Should Cannes Lions give its top award to the marketer with the best FAQs?

This is a serious question about the future of marketing. If brands want to connect with consumers in the age of AI, they need to focus on answering consumer questions—full stop. No excuses.

But wait, doesn't that sound boring and uninspiring? Where’s the sizzle? Where's the AI jargon and tech glitter? How will anyone get promoted for doing something so basic and foundational?

Well, that’s precisely the point. The no-brainer simplicity of this concept is why it’s often overlooked. But now, the stakes are too high to ignore the importance of answering the questions consumers throw our way.

Like it or not, we’re rapidly entering an “answer economy” powered by increasingly smarter LLMs and resistance is futile. Consumers are seeking more information, and AI is making it easier than ever for them to access it without friction. Brands that can respond to questions at scale and with authenticity will succeed. 

Answer engines are disrupting how consumers search, shop and interact with brands. While traditional search engines offer up to 10 blue links, AI platforms provide a single, direct response that influences purchase decisions in real time.

Research shows that a majority of shoppers are open to making purchases based on AI-generated recommendations. Additionally, “researching products and services” is the top use case for generative AI, surpassing content creation by a significant margin.

Even with huge ad budgets, brands are simply not ready for this reality. Top brands consistently underperform at answering questions and are underrepresented in AI-generated answer results. Challenger brands fare much better, and a few that deserve shoutouts include  Rothys, Parachute, Blue Bottle (Nestle) and Blueland.  Larger brand overachievers include Warby Parker, Patagonia and Seventh Generation.  

Still, nearly everyone has blind spots. Both large and small brands consistently fire blanks on the very topics their executives tout the loudest, such as sustainability, and very rarely answer obvious relevant questions in crisis. 

There’s a huge upside in getting this right. Brand websites—long left for dead by top marketers—are the No. 1 “algorithmic anchor” influencing AI search outcomes for products. 

Indeed, the key to winning is not gaming algorithms or SEO 2.0 manipulation. It's about clarity, transparency, timeliness and intuitively responding to consumer curiosity. 

Remember, consumers are getting used to—even spoiled by—the ease and accessibility of AI answer engines. As answer engines evolve, consumers will expect brands to keep up—even in their own backyard.

To thrive in the answer economy, brands need to focus on three critical areas:

FAQs

Expand and refine your FAQs. They are your first line of communication with both consumers and AI bots. Ensure they're accessible and updated with key product details in simple formats—no PDFs. Keep FAQs fresh and relevant, especially during brand crises.

Site search

Trust your inner consumer on this one. Just make it simple and easy, and make sure your tool never fires back blanks. And keep the e-commerce and “performance marketing” teams in check by not assaulting every search with pop-up ads. (Memo to GMs: Start every business review by searching your own site.)

Service & Contact Us:

In an answer economy, this page is no longer a side note—it's a crucial touchpoint for both consumers and AI algorithms. Customer service has often been a non-strategic afterthought. Now, getting it right is not only good for customers—it's an algorithm's best friend.

My advice remains consistent: Focus on the boring basics. Listen to the consumer—through feedback and their growing number of questions. Reenergize the platforms you use to address this increasing list of queries.

It’s also important to break down the silos between marketing and R&D. This ensures that product insights—such as sustainability efforts or carbon footprints or just “product performance”—are communicated clearly to both human audiences and AI systems.

Lastly, brands need to incentivize those who create credible, useful content. The good news? It's measurable. While it may not deliver immediate clicks such as performance marketing, investing in answers pays off over time.

The future is about answers

Don't assume you can wait this out. For younger, tech-savvy consumers, transparency is no longer optional—it's expected. Whether it's environmental claims or privacy policies, consumers demand specifics.

The future of marketing is all about answers. As AI-driven answer engines become the norm, brands must adapt—or risk falling behind. By focusing on transparent, helpful content, companies can thrive in an answer economy.