As AI moves from a behind-the-scenes tool to an increasingly active intermediary between brands and consumers, the rules of brand building are beginning to change.

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Artificial intelligence is beginning to change the relationship between brands and consumers at a more fundamental level. The shift is no longer just about faster production, smarter targeting or automated media buying. AI agents, answer engines and conversational interfaces are increasingly sitting between companies and their customers, shaping what people discover, what they trust and, eventually, what they buy. That creates a new challenge for brands: they must remain distinctive not only to people, but also to the machines interpreting, recommending and increasingly acting on their behalf.

Tech Revolt sat down with Robin Forbes, Global CEO of R/GA, and Bertrand Morin, Executive Director, MENA to discuss what this transition means beyond the usual conversation around generative AI and efficiency.

The discussion explored how AI is changing the relationship between brands and consumers, and why machine-readability could become a new requirement for brand identity.

1. R/GA has lived through the internet, mobile, social and now AI. What is fundamentally different about this shift?

Robin Forbes: Founded in 1977, the company was originally focused on computer-assisted filmmaking and special effects because Bob and his brother were always interested in the application of technology in the service of creativity. That original spirit, combining design and technology in the service of creativity, has been a true thread through the 50 years of R/GA.

Now, of course, this AI wave is perhaps the most significant. We are very fortunate because not only is Bob’s spirit of change and reinvention encoded in our DNA, but the timing coincided with us exiting our former holding company parent last year.

For 20-some years we were part of IPG, and last year we regained our independence by buying back the business, with a management buyout back by a private equity firm. That freed us from a lot of the constraints we had to operate under as part of a holding company, such as restrictions around geographic expansion and centralizing capabilities.

2. Why was now the right time to establish a formal presence in Abu Dhabi? What does being physically in the UAE allow R/GA to do differently?

Robin Forbes: It was very deliberate. We are a global agency with a footprint around the world, and we have always gone where our clients meet us. We’ve actually been working in this region for 10 years, mainly serviced from London through our extended global network. With our newfound independence, making investment decisions from a geographic perspective, we felt the next logical place to be, given this 10-year history, was the UAE. That’s R/GA’s reasoning

Bertrand Morin: For 10 years, our work has been redefining categories as a creative innovation company always on the edge of technology. When you look at the UAE, it’s a very intentional, vision-first nation with a government pushing forward on AI. We feel like it’s where things are happening.. Launching out of Abu Dhabi as our regional headquarters and expanding into Saudi Arabia in 2027 feels like a very natural place for us.

3. Is AI changing how brands communicate, or is it beginning to change what a brand actually is?

Robin Forbes: In our category, we call ourselves a creative innovation company, and we deliberately don’t call ourselves an agency because we have a combination of capabilities beyond the traditional agency category. In the advertising industry, the prevailing narrative about AI has been about generating production scale, content production scale, and driving efficiencies and savings. That is certainly an outcome made possible by AI.

However, when I speak to our senior clients and we have long-term relationships like 24 years with Nike and 16 years with Google our focus is helping our clients grow. Yes, there's a scale benefit which leads to efficiency and savings, but almost every business leader is accountable for top-line growth. You have to acquire new customers and get them to stay with you. Our focus at R/GA is frankly more on the opportunities that AI presents to create new kinds of brand experiences and customer experiences to help clients grow, not just bottom-line gains.

4. As AI agents increasingly research, recommend and even act on behalf of customers, does a brand now need to think as much about how machines understand it as how people understand it? Could machine-readability become as important as traditional brand consistency?

Robin Forbes: Exactly. AI has entered the relationship between brands and consumers, and is increasingly mediating that relationship. In the US, for example, 6 out of 10 consumers start product searches in AI versus traditional engines, that's a well-understood paradigm shift now. For the majority of consumers, their first impression of a brand isn't actually made by the brand itself; it's established and mediated through some form of answer engine or AI platform.

Then as you pull through the consumer journey, media targeting and digital advertising deployment are increasingly driven by AI. Further down the funnel close to conversion, there are AI shopping assistants now nudging you to click and buy, we saw that on Amazon Prime last year, driving shopping assistance significantly.

The response to that is what has always been true: to win in a category, a brand has to be distinct and differentiated. In a world with the ability to create endless content, there's going to be a lot of generic work out there; "slop" was a word of the year. Being distinct is more important than ever. Brand strategy, positioning, character, values, and visual/verbal components are more important than ever, but it's not enough to just have a static set of guidelines that drive human decisions. We are now creating systems where we convert those brand elements. What we call brand DNA into structured components that can be machine-readable, so that both humans and AI agents can create experiences that are personalized and at scale.

5. R/GA has already worked with G42 on a more generative, conversational digital interface. Do you think the traditional website has an expiry date? And if a customer's AI can eventually interact directly with a brand's AI, what happens to advertising and brand loyalty?

Bertrand Morin: I can give you an example with G42. They gave us an RFP and said digital and traditional websites are dead, literally what they wrote. They said, "We want you to build something else." Traditional websites have always been built for you to do the hard work: to click, to find where things are, etc.

We turned the table. We asked: What does the user need? We are going to build an interface and experience adapted to you based on signals. When you come back another time, it will be adapted to who you are. We launched version 1.0 in April as an alpha, and we’re going to launch version 2.0 at the end of the year. Turning the table means should be about technology helping the user connect in the best way with the organization. It has always been a part of our DNA.

Key Takeaways

Robin Forbes: “It's crucial to focus on top-line growth as much as bottom-line gains, if not more. There has to be a laser focus on differentiation in order for companies and brands to grow and retain their customer base”

Second, I think the real challenge isn't the model, the agent, or the technology, those will keep evolving. The real challenge is truly whether a brand's distinctive logic is encoded in every interaction so that the brand shows up recognizable, unique, differentiated, and consistent. I think that's a very important takeaway.

Advertising in AI Era

Two massive themes emerged from our conversation that every tech and brand leader needs to pay attention to:

Moving Past "Efficiency" to Upstream Innovation

The mainstream industry narrative around AI has been trapped in a loop of cost-cutting, automated content generation, and media buying efficiencies. The real magic isn't happening at the bottom line, it’s happening upstream, where brands are redesigning entire customer experiences and digital interfaces from scratch.

The Death of the Traditional Website and the Rise of Machine-Readability

Launch of G42 was a major wake-up call. Traditional websites have long forced humans to do the heavy lifting, clicking, searching, and digging through menus. We are moving into an era where interfaces must adapt dynamically to the user, and more importantly, brands must be machine-readable. If an AI agent or answer engine can't parse your brand logic, your customer might never even see you.

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