Brand Is The LastAdvantage
Thirty years at the intersection of brand, technology, and transformation.
Jason Warnes joined AKQA in 1998 during the pioneering years of digital. He spent 15 years there, four in Berlin running VW and Audi, and worked across BMW, Mini, Land Rover, Ferrari, Sainsbury's, and Microsoft.
From AKQA he moved to Deloitte Digital as Partner, running digital consulting and CX transformation programmes. Then to WPP as Global Client Lead on Team Volvo, overseeing Volvo, Shell, and BP. He now works independently as a marketing advisor and investor.
"When AI takes away the heavy lifting, what is exposed is branding. If you don't have it, there will be no standout."
Performance marketing will be commoditised. As AI levels the executional field, the only companies left standing are the ones people have a reason to choose.
"Technology has to be in service of solving a problem. Otherwise it just sits unused. That principle is from 1998."
The brief that got him into AKQA asked him to name something not possible five years ago that is now. He applies that question to every decision.
"The brands that appear favourably in AI models will win. You have to optimise to AI, not to the search engine."
Most brands have not adjusted their visibility strategy. The shift from search to LLM is structural and already underway.