Brands must appeal to both humans and AI agents
Crunchbase News: Your Next Customer Might Be An Agent. Here’s How To Build Your Brand For Both Humans And AI.
By Toby Coulthard You’ve just moved into a new house. It’s unfurnished; the walls are bare. Ten years ago, you might have loaded up Google and started searching for furniture that you like, consulting interior design magazines and looking for offers on retailers’ websites. In 2026, however, there’s an entirely different option at your fingertips. You could take a photo of the empty room, upload the image to an AI agent, share your budget and style, and get a list of furniture that suits yo
Get smart on it
Brands now need to appeal to two different audiences when marketing products: humans and AI agents that make purchasing decisions on behalf of users. AI agents evaluate products using different criteria than humans and may read product descriptions before a person ever sees them, meaning traditional marketing copy alone is insufficient. New brands have an advantage over established companies because they can build brand voice and messaging that works for both audiences from the start, while established brands must retrofit existing marketing materials and processes. Key practices include documenting a distinct brand voice with explicit rules, treating product descriptions as core brand assets, testing how AI systems summarize marketing content, and measuring marketing success by business outcomes rather than volume produced.
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