Agent Attention
“Agent Attention” – a cartoon that illustrates how brand advertising will need to evolve as AI Agents make more purchase decisions on behalf of consumers.
Last weekend’s Super Bowl LIX saw the 30-second ad slots sell for an average of $8M, a $500,000 jump from last year’s prices.
With over 120M expected viewers, brands like Anheuser-Busch, Meta and PepsiCo, believe that live sports remains one of the last reliable ways for advertisers to reach massive audiences.
However, a survey by Salesforce revealed that 24% of consumers are already comfortable with AI agents making purchases on their behalf.
During the 2024 holiday season, AI-influenced shopping contributed to a nearly 4% increase in online sales compared to the previous year.
As AI Agents increasingly interact autonomously – negotiating, purchasing, and making decisions on behalf of humans – brand marketing will undergo fundamental shifts.
Traditional human-centric marketing strategies (appealing to emotions, storytelling, and trust-building) will give way to algorithmic brand preferences, AI-driven negotiations, and real-time machine interactions.
“Retailers who have embraced AI and agents are already seeing the benefits, but these tools will be even more critical in the new year,” said Caila Schwartz, director of Consumer Insights at Salesforce.
Just as Google prioritizes fast-loading websites in search rankings, AI Agents will prioritize vendors with real-time API availability, verifiable data, and seamless integration.
This will see a rise in a new job category where people will specialize in AI Brand Optimization (ABO), in addition to the traditional SEO for humans.
