AI-Search Playbook: May 2025 edition

A field guide for outdoor-sports brands that already “get” SEO/SEM and now need to win inside ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity & Microsoft NLWeb.

Intro

Remember when getting found online just meant stuffing keyword phrases like "moisture-wicking trail running shoes" into your H1 tag and praying to the Google gods? Now, your product is up against chatbots with Ivy League vocabularies and zero tolerance for bad schema. AI search has already rerouted the trail. If your brand isn’t showing up in ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google’s AI Overviews, it will soon be like trying to get consumers’ attention in a whiteout.

In this post, I’ll discuss:

1. Why AI search matters now

2. How consumers’ search habits are shifting

3. What your brand or business can do about it

4. An Ikea case study on how they’ve begun to leverage AI search.

2012 ride through Death Valley. When 30mm tires were gravel tires and you navigated with a road atlas.

Why AI discovery matters: The data-driven reality check

400 million people use ChatGPT every week (Reuters, 20 Feb 2025). Your buyers are already shopping in chat.

Google impressions are up 49 % while clicks are down 30 % year-on-year since AI Overviews launched. Visibility has moved into the answer box from the link list.

AI Overviews now appear on 7–15 % of U.S. searches each week. One in eight queries skips the “ten blue links.”

About 66 % of AI-Overview citations come from pages that are not in Google’s top-10 organic results. Clean structure and authority leapfrog legacy rank.

Perplexity serves 600 million queries and 30 million monthly users. New search gatekeepers are emerging.

Boston Consulting Group forecasts AI-agent commerce will grow 45 % a year through 2030. Payment systems are already being rebuilt for agent-to-agent checkout.

From Traditional SEO to AI-Powered Discovery: What’s Changed

Input style

• Then: Shoppers typed keywords like “trail shoes waterproof.”

• Now: They ask full questions like “What are the best waterproof trail-running shoes under €150 for rocky terrain?”

• Why it matters: Your content needs to answer real-world questions, not just target search terms.

Result format

• Then: Google served a ranked list—10 blue links, with paid ads on top.

• Now: AI assistants return a single, synthesized answer, often without links.

• Why it matters: You can’t pay to appear. You need structured, trusted data to earn a mention.

Data freshness

• Then: Crawlers scanned your site every few days.

• Now: AI agents ingest real-time feeds and APIs, sometimes every minute.

• Why it matters: Outdated price or stock info? Your product doesn’t show up.

Ranking signals

• Then: Rankings were driven by backlinks, metadata, and keyword match.

• Now: AI prioritizes schema structure, data freshness, and E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, trust).

• Why it matters: You need to structure your data and show your credentials—not just chase keywords.

Performance metrics

• Then: Success was measured in click-through rates and cost-per-click.

• Now: You track share-of-answer (how often your brand is cited) and assistant-to-checkout conversion.

• Why it matters: Being mentioned in the answer is more valuable than being ranked.

5 Things Every Brand Can Do (No Code Required)

What to do	Do this	Why it works
1. Create a machine-readable “nutrition label” for every SKU.	Bots read Schema.org Product, Offer, Review → name, GTIN/SKU, price, stock, rating.	Structured facts outrank pretty prose.
2. Update that label hourly.	ChatGPT Shopping ranks on real-time price & inventory. (Reuters)	Stale feeds vanish from results.
3. Show your expert badge.	Google’s AIO prefers dated, by-lined, credentialed content. (BrightEdge PDF)	Trust moves you up the citation list.
4. Say “yes, you may quote me.”	Clear robots.txt & CC licences tell crawlers they’re welcome (and legal).	Bots cite permissive sources first.
5. Grab first chair.	OpenAI Operator & Microsoft NLWeb let you push your feed instead of waiting for crawls. (The Verge)	First-movers get first placement.

Case Study: How IKEA is Piloting Chat GPT Assisted Sales

When IKEA slipped its AI Assistant into OpenAI’s GPT Store on 5 February 2024, there was no splashy campaign or meatball-scented hype. Three months later, the numbers were in:

• About 1 ,500 people a month chatted with the bot.

• One in five clicked through to IKEA’s website, mainly to browse outdoor furniture and sofas.

• One in twenty of those site visits ended with a sale.

For Chief Data & Analytics Officer Francesco Marzoni, those metrics weren’t the headline. He called the project a “humble and responsible” experiment, proof that shoppers now treat a GPT window like an advanced search bar. Every query revealed how people actually phrase their furnishing dilemmas, and every click mapped a new shortcut between question and purchase.

The assistant wasn’t built to replace classic SEO or paid ads; it was a live laboratory. IKEA wanted to know:

• Will customers accept AI guidance on big-ticket items?

• Which categories light up first?

• Can conversational search shrink the path from curiosity to cart?

