The 2025 Interbrand Report makes one thing clear: In the age of AI-driven recommendations, brands must be built to operate consistently. Only those that show up clearly – visually, verbally, and functionally – will be selected by both people and machines.
New rules of competition? Brands now compete in AI algorithms
That’s one of the main insights from Interbrand’s Best Global Brands 2025 report. And it’s a big one: What doesn’t feel essential today might not be chosen at all tomorrow – by humans or algorithms.
What does this mean for brand leaders? And how does brand management evolve when the customer journey shrinks to just a few clicks?
Agentic commerce is changing the game
According to Interbrand, the traditional customer journey is breaking down. Instead of using search engines, websites, or social media, more people are relying on AI agents like ChatGPT, Copilot, or Alexa to guide their decisions. In many cases, these systems are making the recommendations – or even the purchase decisions.
That means if your brand doesn’t appear in those systems, or lacks a clear, consistent identity, you may as well not exist. The window for spontaneous discovery is rapidly closing.
What matters most now are consistent brand messages. Especially in daily communications like emails, business documents, and presentations.
A new metric: The “Role of Brand”
Interbrand introduces the “Role of Brand Index” (RBI), a new way to measure how much a purchase decision is based on the brand itself – not just price, features, or luck. High scores here are critical for staying competitive.
Here’s why it matters: According to the report, a 1% increase in the RBI can boost a company’s stock price by an average of 2.3%. That highlights how directly brand strength impacts business value.
What influences the “Role of Brand”?
The five key factors that influence RBI are:
- Identification – Brand visibility and recognition
- Performance – Living up to the brand promise
- Experience – Quality of the customer interaction
- Ecosystem – Availability across key platforms
- Leadership – Purpose, values, trust, and social relevance
Here’s the catch: RBI isn’t built in branding workshops. It takes shape through everyday touchpoints – support calls, emails, business documents, and customer interactions.
Avoiding the disposable brand trap
Another powerful message from the report: In a world where AI handles many of our choices, only brands with real meaning in people’s lives will be chosen. The rest are disposable, easily swapped out.
How do you protect your brand from becoming irrelevant?
The difference lies in meaning. Brands that build strong systems – visually, verbally, and culturally – are the ones that stay relevant. The others are filtered out by algorithms looking for the lowest price or basic features.
That’s why brands need systems that do more than look good. They need to communicate the brand’s core through language, structure, and content – and empower employees to represent the brand, seamlessly.
Tools like empower® support this by embedding brand guidelines, tone, and design into everyday Microsoft Office tasks – making it easier to stay on-brand, every time.
Focused brands win
Another key takeaway: Top brands like Booking.com, NVIDIA, and Uniqlo have one thing in common – they focus on doing one thing exceptionally well.
That focus allows them to expand into new platforms and markets without losing clarity or identity.
For brand leaders, this means it’s not about being everywhere. It’s about being consistent wherever you are. And that consistency starts not with flashy campaigns, but with simple, clear internal brand management.
Living brands, not controlled brands
Interbrand ends with a bold vision: Tomorrow’s brands won’t just be managed. they’ll be trained.
They’ll adapt, stay consistent, and act like characters with strong values. That requires brands to be fully integrated into tools, processes, and everyday communication – not just polished on the surface.
That’s where modern brand management platforms shine. They don’t just keep teams on brand, they unlock a new level of impact in daily work.
Real-world perspective: How do brands truly come to life?
“In the past, the thinking was, ‘We have a brand portal – everything is documented there.’ But today, we know very few people visit it regularly. That’s why we take a proactive approach – using internal social media channels, newsletters, and coaching. We see ourselves as collaborative partners. The goal is for every employee to say: I understand our brand – I can apply it confidently and represent it authentically. That also means being present in the tools our teams use every day – offering templates and default settings that are always on-brand.”
This insight comes from Sven Theobald, Global Lead of the Bayer Brand & Corporate Brand Squad. Bayer uses solutions like empower® to enable employees to act as brand ambassadors every single day.
Brand managers are increasingly faced with a paradox: scaling the brand experience without controlling every touchpoint.
The only way to succeed is by treating the brand not as a set of rules, but as something employees can actively live and embody.
That’s where modern brand-tech tools make a difference. They provide the technical infrastructure needed to automatically apply design standards, tone of voice, corporate language, and formatting rules – right where they’re used most: in Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook. No micromanagement. No extra effort.
Final takeaway – What can brand leaders learn from the Interbrand Report 2025?
Interbrand’s 2025 report delivers a clear message: If you’re responsible for a brand today, your job is to make it operational – embedded into the small moments of everyday work.
As AI begins to recommend brands on our behalf, your brand must be rooted in every touchpoint – visually, verbally, and functionally.
Platforms like empower® help to make that possible – not through high-profile branding projects, but by integrating your brand into productivity tools like Microsoft 365. Ensuring it’s chosen, not just found.
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