Brian Yamada on Building Bionic Brands in the AI Era

At Web Summit Vancouver 2025, Brian Yamada, Chief Innovation Officer at VML, introduced the concept of “bionic brands”—brands that fuse human creativity with machine intelligence to thrive in the age of generative AI. He emphasized that while AI offers speed and precision, its real value lies in how it enhances emotional resonance and storytelling.

Yamada highlighted the shift toward the “agentic era,” where AI acts autonomously to execute tasks, urging marketers to rethink strategies and embrace adaptive approaches. He shared practical examples of using AI to personalize experiences, predict consumer behavior, and optimize campaigns without losing sight of brand identity.