AI Is Upending Marketing on Two Fronts

A few days ago, a friend who works in consumer goods called me. There was a kind of anxiety in his voice that was hard to pin down.

He said, "Liu Run, I've been feeling more and more useless at my job lately. We pour millions a year into search ads. But last week, when I wanted to buy an air purifier myself, I didn't click a single ad. I just asked an AI, it gave me three models, and I placed the order."

I went quiet for a few seconds after hearing that.

Then I said, "That feeling you have — it's not just in your head."

Marketing itself is being upended by AI on two fronts, simultaneously.

What Do I Mean by "Two Fronts"?

Let me break this down for you.

For the past decade or so, when we said "do marketing," we were implicitly assuming one thing. Consumers would come looking for you.

They'd open a browser, type in a few keywords, flip through a couple pages of results, pick one that looked agreeable, and buy.

That logic sustained the entire search-engine advertising industry, and it nurtured company after company that was built on SEO.

But now, the first blow has already fallen.

Front One: Consumers Have Stopped "Searching"

What does "searching" mean?

It used to mean the consumer doing it themselves. Typing, hitting enter, paging through results, comparing, agonizing. A whole sequence of actions — and in between, countless ad slots, countless seams where you could get a word in.

And now?

Consumers have started "asking" instead.

They no longer open ten web pages and go through them one by one. They just tell an AI: "I want to buy an air purifier, I have elderly family at home, my budget is under three thousand — which one do you recommend?"

The AI thinks for two seconds and spits out three models, plus an explanation that sounds like a friend giving you advice.

Think about it — where did all the ad slots go?

Gone.

The space in between those ten blue links where ads could be inserted — the AI compressed all of it into a single sentence.

The entire search results page went from a bustling commercial street to a room with a single door.

Whoever stands behind that door, wins. Everyone else doesn't even get a chance to be seen.

And this isn't the future tense. It's the present continuous. It's been happening since 2024.

Front Two: The One Doing the Buying Might Not Be Human Anymore

If Front One is keeping you up at night, Front Two will make you sit straight up in bed.

What is a "purchase decision"?

A purchase decision used to be made by an individual. They'd weigh it internally, agonize, ask their spouse, ask their friends, read reviews, and finally click "Buy Now" themselves.

In that flow, there was so much a brand could do. You could move them, send them coupons, hit them right in the heart with a tagline.

Because sitting across the table from you was a person with emotions and vulnerabilities. Someone impulsive, someone who could be moved, someone who'd open their wallet for the right sentence.

But what if the one sitting across from you is an AI?

Picture this: the smart speaker in your home, or the assistant on your phone, starts buying things for you. It compares prices, checks specs, reads ten thousand reviews, looks at your spending history from last month, and then places the order for you.

You come home from work and there are three packages piled at your door. Even you don't know what you bought.

Sounds absurd?

But this is already on its way. Many of the prototypes for these tools are things you can use today.

Front One changes how consumers find you. Front Two changes whether the thing called a "consumer" still exists at all.

So What Do You Do?

I don't have a standard answer either.

But I do have one judgment: when the one sitting across the table is an AI, all those moves you used to pull on people may stop working entirely.

An AI won't be brought to tears by a tagline. An AI won't pay more just because your brand story is moving. An AI won't be tempted by a little red promotional badge.

So what does an AI look at?

Parameters. Price. Reputation.

When the buyer becomes an AI, marketing may have to regress to its most primitive two words:

The product itself.

All those years of effort we spent on messaging, packaging, and visuals — we may have to give half of it back and redirect it toward product strength and value for money.

Is that good news or bad news?

For the people who have been building solid products all along, it's tremendous news. They used to lose because they couldn't tell a good story; now, whether the story gets told barely matters.

And for the ones who make a living on packaging and messaging?

Oh boy.

Back to That Phone Call

After I finished talking with that friend, he was quiet for a long time.

Then he asked me a question: "So should I still spend those millions in search ad budget?"

I said, "That's not a question I can answer for you."

"But I can tell you one thing. In this world, there are two kinds of companies."

"One kind stands in place and waits for the tide to come, then curses the tide for drowning them."

"The other kind sees the tide coming and rushes to learn how to swim."

The tide is already here. While you're reading this article, your consumer may have already stopped "searching" for you.

As for whether they'll still "buy" you.

That's a question worth thinking hard about tonight.