How Search Evolves and What It Means for Brands

I’ve been fascinated by how search is evolving and with AI now trained to go beyond traditional keywords, it’s crazy how precisely it can target you based on what you say, watch, or even hint at. If you know me, you know I love digging into how things actually work to understand what the future might look like. My latest blog explores how search has shifted from matching exact words to understanding meaning, context, and intent. Did you know half of Gen Z now use TikTok and Instagram as their search engines? And Reddit's role in training AI? Its raw, unfiltered conversations are now training Google and OpenAI models to understand how people really talk. The next evolution? Ads/Monetization inside AI - being tested now, if not already rolled out in some spaces. Curious where this all leads? Check out the full blog here: 👉 https://lnkd.in/gZdhGWte #AI #Search #ConsumerBehavior #MarketingStrategy #BrandTrust #Ecommerce #Omnichannel #FutureOfDiscovery #DigitalTransformation #CustomerExperience

𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐚’𝐬 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐀𝐈 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐀𝐝𝐬 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 Over the past few months, Meta has quietly rolled out some massive upgrades to how its advertising system thinks and learns: honestly, it’s a big shift for performance marketers like us. Here’s a simple breakdown: 𝟭. 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗮 𝗚𝗘𝗠 – “𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻” Think of GEM as Meta’s marketing genius. It studies billions of data points — who buys what, when, and why — to predict which audience, creative, and budget mix will perform best. 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞: If you launch a campaign for a new collection, GEM instantly knows which visuals or copy will attract people aged 25–34 who are most likely to purchase similar items. It learns faster, spends smarter, and drives stronger conversions. 𝟐. 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐚 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 – “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲” Before, every campaign type (Sales, Engagement, Traffic) learned separately. Now, all those insights are connected in one massive library. 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞: If your engagement ads perform well with users interested in your products, Lattice uses that insight to help your sales campaign reach similar users — no more starting from zero. 𝟑. 𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐚 𝐀𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐚 – “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐞” This new system can process data that’s 10,000x more complex. It’s like having a personal assistant who instantly connects your ad to the most relevant people across the platform. 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞: If you launch a campaign for a new product line, Andromeda finds people who recently: - Purchased related items online - Live in relevant locations - Follow similar interest pages Faster, sharper, more relevant delivery with less wasted budget. 𝟒. 𝐒𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 – “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞” This one is my favorite, Meta now understands the sequence of actions people take. 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞: If someone views a product ad but doesn’t buy, Meta knows what’s next, they might want something complementary or similar and adjusts the ads accordingly. It’s like the algorithm now remembers the entire customer journey. These updates mean one thing for marketers: Stop over-segmenting. Feed Meta’s AI with creative variety and strong first-party data. Let the system learn holistically. We’re officially entering an era where AI doesn’t just run ads, it understands people. #MetaAds #PerformanceMarketing #DigitalMarketing #AIinMarketing #SocialMediaAds #EcommerceGrowth #MarketingStrategy

Very insightful study from Croud on AI, LLMs and the Next Frontier of Search. 1️⃣ The Shift Croud’s latest Consumer Index shows that AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini are rapidly becoming the new search gateways. 1 in 6 consumers now complete their entire discovery journey inside AI tools. 58% believe they’ll use AI for most product searches within five years. 68% say AI inspires them to buy brands they hadn’t considered before. 🟡 Blackbird’s Take: This marks the rise of Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) - where visibility across AI assistants is a non negotiable alongside traditional SEO. Brands that aren’t represented or optimised for AI results risk being invisible at the very start of the customer journey. 2️⃣ Trust Redefined AI is becoming a trusted advisor - not just a helper. 74% of adopters say AI finds better-fitting products than humans. 68% trust AI recommendations more than influencer endorsements. The main barriers for non-users are bias concerns and lack of familiarity. 🟡 Blackbird’s Take: Trust in AI outputs means that brands must be discoverable and credible inside these ecosystems. Through AI visibility audits, source mapping, and content optimisation for LLMs, Blackbird helps ensure your brand is the one consumers - and the AIs - recommend first. 3️⃣ Spend Is Growing - Regardless of Income AI discovery doesn’t just change how people buy; it changes how much they buy. AI users spend ~£118 more per basket than non-users. The uplift holds across income levels, meaning it’s behavioural, not just financial. High-consideration categories (outdoor, appliances, sportswear) show the biggest uplift. 🟡 Blackbird’s Take: This proves that visibility in AI channels directly drives revenue growth. Blackbird helps brands map and monetise their presence in AI search — showing where being seen leads to spend. 4️⃣ Loyalty Rewritten AI is reshaping what loyalty means. 42% of AI users have switched from their preferred brand to one found via AI. 47% continue buying from brands they first discovered through AI. Younger audiences show the strongest AI-led loyalty shifts. 🟡 Blackbird’s Take: Traditional brand equity is being replaced by AI-validated relevance. Blackbird tracks where your brand appears in AI outputs and helps you defend your position against AI-recommended competitors. Link to the study in the comments!

