{"id":152207,"date":"2026-05-08T10:10:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/?p=152207"},"modified":"2026-05-08T10:10:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:10:19","slug":"brand-narratives-in-the-age-of-ai-the-new-comms-risk-pr-teams-cant-afford-to-ignore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/blog\/brand-narratives-in-the-age-of-ai-the-new-comms-risk-pr-teams-cant-afford-to-ignore\/","title":{"rendered":"Brand narratives in the age of AI: The new comms risk PR teams can\u2019t afford to ignore"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a guest post from Jane Hunt<\/a>, a digital PR expert, published author and CEO of JBH<\/a>, an award-winning digital PR and SEO agency. <\/em><\/p>\n

Much of the current conversation around AI in communications<\/a> has focused on misinformation and disinformation, and rightly so. However, there is a quieter risk emerging for PR professionals, one that is less about falsehoods and more about absence. AI systems spread narratives, but also determine which narratives are visible in the first place.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Tools like Google\u2019s AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity are becoming the first step in discovery. In doing so, they filter brands based on how clearly and consistently they are understood across the web.<\/p>\n

This creates a new risk: not being misrepresented or criticised but being omitted entirely. If a brand\u2019s narrative is weak, fragmented or difficult to understand, AI systems may simply bypass it in favour of brands who have a very clear positioning.<\/p>\n

How AI systems construct (and distort) brand narratives<\/h2>\n

Large language models (LLMs) do not assess brands in the same way as traditional search engines. Rather than ranking pages based on keywords or backlinks alone, they synthesise patterns across vast datasets that include media coverage, blogs, reviews, forums, and structured content.<\/p>\n

Google has indicated that its AI-generated responses prioritise high-quality information drawn from multiple authoritative sources, while OpenAI has stated that models favour information that is consistently represented across trusted data.<\/p>\n

In practice, this means repetition becomes a proxy for credibility, consistency signals authority and clarity signals usefulness.<\/p>\n

The three narrative risks: ignored, miscast or diluted<\/h2>\n

The first and most overlooked risk is invisibility:<\/strong> When a brand lacks a consistently reinforced narrative across credible sources, including the press, AI systems can struggle to categorise it. This makes it far less likely to appear in AI-generated answers. Evidence of this can already be seen in Google\u2019s AI Overviews, where only a small subset of brands are cited even in highly competitive categories.<\/p>\n

A 2024 study<\/a> by Seer Interactive found that visibility in AI-generated results is influenced by more than just rankings, with factors like content quality, PR, and strategic positioning playing a growing role. This indicates a shift from volume-driven SEO and PR to more coherent, authoritative brand narratives.<\/p>\n

The second risk is distortion:<\/strong> When the dominant signals around a brand are negative, inconsistent or unclear, AI systems will still include that brand, but often in a reframed or simplified way. Because LLMs reflect aggregate sentiment, a small number of high-profile criticisms can outweigh a larger body of neutral coverage. Similarly, a complex repositioning may be reduced to a perception of confusion, or a short-term crisis may become a defining narrative, one that AI overviews may reference in the answer if they do feature the brand.<\/p>\n

Once this pattern is established,<\/strong> it is reinforced at scale across summaries, comparisons, and recommendations.<\/p>\n

The third risk is dilution: Brands with generic, indistinct messaging often fail to surface in AI outputs because they lack memorability. If a brand\u2019s positioning is very similar to competitors, it becomes harder for AI systems to choose it as an example. This aligns with well-established research in cognitive psychology, which shows that distinctiveness improves recall.<\/p>\n

Why traditional PR metrics fall short<\/h2>\n

Traditional PR metrics such as media coverage, impressions, and backlinks still have value, but they are not sufficient indicators of visibility in an AI-driven environment. These metrics measure reach, but they do not capture how a brand is interpreted or summarised by AI systems.<\/p>\n

What matters more is whether a brand\u2019s narrative is consistent across sources, whether third parties can clearly articulate what the brand does, and whether it appears in content that explains, educates or solves problems. As a result, PR should be shifting from a focus on visibility metrics to a focus on interpretability i.e. how easily a brand can be understood and featured in an answer.<\/p>\n

What comms teams should do now<\/h2>\n

For comms teams, this shift requires a more disciplined and strategic approach to message and narrative development. Consistency must be treated not just as a branding exercise, but as a form of risk management. Fragmented messaging<\/a> weakens the signals that AI systems rely on to classify and recall a brand.<\/p>\n

Narratives must also be designed to stand independently of the organisation. If journalists, analysts or customers cannot easily explain what a brand does, AI systems will face the same challenge. Clarity and simplicity are essential.<\/p>\n

In addition, PR efforts should prioritise high-trust, high-context publications. Thought leadership, expert commentary and educational content are far more likely to be used by AI systems than purely promotional announcements. These formats provide the explanatory depth that LLMs depend on.<\/p>\n

Finally, narrative shaping must be proactive. By the time a narrative becomes visible in AI-generated outputs, it has already been reinforced across multiple sources. This leaves little room for reactive correction. PR teams must focus on seeding and reinforcing clear narratives early, before alternative or negative interpretations gain traction.<\/p>\n

For more advice on updating your comms strategy for the impacts of AI and LLMs, check out key insight from Vuelio’s latest webinar, ‘AI as the new PR & comms stakeholder<\/a>‘.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AI systems spread narratives, but also determine which narratives are visible in the first place. In this guest post, JBH’s Jane Hunt examines the new comms risk PR teams can’t ignore. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":152209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7365,7272,3725],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152207"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152207"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152207\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152214,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152207\/revisions\/152214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vuelio.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}