Early answers look promising. Outdoor chairs and sofas (the ranges most often surfaced by the bot) saw the biggest lift in assisted sessions. The conversion rate rivalled IKEA’s paid-search traffic, only without the media bill. More valuable still, every prompt now feeds a database of real customer language that will refine IKEA’s on-site search, mobile app, and even in-store kiosks.

Industry watchers noticed. Fast Company listed IKEA among its “Most Innovative Retailers 2025,” citing the AI experiment as proof the flat-pack giant can still surprise. Digital Commerce 360 summed it up in one punchy line: “IKEA just bypassed the search box.”

Take-home for other brands

1. A modest user base can generate outsized insight if you log every question.

2. Clicks matter, but context is priceless. Treat each chat as R&D.

3. You don’t need a global rollout; a contained pilot can validate the shift from keyword SEO to AI-first discovery.

If the world’s largest furniture retailer can learn this much from 1,500 monthly chats, imagine what a focused DTC brand could uncover with the same playbook.

Final Word

Tech rewards early adoption and AI search is at an inflection point where brands stand to benefit. Right now, it sounds complicated because it’s new. But with a few simple tweaks and a learning mindset, you can get ahead of shifting consumer search patterns.

Check out my past work.

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Glossary

• AI Overview (AIO): Google’s AI summary box above results.

• Answer-Engine Optimisation (AEO): Earning citations inside AI answers.

• E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trust (Google’s trust test).

• NLWeb / MCP: Microsoft’s protocol for streaming structured data straight to models (no crawling).

• OpenAI Operator: Early-access pipeline for feeding catalogues into ChatGPT.

• Vector index: An AI-searchable copy of your product text that finds matches by meaning, not just keywords.

Source List

Title & Publisher	Date	Link
OpenAI’s weekly active users surpass 400 million – Reuters	20 Feb 2025	Link
ChatGPT Statistics 2025 – DemandSage	Mar 2025	Link
One Year After Google AI Overviews Launched – BrightEdge (PDF)	May 2025	Link
Ultimate Guide to AI Overviews – BrightEdge	Mar 2025	Link
OpenAI rolls out new shopping features with ChatGPT search update – Reuters	28 Apr 2025	Link
Visa partners with AI giants to streamline online shopping – Reuters	30 Apr 2025	Link
Microsoft’s plan to fix the web: letting every website run AI search for cheap – The Verge	19 May 2025	Link
Perplexity’s CEO on fighting Google and the coming AI browser war – The Verge	29 Apr 2025	Link
IKEA launched an AI assistant earlier this year. Has it actually driven sales? – Digiday	21 May 2024	Link
BrightEdge Generative Parser™ identifies patterns in new AI Search – BrightEdge Press Release	12 Feb 2024	Link
Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards: Most Innovative Retailers 2025 – Fast Company	Mar 2025	Link

How at Risk Is Your Job from AI? An Ironic Journey Through Career Uncertainty

There’s something both deeply unsettling and oddly poetic about asking an AI to assess whether your job is at risk of being replaced by AI. It’s a bit like asking a bike salesperson if you need a new bike. Or like asking your mountain bike if that muddy, root-filled line is totally safe (it’s always going to say yes, right before it sends you over the bars). Yet, here we are. Because, ironically, it actually makes sense.

After recently turning down a relocation opportunity with adidas in Amsterdam, I found myself at a bit of a crossroads. As someone who has spent years crafting stories, building content strategies, and championing brands in the sports marketing tech world, I couldn’t help but wonder: What does the future hold for roles like mine?

A mountain biker ponders the shadow of his former self.

The AI Reality Check: No Chicken Lines

It was one of those classic, introspective moments. The kind that usually hits me somewhere on a long uphill, where I do most of my thinking and questioning. I wondered how the landscape is changing, not just for me but for anyone who works at the intersection of creativity and technology. Is AI just another shiny tool in our digital toolbox? Or is it poised to completely gut our career paths?

Between the pedal strokes and the existential dread that regularly characterize my riding, I realized something: AI isn’t just coming for the mundane, repetitive tasks. It’s inching closer to the creative stuff. As I’ve been searching for new roles and plotting my next career move, it’s become clear that integrating AI into whatever comes next isn’t just an option: it’s the mandatory feature we all need to be confident to hit sooner or later if we want to progress.

Actual footage of my new riding buddy absolutely sending it. Bro don’t even need a MIPS helment.

Why Ask AI if AI Will Take Your Job?

It’s a weirdly fitting question when you think about it. Who better to judge how at risk your role is from AI than AI itself? Sure, there’s the whole potential bias issue. It’s a bit like your partner asking you if you really need that new carbon crankset. They know the answer is always yes, even though you’ve already got three perfectly good ones collecting dust in the garage (for the next build, of course).

