We’re living through one of the most profound shifts in advertising history. AI is rewriting the rules of how people search, discover, and decide in real time. The “how” of advertising is evolving rapidly, but the “why” – WHY people choose, WHY they trust, and WHY they remember, remains firmly rooted in human behaviour.
Human cognitive architecture hasn’t changed (our brains still rely on biases, heuristics and emotion) but AI has reshaped the environment in which decisions are made, which is where we need to start if we want to understand what the future of advertising might look like.
Decisions are made faster with less friction. But people explore fewer options before deciding.
This makes framing and first impressions even more powerful. It also means that brands need to show up in AI summaries, not just search results.
People now outsource decision logic to machines. What’s the best product for X? Which financial option fits me? Which route should I take?
We are less likely to cross-check or validate than before, because AI responses feel neutral, comprehensive, and confident. Consumers may default to whatever the AI recommends, so earning that spot becomes essential for brand visibility.
AI makes everything seem easy. Drafting emails, generating images, summarising books. This changes how people value effort and perceive what’s “worth it.”
People are increasingly rewarding originality, emotional truth or clarity, not just content volume. And they expect brands to reduce friction in similar ways.
AI-powered platforms (Spotify, TikTok, Amazon) condition people to expect recommendations that “just get me”. This sets a high bar for all decision environments. If your content doesn’t feel hyper-relevant, it’s ignored. If your brand doesn’t signal “made for me”, it’s overlooked. Emotional intelligence in messaging isn’t optional, it’s the new UX.
This is the behavioural rub: AI itself becomes a heuristic. A shortcut we rely on to make complex decisions quickly. Instead of thinking, "What do I know?”, people think “What did ChatGPT say?”
People will become dependent on authority signals, simplicity, consistency and default options. Decision-making will become more predictable, but only for the brands that understand how to seed trust into the system early.
AI hasn’t changed human behaviour yet. But it has shortened attention spans, lowered our tolerance for friction, and deepened our faith in machine-generated knowledge.
But the biggest shift we have seen is how information is surfaced, how it is framed (often through machine learning) and how it is filtered. If we want to understand how to shape meaning in a machine-mediated world, we need to solve for two problems:
As machine learning systems take over the mechanics of advertising a vital question remains:
The answer doesn’t lie in out-optimising the algorithm, but in out-humanising it. To win in this era, brands need to understand not just the capabilities of AI, but the emotional, irrational, and deeply human biases that drive human choice, this is where behavioural science becomes essential.
If AI is reshaping the decision-making environment, filtering choices, framing options, and guiding attention, then brands need to adapt not just what they say, but how they show up in these new systems.
Search is no longer just a box on Google. It’s ambient, contextual, and often invisible.
Consumers now ask TikTok for product recommendations, use ChatGPT to compare options, trust Google or Gemini summaries as the ultimate truth and let platforms like Spotify, YouTube and even Amazon surface new and recommended content in seconds.
And the consumer accepts what's curated and served through the machine as a source of truth.
To do that brands need to do the following:
Owning the educational space in your category will give you the competitive edge in an AI driven world, but here’s the behavioural twist; even when machines narrow the field, people still choose irrationally. They default to brands they’ve heard of or recognise (mere exposure effect), trust what others say (social proof), feel safer with default options (default bias), and make judgements based on tone, formatting and emotional resonance (framing effect).
AI may present all the rational options, but irrationality will always remain the differentiator.
“There is often a significant discrepancy between what people say they want and what they actually choose.” - Rory Sutherland
Emotionally intelligent content doesn’t just inform, it reassures, inspires and acts as a guiding system. Often, the starting point for any brand that’s building a communication strategy is gaining an understanding of the buyer personas. But as AI shifts how consumers make decisions, traditional buyer personas feel increasingly out of step with how system thinking and human decision-making work today. We need to reframe how we define them.
Example: Samantha is a 34-year-old working mom who drives a Volvo and shops online after 9pm
Traditional personas are:
But people don’t act like data points. They act like people.
If we had to shift this to encompass everything we know about how consumers are making decisions we’d redefine this to an evolved model:
The future of buyer personas is not just who the buyer is, but rather:
| From | To |
| Age/gender/location | Emotional need state + behavioural triggers |
| Goals & pain points | Contextual decisions shaped by AI, bias, and framing |
| Linear journey stages | Loops of intent, exploration, reinforcement, and reentry |
| Messaging per segment | Modular content that adapts to signals and mood |
| Channel-based behaviour | Platform-native thinking shaped by how people decide |
If we use the traditional model, for instance, “Millennial health-conscious consumer”, how can we shift this to connect on a deeper, more human level using behavioural nudges to increase intent? We connect emotional need states to behavioural drivers:
When we start to define buyer personas in this way it gives us additional insight for deeper creative guidance (how to speak, not just what to say), and more resilient systems (you’re not just reliant on platforms targeting accuracy) and greater emotional precision (your brand feels right, not just reads right).
We need to understand how AI fits into this new way of defining a buyer persona and here’s the kicker - AI doesn’t read personas. It reads behavioural signals, patterns, and metadata. So personas must be structured for machine readability and emotional relevance.
This means:
Think: not “User Segment A” but “User X” in a growth mindset, searching for control, late in the week, on mobile, via ChatGPT.
This is how we can create personas that make sense in both AI-driven targeting and emotional-brand storytelling.
