Agencies Invest in AI-Powered Services
Marketing agencies are positioning themselves as leaders in AI by investing in new capabilities. Hannah Cranston Media expanded its "Generative Engine Optimization" services, while The Shipyard made a strategic investment in an AI for brand discovery. These moves show how agencies are embedding AI to create new, high-margin service offerings.
- Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is an emerging practice distinct from traditional SEO; it aims to get brands cited as sources in AI-generated answers from platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity, rather than just ranking high on a results page. - Hannah Cranston Media's GEO strategy is built on data suggesting 94% of links cited by AI come from non-paid earned media, positioning PR as a foundational element for AI visibility. - The Shipyard's investment in FancyAI makes it the first agency to offer clients a patent-pending GEO technology platform, which it is initially deploying internally to customize the tool for real-world use cases. - FancyAI, the company The Shipyard invested in, is a 16-person business/productivity software company based in Austin, Texas. - This shift is happening as more than 800 million people now turn to AI for answers weekly, fundamentally changing how consumers discover brands and information. - Agencies are adopting AI to reinvent their operating models, with some analysts predicting "agentic AI" will handle over one-fifth of marketing's total workload within the next three years. - The integration of AI is expected to automate a percentage of agency jobs, prompting a re-evaluation of traditional agency compensation models that are tied to direct labor and billable hours. - As part of its GEO services, Hannah Cranston Media has achieved results like a 400% increase in website traffic for a client whose educational content was surfaced by AI after a competitor was negatively featured in a study.
