brand trust.”
4. Reinforce brand memory through design
Consistency creates memory. Memory creates preference. And preference builds loyalty. Your visual identity—colours, logos, type, layout—shouldn’t just look good. It should burn in. Design for repetition. Design for recall.
Action items:
Review your brand style guide to ensure there are examples of how to use all brand assets to ensure visual consistency.
Test brand recognition regularly across markets and platforms.
Keep your design fresh but familiar without losing your core identity.
“Use a strong asset that you have taken the time to build up and make distinctive, you get that step up to correct branding and that’s a success. ”
5. Balance AI with human creativity
Let AI handle the grunt work. Let humans bring the soul. Creativity thrives on emotion, tension, timing, the logic jumps—things AI doesn’t feel. Use the tech to free up space for bolder ideas. Keep the storytelling human.
Coca-Cola’s ‘Create Real Magic’ campaign let fans and artists co-create original ads with AI using iconic assets from the Coca‑Cola archives, highlighting AI’s role in supporting creative engagement rather than a takeover.
Action items:
Leverage AI for tasks like analytics, content curation, and optimisation.
Maintain a creative team focused on brand storytelling.
Use AI to test creative concepts and optimise, but so it supports rather than overrides human-driven strategy.
6. Make sure the experience is brand-led
Your brand is more than a message—it’s how you show up in every interaction. From the first ad to the final customer service email, your voice, tone, and values should be unmistakable. The experience is the brand. So make sure it matches the promise.
Action items:
Audit your customer journey to ensure every touchpoint aligns with your brand’s promise.
Use AI to track customer behaviour and tailor experiences, but keep human elements where personal connections matter.
Train customer-facing teams to ensure they can represent your brand consistently.
7. Build & engage your community
AI can find the patterns, but only you can build the connection. Create spaces for your audience to interact with the brand and each other. Brands that build passionate communities turn customers into loyal advocates.
Bunnings’ viral ‘Rave’ campaign showed how community + creativity can turn a retail brand into a cultural moment.
Action items:
Invest in both online and offline community-building efforts.
Encourage UGC by running contests, challenges, or campaigns that invite customers to share their experiences.
Create spaces where users can connect with your brand beyond the transaction.
Don’t forget, that as you harness your new AI superpower, you’ll need a human-sized safety net.
AI can amplify your brand, but only if it’s used with precision. These guardrails will ensure AI supports your brand identity without compromising it.
Train AI tools on your specific tone of voice and brand guidelines.
Ensure human oversight by implementing sign-off processes for all customer-facing messaging to guarantee alignment with brand values and tone.
Leverage AI where it accelerates, not defines, content. Keep core creative and strategic decisions human-led.
Position the brand team as equal stakeholders alongside performance marketing.
Measure both performance metrics and brand equity indicators for AI-assisted campaigns.
Regularly audit AI-generated content for brand consistency and emotional resonance.
Foster AI literacy within your team to keep creative control sharp.
What about performance marketing? Are we throwing out everything we know as we turn back to brand?
To reassure you, performance marketing is here to stay. But a strong brand makes it work harder.
Smart marketers have always kept their focus on the golden ring: brand building. They understand that long-term brand investment and compelling storytelling are the foundation of lasting brand value and sustained growth.
But with the rise of performance marketing—offering instant gratification through click-attributions, dialable metrics, and sales—the temptation to pour every dollar into measurable outcomes is undeniable.
Finding the balance is what makes marketing one of the most impactful and challenging roles in business today.
What’s the right split?
60% brand-building, 40% short-term activation. Effective advertising strategies aren’t new, but they remain crucial. This enduring “60/40 rule” (Binet & Field) still rings true in an AI-driven world.
But if you’ve over-invested in performance, what now?
If your focus has been too heavily on short-term performance marketing, it’s time to recalibrate. Balancing performance with brand-building is essential to avoid burnout and ensure sustained growth.
Here’s a quick roadmap for recovering brand strength without sacrificing performance.
Scan – Identify the gaps where your brand is weak or absent.
Focus – Align your team, values, and creative under a unified brand vision.
Amplify – Shift part of your performance budget toward emotional storytelling and community engagement.
Brand often gets dismissed as a cost—a distraction that slows down sales. But smart marketers know it’s a strategic asset that amplifies every other investment. Branding is more than a logo. It’s a deliberate strategy designed to raise awareness and shift perception. And positive perception drives sales.
A strong brand lowers acquisition costs, creates pricing power, attracts the right talent, and makes your performance marketing more effective. It may not always show up on a single dashboard, but you’ll feel its impact across every metric that matters.
The business case for brand. (And how to prove it)
“Even if we have all the other conversion numbers stay the same, if we just increase awareness by 1 per cent that translates more than a million dollars in pipeline.”
Brand building is a long game—but the signs of momentum appear quickly. If you know where to look, you’ll see the groundwork take shape long before the revenue line catches up.
Why to invest in brand |
And how to know it’s working |
|---|---|
| Cheaper acquisition: Brand boosts conversion rates and lowers CPA across channels | Campaigns get more efficient: higher click-throughs, lower cost-per-lead, better ROI |
| Resilience to change: Brand sustains momentum when algorithms shift | Traffic and awareness hold steady even when performance dips |
| Pricing power: Brands justify charging more | Customers convert faster and accept premium pricing |
| Talent magnet: Purpose attracts better people | Hiring becomes easier, and staff stay longer |
| Customer loyalty: Brand deepens connection | More repeat purchases, fewer one-off transactions |
| Share of voice: Brands earn more organic reach | Brand mentions grow. Branded search and direct traffic rise |
| Internal alignment: Brand clarifies decision-making | Teams show more confidence in comms and customer conversations |
The long term edge of brand
AI is a revolution—but without a differentiated brand, you’ll become just another input in the machine. The pillars of long-term brand building—Trust, connection, and loyalty—are the enduring values that will help your brand stand out in the long run.
The brands that thrive will be those that blend AI’s speed with real human insight. They’ll use automation to amplify their creativity, not replace it. And they’ll invest in brand not because it’s safe—but because it’s the only strategy that stands the test of time.
AI is undeniably our future. But brand is the force that will shape it. Now’s the time to invest in both.
Ready to push new frontiers?
We gravitate toward smart people tackling big challenges. Complex products, ambitious goals, and bold ideas pull us in. Let’s make something great together.