Google and AI: A Major Challenge for Marketers

At the Google I/O conference, the tech giant announced major innovations in the field of search and artificial intelligence agents, sparking strong reactions among marketing professionals. These new features, which include a series of agents capable of handling tasks ranging from party planning to booking travel and restaurants, could profoundly transform the consumer shopping journey.

Among these innovations, one agent stands out for its ability to operate in the background for the user, even alerting them to new collaborations from sneaker brands. Another notable development is the "Universal Cart," which allows users to manage purchases across multiple Google products.

Tobias Cummins, Chief Operating Officer at The Brandtech Group, highlighted the potential impact of these changes: "The shopping journey for an entire set of categories can now completely bypass your website. This is a structural change." This evolution forces marketers to ensure that their brands are well-positioned to be recommended by AI models.

Human creativity and brand distinctiveness remain essential in this new ecosystem. Google's AI models increasingly rely on signals such as video, image, and audio to formulate their recommendations. Cummins noted that video is currently the most underestimated signal.

In parallel, Google is introducing "Ask Advisor," a new natural language agent designed to simplify the creation of advertising campaigns. Tory Lariar, Senior Vice President at Monks, stated that this technology could disrupt the traditional agency model, reducing the competitive advantage tied to technical capability.

Despite these advancements, some experts predict that the expansion of Google's search and army of agents could represent more nails in the coffin for web traffic. While Google claims to maintain its traditional blue links in search results, the speed at which consumer behaviors will evolve remains uncertain. Does the open web still have a chance to survive?