🚀 𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗥𝗢𝗗𝗨𝗖𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗔𝗜 𝗘𝗻𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗵, 𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗽 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 Commerce media has entered a new phase and so have we. Flow AI Enrich takes what we’ve already built, the ability to extract, classify, and monetise shopper data and pushes it even further. Until now, we could identify and package audiences from site activity. Now, we can understand them. Flow AI Enrich interprets behaviour to reveal why people engage, whether they’ve viewed an ad, revisited a product, or compared options across categories, turning everyday signals into clear, measurable intent. 𝙏𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙞𝙨𝙣’𝙩 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝘼𝙄 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙩. It’s the next evolution of Flow’s audience intelligence, designed to help our data partners see the full picture behind every audience and monetise it with precision. “𝘔𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦, 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘢𝘤𝘺-𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘨𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘍𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘈𝘐 𝘌𝘯𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦’𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘴. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.” — Keshav Chetty, 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗦𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘁 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗙𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀, it means deeper insight and faster monetisation even with patchy tagging or legacy setups. 𝗙𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀, it means richer, high-intent audiences built on real behaviour, ready to activate across Meta, Google, and TikTok. Commerce media is getting smarter. Flow AI Enrich is how. Shout-out to Gil Sperling, Daniel Levy, Bruno Correia, Keshav Chetty and our entire product and dev team for leading another major step forward in Flow’s journey. 🧡 🔗 Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/dK_f6Pyq Theo Visser Caitlin Perry

A major milestone for Flow — we’ve just launched Flow AI Enrich, solving one of the biggest friction points in accessing quality #FirstParty #audiences. Many audience partners (retailers, marketplaces etc) have valuable data but aren’t set up to onboard it easily, or it requires investment. That bottleneck limits reach and revenue. Our marketplace model has now reached the scale where our data can teach itself — using AI to create targetable audiences with minimal input. This means audience partners can deliver more value from their data without complex setup, and advertisers gain access to richer, smarter segments that perform better across channels. It’s another step toward our mission: making high-quality audiences accessible and actionable for everyone in the ecosystem.

“Build Agents that drive strategic value. Most AI agents lack memory and strategic design, making them ineffective for optimizing consumer journeys. True value comes from context-aware systems that can support multi-step tasks without disconnection and can adapt to shifting customer data.” #ai #agentic #media #trends #data #customers #consumers #search

🚨 How is AI transforming retail media? Check out the latest from SmartBrief's Mike Driehorst in which Ashwini Karandikar and Jeremy Lockhorn from the 4As weigh in: https://lnkd.in/eNuCU55e Spending is booming, growing from $30B in 2021 to $60.8B this year, and generative AI is driving the next wave of creative innovation. Ashwini and Jeremy highlight how AI is the new creative director, powering everything from Amazon’s lifestyle visuals to Walmart’s smart shopping lists, while noting the new challenge: advertising to the algorithm itself. 🤖 #RetailMedia #AI #MarketingInnovation #4As

🚗 Buying a car isn’t a cruise, and neither is understanding customer intent. carsales mediahouse is tapping into #AdobeRealTimeCDP to better understand their customers’ journey. By combining first-party data with predictive insights, they’re discovering hidden demand while helping advertisers connect with high-intent audiences at the right time. Since adopting Customer AI, they’ve seen a 20% uplift in defining purchase intent and a 23% increase in push engagement. 🔍 Read how #carsalesmediahouse is turning AI-powered customer intelligence into action: https://ow.ly/bJ8J30sQeEr #DigitalAdvertising #CDP #DataDriven

Social shopping isn’t the future - it’s already the storefront. I recently watched a YouTube video called “How to go from 0 to 10K a month on TikTok.” The advice was simple but powerful: - Create a character or brand that can sell for you. Take Morning Girl - she went from 0 -> 5M followers in 2 months by blending storytelling, relatability, and commerce. And that’s the shift we’re living through right now: TikTok, Instagram, and Pinterest aren’t just places to scroll, they’re where people shop. 📊 A few numbers that stood out: - TikTok’s U.S. commerce market is set to hit $84B in 2025. - 58% of users shop directly on TikTok. - 70%+ of buyers trust UGC more than ads. - AI now powers the personalized storefronts we see - every “For You” page is a mini retail experience. For brands, this means your product stories can’t just live on your website - they have to live in the feed. Authenticity gets people in. AI personalization keeps them coming back. That’s the intersection I’m obsessed with right now: where human storytelling meets machine. Do you see social commerce evolving - are you betting on creators, AI, or both? #SocialCommerce #AI #FashionTech #CreatorEconomy #Ecommerce

Retail Media Is Exploding, And AI’s Running the Register! Retail media spend has doubled since 2021 and will top $100B by 2029. The secret is AI. From predicting what we’ll buy next to generating the creative that sells it, AI is transforming retail media from ad placement to intelligent influence. The next frontier: marketing not just to people — but to their AI agents. #RetailMedia #AI #MarketingInnovation #AdTech