If we want to understand how we can drive behaviour in a mechanical AI world we need to connect authentically. When we talk about “what feels right,” we’re really talking about the alignment between messaging and deep-seated human needs. These messages resonate not because they’re rational, but because they validate, reassure, or empower something a person is already feeling.
We can break this down into messaging drivers mapped to core need states, using both behavioural science and brand storytelling logic:
| Human Need State | Messaging Driver | Why It Works |
| Belonging | You’re not alone. | Others like you are already here. | Leverages social proof and community identity. Taps into our tribal wiring. |
| Reassurance | You’re doing better than you think. | You’re in safe hands. | Counters fear or uncertainty. Activates certainty bias and comfort framing. |
| Mastery / Pride | You’ve got this. | This choice reflects your standards. | Appeals to self-image and identity signalling. Feeds intrinsic motivation. |
| Joy / Lightness | It doesn’t have to be so hard. | A small shift can lift everything. | Taps into cognitive ease. Feels like relief or release. |
| Control / Autonomy | You set the pace. | You decide what works for you. | Gives back agency. Reduces psychological reactance and supports confidence. |
| Growth / Aspiration | You’re not chasing more, you’re chasing better. | Frames ambition as clarity, not hustle. Signals maturity and focus. |
| Security / Stability | Some things should just work. | We’re here for the long haul. | Reassures with consistency, reliability, and long-term framing. |
| Recognition | You saw this before others did. | This is made for people like you. | Activates uniqueness bias and status-based identity affirmation. |
| Contribution / Purpose | You’re not here to blend in, you’re here to build something that matters. | Speaks to legacy, impact, and purpose-driven decision-making. |
AI can simulate tone and surface relevant content, but it doesn’t understand emotional timing. It doesn’t know when a user is vulnerable, motivated, or seeking validation.
That’s why brands that build these messaging drivers into their content system consistently build a deeper emotional connection. What feels right is more powerful than what sounds smart.
So how do we translate this thinking into scalable execution? It starts by rethinking the performance ecosystem
Campaigns still matter. They generate energy. They spotlight new products, time-sensitive offers, seasonal relevance, and cultural moments. They drive urgency and attention.
But campaigns alone are no longer enough.
Today, performance lives within connected, always-on ecosystems that compound learning, creativity, and momentum over time. These systems are fed by campaign bursts, but extend far beyond them.
In a system-driven world:
It’s not an either/or; it’s an evolution of how we activate campaigns within the larger brand system. When we stop thinking in isolated launches and start thinking in connected loops, performance becomes smarter, more resilient, and far more efficient.
The old binary, “Brand vs Performance”, is broken. For years we’ve seen a clear divide between brand and performance marketing. Performance marketing has been defined by metrics, platforms, and precision. But the game has changed. AI now handles the mechanics. Targeting, bidding, distribution is now up to the machine, leveling the playing field for everyone.
We can now expect brand campaigns to convert, performance campaigns to tell stories and create content that builds mental availability AND measurable impact. Essentially the best performance marketers can no longer only rely on machine generated levers to pull as these are readily available to anyone. Instead they’ll need to understand what drives human behaviour from a creative and psychological standpoint.
To win in this landscape, performance can’t just be engineered.
It needs to be felt.
You can’t outbid or out-algorithm the system forever and AI has flooded the market with mediocre content, and lots of it. Consumers become lost in a sea of sameness - more content, but nothing standing out. The best brands will disrupt - by using clear, provoking messaging that says something real, bold and emotionally resonant. They’ll make people feel seen. Make a point, take a stand or create a smile in the mind. But we can expect the pendulum to swing from AI efficiency back to creative distinctiveness. People will remember who dared.
Meta, Google, TikTok - every major platform is pushing AI media buying that minimises human targeting input. This means that brands cant over-engineer targeting and that success depends more on creative quality - not only audience settings. Digital media buyers will be part performance marketer, and part creative director.
In the rush to chase new customers, it’s easy to overlook your most powerful asset: the audience you already have.
But in an overcrowded, over-targeted ad space, owned media and community are your unfair advantage.
These are the people who’ve already said yes. So invite them in. Turn customers into creators with UGC contests, exclusive drops, early access, or behind-the-scenes content.
Use your owned platforms to create ritual moments, points in the journey that tap into a need state and feel personal, not performative.
Because when community becomes part of your content, it doesn’t feel like an ad.
It feels like something they’re part of.
The lines between brand and media are blurring. It’s no longer enough to rent attention, you need to earn it.
People don’t want more ads. They want content that feels relevant, entertaining, and worth their time.
So act like a media brand:
The job at hand isn’t just to sell. It’s to create something people want to come back to. In a world of skips and scrolls, you can’t rely on ads alone.
Cut-through doesn’t come from shouting Buy Now! the loudest. It comes from being remembered when it matters most.
People don’t always act the moment they see your ad. But when the moment to choose does arrive, whether it’s standing in front of a shelf, typing into a search bar, or asking ChatGPT for a recommendation, they’ll default to what’s familiar, what feels right, what stands out.
That’s why building memory matters more than chasing metrics.
In the end, memory is your brand’s best media plan. Because when people remember you, you don’t need to interrupt; they come looking for you.
In a world where anyone can access the same tools, automation levels the playing field. What separates brands now is not how smart their tech is, but how deeply they understand the people they're speaking to.
The future of marketing doesn’t belong to the most optimised.
It belongs to the most human.
So teach the algorithm, but speak to the heart.
That’s how you build memory.
That’s how you build meaning.
That’s how you matter.