The Signal
Research, insights, and analysis on how AI impacts brand strategy.
Brand building has always been a memory game. Now there are two.
Byron Sharp proved brands grow by being mentally available. The Extended Mind Hypothesis — and new AI research — means brands now compete in two memory structures at once.
AI is the new digital shelf. Visibility isn't availability.
The AI performance market measures visibility. But AI availability — whether you're the brand AI reliably recommends across the situations buyers ask in — is what actually drives growth.
Your brand is 4× more visible in AI when you have a community.
SE Ranking studied 2.3M pages — brands with real community presence get cited by AI 4× more. Community sits in the Signal layer; it's how brand substance becomes AI recommendations.
Share of Search predicted market share. Share of AI Voice is next.
In 2020, Share of Search was confirmed as a leading indicator of market share. We're now tracking Share of AI Voice across 13 sectors — and the loudest brands aren't the ones AI surfaces.
Three beauty brands. Why brand beats AEO in AI.
A skincare brand-health report on CeraVe, The Ordinary and Drunk Elephant. The brand with the best technical setup performs worst; the one with the strongest community wins. Brand is 70% of AI performance, structural tactics 30%.
The brand AI recommends isn’t built by your marketing team. It’s built by your community.
A few weeks ago I posted a framework I’d been working on. The AI Brand Architecture. A pyramid showing the three layers that determine whether AI can find you, understand you, and recommend...
What gives brands an edge in AI
63 brands, 12 sectors. The top quartile scores 46% higher on AI visibility — and earned presence is the dominant predictor (+181%). The brands that win aren't louder; they're more coherent.
AI builds your brand from what others say — not what you own.
In traditional media you control the message. In AI, the medium assembles its own version of your brand from earned signals — reviews, Reddit, press. The work is closing the gap between the brand you intend and the one AI has already built.
Brand equity is 63% of AI visibility. GEO is the short game.
WARC's LLM Visibility Drivers study found long-term brand equity accounts for 63% of what makes a brand visible in AI. The optimisation playbook is short-term. Brand equity is the dominant signal across every model.
System 0 - The New Level in Attention Science
Welcome to the first newsletter from ATTENT10N - a new brand focused on attention science in the AI age. Our goal is to make sense of that AI madness so brands can navigate the future confidently. No...
New thinking on AI & brand, in your inbox.
Short, practical pieces on how AI is reshaping brand strategy. No spam.
Find out what AI is missing about your brand.
The AI Brand Health Report — a statistically significant diagnosis of how AI sees your brand, with a 90-day plan. £2,500, delivered in 5 working days.
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