August Chart of the Month: Brand building drives LLM visibility

As consumers increasingly use AI to discover brands, long-term brand building is emerging as the biggest driver of LLM visibility for brands.

Research by Charlie Oscar, published by WARC at Cannes in June 2026, analysed 30 brands across six categories over eight months. The analysis found that:

• 63% of LLM visibility for brands is driven by long-term brand equity, the cumulative impact of sustained brand investment over time
• Current marketing activity only contributes to 22% of LLM visibility
• Reach via influencers or PR account for just 4% of LLM visibility for brands

These findings support work from Thinkbox:

1. Profit Ability 2 highlighted the case for long-term brand building by showing that the majority of advertising-generated profit comes from long-term effects, with brand investment continuing to deliver value beyond the immediate campaign period. While short-term activation can drive immediate returns, sustained brand building creates stronger memory structures, increases mental availability and drives future demand, ensuring brands are more likely to be considered when consumers are ready to buy
2. `Go Big or Go Home' (Les Binet & Medialab) argues that the single biggest lever for growth is deciding how much to invest. The Growth Gap (Thinkbox & WPP Media) builds on this, exploring how marketers can balance investment between short-term sales activation and the long-term brand building that delivers sustained growth.
3. Cultural Advantage (Thinkbox & everyday people) found that creator-led activity has relatively limited long-term cultural impact compared with broad-reach brand-building media such as TV.

The message for marketers is clear: if you want your brand to be recommended by AI, invest in building brand equity. LLMs typically surface only a handful of brands, making long-term brand strength a critical advantage in achieving success via AI.

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