Yet, here we are. Because, ironically, it actually makes sense. Who better to predict the next potential crash than the very thing that might cause it?

The AI-Risk Assessment: Built for the Ironically Self-Aware

So, I did the most logical (or possibly masochistic) thing: I created a ChatGPT prompt to help people like me, teetering between creative leadership and digital automation (I would normally set that dependent clause off with double em dashes, but AI has taken those from me too), figure out just how at risk we are. It’s like a fortune teller, but instead of vague predictions about love or money, it just straight-up tells you how close you are to career extinction.

The prompt guides you through a series of questions about your role, your skills, your tech exposure, and your adaptability. In the end, it delivers a score that tells you whether you’re in the safe zone or standing on the edge of the AI abyss. To soften the blow, it also gives you a few practical suggestions on how to pivot, upskill, or otherwise try and avoid total obsolescence.

Try the AI-Risk Assessment Yourself

Here’s the prompt you can copy and use in ChatGPT or your AI of choice (only tested with Chat GPT 4o though):

You are an AI-powered career risk assessor. I’ll answer your questions, and you’ll calculate an AI-Risk Score (0–100) and give me personalized next-step suggestions.

1. Ask me for “Section A: About You” info

• Job title (text)
• Industry/sector (text)
• Years in current role (choose: 0–2, 3–5, 6–10, 11–20, 20+)
• Organisation size (choose: <50, data-preserve-html-node="true" 50–249, 250–999, 1 000–9 999, 10 000+)

2. Ask me for “Section B: What You Actually Do”

• Allocate 100% of your typical work-week across these 8 categories.

1. Data entry / record keeping

2. Repetitive admin

3. Information synthesis

4. Generative content

5. Expert judgment

6. Physical/manual tasks

7. Client/stakeholder interaction

8. Leadership/strategy/decision-making

9. Ask me for “Section C: Tech & AI Exposure”

• Tools used weekly (select any: ChatGPT/Gemini/Claude; Midjourney/DALL-E/Firefly; Zapier/Power Automate; UiPath/Blue Prism; Predictive analytics/ML; None)
• Employer’s AI adoption roadmap
• Does your role involve building/fine-tuning AI?
• What % of routine tasks have been automated?
• Feeling about AI’s impact (1=“AI frees me” to 5=“AI replaces me”)

4. Ask me for “Section D: Adaptability & Learning”

• Hours per month in professional learning
• Top learning format
• Skill area you’re prioritizing next
• Comfort with new software (1-5 scale)

5. Calculate my AI-Risk Score

• Task-mix (70%): multiply each % by risk factors
• Tech exposure adjustment (–10 to +5)
• Adaptability bonus (–5 to 0)

6. Output:

• AI-Risk Score and Band (Low=0–34, Moderate=35–64, High=65–100)
• One-sentence summary highlighting highest-risk task bucket
• 3–5 tailored next-step suggestions

Shredding the Desert of the Real

Why You Should Give It a Shot

Even if your role feels secure today, it’s important to know where the cracks might form. I like to think of it like the last 5km of a bike race: everyone’s hurting, but you just need to be smart and pedal through it harder than the other racers. And while it feels a bit weird to ask AI to predict whether it’s about to take your job, it also feels practical. Like taking your bike to the shop to ask the mechanic how good your home repair job is. They’ll tell you how they can fix whatever mess you’ve created.

Maybe your score will confirm that you’re untouchable, one of the chosen few whose skills can’t be mimicked by algorithms. Or maybe it will tell you to invest a bit more in upskilling before the robot revolution fully kicks in. Either way, it’s a small dose of reality and a reminder that if you’re not actively preparing for change, your job might be the thing that changes whether you’re ready or not.

The Soft vs. Hard Approach to Winning: What On Running and Nike’s Latest Campaigns Reveal About Culture and Where We’re Headed

You can’t spell On’s SOFT WINS campaign without Nike’s So Win campaign. On Running's SOFT WINS campaign, featuring Elmo and Roger Federer (in the Superbowl spot only), encourages self-compassion and community, challenging the traditional "go-hard" mentality. In contrast, Nike’s Super Bowl commercial, So Win reinforces the idea of relentless pursuit and overcoming adversity. These two campaigns don’t just reflect different approaches to sport—they reveal a shifting culture.

Nike So Win Campaign

Traditional sports marketing relies on narratives that highlight struggle, perseverance, and ultimate victory. Some brands, like Nike in the superbowl ad spot below, layer social issues on top. On one hand, this has been a reliably strong brand narrative; however, it is also a demanding one.

Watch Nike’s great 2025 Superbowl ad from their So Win campaign.

Breakdown

• Celebrates determination, resilience, and proving oneself against the odds.

