Tony Adam

expert panel

For years, search strategy largely revolved around earning a prominent place in a list of links. AI-generated answers are changing the front door to search: A 2026 Pew Research Center survey found that 60% of U.S. adults say they read the AI summaries at the top of search results, and about four in 10 say they use AI chatbots to search for information. For CMOs, that shift raises a bigger question than where a brand ranks: What will people learn about the company when an AI system assembles the answer for them?That question sits at the center of answer engine optimization, or AEO, the practice of making a brand’s information easy for AI systems to find, trust and cite. These systems rarely rely on a single page. Google explains that AI Overviews and AI Mode can run multiple related searches across subtopics and data sources, identifying supporting web pages as they build a response. As a result, an answer about a company may draw not only on its website but also on news coverage, analyst commentary, reviews and other third-party sources. A polished corporate website establishes what a company says about itself, but in an AI-driven search environment, that story has to be corroborated elsewhere.That puts owned media (the channels a company controls) and earned media (the coverage and endorsements it has to win) on the same team. The challenge for CMOs is to keep core facts, claims and positioning consistent across both so AI systems encounter a coherent picture without forcing every channel to sound exactly the same. Below, members of the Senior Executive CMO Think Tank, a curated group of leaders with expertise in brand storytelling, digital advertising and the rise of AI in marketing, explore how to bring owned and earned media together to strengthen the authority, consistency and trust brands need in an answer-driven search environment.