The CMO’s Guide to the AI Search Revolution – Launch’s new guide

This year has been to search what 2004 was for social media. Google has released a tranche of new AI powered search features which change not only the shape of search, but the shape of performance marketing as we know it.

It’s a lot for marketing leaders to keep ahead of. But your job isn’t to master the technical nuance of every single new AI search feature. It’s to understand their impact, and how your strategy needs to adapt.

That’s what Launch’s new resource The CMO’s Guide to the AI Search Revolution  focuses on. We’ve deliberately crafted it to be used as a bridge to cross the chasm that’s opened up between traditional search and AI powered search.

How AI Search can leave marketing vulnerable

The guide is structured around six key areas of vulnerability which marketeers should be aware of as AI search evolves:

• Brand safety: Google’s AI could draw from legacy assets or out of date info. Are you prepared?
• Control: tools like AI Max dynamically lift assets from different online sources – is your brand consistent, or could you end up with Frankenstein ads?
• Measurement: with 65-80% of searches being zero click, how will you prove the effectiveness of your campaigns?
• Margins: automated campaigns could chase volume at the expense of business profit. Campaign structures need to guard against this.
• Competitive advantage: everyone has access to the same tools, but what you get out depends on the strength of the data you put in.
• Shift of pace: we’re collectively moving at machine speed – your marketing strategy needs built in flexibility to keep up.
  

These are big issues which will take deep thinking. Our guide pulls out the pillars you can structure your planning around: experimentation, data, paid media and creative. The combination is key – all four must work together to fuel growth.

How marketing leaders can drive growth through AI search

As marketing leaders, you’ve got this. You will build a new and better way of marketing within the AI revolution – one which protects margins, brand and competitive edge. With so much to tackle, The CMO’s Guide to the AI Search Revolution gives you structure, starting points, and crucially insight from our experts who’ve been behind the scenes at Google’s product launches, and who live inside its technology every day.

We steer you through:

• AI Max – the campaign type you simply cannot ignore. Find out what it is and how to test it.
• Agentic AI – the customer journey is forever altered. What does agentic AI look like in action, and how can marketers prepare for its wider rollout?
• The role of creative in the new search landscape, and how to be smart with investment. Brand is your superpower now.
• The changes you can expect to your marketing data as clicks fall off a cliff, and how to shift your focus to the metrics that count.
  

Expert insight on AI search

Our team is working every day to maximise on the latest features in AI search. They’ve drawn on experience of real-world application to shape simple insights with big impact on strategy.

Conversational search has replaced the keyword as we know it. Our Paid Media Director, Josh Marinaro recommends: “Make sure your ads are becoming answers, and not just saying ‘buy from us’ because right now that is not enough.”

“If you feed models junk data, you’ll get highly efficient junk outputs. The ultimate goal isn’t adopting AI, it’s building the robust measurement frameworks required to accurately prove its true business impact.” Says our Head of Data and Analytics, Ian Lewis.

And our Head of Experimentation, Joe Johnston, emphasises the need to understand not just the platforms, but how they map against the customer journey: “AI platforms aren’t replacing search, but becoming a parallel habit. AI dominates the upper-funnel discovery phase, when users seek inspiration. As consumers move toward purchase, usage shifts back to traditional search engines. If brands aren’t present in the initial AI discovery phase, they risk missing out in the later high-intent phases.”

How to get your copy of the CMO’s Guide to the AI Search Revolution

You can download your PDF by adding your details in the form below. And we’d love to know – what challenges have the latest changes to search thrown up for you? What can we do to help you adapt?

If you’re on a growth journey and figuring out how performance marketing plays a part you can also complete our growth diagnostic. We help diagnose the missed opportunities in your current marketing set up so you can plan your AI approach for maximum impact.

Questions? We’re a team of curious minds and we love hearing from other ones. Get in touch here.