In the age of AI and rapid change what are people really buying?

21 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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In this monologue, Eric Siu argues that as AI accelerates commoditization across markets, the only sustainable competitive advantage left for marketers is brand, especially personal brands. He illustrates the point with examples like Michael Jordan’s signature shoes, Cristiano Ronaldo, and the Kardashians, noting that consumers choose these products not for superior functionality but for their affinity to the individual. Siu contrasts personal brands—highly relatable and massively followed on social media—with faceless corporate brands, concluding that tying a personal brand to a product or service creates a powerful moat in today’s fast‑moving landscape.

Chapters

Because we're talking about all the AI stuff is moving so quickly, you know, a lot of stuff is getting commoditized, whatever. What do you think is the last moat standing? I think the last moat is really brand. I think that is the only moat, at least in marketing, that's left. Everyone understands a Michael Jordan shoe. It's not because it's more comfortable or it looks cool. There's a lot of other shoe companies that can create shoes that are just as comfortable, if not more comfortable, and just as cool. The reason people buy that is because their affinity to Michael Jordan. I think branding is everything in marketing. It's really hard to build a massive brand, and if you can, you're onto something big. What I'm seeing in today's world, people really have affinities towards personal brands. And if you can tie in a personal brand to whatever you're doing, I think that does help because a corporate brand is more of a faceless company and it's hard for people to associate with a corporate brand as much as they can with a personal brand. And you can see this, go on social media, look up any company. There's no company that has more followers than like a Cristiano Ronaldo or a Kardashian or any of them. People just associate more with personal brands.