Will brand no longer matter because of AI?

Brand Isn't Dying. You're Just Looking at the Wrong Part of the Funnel.

Every few weeks, somebody declares brand dead because AI is going to handle the discovery, the research, and the decision for the user. Convenient theory. Also one that conveniently ignores about 80% of how marketing actually works.

Mordy and Miruna take this one apart. The "brand doesn't matter anymore" argument only holds up if you pretend the funnel ends at the first interaction — no research, no comparison, no loyalty, no retention, no unconscious association. None of that disappears because the search interface changed.

A few things that break the theory in practice. AI summaries aren't neutral oracles — they're a mirror of how the internet already perceives your brand. Ask an LLM what Verizon is like to deal with and you'll get hidden fees, aggressive sales culture, inconsistent customer service. That's not an AI visibility gap. That's a brand problem leaking into a new channel. And if the future really is agents talking to agents? Agents will still evaluate brands on the same things humans do — satisfaction, support quality, trust. Every one of those is brand equity in a different outfit.

Anthony Barone, Co-Founder & Managing Director at StudioHawk UK, joins to push the conversation somewhere most AI-vs-brand debates never go: loyalty and retention. AI might one day influence acquisition. It doesn't keep customers. Brand does.

Clearly Saying

Brand will still matter at whatever level — and the vibe-y stuff companies were doing in the name of brand was never brand to begin with.