👀 THE RETURN OF BRAND! How smart brands are shifting focus from SEO to BDO in an AI landscape 👀

Happy Friday, Leaders!

📝 EDITORS NOTE 📝

It’s safe to say Harry struck a cord with the evolution of the CMO last week. If you missed it read Marketing Unfiltered 26 or click below.

Brands Are Sleepwalking Into Digital Extinction

» By Jessie Allen and Sarah Aird-Mash

The Brand Crisis in Modern Marketing

Over the last 15 years, divestment from brand marketing has plagued the industry in favour of quick revenue wins. Whilst performance marketing accelerates immediate growth, moving budget away from brand has a compound negative effect on overall brand power.

Ask any iconic consumer brand and they'll champion the power of brand - and well they should. A strong brand with customer awareness, meaningful difference, and equity commands price premiums, fosters loyalty, and remains resilient during challenging economic times.

Both B2B and consumer brands (B2C/DTC) have struggled with balancing brand building and performance marketing. B2B organisations have historically ignored brand building altogether - focusing instead on selling products and feature-benefits. Meanwhile, many DTC brands have relied heavily on paid social and performance marketing to rapidly scale, prioritising revenue acceleration over building long-term brand equity. 

The Critical Choice: Build Your Brand or Disappear

In today's AI-powered discovery landscape, that product-focused or performance-only strategy is no longer enough. Organisations across B2B, B2C, and DTC now face a critical choice: adapt their approach to marketing or risk becoming invisible, not just to consumers, but to the AI systems shaping those consumers' decisions.

By 2026, traditional search engine volume will drop 25% according to research from Gartner. This tracks with our own first-hand experience — one of our clients had seen an 80% decrease in year-over-year leads from SEO, previously their key source of leads. 

This is bang on in line with Bain & Company research which finds that 80% of consumers now rely on AI-written results for at least 40% of their searches. 

AI-driven Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) isn't something far off in the future — it's happening now.

Smart businesses will start building their defences immediately. Moreover. there's an opportunity for marketers to gain first-mover advantage - driving cheap online excess share of voice on AI search, ensuring their brands not only get seen but chosen.

The Discovery Shift

Search is no longer just about keywords and metadata. Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity AI are changing how people find information. These platforms synthesise content, offer direct answers, and increasingly bypass traditional websites altogether.

This disruption has introduced Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO): optimising your content and brand signals for the large language models (LLMs) that now power discovery.

If your brand doesn't show up in these AI-generated answers — or worse, is misrepresented — you're losing potential visibility before a human decision-maker even enters the picture.

GEO Alone Isn't Enough: Enter BDO

Even if generative engines surface your brand, the real question is: will anyone choose it?

That's where Brand Discovery Optimisation (BDO) comes in. While GEO gets your brand found, BDO ensures it gets chosen. In the AI age, emotional connection, perceived value, and authenticity are becoming critical decision drivers — whether you're selling enterprise software or skincare products.

Why This Matters Across All Business Models

Emotional resonance matters: 95% of buyers (both B2B and B2C) say they're more likely to buy from brands that make them feel connected — emotionally, ethically, or strategically. For DTC brands, this emotional connection is often the primary differentiator in crowded categories.

AI doesn't just "read" — it ranks: Generative engines weight content by authority, clarity, and brand recognition. Weak brands risk being filtered out by default, regardless of whether they're selling to businesses or consumers.

Brandless = invisible: Without active brand equity, you're competing on price or specs alone — and generative engines will offer cheaper alternatives in seconds. This is particularly devastating for DTC brands that rely on direct consumer relationships.

Three Essential Pillars of Your BDO Strategy

1. Brand Building

Drive awareness, trust, and credibility so when you get ranked, customers choose you. In the age of AI-mediated discovery, a strong brand isn't just nice to have — it's survival.

When AI presents consumers with multiple options, they'll inevitably choose the business they recognise and have heard positive things about. Brand building creates a continuous feedback loop: offline awareness and reputation directly influence online selection decisions. The more your brand resonates in the real world, the more likely it will be chosen from AI-generated recommendations, further strengthening your market position.

• Story-Driven Messaging: Move beyond specs and features to narrative. Why does your brand exist? What do you stand for? Why should consumers trust you?

• Emotional Positioning: Show how you solve real problems for real people. Use emotion strategically—not sentimentality, to drive significance.

For DTC brands, this means going beyond Instagram aesthetics to build genuine connections with your audience through values, mission, and authentic storytelling.

2. Public Relations

AI systems are designed to prioritise information from authoritative sources. Just as Google's algorithms favour well-linked, credible content, generative AI heavily weights mentions and endorsements from respected publications, experts, and established platforms. When your brand is cited by trusted voices across the digital landscape, AI engines interpret these mentions as indicators of relevance and reliability — significantly boosting your visibility in generated responses.

• Human-Centred Brand Signals: Ensure your social proof, customer testimonials, and third-party mentions consistently convey your value—so that AI engines prioritise you accurately.

• Authority Building: Cultivate relationships with industry publications, influencers, and thought leaders who can amplify your brand's presence through earned media coverage in the digital ecosystem.

For consumer brands, this includes leveraging authentic creator partnerships and community engagement alongside traditional PR tactics.

3. Optimising Content

Create content that speaks fluently to both AI systems and human readers, ensuring you're discoverable and compelling in this new landscape.

• AI-Friendly Content Structure: Develop clear, authoritative content that answers real questions consumers have—the same questions they'll ask AI systems.

• Experience-Led Strategy: Make every touchpoint deliver a consistent brand experience that reinforces your positioning.

For DTC brands, this requires balancing algorithmic optimisation with the authentic voice that attracted your community in the first place.

The Strategic Shift All Brands Can't Ignore

We're entering an age where AI will surface the best-known, best-articulated, most credible answers. That puts an urgent premium on brand strength, clarity of positioning, and emotional resonance.

If you're a lesser-known brand relying on marketplace algorithms, Google rankings, or paid social to drive discovery — you're especially at risk. Without brand differentiation, AI will pass you by. Without emotional resonance, consumers will too.

Brand Is No Longer Optional — It's Foundational

Performance marketing isn't going away. But it's no longer enough. Generative engines are resetting the rules of discovery, and brands that don't evolve will disappear from the conversation.

To succeed, companies across B2B, B2C and DTC must master both GEO (so AI finds them) and BDO (so consumers choose them). That means moving beyond feature-based messaging and building brands with clarity, character, and credibility.

In a marketplace crowded with undifferentiated competitors, those who invest in brand building now will stand head and shoulders above the rest. Whilst others blend into a sea of sameness with their feature-focused messaging, branded businesses will rise to the top of AI recommendations and claim disproportionate market share. This advantage compounds over time as AI systems increasingly recognise and reward strong brands.

For DTC brands in particular, this shift represents both a challenge and an opportunity: those who have built authentic communities and value-driven narratives will have a significant head start in the AI discovery era.

This isn't just a marketing shift. It's a business imperative.

We are going to land in your inbox next week with an exciting new extension to Marketing Unfiltered

Have a great weekend,

Danny Denhard & Harry Lang — Marketing Unfiltered