AI Makes it Tougher for Brands to Stand Out
Thu., May 21, 2026
By Steve Barnes
While AI may have made the basics of generating content easier and more efficient, it has also made it more difficult for a brand to stand out from an ever-growing crowd of voices and platforms, according to a report from Public Relations Global Network and Greenough Communications.

The Alpine Group, which is based in DC, promotes Barry Brown to principal as part of the firm’s expansion to Dallas-Fort Worth... ChargePoint, which runs electric vehicle charging stations, appoints Jyothi Swaroop as chief marketing and growth officer... Bassett Furniture hires Clay Hanback as director of marketing. Hanback was most recently media, content and brand marketing leader at Wrangler....Seven Letter promotes nine staffers in its PA unit.
There’s no established playbook for AI in communications yet, but expectations are already changing, and the biggest shift isn’t the tools, it’s what counts as value.
The California City of Ojai is looking for a firm to provide communications, PR, public engagement and creative services.
SourceCode Communications picks up Breezy, an AI-powered workspace built for residential real estate professionals... CIIC PR is named U.S. and Canadian press office for the Hotel Cala di Volpe and Cervo Hotel, properties in northeastern Sardinia, Italy... Wilful, a London shop, lands climate action platform Ecologi.
FGS Global has hired Justin Dini, who was EVP-CCO at Paramount and a ten-year veteran of Brunswick Group, as global co-head of its strategy & reputation unit based in New York.
Your buyers are asking AI about you. And what AI says about your brand depends on what you’ve earned.
The New York State Department of Economic Development is looking for a firm to handle its four-year $1M travel and tourism budget for Australia and New Zealand.
The audacious autocrat who occupies the White House has achieved what was thought to be impossible. He has united the Hatfields and McCoys of the editorial world in opposition to his $1.776B slush fund... Sign of these sorry times: George Soros' Open Society Foundations plans to spend $300M to promote democracy and economic security in the US... PR play of the week goes to Steven Rosenbaum, author of “The Future of Truth."
Josh Hochberg, COO and global head of special situations and investor relations at Edelman Smithfield, has joined ICR as president, communications.
Juleanna Glover’s Ridgely Walsh handles Lupa Systems as James Murdoch’s media & technology investment company acquires New York Magazine, Vox Media Podcast and various digital properties of Vox Media.
Communicators today face a challenge of ensuring that brands are discoverable in the zero-click digital ecosystem where consumers now find information.

















