Demandbase

Energy Crisis, War, Climate Change Reshape Auto Marketing

MEEDIA's dossier examines how recent macro shocks — an energy-price shock linked to the Iran war, geopolitical tensions and climate change — are changing automotive marketing. The EV market is being pushed by rising energy prices while Chinese manufacturers gain share through aggressive pricing and new communication styles. Industry players cited include Waymo (autonomy), BYD (affordable EVs), and Xpeng (expansion in Germany). Salesforce's Jessica Geutner highlights progress in digitalization and the creation of first‑party data for personalised marketing. New business models such as salary-conversion vehicle financing (compared to Jobrad) and in-car advertising (e.g., BMW’s Spider‑Man campaign) are introducing both opportunities and acceptance/privacy challenges for advertisers, OEMs, publishers and agencies.

CMOs Struggle to Link AI Visibility to Sales

Chief marketing officers are finding it difficult to prove that strong visibility in generative AI and LLM-driven search results translates into sales. Marketers use a patchwork of monitoring tools (e.g., Profound, Scrunch, AirOps), paid placements, bespoke MMMs and statistical models to estimate impact, but no single tool draws a clear causal line to commercial outcomes. The IAB published measurement guidelines and Google added a Search Console feature with generative AI performance data, while agencies and vendors (including Assembly and startup Emberos) are building new measurement solutions. Brands continue to pursue creator marketing, reputation management and paid ads, but attribution gaps remain when users convert off-site or via marketplaces.

ChatGPT Referrals to B2B Sites Quadrupled

Demandbase’s Labs data shows ChatGPT-driven referrals to tracked B2B websites rose from about 645,000 in June 2025 to 2.6 million in June 2026 (a 303% increase), with a sharp inflection in May 2026 when volume more than doubled. The Labs dataset covers more than 11 billion visits across 1,584 platform instances, but Demandbase warns the data is proprietary and not independently verified; attribution is further complicated because many AI-influenced sessions appear later via brand searches. Growth was concentrated in OpenAI’s ChatGPT while Perplexity referrals declined and Gemini and Claude remained largely flat. Demandbase also reports rising ad spend on its platform—CTV up 112% and display up 55% year over year, with CTV’s share rising modestly—and says AI-generated referrals may become an increasingly important buyer-intent signal. Independent evidence on conversion value is mixed.