On 2026-9-10, Shanghai. An industry exchange focused on "How AI Drives Business Growth" was held at Debi Shanghai Book City in Huangpu District, Shanghai. The 14th session of the "True Brand Talk" event was held as scheduled. This session focused on new changes in branding, marketing, and business growth in the AI era, inviting practical experts from brand consulting, marketing technology, enterprise services, and other fields to jointly explore: as AI is redefining consumer decision-making, how should companies re-understand brand value and growth logic? The event was hosted by True Brand Talk, and gathered brand consulting agencies, marketing service providers, university faculty and students, as well as corporate practitioners. The organizer said in the opening that True Brand Talk continues to focus on industry hotspots, hoping that through offline exchanges, more brand practitioners can return to the essence of business and, starting from the core of branding, discuss the relationship between marketing and business. Notably, this session also introduced a university exchange scenario for the first time, with faculty and students from the Advertising program at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology coming to the site to engage in face-to-face exchanges with industry experts. In the AI era, brand growth is undergoing a fundamental migration. As an important sharing guest of this session, Deng Fei, founder of GSP Jinyuandian Innovation Consulting, delivered a keynote speech around "New Definitions of Brand Origins in the AI Era." Mr. Deng Fei believes that what AI is changing is not only marketing tools, but also reshaping consumers' decision-making paths. In the past, when consumers bought a product, they usually went through: searching for information - comparing products - checking reviews - making a decision. In the internet era, this path further fragmented, and consumers would complete information screening through search e-commerce platforms, Xiaohongshu, and other channels. But entering the new stage of the AI era: consumers are beginning to entrust the decision-making process to AI. Mr. Deng Fei defined this change as: "The era of entrusted consumption has arrived." So-called entrustment does not mean consumers hand their wallets to AI, but rather hand over a large amount of judgment labor in the consumer decision-making process to AI. AI will help consumers understand brands, compare brands, screen risks, and ultimately form recommendations, and may even directly complete subscriptions, payments, and other actions in the future. This means that brand competition is shifting from competing for consumer attention in the past to competing for AI recommendation eligibility. From "selling products" to "becoming a brand that is entrusted." Facing the new changes in the AI era, Mr. Deng Fei proposed: future brands need to build five core capabilities - professionalism, reliability, insight, companionship, and transparency. These five capabilities together form the foundation for brands to build trust in the AI era. In the past, brands relied more on advertising communication to tell consumers: "Who I am." "What advantages my product has." But in the AI era, what brands need to answer is: "Why should AI believe me?" "Why should AI recommend me?" Brands need to transform from product providers into trustees of user value. Mr. Deng Fei used the fruit industry as an example to explain: in the past, a fruit brand emphasized: origin, size, price, variety. But in the AI decision-making era, the questions consumers ask may become: "What fruit is suitable for the elderly?" "What fruit is suitable for children's growth?" "What fruit is suitable for family health management?" At this point, the core of brand competition is no longer just product parameters, but who can provide more professional, more credible, and more scenario-based solutions. Brands must upgrade from "selling a piece of fruit" to "helping consumers make a healthy choice." GEO is not simple optimization, but a reconstruction of brand capabilities. In recent years, GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) has become a hot topic in the industry. But in Mr. Deng Fei's view: GEO is not a purely technical optimization project, but a reconstruction of brand capabilities. Many companies understand GEO only by focusing on: "How can AI search find me?" But the real question should be: "After AI knows me, why does it believe me?" "Why recommend me to users?" Therefore, brand growth in the AI era needs to form a new growth flywheel: be discovered - be chosen - be linked - be amplified - be recognized. GEO is only the entry point. What truly determines a brand's long-term growth behind it is whether the brand has the capability to enter the AI trust system. In the AI era, brand building is no longer just a matter for the brand department. Mr. Deng Fei particularly emphasized: future brand building will no longer be the sole responsibility of the brand department. Because what AI understands is not only brand communication content, but the entire company's system of facts. Brands need to let AI accurately understand: Who is the company? What is the core product? What are the applicable scenarios? Where is the value difference? Behind this, multiple departments including brand, marketing, product, e-commerce, customer service, IT, and even legal need to participate together. In the future, truly competitive companies need to establish organization-wide collaborative AI brand capabilities. On-site collision of views: in the AI era, it is necessary to return to real business. In addition to Mr. Deng Fei's sharing, another guest of this event, Mr. Chen Zhijie from Yingxiao Information Technology, also shared the changes brought by AI from the perspective of "user insight." Mr. Chen Zhijie proposed: in the past, when brands studied consumers, it was brands observing users. But in the AI era, a new triangular relationship is forming: brands, consumers, and AI Agents. In the future, brands not only need to understand consumers, but also need to understand how AI understands consumers. He believes that AI is going through three stages: The first stage, becoming a participant in insight work; The second stage, becoming a sparring partner that simulates user choices;
In the third stage, it becomes an agent in the consumer decision-making process. This means that in the future, companies will need to rethink user insights, content development, and marketing strategies. The AI era has already arrived, and brands need to redefine themselves. At the end of the event, the guests on site had an in-depth exchange around GEO, AI applications, and corporate growth. Everyone reached a consensus: AI is not simply replacing a certain position or driving the upgrade of a certain tool, but is changing the way business operates. In the future, the key to brand competition is not just having more traffic, but who can become the preferred choice within AI trust systems and recommendation mechanisms. As Mr. Deng Fei said at the end of his sharing: "This is the best of times, and this is the worst of times." Changes in the era bring new challenges as well as new opportunities. For companies, the truly important question is not: "Should I embrace AI?" but: "Is my brand ready to be understood by AI, trusted by AI, and recommended by AI?" In the AI era, a new entry point for brand growth has already opened. The next stage belongs to companies that build AI-era brand capabilities in advance.