For decades, brand growth followed a familiar playbook: build awareness through advertising, reinforce memory structures, and ensure products are easy to buy. Omnicom Media’s latest research suggests that model is no longer sufficient—and may already be outdated.

In a new report, The Future of Brand Influence, Omnicom Media argues that influence today is no longer linear, predictable, or dominated by advertising. Instead, it is shaped by a fragmented ecosystem where influencers, peers, retail environments, and increasingly AI-driven recommendations play a decisive role in how consumers form opinions and make decisions.

Backed by research conducted by Omnicom Media Intelligence, the study introduces a critical evolution of classic marketing theory. Physical and mental availability still matter, but they are no longer enough. Brands must now compete on emotional availability—their ability to earn trust, relevance, and resonance across a growing web of human and machine-driven touchpoints.

Advertising Has Lost Its Monopoly on Influence

One of the clearest signals from the research is that advertising is no longer the primary driver of brand perception.

Only 32% of respondents say advertising most affects their overall opinion of a brand. By contrast, 40% point to what people are saying online, and a striking 71% say peer and influencer commentary matters more than brand advertising itself.

AI is also emerging as a powerful influence layer. Nearly half of respondents (45%) say AI-generated recommendations matter more than advertising when shaping their perceptions, putting machines on roughly equal footing with influencers (43%). For Gen Z, the shift is even more pronounced: 67% trust people on social platforms more than institutions or publications.

“Influence used to be relatively linear and predictable,” said Joanna O’Connell, Chief Intelligence Officer at Omnicom Media North America and lead author of the report. “Today, brand messaging exists alongside everything from influencer opinions to AI-generated answers—and that means brands must earn emotional relevance and trust across a much broader set of touchpoints.”

The implication is stark: brands can no longer assume that reach and frequency will do the heavy lifting. Influence is now negotiated in public, distributed spaces where brands have less control—and where credibility must be earned repeatedly.

Generative AI Is Compressing the Consumer Journey

If influence has become fragmented, it has also become faster. The rise of generative AI is dramatically compressing the path from curiosity to decision.

Seven in ten respondents say GenAI enables them to become an “expert” in almost any product or service category, helping them research pros and cons, compare brands, and validate choices in minutes rather than days. That acceleration reduces the window in which brands can shape consideration—and raises the stakes for how they show up in AI-mediated environments.

At the same time, attention is under unprecedented strain. Sixty-three percent of respondents describe their attention span as “just OK” or “not great,” while nearly four in ten say they don’t even notice ads on social platforms, despite high ad loads. Ad blockers, ad-free subscriptions, VPNs, and signal loss continue to chip away at traditional reach.

Together, these forces are creating what the report describes as a system where brand influence is frequently blocked, deprioritized, diluted, or even self-sabotaged.

Economic Pressure Is Undermining Brand Loyalty

The research also highlights a growing disconnect between how brands think they build loyalty and how consumers experience them.

More than 30% of respondents say they are now buying cheaper alternatives to their usual brands, up sharply from 19% earlier this year. While 75% say brand relatability is essential to purchase decisions, 72% believe brands care more about making money than building genuine loyalty. More than half feel brands no longer try to connect with them the way they once did.

This tension places emotional availability front and center. Consumers want brands that understand them, reflect their values, and show up with relevance—not just promotions. Yet many brands are perceived as prioritizing short-term revenue over long-term relationships, weakening trust at precisely the moment when trust has become the most valuable currency.

“Trust is migrating from institutions to individuals, and increasingly to machines as well,” O’Connell said. “That shift fundamentally changes how brands need to show up if they want to remain relevant and influential.”

Rethinking Availability in a Fragmented Ecosystem

A core contribution of the report is how it reframes the classic pillars of brand growth.

Physical availability now means more than shelf presence or distribution. Brands must ensure frictionless access across digital and physical channels, from retail media networks to e-commerce platforms and last-mile delivery.

Mental availability is no longer guaranteed by awareness alone. In an environment defined by noise, disintermediation, and AI-mediated discovery, brands must fight to remain salient when consumers are searching, scrolling, or asking machines for advice.

Emotional availability has emerged as the differentiator. It reflects a brand’s ability to connect authentically, build trust, and feel relevant in moments that matter—whether that moment occurs in a creator’s video, a retail environment, or an AI-generated response.

These shifts, Omnicom argues, point to a new marketing reality where influence is achieved by balancing machine efficiency with human connection.

From Research to Action: What Brands Should Do Next

The report doesn’t stop at diagnosis. It also outlines practical recommendations for brands navigating this evolving influence ecosystem.

On the human side, Omnicom Media advises brands to market to emotion at scale, using storytelling, live experiences, and influencer partnerships to create moments of elevated attention. Influencers, in particular, are positioned not as tactical add-ons, but as authentic brand ambassadors and scalable media channels.

Retail media also plays a central role, offering opportunities to surprise and delight shoppers closer to the point of purchase. Search, meanwhile, should be treated as a behavior rather than a channel—meeting consumers wherever and however they choose to look for answers.

On the machine side, the report urges brands to prepare for AI-driven discovery by adopting Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) strategies. As AI becomes a primary interface between consumers and information, brands must ensure their products, values, and differentiators are understood and accurately represented by machines—not just humans.

“The future of brand influence isn’t about choosing between humans and machines,” O’Connell said. “It’s about designing systems that serve both.”

Why This Matters for Marketers Now

What makes The Future of Brand Influence particularly timely is its alignment with broader industry shifts. Retail media networks are booming. Influencer marketing is maturing into a performance-driven discipline. Generative AI is reshaping search, discovery, and recommendation engines at speed.

Against that backdrop, Omnicom’s research reframes influence not as a single lever, but as a system—one where discovery, consideration, purchase, and loyalty feed into a self-reinforcing growth loop when executed well.

For marketers, the takeaway is clear: relying on advertising alone is no longer just insufficient, it’s risky. Influence today must be earned across human conversations, machine-generated answers, and moments of emotional relevance that cut through economic and attention pressures.

Brands that adapt may find themselves more resilient, more trusted, and better positioned for growth. Those that don’t risk fading into the background noise—seen by fewer people, trusted by fewer still, and increasingly invisible in a world mediated by both humans and machines.

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