How brand equity is shifting in the age of AI shopping

Ask an AI shopping tool to recommend a product, and you won’t see what you’d expect to see on the shelf: no recognizable logo, no eye-catching packaging, no premium placement. Just specs, a star rating, and a price.

It raises the question: how much does brand equity actually count in a shopping experience built to strip away almost everything a brand has spent years building?

Generative AI has become the middleman deciding what gets surfaced, compared, and shortlisted, but even AI ultimately relies on real, human content to make that call.

Our research shows that AI isn’t replacing brand equity, it’s redefining where and how it gets tested.

Kiri Masters and Doug Straton share findings from our report on how established brands can defend their position on the AI shelf, and how challenger brands can build equity to start competing on it.

You’ll:

• Understand how brand equity has evolved: From product reliability and emotional advertising, through personalized marketing and peer recommendations, to AI shopping, where AI shapes which brands shoppers discover.
• See where AI is changing the game: Learn how generative AI is reshaping the relationship between brand equity and product discovery.
• Learn why familiar brands still win: See why shoppers click the brand they already trust first, even when AI makes the recommendation.
• Get the playbook for unfamiliar brands: Learn what it takes to build trust quickly when you don’t have decades of recognition to lean on.
• See it in action: Watch real examples of brands and retailers already strengthening trust for AI-powered discovery.