Last week, BoF Insights, The Business of Fashion’s information and advisory staff, hosted a breakfast in London to carry collectively senior executives from throughout vogue, luxurious and retail to talk about a urgent query: How do manufacturers monitor their efficiency when AI and algorithms more and more decide what shoppers see, join with and purchase?
The session was led by head of BoF Insights, AI instruments and technique, Amanda Dargan; Hannah Crump, director of BoF Insights; and partnerships lead Tom Lau from Quilt.AI, BoF’s unique AI companion. Nick Blunden, BoF’s president, opened the dialogue by emphasising the hole between conventional model measurement instruments and the realities of immediately’s market.
“The tools built to measure brand performance were designed for an analogue world. They don’t capture how brands are perceived and represented across the digital and AI ecosystems that now shape consumer behaviour,” mentioned Blunden.
Platforms like TikTok, Instagram and AI chatbots are altering how manufacturers are found and evaluated, making it crucial for leaders to think about not simply how prospects understand their manufacturers, however how AI does, too. Sixty-four % of shoppers in the US, UK and Canada already use AI instruments to analysis merchandise, in accordance to Salsify, whereas 40 % of UK shoppers are open to AI making purchases on their behalf, per a survey by digital funds firm Checkout.com. This evolution alerts that AI has change into a crucial participant in the purchasing journey, requiring manufacturers to rethink their measurement frameworks.
Introducing BoF Insights Brand Pulse
The presenters launched BoF Insights Brand Pulsea brand new AI-driven model efficiency software designed particularly for the vogue business, created in partnership with Quilt.AI. The software evaluates vogue model efficiency throughout 5 dimensions — Discoverability, Identity, Value, Connection and Love — and reads digital alerts from social media, search and AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude to present quantitative scoring alongside qualitative dialog insights.
They additionally shared insights from the inaugural BoF Insights Brand Pulse Index, which launched final week and makes use of the software to consider the efficiency of 100 main manufacturers between January 1 and August 31, 2025. The insights reveal that constructing model fairness is multidimensional, requiring manufacturers to typically make tradeoffs to handle pure tensions. For instance, the evaluation confirmed that when the visibility of high-street manufacturers will increase — corresponding to via speedy growth or elevated promotional exercise — prospects’ notion of worth can lower.
Generative engine optimisation (GEO) additionally emerged as a key subject, with the viewers elevating questions round how to guarantee their manufacturers present up when prospects use AI chatbots to uncover and store vogue.
Turning Insight into Action
BoF Insights Brand Pulse is designed to present model leaders with actionable insights that may information resolution making. Each of the 5 Brand Pulse dimensions might be formed in other ways — some shortly, others over time. For instance, Discoverability might be influenced by specializing in rising natural engagement and prioritising GEO, whereas dimensions like Love are constructed over time via fundamentals corresponding to belonging, group and genuine connection.
BoF Insights Brand Pulse acts as each a mirror and a roadmap, serving to leaders perceive not simply how their model is performing, however the place to focus subsequent.