• by Stefan Hajek , Yesterday

Marketers like to focus on what they can control: message consistency and optimized creative on paid, owned, and earned channels. For a long time, that was a reasonable instinct because that’s where consumers were, too.

But that’s all changed.

People are now discovering products, comparing experiences, and forming opinions in spaces that brands can’t control and often don’t see: Reddit threads, Discord servers and private Slack groups -- micro-communities built around shared identity and genuine peer trust.

And yet most organizations are still designing brand experience as if the old context holds, optimizing predominantly for channels they own while the influential conversations shift elsewhere. AI is making that blind spot bigger, not smaller.

The trust has already moved.

The volume of AI-generated content flooding every channel is accelerating this shift.

While AI adoption continues to rise, confidence in its outputs is significantly weaker. A Gallup survey found that 76% of Americans do not trust AI-generated content, despite growing daily use of the technology.

This reflects a broader pattern: Audiences aren’t necessarily rejecting AI outright ,but are increasingly reluctant to treat its outputs as credible by default.

The consequences are visible even when brands do everything right. When Lego released a campaign featuring real athletes in real production, with no AI involved, audiences assumed it was computer-generated. Lego even released a behind-the-scenes video to prove the work was genuine. Brands are now in the position of having to demonstrate their own authenticity.

AI doesn’t set trends -- it follows them. So, when it starts digesting its own output, everything converges toward the middle. Content produced this way doesn't just feel inauthentic, it’s forgettable. No brand wants to see their messages turn up on r/aifails.

Communities run on the opposite dynamic: specificity, earned credibility, shared sentiment, and genuine peer exchange. That’s why people are transitioning to digital community hangouts to meet their desire for authenticity, privacy and algorithm-free interaction.

The opportunity for engagement is still there, but the traditional marketing rulebook simply doesn’t play in these insular micro-communities. This transition has significant repercussions for how businesses design their brand and product experience.

For example, Reddit is an increasingly common source of information on how products are received by consumers. In fact, 63% of buyers feel significantly more confident making a decision based on Reddit community interactions compared to traditional social media platforms.

Participation over broadcasting.

The temptation is to treat this as a channel problem, and to ask where brands should show up next. That’s the wrong question. If trust is forming in communities before a customer even reaches a brand touchpoint, the experience design challenge is upstream of the channel entirely.

Brands hoping to be welcome in these spaces are likely out of luck. There are ways to show up in these communities, but be prepared for a high level of criticism and rejection. Rather than attempting to join the conversation authentically, the focus should be on creating products and experiences consumers will end up talking about, and sharing, on their own terms.

The brands succeeding aren't trying to own the conversation. They're listening to it. They pay attention to what people think, want, and feel, and they let that shape what they build. Listening is how loyalty, trust, and affinity are built.