Understanding Brand Equity in the AI Era

As artificial intelligence reshapes how people discover and engage with brands, a new question is emerging for marketing leaders: Is your brand equity visible to AI?

Traditionally, brand equity has been built through consistent messaging, customer experience, and emotional connection. But in 2025, where consumers increasingly rely on AI-generated answers from tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity, your brand’s visibility in these responses is becoming just as important as your presence on Google or social media.

The challenge? AI models don’t just index your website—they synthesise information from a vast array of sources. If your brand isn’t well-represented in the data these models draw from, your equity may be invisible in the very channels shaping modern discovery.

Why This Matters Now

AI-powered search isn’t a future trend—it’s already influencing how consumers and businesses make decisions. Whether someone’s asking, “What’s the best project management tool for remote teams?” or “Which skincare brands are cruelty-free?”, AI-generated answers are often the first touchpoint.

If your brand doesn’t appear—or worse, if your competitor does—you’re missing out on high-intent visibility. That’s not just an SEO problem. It’s a brand equity problem.

Key Insights

1. Brand Equity Is Being Rewritten by AI

Brand equity used to be built through advertising, customer experience, and word-of-mouth. Today, it’s also being shaped by how AI models interpret and represent your brand.

AI models don’t “see” your brand the way humans do. They rely on structured data, third-party content, reviews, and contextual signals.
If your brand isn’t mentioned in trusted sources or lacks clear positioning, AI may overlook you entirely—or misrepresent you.

Implication: Your brand equity is only as strong as your visibility in the AI knowledge graph.

2. AI Visibility Is the New Competitive Benchmark

In traditional SEO, you track keyword rankings. In the AI age, you need to track how often and how favourably your brand appears in AI-generated answers.

Are you being recommended in relevant queries?
Are your competitors showing up more often?
Is the information accurate and aligned with your brand narrative?

Platforms like Promina help you monitor and improve your AI visibility, so you can ensure your brand is part of the conversation when it matters most.

Implication: AI visibility is becoming a leading indicator of brand strength in digital ecosystems.

3. Content Strategy Must Evolve for AI Discovery

To build brand equity in the AI age, your content strategy needs to go beyond keywords and backlinks.

Focus on creating authoritative, well-structured content that answers real questions.
Ensure your brand is cited in high-trust sources—think industry publications, expert roundups, and data-backed reports.
Use schema markup and structured data to help AI models understand your content.

Implication: Content that’s optimised for AI discovery is now a core asset for brand equity.

Final Thought

Brand equity has always been a long-term investment. But in 2025, it’s no longer just about perception—it’s about presence. If your brand isn’t visible in AI-generated answers, it risks becoming invisible to your next customer.

The good news? You can take control. By understanding how AI models perceive your brand and proactively shaping that narrative, you can turn AI visibility into a strategic advantage.

How is your brand showing up in AI-generated answers—and what are you doing to shape that presence?