\n
Super Bowl viewers who were able to peel their eyes away from the spectacle of a brunette Guy Fieri in the Bosch ad may have noticed a trend in the commercials this year. Not that one\u2014 a lot of them were from AI companies.<\/p>\n
With 125 million people tuning into the AI Bowl this year, the underlying push from marketers and ad agencies is relatively simple: follow the eyeballs. AI agents are top of mind for brands and agencies because <\/em>consumers are using the technology more and more. What makes this technological advancement different from previous technological industry moves, though, is that both the industry and the consumer are awash in confusion.<\/p>\nAs platforms flood brands and consumers with agentic AI tools, media buyers are navigating not only a nascent but rapidly evolving technological landscape, but also varied client sentiment toward agents and perhaps, AI in general.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn one hand, we see a major rise in conversational commerce where people are describing what they are looking for in the same way as if they\u2019re talking to a friend or talking to a sales associate. The queries are getting much longer, much more descriptive,\u201d Ashish Gupta, VP and GM of merchant shopping at Google, said. \u201cAt the same time, what you\u2019re also seeing is that agentic technology is finally catching up, which means that shoppers can delegate some of the most serious part of shopping to the agents\u2026But for this new agentic era to be really and truly successful, it has to work for everyone, especially all the brands and retailers of all sizes, which are the backbone of our industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Talk to me<\/h2>\n
Recently announced agentic tools from major tech platforms Google and Meta are focused on commerce, with the expectation that users will become more exposed to shopping via agents. Google made a number of related announcements at the National Retail Federation annual show in January, including the debut of the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP).<\/p>\n
UCP, developed with companies including Walmart and Shopify, provides a way to standardize and streamline agentic commerce agents, and is being integrated across Google features like AI Mode in Search and in the Gemini app. According to the company, its checkout feature enables \u201cconsumers to go from discovery to purchase seamlessly,\u201d using existing payment information stored within Google Wallet.<\/p>\n
Salesforce is already integrating the standard into its agentic platform, Agentforce Commerce, and it\u2019s being used to support clients in a few different ways, such as making sure that UCP is given up-to-date product data so it won\u2019t make an error like suggesting an item that isn\u2019t in stock.<\/p>\n
Retailers can also use Google\u2019s newly debuted Business Agent to create branded AI agents which act as \u201cvirtual sales associates\u201d that can answer consumers\u2019 questions, according to a Google press release.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not a retailer,\u201d Gupta told Marketing Brew. \u201cWe are not a marketplace. How we think about ourselves is [as] a matchmaker.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gupta claims brands are seeking to be \u201cmore discovered in conversational AI,\u201d which he said can be achieved if they provide Google with detailed product data.\u201cThese attributes allow the brand to give us even more rich descriptive details about the product, like common answers and questions that people are asking about those products or what the compatible accessories are which go along with the product,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
To that end, the company is rolling out additional data attributes in its Merchant Center that let brands input \u201cricher descriptive details about the product,\u201d Gupta said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s say a shopper comes to AI Mode on Google Search, and they are looking for a suit for a summer wedding, and they want something which is lightweight, something breathable,\u201d Gupta said. \u201cWhen they are searching for this on AI Mode, we are allowing merchants to give us typical questions and answers which customers may be asking for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Google\u2019s data attributes rollout is part of a larger shift happening, in which LLMs need substantial information on a brand to help it surface in search results, Chuck Gahun, Forrester principal analyst, said. Reddit and user product reviews are just some of the forms of information LLMs are consuming to determine how to populate answers or search results for user queries; brands are responding by publishing more quality product content, he said.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
Get marketing news you’ll actually want to read<\/h5>\n
Marketing Brew informs marketing pros of the latest on brand strategy, social media, and ad tech via our weekday newsletter, virtual events, marketing conferences, and digital guides.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going after the content everywhere to make sure it\u2019s holistic, so that wherever Google\u2019s LLM or OpenAI\u2019s LLM is learning from, it\u2019s accurate and comprehensive,\u201d he told Marketing Brew.<\/p>\n
While Google\u2019s new data attributes will initially only roll out to select retailers, some brands are already thinking more widely about how to connect agents with detailed product data to capture consumers\u2019 various niche queries. Travel company Booking Holdings, which owns sites including Booking.com and OpenTable, is connecting its in-platform agents to data on properties represented on its platforms to give agents information that can help meet extremely specific queries, Leslie Cafferty, chief communications officer at Booking Holdings, said.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Is the restaurant in Milan dog-friendly?\u2019 is not going to be a mass query,\u201d Cafferty said. \u201cBut we use agentic capabilities to interact with customers\u2026to go match that [query].\u201d<\/p>\n
Shopify is similarly aiming to bring brands and consumers closer through agentic commerce, Amanda Engelman, Shopify\u2019s director of product for merchant marketing, said. In December, Shopify debuted Agentic Storefronts, which lets merchants surface their products on AI platforms like Perplexity and ChatGPT.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt a very high level, our approach to agentic commerce is really through the path of, \u2018How do we enable people to move quicker?\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cWhether that\u2019s through distributing their products in places where people are spending time, like on ChatGPT, as an example, or if it means using AI\u2026to help them source better or just be smarter about their decision-making,\u201d she told Marketing Brew.<\/p>\n
Slow and steady<\/h2>\n
While tech companies churn out agentic tools, agencies and media buyers are at varying degrees of buy-in. Earlier this year, WPP rolled out several agents, including a brand analytics agent. When it comes to media buying, others, like Butler\/Till, are exploring using AdCP, the open standard rolled out in October by Scope3 and other ad-tech leaders to bring agents to media buying and other advertising tasks. Butler\/Till ran a campaign for beverage company Clubtails involving AdCP partner PubMatic\u2019s Activate Platform to execute agentic buying in December. The agentic campaign \u201cdelivered more than 5x cost efficiencies,\u201d PubMatic CEO Rajeev Goel said on the company\u2019s Q4 2025 earnings call in February.<\/p>\n
