Navigating a new era of consumer search and discoverability, generative engine optimisation (GEO – where digital content is refined to be picked up by chatbots) and managing shopping decisions made by AI agents were hot topics. How to differentiate, ensure visibility, create authority and instil trust underpinned discourse ranging from website design to content cues.

British brands, premium stationery label Papier and coffee company Grind, put social media marketing content under the microscope – highlighting strategic adjustments triggered by Meta’s new algorithmic mandates, servicing audiences whose digital tolerance is waning, and a ‘split-personality social media policy’.

Several speakers advocated doubling down on experiences for IRL-connection-hungry shoppers, noting that as e-commerce becomes increasingly mediated by AI agents (see section one), physical brand environments will become a powerful differentiator. Many highlighted a vital throughline between sensorial seduction and cultural relevance, but also instant (in-store) gratification at high speed.

Several speakers discussed bolstering rewards strategies for an era of AI-exacerbated consumer promiscuity, where loyalty is increasingly defined pragmatically (see Key Stats), unless especially enticing levers are put in place. Key focuses included more curation, inspiration, and surprise and delight (the differentiating fun factor), plus programmes incubating bigger, trans-industry cultural ambitions.