Challenges and opportunities for brands in 2027 - Insights from Clarity leaders

The brands that win in 2027 will be the ones AI engines can find and trust, and the ones people still want to meet in person.

When Clarity’s global leadership team got together this autumn, this idea kept coming up. As a global growth consultancy, leaders from across Europe, North America, and Australia compared notes on what they’re advising clients right now, which strategies are actually delivering pipeline, and where executives should be spending their attention.

What they agreed on was that growth in 2027 will depend on how closely you align what you build, what you can prove, and who you put forward to represent you.

Here’s what our senior team is telling leadership teams to prepare for 2027

 

1. Give AI search its own budget (and an owner)

Few marketing leaders still need convincing that AI search matters. Our latest research found that 77% of CMOs say it’s significantly more important than it was a year ago, yet AI visibility gets only 20% of marketing focus.

For 2027, treat it as a core part of your growth plan, with a ring-fenced budget and a named owner. A few other things to consider.

Audit how answer engines represent you. Being visible and having a good reputation aren’t the same thing. Chief Technology Officer Will Julian-Vicary advises clients to start by understanding how LLMs interpret their brand and what data is shaping those answers (which is exactly what Surfacd, Clarity’s AI visibility and reputation platform, was built to do).

Fix your owned narrative first. “Earned communications is very important, but AI engines defer heavily to your website,” says Will. If your owned channels are vague, the models will fill the gaps with competitors or out-of-date commentary.

Invest in offline conversion. AI drives discovery at the top of the funnel, but it doesn’t close complex enterprise deals. Mandy Galmes, Managing Partner Australia, is seeing clients get strong returns by putting money back into small, face-to-face events, where awareness built by machines turns into trust built by people.

One caveat from Policy Communications EVP Louise Kitchingham is to resist chasing algorithm fads. Twelve months ago, Reddit was being talked about as essential for AI visibility, and interest has since cooled considerably. Her verdict is “Death to trends.” Base your investment on long-term reputation and ROI you can measure, not on whichever model update is getting attention that month.

2. Proof beats volume in B2B communications

Now that generative AI can produce hundreds of articles in an afternoon, publishing more stops being an advantage and starts to look like spam. In 2027, third-party validation counts for far more than output, because buyers care about what can be verified, not how much you publish.

CEO Rachel Gilley stresses the value of consistent evidence over time. “I’m not talking about just one big hero moment,” she says. “I’m talking about that consistent drumbeat of validation from analysts, partners, and customers.”

In North America, Managing Partner Bob Osmond sees this as part of a wider problem with corporate credibility.

“Get clear on what your proposition is, demonstrate it in a trustworthy way through your actions repeatedly, and then tell those stories in an authentic way.”

In Europe, Managing Partner Liam McLaughlin has seen clients do well simply by publishing less. Fewer, better pieces that are clearly written by people, for real buyers rather than scrapers, are performing better.

3. Automate the work, never the judgement 

Interestingly, the leaders who build and use AI tools every day were the most worried that the market is automating the wrong things.

“People are leaning in too much and the human touch is starting to be removed from the process,” says Will Julian-Vicary.

The technology itself isn’t the problem. The problem is handing over editorial judgement and critical thinking along with the busywork.

It’s already happening. In Westminster, Policy Communications President Nick Lansman says politicians and policy advisers can spot AI-generated briefing materials immediately, and they dismiss them.

“If you want to get really heard, you’ve got to bring your authentic voice to your communications with government.”

When anyone can produce copy at almost no cost, generic corporate writing gets ignored. The answer is to use agentic workflows for the heavy operational work while experienced people keep control of what actually gets said.

Bob Osmond embraces an analogue approach. He encourages clients to go offline when they write and think. With so much automated content around, time spent focused away from screens has become a real advantage.

4. Put forward real experts, not just senior titles 

Ghostwriting for the C-suite across every channel has become a habit for many organisations, and Rachel Gilley urges caution. Executive visibility only works when it reflects what’s really happening inside the business. Raising an executive’s profile before the culture can back up what they’re saying leaves the company exposed.

Rather than defaulting to job titles, look for depth of knowledge. Liam McLaughlin is seeing much better engagement when clients give the spotlight to in-house subject matter experts who deal with the detail every day.

“Focusing instead on people who truly know their space and can talk about it with authority and credibility. That has landed really, really well.”

5. Shape the policy agenda before it shapes you

Too many leadership teams treat regulation as a compliance issue for someone else to handle. In 2027, policy and public narrative need to work together.

Julia Hoy, EVP of Responsible Business, says the energy transition and extreme weather events are bringing environmental scrutiny back to the top of the agenda, and buyers and regulators want to see what companies are actually doing, not what they’ve pledged. Businesses that have been running responsibly without making much noise about it should step forward and help set the standard for their sector.

In the UK, there’s an opportunity right now. Party conference season is over and manifestos are being drafted ahead of future elections, so Nick Lansman says businesses have a real chance to help shape upcoming legislation rather than just respond to it.

Louise Kitchingham explains that the best results come when public affairs and earned media work together. For example, a written parliamentary question put forward by an MP can be picked up by mainstream business media, so the same message reaches everyone involved in the decision.

The bottom line for 2027

You might expect a technologist building agentic AI, public affairs advisers working in Westminster, regional managing partners, and responsible business leads to have different priorities. Instead, Clarity’s global leadership team reached the same conclusion, that disconnected tactics will waste money in 2027.

Generative tools have made corporate content almost free to produce, so authority can’t be won through volume, one-off PR campaigns, or reactive SEO pushes. The leadership teams that grow will be the ones that keep everything connected, from what their technology delivers and what third parties can verify, to what they advocate for in policy discussions and how answer engines and real buyers talk about them.

For business leaders, that takes more than good execution. It takes senior strategic discipline. Being discoverable by AI is now the minimum. Lasting growth comes when a buyer looks more closely and finds real credibility, authority, and expertise.