According to a recent Digiday article, Butler\/Till\u2019s agentic media buying campaign for Geloso Beverage Group \u201csuccessfully cut intermediary fees by over 80% and reduced CPMs while hitting industry benchmarks on fraud and inventory standards, according to the agency and its test partner PubMatic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Media buyers still have a ways to go to establish an agentic buying framework, however. A <\/strong>January IAB report noted that 66% of agencies surveyed are focusing on agentic AI for ad buying and campaign execution, but 40% of respondents listed the need to understand its use in those areas as a challenge.<\/p>\nValerie Renda, AVP of business transformation at Kepler, echoed similar sentiments. The agency is monitoring the evolving agentic media buying space and may conduct more tests down the road. Kepler is also seeing varied client sentiment around agentic AI use, with some more apprehensive than others. Those in highly regulated industries, like finance and healthcare, are among those she expects to not be especially keen. (A faulty financial transaction or diagnosis can hurt brand credibility; data privacy is another concern.)<\/p>\n
However, that hasn\u2019t stopped Kepler from establishing a new business transformation unit to figure out, in part, how to incorporate agentic workflows across the agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it comes to agentic AI\u2026we need to have ownership, we need to have accuracy, and we need to have accountability for anything that AI or agents are producing,\u201d she said. \u201cIn order to do that, we need a governance model, and that\u2019s what my department is in charge of.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Super Bowl viewers who were able to peel their eyes away from the spectacle of a brunette Guy Fieri in the Bosch ad may have noticed a trend in the commercials this year. Not that one\u2014 a lot of them were from AI companies. With 125 million people tuning into the AI Bowl this year, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23199","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-marketing"},"yoast_head":"\n
Tech companies are churning out agentic AI tools, but agencies are still scratching their heads | Brandiary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Super Bowl viewers who were able to peel their eyes away from the spectacle of a brunette Guy Fieri in the Bosch ad may have noticed a trend in the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tech companies are churning out agentic AI tools, but agencies are still scratching their heads | Brandiary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Super Bowl viewers who were able to peel their eyes away from the spectacle of a brunette Guy Fieri in the Bosch ad may have noticed a trend in the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Brandiary\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-03T02:16:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775182610_MKB_Agentic-AI_Explainer_AK_260401_2.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"945\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"News Room\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"News Room\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"News Room\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4\"},\"headline\":\"Tech companies are churning out agentic AI tools, but agencies are still scratching their heads\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-03T02:16:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-03T02:16:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199\"},\"wordCount\":1403,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Marketing\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199\",\"name\":\"Tech companies are churning out agentic AI tools, but agencies are still scratching their heads | Brandiary\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-03T02:16:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-03T02:16:50+00:00\",\"description\":\"Super Bowl viewers who were able to peel their eyes away from the spectacle of a brunette Guy Fieri in the Bosch ad may have noticed a trend in the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Tech companies are churning out agentic AI tools, but agencies are still scratching their heads\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/\",\"name\":\"Brandiary\",\"description\":\"Latest Business and Startup News and Updates\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Brandiary\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png\",\"width\":381,\"height\":100,\"caption\":\"Brandiary\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4\",\"name\":\"News Room\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"News Room\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tech companies are churning out agentic AI tools, but agencies are still scratching their heads | Brandiary","description":"Super Bowl viewers who were able to peel their eyes away from the spectacle of a brunette Guy Fieri in the Bosch ad may have noticed a trend in the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Tech companies are churning out agentic AI tools, but agencies are still scratching their heads | Brandiary","og_description":"Super Bowl viewers who were able to peel their eyes away from the spectacle of a brunette Guy Fieri in the Bosch ad may have noticed a trend in the","og_url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199","og_site_name":"Brandiary","article_published_time":"2026-04-03T02:16:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":945,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775182610_MKB_Agentic-AI_Explainer_AK_260401_2.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"News Room","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"News Room","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199"},"author":{"name":"News Room","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4"},"headline":"Tech companies are churning out agentic AI tools, but agencies are still scratching their heads","datePublished":"2026-04-03T02:16:50+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-03T02:16:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199"},"wordCount":1403,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Marketing"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199","name":"Tech companies are churning out agentic AI tools, but agencies are still scratching their heads | Brandiary","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2026-04-03T02:16:50+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-03T02:16:50+00:00","description":"Super Bowl viewers who were able to peel their eyes away from the spectacle of a brunette Guy Fieri in the Bosch ad may have noticed a trend in the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?p=23199#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Tech companies are churning out agentic AI tools, but agencies are still scratching their heads"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/","name":"Brandiary","description":"Latest Business and Startup News and Updates","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#organization","name":"Brandiary","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/b-logo-1.png","width":381,"height":100,"caption":"Brandiary"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/5062dafb0f932b59aa228f1a047332f4","name":"News Room","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/avatar_user_1_1688031660-96x96.png","caption":"News Room"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com"],"url":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23199"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23201,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23199\/revisions\/23201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mysourcefunding.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}