Buy With AI
Plus: Sweetgreen's summer menu, in-house influencers, and more 🍅
Hello and welcome back to Brandscape! I hope you had a great weekend.
A few weeks ago, I had the chance to preview Sweetgreen’s summer menu at a tasting hosted by Co-Founder and Chief Concept Officer Nicolas Jammet. The inspiration for their seasonal lineup comes from “farmers’ market trips, backyard BBQs, and other simple joys.”
Their new offerings include the Peach + Goat Cheese Salad, Elote Bowl, and Chicken Caprese Bowl (my favorite). Thanks to everyone involved for such a great event!
Salt & Stone partnered with athletes for their new campaign. They tapped Charley Hull, Jerami Grant, and Toni Breidinger to demonstrate how the brand’s high-performing natural deodorant holds up in active moments.
Instead of influencers, some brands are turning to in-house content creators to tell their stories. This NYT piece by Yola Mzizi explores Sarah Tang’s content creation role at Brooklyn-based homeware brand Dusen Dusen. If you’ve spent any time on TikTok or Instagram, you’ve definitely seen in-office, behind-the-scenes-style videos from buzzy brands like Poppi and SET Active. This trend demonstrates the larger trend we’re seeing with the stickiness of peer-to-peer marketing. When consumers feel they have a stake in the creation and vision of a brand, they become brand loyalists.
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We’re in the age of AI shopping. As use cases for AI agents become more apparent, the e-commerce space is set for disruption. Those working in this space envision a world where AI agents can complete entire transactions on behalf of a customer, from product discovery to checkout. A recent Salesforce survey found that 63% of Gen Z respondents were interested in using AI agents to buy products. Leaning into these AI agents seems to be the most natural progression, especially as online retailers are seeing increased generative AI traffic. According to Adobe Analytics, retailers in the U.S. experienced a 1,200% increase in visits from generative AI sources between July 2024 and February 2025.
On that note, the generative engine optimization business (think: SEO for AI) is booming. Botify, for example, works with brands like Levi’s and Puma to improve visibility. There’s also Profound AI, AI Carma, Peec AI (which just raised an $8.2 million seed round), and many more.
Would you use an AI agent to help you online shop? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
— Henry
Brandscape is a weekly newsletter covering marketing, brand, consumer insights, and design — all through the lens of a college student.
I used to work for a competitive natural deodorant brand and salt & stone’s creative direction will always be far superior 👀
I count down the days until the Corn Elote Bowl comes out every year!!
I'm really curious about AI agents for shopping in different categories. I think I'd be more open to it for commodities that I don't care much about (e.g., paper towels) but would not use it for purchases that require an element of taste (e.g., clothing). Similarly, with groceries, I'd be willing to automate the purchase of many pantry staples (90% my preferred brands, 10% exploratory), but I still want to be the one to smell my canteloupe IRL!