I’ve noticed a shift in my online behaviour. When I’m researching a new product, service or answer to whatever question is bugging me at the time, I no longer reach for the first or even the clearest answer.

Instead, my eyes dance down the results page, hunting for a name I recognise. A voice that feels grounded. A sense that there’s a real person or familiar business behind the promise.

It’s not just me, is it? There’s more information at our fingertips than ever before, but truth feels harder to come by. And in that gap between abundance and assurance, brand is quietly becoming the thing that matters most.

Signals of authenticity

For businesses, AI tools have made creating content remarkably easy. Things that once took marketing teams days to produce can now be spun out in seconds. From a productivity perspective, it’s thrilling – but from a brand perspective, it’s complicated.

The traditional signals of credibility have begun to blur. Good grammar no longer proves expertise. Volume definitely doesn’t equal authority.

And that’s why brand matters more than ever in a B2B world where AI increasingly captivates our attention and influences our activities.

Because audiences aren’t stupid. When we’re faced with an infinite scroll of questionable information, we know we can’t put our faith in AI. We can only trust the organisation or person wielding it – and that’s only possible when their reputation, values and history feel authentic.

Make it meaningful

Much of the conversation around AI focuses on speed, cost and capability. But one of the more worrying outputs is sameness.

For businesses facing budget pressures, there’s an understandable urge to use AI for efficiency. More content, produced faster, at lower cost – it’s a no-brainer. But they forget their competitors are using the exact same tools. And when everyone lurches in the same direction, differentiation begins to erode, and apathy sets in.

The result is a digital world filled with competent, interchangeable communication, known in the business as “slop”. At best, it’s serviceable, but it’s rarely memorable.

When companies offer similar features at similar quality, decision-makers have a harder time choosing between vendors. People stop picking purely on what a product does, and start leaning on who they believe in. Brand becomes a shortcut for meaning and intent.

This is nothing new; it’s precisely why the best businesses have always invested in messaging and design that prompts an emotional response among their time-poor, attention-frazzled audience.

The human touch

Yes, AI can scale your marketing output. But a clear brand identity, distinct voice and consistent set of values are your secret weapons when it comes to creating an emotional connection with your audience.

And let’s not forget, AI introduces new, scarier forms of uncertainty. Questions about accuracy, bias, data use and accountability simmer beneath every interaction. A powerful brand answers those concerns before they surface.

In virtual environments, brand functions as a kind of human guarantee; the sense that someone, somewhere, stands behind the on-screen experience.

There’s a useful parallel in customer service. When automation technologies first appeared, many organisations rushed to roll out a chatbot. Faster responses and lower costs seemed unquestionably positive. But customers disagreed. Over time, brands that reinvested in genuine human interaction – especially at moments of friction or frustration – built deeper loyalty.

Maybe we’re approaching a similar inflection point with AI. Used thoughtfully, it can create more responsive, personal and helpful experiences. But used purely as a cost-cutting mechanism, it weakens the trust that brands live and die on.

The power of intention

Technology itself is rarely a differentiator. The intention behind its use is.

As conversational interfaces reshape how people search and learn, marketers have less control over how their messaging is received. Information is increasingly filtered, summarised and presented through automated systems rather than brand-owned channels.

But even here, brand is foundational. Automated systems draw on signals of credibility, consistency and authority that have been built over time through clear positioning and authentic behaviour. Making it more important than ever to have a water-tight brand strategy.

A strong set of brand guidelines can help you to use AI more effectively to create content at scale. A well-considered brand voice and character, in the right hands, can shape useful prompts without diluting your intention.

For marketers, one of AI’s most exciting promises is the ability to create personalised experiences. Communication that adapts to context, recommendations that feel relevant, and interactions that resemble one-to-one relationships. Done well, this deepens brand connection. Done badly, it’s generic automation disguised as intimacy.

The difference is in the intention. Are you using AI to understand people better and anticipate their needs, or simply to process them more efficiently?

From the heart

Technology changes. Capabilities improve, costs fall and competitors catch up. By the time you read this article, everything I’ve written might be out of date.

But brand loyalty is different. It builds value over time; it’s slower to establish, but harder to replicate. For all the transformation AI brings, it won’t change the fact that people make big decisions with emotion. As the philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote, “We choose with our hearts and use numbers to justify what we just did.”

Make no mistake: AI is changing things for brands. Used responsibly, it can expand creativity, improve relevance and unlock whole new forms of engagement.

But it performs best when it builds on a firm brand platform that represents clear purpose, consistent behaviour and genuine audience understanding. Brand in its truest sense: not just a pretty logo, but a strategic compass.

Because in a world where communication becomes faster, cheaper and increasingly similar, the brands that stand out will be the ones that prioritise being trusted, chosen and remembered.

And trust, despite all our technological progress, is still profoundly human.

Build a brand that cuts through in an AI world. Look out for more insights and opinions from The Prompt, or get in touch for a conversation about your challenges.