• Focuses on overcoming obstacles and striving for greatness.

• Calls consumers to consider a world where womens’ sports are viewed and invested in at the same level as mens’ sports.

• Embodies a distinctly American ethos of individualism and competition.

Analysis

This is an inspiring ad with a powerful brand message. Considering the American federal government’s assault on DEI combined with this ad being aired during the superbowl make this an even more powerful brand message that reinforces Nike’s brand attitude. 

Consider that Nike is an unabashed American brand. The ad resonates deeply with the American narrative of individual achievement, where success is earned through sheer grit. This mirrors a broader cultural ethos that prizes self-reliance and personal triumph over systemic support.  The U.S. has long championed individualism, a mindset that permeates everything from entrepreneurship to social policy. The obsession with meritocracy (however misguided and ironic) justifies a competitive, high-risk culture where only the strongest rise to the top. This belief is evident in discussions surrounding healthcare, social welfare, and education.

This ad is also extremely demanding on consumers. While the social cause to achieve parity between mens’ and womens’ sports is laudable, it also demands that women be responsible for it. It’s not enough to be an athlete—you have to challenge injustice while doing it. Moreover, enjoyment of sport seems completely absent from this ad’s narrative.

This is a lot of demand on consumers that are already weary. Consider all of the things consumers grapple with on top of running their lives:

• War

• Political instability

• Climate crisis

• High Inflation

• Layoffs

• AI

This ad asks women athletes to not just practice their sport, but to be the best at it so they can shatter barriers. Contrast this with On Running’s ad that also aired during the Superbowl.

On Running SOFT WINS Campaign

On Running, takes a softer approach, tapping into a rising movement that values mental health, balance, and inclusivity. See if you can spot the difference compared to the Nike ad.

Breakdown

• Features Sesame Street’s Elmo and a group of everyday runners to promote a kinder, gentler approach to sports.

• Encourages athletes to embrace self-compassion rather than relentless self-criticism, punishment, and sacrifice.

• Aligns with a European vision of well-being, balance, and collective care.

Analysis

This campaign taps into a shift in sports marketing. People are doing sports because they want to connect with others, to feel good in their bodies, to enjoy themselves. Personal best used to be associated with a new record in your sport. Now a personal best has expanded to enjoying the best of the moment without the pressure to be the best. Fun replaces fast.

This aligns with a more European-style philosophy (On Running is a Swiss company), where well-being and collective support are prioritized over relentless self-improvement. It reflects a shift away from the pursuit of glory at all costs, and instead makes space for participation over perfection. Contrary to the Nike ad, it makes no sweeping societal claims or calls to action. The focus is simply on enjoying sport and the community.

Thoughts from a Former Elite Athlete

As someone who spent time at the pointy end of average in American bike racing, I feel the SOFT WINS campaign resonates deeper with more people. I still consider myself a competitive person (can’t see to turn that off), but campaigns that make demands of consumers should be aware of the noisy context they do it. Part of the reason I left racing was just too much pressure to perform.

Ads that place even more demand on people run the risk of being ineffective. This is why ads like SOFT WINS are gaining so much traction and receiving such good feedback. People want to feel like a brand is putting the bar where they are, not where the brand thinks people should come up to—they may not have the energy right now no matter how worthy the cause.

San Rafael Crit 2019 and Sedona mountain biking 2024

Where We’re Headed: The Future of Sports Marketing

Brands shape culture, but they also respond to it. The rise of wellness-oriented campaigns suggests that audiences—particularly younger consumers—are rejecting the idea of sacrifice in sports. Instead, they are looking for stories that reflect their own priorities: balance, inclusion, and sustainability. Run clubs are one of the fastest growing fitness phenomena at the moment, for example. These are spaces where people are free to push themselves however they want—even if that means just turning up.

This shift in sports culture doesn’t undercut the power of Nike’s ad and broader brand storytelling efforts, but it speaks to an audience that may be shrinking or tired. This type of narrative is being layered on an already weary Western psyche that may lack capacity.

The future of sports marketing will likely be a blend—acknowledging struggle and ambition in sport while positioning wellbeing campaigns as the antidote to relentless stress and, eventually, trauma.

Conclusion & Key Takeaways

• On Running’s SOFT WINS and Nike’s So Win campaigns represent two competing visions of success in sports and life: one rooted in self-compassion, the other in relentless drive.

• These marketing narratives reflect broader societal values—American individualism vs. European-style collective care.

• The rise of campaigns prioritizing well-being suggests a cultural shift toward sustainability, balance, and inclusivity in sports.

Both of these are great campaigns. While Nike’s So Win resonates and sticks with me personally more than On Running’s SOFT WINS, I think consumers are going to sympathize more with the direction On Running and other brands that take a similar approach are headed.

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