Building brands for man and machine

Let’s be honest, in 2026, AI will be everywhere. Any company can spin up a chatbot, automate a workflow or generate slick content at the push of a button. So, what can actually set your business apart? Your brand. And not just in the 1980’s sense of “nice logo and a catchy strapline”, I mean brand as your company’s reputation, trustworthiness and the feeling people (and, increasingly, machines) get when they see you. Built intentionally for the Agentic Intent era as an active realm – planned to inspire meaningful interactions, memorable moments, product innovation and keen participation. As Ai evolves so does our brand practice but in the past year on so many brand projects we have kept some key principles top of mind.

1. The First Customer is likely an Algorithm

Many buying decisions now start with an AI agent—shopping bots, recommendation engines, business procurement tools. If your brand isn’t clear consistent and easy for machines to “read,” you’re invisible before a human even gets a look-in. But here’s the kicker: the real human still needs a reason to say “yes.” So, you have to win over both the bot and the person behind it. That means making your brand data unambiguous and structured for machines and building emotional pull and trust for people.

2. Authenticity Is the New Luxury

AI can create endless “perfect” content, but it can be soulless. The market is flooded with what many call “AI slop”-slick, generic, and instantly forgettable marketing. It can be found not just in digital but everywhere. That’s why brands that can prove real human involvement, think “human-made” badges, behind-the-scenes stories, gamified conference experiences or even a bit of deliberate imperfection see a measurable lift. Ai can be a marvelous creative tool but it needs to be harnessed purposefully connected to an idea or insight that helps it rise to the top above the slop, Human in the loop methods offer the best of both worlds but any brand leader needs to work out the right balance for them. The perfect balance of man and machine can also deliver better on the promise of personalization using data to connect with people or their agents by seeking emotional understanding which uses empathy to drive intent.

3. Trust Isn’t a Feeling—It’s a Fact

With deepfakes, data leaks and AI hallucinations, trust is now a hard metric. This isn’t just about the usual brand trust stuff – credible reviews, thought leadership, consistant behavior or brand experience it is about how Ai is used in the business. Customers want to know: How is my data used and what’s in it for me? Is AI being harnessed ethically? The brands that win are the ones who are open about how they use AI, publish their standards and invite independent checks. In Europe, with our stricter privacy expectations, this is a real opportunity– show how AI governance is a strategic priority of leadership crafted by and for real people in products, platforms and marketing. It may feel that the era of Purpose led marketing as the buzz word DuJour has gone but a large amount of people still look to the ethics of a business and its leaders.

4. Visual Rebellion: Don’t Look Like a Bot

Design trends and product experiences are swinging away from sterile sameness. The hottest brands are embracing “visual rebellion”—deliberate quirks, mixed media, and even a bit of messiness to signal there’s a human touch. It’s not just about standing out; it’s about being unmistakably not a bot. Or if you are a bot how do you own it and fit with the brand world as an active ingredient – just like Argos’s delightful Trevor. Again we do this by our belief in balance, balancing efficiencies in active brand experiences with understanding the real needs of humans.

5. The Hard Bits: Energy, Jobs and Human Agency

Let’s not dodge the tough stuff. Businesses that embrace AI often face scrutiny over energy use (think data centre protests), job displacement (especially middle management) and the risk of people outsourcing their thinking to machines. The best brands don’t sweep this under the rug—they talk openly about how they’re tackling these issues, investing in reskilling and keeping humans involved. Brand should inform and reflect culture to bring the best out of the people (and arguably future AI agents) within it to guide and encourage better and distinctive work.

In an AI-native world, your brand could be the only thing your competitors can’t copy overnight. Make it count.

• Treat your brand as your operating system. Make sure it’s clear, consistent, and embedded in everything.

• Show your working. Be transparent about how you use AI, even let people see the humans behind the curtain.

• Measure what matters. Track not just clicks, but things like “human-certified intent” and “agent preference rate”—how often bots and people choose you over the competition.

• Don’t be afraid to stand out. Embrace imperfection, tell real stories and make your brand impossible to clone.

And last but not least experiment. I believe we should learn the rules and break them beautifully. I hope 2026 will be an exciting time to take the teams experience and to do new things in exciting new ways and I can’t wait to see what work we do as well as how the industry evolves.