AI's Impact on Modern Marketing
Source: clickz.com
Insights from Events
The ClickZ team attended SXSW London and Shoptalk Europe 2025, gathering insights on marketing trends. Exclusive insights were gained from both events.
HOKA's Brand Building
Nicolas Mermoud, co-founder of HOKA, discussed how the brand was built on feel and emotion at Shoptalk Europe. HOKA broke category logic to build brand believers.
Canva's Experiential Strategy
Jimmy Knowles from Canva discussed using emotion, local culture, and AI to rewrite the brand playbook at SXSW London. Canva staged a local takeover, redefining brand presence with global structure and local soul, powered by AI.
AI in Advertising
AI is transforming marketing by helping small and midsize businesses create ads with limited budgets, using tools from Meta and Google. These tools automate ad creation, targeting, and personalization. Brands are weighing the benefits of AI-generated content against the loss of creative oversight.
Unilever's Marketing Model
Unilever is shifting to a data-driven, social-first marketing model, utilizing consumer insights, creators, and eCommerce. This shift emphasizes agility, omnichannel integration, and trust-building. Unilever integrates media signals with marketing strategies and adapts to retail media platforms like Walmart and Amazon.
Answer Engine Optimization
Ad agencies are adapting websites for AI search visibility through Answer Engine Optimization (AEO). AEO is crucial as AI search changes how consumers find information, requiring marketers to prepare.
Victoria Beckham's Ecommerce Strategy
Kate Hurrell, Head of Ecommerce at Victoria Beckham, is focused on AI's role in generating and testing imagery and video for ecommerce. She is closely watching how AI can accelerate content scaling and personalization while maintaining brand feel.
Bubble Skincare's TikTok Approach
Bonnie Szucs, CCO at Bubble Skincare, discussed the brand's unexpected move of deleting its entire TikTok feed during a face-off with Scrub Daddy, Inc. The move was about chaos and curiosity, reflecting Bubble's creator-native and clinically legit approach.
Google's AI Overview Ranking Factors
Branded web mentions now carry more weight than backlinks in Google’s AI Overviews. Ahrefs' analysis shows branded mentions have a higher correlation than backlinks. SEO strategy is being rewritten as AI ranking favors brand-first optimization.