Nodes & Rivers

Why the Future of Brand Lies at the Intersection of Computation and Strategy

Recently I’ve been asked a lot about Gen AI impacting brand and marketing strategy.  This post is my first attempt at an answer.

We’re past the novelty phase. We’re in the architecture phase. And it’s becoming clear to me: the future belongs to those who can engineer both the machinery and the meaning.

Zoom out. Look at how AI is reshaping the very foundations of brand creation. What once flowed purely from human intuition brand voice, visuals, values now courses through models trained on the data of our entire digital civilisation.

We’re navigating a new landscape, one shaped by two powerful forces:

Nodes – The computational engines: generative models, language interfaces, always-on automation. Fast, vast, tireless and rules based.

Rivers – The strategic currents: positioning, brand story, tone, and truth. Deep, deliberate, enduring and directional.

What I’m seeing? Firstly, a lot of people unable to make sense of it all and nobody can be blamed for that.  The space is noisy right now. A lot of brands / start-ups are plugging into the nodes… but forgetting the rivers.  Potentially leading to content that’s technically impressive but tonally adrift or wedging their brand into tools that are too generic but shiny and “AI”.

When Sam Altman said marketing would be the first domain deeply disrupted by AGI, he wasn’t wrong.  We know that performative marketing already has a foothold in AI but I feel it’s time for brand leaders to take a more holistic look.

https://www.marketingaiinstitute.com/blog/sam-altman-ai-agi-marketing

In a world where creation is infinite, meaning becomes the rarest and most powerful currency. That’s where I’m investing my focus, at the meeting point of brand truth and technological capability. As I reflect on the idea of nodes and rivers, I’m transported back to early school lessons in geography. Remembering how natural pivot points (the nodes) shape the flow of a river, quietly but profoundly. So too must we shape the flow of AI, not with brute force but with intent. We must create outputs that are human at their core, carrying the spirit and integrity of the brands they represent. This is the future worth building.

I’ve got a lot to say on this topic but likely don’t have your bandwidth. I’ll leave it here for now but if you are curious how your brand might scale with AI, please feel free to message me.