HOW UNIVERSAL AI ASSISTANTS ARE REWRITING BRAND ENGAGEMENT
Welcome to the age of the ever-present plus-one: the universal AI assistant.
No longer siloed to chatbots or tucked inside smart speakers, these AI-native agents—like Google’s Project Astra powered by Gemini—are becoming your co-pilot across browsers, phones, wearables, and your living room. Think Siri meets search engine meets shopper, all in one. And yes, brands need to make sure they’re part of the conversation—literally.
Here’s what marketers need to know as we enter this next wave of experiential engagement:
CONVERSATIONAL COMMERCE IS YOUR NEW FRONT DOOR
The search bar is melting into a dialogue box. “What’s the best running shoe for my gait and the SoCal heat?”—that’s not a keyword phrase, it’s a fully-formed thought. And your next customer is asking it out loud to an AI assistant, not typing it into Google.
Welcome to the evolution of SEO. This isn’t about rankings anymore—it’s about conversational SEO, or what we call AI-native discoverability. It’s not enough to be clickable. Now you have to be recommendable.
And not all AI assistants are built the same.
Pi by Inflection AI, for example, is forging deeper, emotionally aware conversations—less search engine, more confidante. Consumers will default to the AI platform that feels most aligned with them. That means brands must consider not just what their audience wants to know, but how they prefer to ask, and who they’re asking.
You have to think about which AI your audience is likely to use—and how to show up authentically inside that system’s logic, tone, and context.
Tools like Gemini and ChatGPT with browsing are training users to search less and ask more. And when assistants respond with branded recommendations inside the thread, discovery turns conversational—and conversion becomes instant.
Pair that with agent-guided checkouts, virtual try-ons, and “buy now” links all within the same interaction—and we’ve skipped the traditional sales funnel entirely. The whole brand journey happens inside one thread.
If you’re not optimizing for how people talk, think, and feel, you’re not showing up. Speak the language of your consumer—and the assistant they trust to speak for them.
HYPER-PERSONALIZATION IS NOW A GIVEN (AND INSTANT)
Universal assistants learn fast—what we buy, when we buy, what we almost bought, and what we didn’t even know we needed. And they’re not just learning—they’re creating.
We’re talking hyper-personalization at scale. Yes, that includes paid ads—platforms like Omneky now auto-generate thousands of dynamic ad variations, tailored to specific audience segments, platforms, and performance trends. But it goes way beyond that.
AI is also reshaping organic brand touchpoints: from personalized product recommendations and conversational suggestions to curated shopping flows based on what the user actually wants—not what the algorithm thinks they might.
And the once-heavy lift of creative testing? Writing copy, designing assets, running A/B tests—it’s all being automated. Faster cycles, smarter outputs, and a level of precision that makes “spray and pray” feel prehistoric.
Feed the assistant your voice, values, and visuals—then let it remix, personalize, and perform across every touchpoint, paid or not.
BRAND POSITIONING IS A BATTLE FOR FAVOR
The AI assistant doesn’t pitch. It recommends. And in a world of infinite options, that quiet nudge—“most trusted,” “best value,” “top rated”—is everything.
This isn’t paid placement. It’s earned positioning, built from the data that lives behind the curtain: your brand’s metadata, customer reviews, product specs, sustainability claims, and even how well your content is structured for machine readability.
In this world, your assets aren’t just marketing tools—they’re your audition tape. You’re not just convincing a person anymore. You’re convincing the algorithm to put you forward.
So yes, your brand still needs to resonate with people—but it also needs to rank with their assistants. Stop thinking only about your audience. Start thinking about your AI gatekeepers. That’s the new pitch meeting.
There isn’t yet a dedicated AI assistant built for brands to actively manage, test, and optimize their ranking in AI ecosystems like Gemini, ChatGPT, or Alexa. But…
Expect a wave of “AI SEO” or “Assistant Visibility Optimization” tools that sit at the intersection of metadata management, tone training, and assistant interface testing.
TRUST IS THE PRICE OF ENTRY
Consumers don’t need their assistant to feel human. They need it to feel right.
That means accurate answers, consistent tone, no weird left turns. What matters most isn’t whether the assistant cracks a joke—it’s whether it gets the dinner reservation right, recommends the right size, and respects someone’s dietary restrictions.
Welcome to functional trust—the real currency of AI-powered engagement. If the assistant makes a bad call, your brand wears it. Whether it's a wrong product suggestion or a misrepresented value claim, the consumer doesn’t blame the algorithm. They blame you.
So for brands, that means:
Keep your product data clean and current.
Ensure your voice is clear, consistent, and carried through every AI touchpoint.
And don’t cut corners with representation. If your assistant only recommends products for one demographic, that’s not just bad UX—it’s a brand liability.
In this new landscape, trust isn’t built with charm—it’s earned with clarity, accuracy, and accountability. Be transparent. Be consistent. Then defend that trust like your reputation depends on it—because it does.
MARKETING ORG STRUCTURES NEED TO CATCH UP
If AI is shaping the conversation, marketers need to be fluent. That means syncing closely with data science and engineering teams, tracking new metrics like AI engagement rate, and building assets that are snackable, searchable, and semi-autonomous.
Think: content that lives inside a conversation. Product catalogs that update in real-time. Tone of voice guidelines that an algorithm can interpret, not just a copywriter.
The assistant isn’t replacing your team—it’s becoming part of it.
The SoHo B.O.L.D. Framework for AI-Era Brand Engagement
A strategic lens to help marketers navigate and lead in this conversational future:
B — Branded Conversations
Train your assistant to sound like you. From tone of voice to auditory logos, your brand’s personality should show up in every automated reply.
O — Optimized Discovery
It’s not about being loud. It’s about being found. Structure your content, product data, and customer reviews to rank highly within assistant recommendations.
L — Learning at Scale
Use AI’s data loops to test and evolve fast. From ad creative to user preferences, iterate constantly based on what resonates in real time.
D — Design for Trust
Transparency and ethical design aren’t optional. Brands that earn functional trust—by being useful, inclusive, and accurate—will win the long game.
THE BIG PICTURE
Universal AI assistants are reshaping brand engagement from a one-way push to a dynamic pull—one where brands are discovered, recommended, and transacted with in a single breath.
This isn’t just the next evolution of search or e-commerce. It’s the rewiring of brand relationships.
Bold Prediction: In the age of AI, your brand’s most powerful spokesperson may not be human. And the brands that win? They won’t just show up—they’ll show up ready to serve, to spark action, and to earn trust in every micro-moment.
At SoHo, we believe experiential marketing is no longer confined to physical spaces. It’s everywhere a brand can be felt—heard, seen, and engaged with. That includes your AI assistant's response suggestions and your brand tone baked into synthetic conversations.
Curious how your brand shows up inside a universal assistant? Let’s find out.
We’re helping brands future-proof their presence in the AI-powered world. Let’s build something that lives beyond the feed—and inside the conversation.
