21 May, 2026

AI search is rewriting who shapes the brand journey. Learn how to co-create brand journey as a collaborative effort among CEOs, customers, outside brand strategists, and internal marketing teams — and why it is one of the most important things you can do to win in the AI age.

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To co-create brand journey in the AI age, you have to learn to share the road.

One-third of all web traffic now comes from AI chatbots and agents. AI search is growing 150% month-over-month. And 87% of AI-assisted traffic comes from ChatGPT alone. The brand journey your customers experience is no longer yours to control — it is a co-create collaboration among your CEO, your internal marketing team, your customers, and outside brand strategists who can “read the label of the jar you’re in”, in the words of Joanne Z. Tan.

Brand memories are not built through paid media alone. Research from Kantar shows that 75% of brand equity comes from the direct brand experience customers have with your brand — not from advertising. That means the brand experiences you design, the authentic brand stories your content creators write and your customers share, and the signals you send to AI search tools all shape how your brand is perceived, recommended, and remembered.

Nike, Apple, Diet Coke — iconic brands did not lose their identity when their audiences took the wheel. These brands co-create brand journey with their communities of customers, influencers, internal and external branding and marketing experts, and top leaders. That is why they pivoted quickly and turned cultural moments into brand equity. That is the playbook for the AI age.

Joanne Z. Tan argues that CEOs must be personally involved — the way Steve Jobs was hands-on with font style, the rounded corner of iPhone design, even the color of the floor in an Apple Store. To win in the AI age, to co-create brand journey is to embrace collaborative effort among CEOs, customers, outside brand experts, and internal marketing departments.

What you will learn in this episode:

• What a brand journey is and why AI search is reshaping it
• Why 75% of brand equity comes from brand experience, not paid media
• How Nike, Apple, and Diet Coke co-created their brand journeys with their audiences without losing their core identities
• Why CEOs must be personally involved in building the brand experience and brand journey
• How to engage both internal and external brand experts to win in the AI age

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🌐 www.10plusbrand.com 🌐 www.aixd.world 🌐 www.10plusprofile.com

About Joanne Z. Tan Joanne Z. Tan is a global brand strategist, thought leadership coach, and founder of 10 Plus Brand, Inc. and its subsidiary AIXD.world. She advises executives, founders, and organizations on building influential, differentiated brands that drive visibility, credibility, and revenue growth. Her work integrates strategic positioning, AI-era brand architecture, and executive thought leadership to help leaders become recognized authorities in their industries.

© Joanne Z. Tan, 2026. All rights reserved.

To read the transcript of this episode as a blog post : Transcript