Three actors are now competing for the customer relationship: brands, platforms (Google, Meta, Amazon, Apple), and a new third class — AI assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini).
When a customer asks ChatGPT 'what should I buy?', the assistant has intermediated the relationship. The brand is one of three sources mentioned, with no email captured, no logged-in identity, no retention loop.
Brands that survive run two strategies in parallel: aggressive Generative Engine Optimisation to be the cited answer, and aggressive first-party identity capture to convert the recommendation into ownership.
By Kasim Javed, CEO and Founder of Creative Marketing Group.