AI is a Marketing Channel. Build Strategy Accordingly.

Alex Sherman, CEO of Bluefish, says brands need to start treating AI like a true marketing channel, not just another variation of SEO. As consumers shift from search engines to answer engines like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot, Sherman explains why it’s no longer enough to simply “show up”—brands need to control how they’re represented, what data models learn from, and how they influence AI-generated recommendations. He breaks down how Bluefish works with major brands to close the growing “content gap,” optimize for machine-readable data, and measure performance across new AI KPIs like visibility, favorability, and influence. Plus: why the marketing funnel isn’t dead but accelerating, how companies are moving from playing defense to offense in AI, and what the rise of agentic commerce could mean for the future of paid media.