AI is shrinking brand influence one moment at a time

Every brand strategy depends on moments. Moments when a consumer is open to influence such as when they are researching, comparing, deciding on or experiencing a brand. Marketing, at its core, is the discipline of identifying those moments, showing up in them, and shaping what happens.

AI is shrinking those moments. This second piece in our AI blog series explores three moments of jeopardy for brands:

• Research:

  trust transfers from brands to the AI layer

• Trigger:

  margins are no longer protected by inertia

• Decision:

  the consumer is removed from the process

Research: trust transfers from brands to the AI layer

Consumers are most open to influence during research. They are discovering new brands or products, forming preferences, and weighing up alternatives. Two decades of SEO, content and paid search investment show that moment exists. But conversational AI compresses it, recommending a handful of options that are evaluated and ranked with the authority of an impartial expert.

The jeopardy is twofold: it becomes harder for brands to form meaningful connections with consumers, and trust transfers to the AI layer.

Behavioural science tells us why this matters. Effects like the IKEA bias, mere exposure, and the pull of invested effort show that searching and comparing isn’t just a route to a choice, it’s how preferences and attachments form. Someone who spends an afternoon researching a purchase ends up more attached to what they choose than an impulse buyer. Research isn’t just a window for brand influence; it’s where the connection is actually built.

Behavioural science also shows that consumers adopt whatever saves them time, money or effort. Conversational AI delivers all three, which makes the transfer of trust almost inevitable. We’re not there yet but the trajectory is clear. How much influence brands keep depends on how well big tech builds trust into its models. Watch for how AI explains its recommendations, how transparent and consistent it is and whether consumers can verify what it tells them.

Trigger: margins are no longer protected by inertia

Trigger moments happen when a customer’s needs change or when something causes them to reconsider their choice. When this happens, subscription brands are at risk of losing customers to the open market. Historically, switching providers took more effort than it was worth but AI changes that, giving people instant access to detailed market and price information.

The jeopardy: the knowledge advantage that has protected margins and sustained inertia-based retention is being eaten away.

AI changes that. Assistants with access to a consumer’s accounts, usage data, current tariff and real-time competitor pricing can answer “am I getting a good deal?” in seconds, more accurately than any comparison site. The consumer who once renewed out of inertia now has an advisor who’s already done the analysis.

There’s a second-order effect too. Consumers who never reconsider their choices never encounter the alternatives. Their loyalty looks stronger than it is, simply because it’s untested. Once connected AI tests it for them, brands will find out how much of that loyalty was genuine preference and how much was just friction.

This moment is shrinking more slowly than the Research moment. Account connectivity needs technical integration, permissions and a level of trust mass-market consumers aren’t ready to give yet. But the trajectory is clear, and the reckoning could be severe for brands relying on inertia.

Decision: the consumer is removed from the process

The moment of decision carries the highest jeopardy of all. Traditional decision-making models assume the consumer acts for themselves, but agentic AI has the power to remove them from the process altogether.

Agents already compare energy tariffs and switch providers on behalf of consumers. They monitor subscriptions and cancel those that are no longer competitive. They manage financial products, moving between providers to serve the consumer’s stated interests. Crucially, they don’t pause to consider brand associations or the weight of a long relationship. They weigh price, verified performance and switching cost. Win on those and the brand keeps the business. Lose and the agent moves on.

The jeopardy: consumers stop relying on brand familiarity to manage noise and uncertainty.

Agentic AI moves fastest where decisions are repeatable, objectively comparable and aggravating for consumers: energy, telecoms, financial products, insurance, basic e-commerce. Categories where decisions are infrequent, identity-laden or experiential are more insulated such as luxury, automotive, hospitality, fashion. Ask yourself: would your consumers choose to outsource the purchase decision? If the answer is yes, the threat to your business is acute.

In summary:

• During Research, conversational AI does the searching and weighing of alternatives

• At the Trigger point, connected AI does the watching, keeping a constant eye on whether a deal is still the best one

• At the moment of Decision, agentic AI takes control, acting on the consumer’s behalf without needing to be persuaded first

Consumers gain the same things at every stage: less time and effort, better-informed decisions, and less need for brand reassurance. Across all three moments, brands lose the ground where influence and preference used to be built.

Mark Ritson’s perspective on what AI means for brand and marketing

So what does this mean for brand and marketing?

Brave Bison’s own Mark Ritson, writing in The Drum, makes two key points. First, branding’s obituary has been written many times before, and it’s never come true. Branding’s impact may shrink as technology infiltrates the funnel, but brands still meet our emotional and social needs. Second, AI algorithms love brands. As with search, AI results skew towards the biggest names.

This has four big implications for brands.

• Build human connection.

  Strong connections with your audience matter more than ever. As AI shrinks moments of influence, human connection needs building earlier, before the search or query even starts. Brands should seek to be validated throughout the purchase journey.

• Invest in Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO).

  Improving your chances of being preferred by AI algorithms is now table stakes. As trust shifts from brands to AI platforms, consumers need to see that the algorithms rate you worth recommending, especially on functional merit.

• Build physical and mental availability.

  LLMs favour brands with a bigger digital footprint. Keep investing in owned, earned and paid media.

• Be genuinely customer-centric.

  AI, especially Connected AI, will expose any gap between what brands promise and what they deliver — lack of integrity, transparency or fairness included. Values need to show up at every touchpoint, not just in the marketing.

  
  

How MTM can help

AI technology and use case mapping. The AI assistant landscape is moving fast, and its impact is uneven across categories. We map emerging technologies, identify the use cases most likely to affect decision-making in your category, and make strategic recommendations for your competitive context.

Brand audit and consultancy. We audit how your brand appears in AI-generated responses, identify where you’re absent or misrepresented, and prioritise the steps that improve your chances of being recommended.

Understanding consumer attitudes and behaviour. AI adoption isn’t uniform, and neither is consumer trust in it. We run qualitative, quantitative and tracking research into how consumers in your category use AI in their purchase journeys, and flag signals of further disruption.

Brand, customer and user experiences. We use established frameworks, including the Stanford HAI model, to help brands integrate AI with human experience in ways that preserve meaning, trust and relationship — the things that will define brand preference in an AI era.

Commercial opportunity. AI changes the economics of your category. We assess where it creates threat and opportunity, help build the go-to-market case for where to invest, partner or hold, and connect AI investment to the outcomes that matter — revenue, retention, cost.

If any of this is live in your organisation, we would welcome the conversation. Get in touch today.