Published June 18
My wife recently asked if now was a good time to buy a car. I was sure the answer was no, but figured I’d do a little research. A few prompts into an AI chatbot, I learned I’m actually just months away from my car’s peak residual value and that trading in now might be the smartest move.
Just like that, we’re in the market for a new car.
That one conversation kicked off a whole research journey: reading reviews, watching walk-throughs, comparing trims on sites like Car and Driver. Not long ago, that journey would have started with a friend’s recommendation over dinner, then unfolded slowly over time.
That’s what’s changing: The conversation that creates intent — the one that moves someone from not in-market to in-market — used to happen offline, between people. With AI, that conversation is shifting online.
That shift is bigger than it looks. And I think most of the ad industry is misreading what it means.
Every major shift in digital advertising follows a similar pattern: take something that happens offline, make it addressable and make it measurable. CTV did this for television. Retail media did it for the endcap and the circular. LLMs are doing it for word of mouth, arguably the most powerful and most persistent holdout of analog human behavior.
Social media tried to digitize conversation, but it largely became a broadcasting medium. Messaging apps got closer but proved inhospitable to advertising. LLMs are something different entirely. Chatting with AI feels more like a genuine one-on-one conversation than anything digital advertising has had access to before. People are asking for recommendations, comparing products, working through decisions — behaviors that used to happen between friends over coffee.
This isn’t just a new channel. It’s the digitization of conversation itself and an expansion of the addressable opportunity for the entire open internet.
The funnel isn’t collapsing. It’s being rewired, with a new, AI-powered front door."
Consumer research The Trade Desk Intelligence conducted with PA Consulting, across 3,000 consumers and 200 real search journeys, makes the opportunity and the imperative clear. AI tools are already reshaping the top of the funnel, compressing discovery and narrowing options faster than traditional search ever could. Consumers are 1.2 times more likely to start a search journey with an AI tool than without one.
But here’s what the “AI will collapse the funnel” crowd gets wrong: Conversation sparks inspiration, but it doesn’t make decisions. Eighty-eight percent of consumers aren’t fully comfortable relying on AI-generated answers alone for high-stakes decisions. They’re 1.6 times more likely to turn to content from premium publishers — experts — for the confidence needed to finalize a purchase. And 95% have gone back to verify what an AI tool told them on trusted, premium sites.
Just like those dinner table conversations, AI brings people in-market. But the quality content, trusted publishers and credible reviews that comprise today’s open internet are still where decisions get confirmed. The funnel isn’t collapsing. It’s being rewired, with a new, AI-powered front door.
The catch? In a world where AI summarizes everything into the same answer, brand clarity becomes the decisive differentiator. Two-thirds of consumers say AI-generated information feels less original than human-created content. Sixty-four percent say that as AI search tools make information more accessible, they place greater value on unique, credible perspectives. AI creates a sea of sameness. Well-developed brands cut through it.
The industry must learn from prior digitization cycles. When TV became CTV, the winners didn’t just port 30-second spots to streaming; they treated new ad formats as invitations to engage, not interruptions to endure. When trade marketing evolved into retail media, success came not from recreating the circular online, but from tailoring advertising to the individual buyer, the moment and the basket.
Every new medium rewards the marketers who understand the behaviors it unlocks and build natively for them. LLMs are no different. The marketers who win will:
Invest in brand as infrastructure. In an AI-summarized world, distinctiveness is a moat. If your brand can be reduced to a generic description, you’ve already lost the recommendation.
Treat LLMs as a funnel accelerant, not a replacement. AI brings consumers in-market faster. Connect that momentum to premium media where trust is built and decisions are made.
Build for both audiences. Your brand now needs to be legible to algorithms and resonant with humans. AI visibility gets you surfaced. Human affinity gets you chosen.
The old customer journey was a series of handoffs: hear about something from a friend, search a few weeks later, click through some results, maybe visit a store. Each step disconnected from the last; context lost at every transition.
AI changes the shape of that journey. It’s less of a funnel and more of a continuous conversation that follows the consumer from curiosity to confidence. AI tipped me into the car market. It helped me frame what to look for. Premium media gave me the depth and credibility to evaluate my options. And when I came back with new questions — Is the hybrid worth it? What’s the real-world range? — the conversation picked up right where I left off.
That’s the shift marketers need to internalize. The journey is no longer a sequence of isolated touchpoints. It’s a dialogue between consumers, AI and the trusted media where decisions take shape. For brands, the opportunity isn’t just to show up at one stage. It’s to be part of the conversation throughout.
Word of mouth just went digital. The question is whether your brand is ready for the conversation.
The Current is owned and operated by The Trade Desk Inc.
