Jennie Roper, Head of Intelligence at WPP Media OOH, explores the importance of AI agents in commerce. She expands on why visibility matters in an AI ranked world, and how OOH is shaping the signals that AI relies on.

Not long ago, choosing what to buy meant comparing options yourself. You searched, scrolled, read reviews and eventually made a decision. Increasingly though, that decision is being delegated. For years, commerce has happened in three places: in stores, at home through ecommerce and increasingly on the move through our phones.

Now a fourth place is starting to appear, AI agents.

This shift is arriving faster than many expect. AI assistants are already embedded into search, operating systems and commerce platforms, subtly transitioning from answering questions to making decisions. As recommendation becomes automation, brands are no longer competing only for consumer attention, but for algorithmic selection.

Ask an AI assistant to book a restaurant, order dinner or recommend the best headphones and it can simply choose for you. This shift changes the path to purchase profoundly. When AI agents make the recommendation, the brands we buy are no longer determined only by what people see or search for, but by what the algorithm already believes is popular, trusted and relevant.

Out of home (OOH) has long been known for capturing attention, both in the real and digital world. A huge OOH campaign is often a public signal of confidence. It proves a brand is serious and successful, building real human trust.

So, if AI agents are becoming the fourth place of commerce, how could OOH help shape the brands they choose?

Why visibility matters in an AI ranked world

To understand how AI might shape commerce, it helps to visualise how one of these decisions could play out.

Imagine you are on the train home after a long day. Instead of opening a delivery app and scrolling through options, you simply say to your phone: “Find me a good pizza for under £20 that can arrive just after I get home.”

Within seconds the AI weighs the options and makes the choice.

Behind the scenes it’s not browsing the way a person would, instead it relies on signals such as search demand, ratings and reviews, relevance, online conversation, and popularity signals. AI rarely discovers brands from scratch and generative search optimisation (GSO) can help ensure those signals are interpretable and actionable for AI, but It’s also far more likely to choose between the brands that already demonstrate visibility, trustworthiness and popularity in the data. So if consumers aren’t searching for your brand, talking about it or interacting with it online, the AI has little reason to recommend it.

In this scenario, imagine the AI recommends Pizza Express. It may not be because you asked for it directly but because the brand already exhibits strength across those signals. People are searching for it, reviews are positive and it features prominently in online conversations about good pizza.

If we take a step back, those signals don’t appear out of nowhere. Think about how many people might have encountered Pizza Express during their day. From posters in a rail station station to those along a busy street on the commute home and everywhere in between.

OOH keeps brands visible in the shared spaces where millions of people move through their day. Some people search the brand later, some mention it to friends, some end up ordering that evening. Collectively, these small actions generate the demand signals that shape which brands appear most visible when an AI agent scans the data to make a recommendation.

How OOH shapes the signals AI relies on

Historically, OOH has excelled at creating shared moments of attention in public spaces. Increasingly, however, its impact extends far beyond these initial encounters. When a campaign captures attention in the right way, it often spills into the digital world.

Take Lynx’s Catnip billboard. By turning a simple poster into a live demonstration that attracted real cats, the OOH campaign became something people stopped, photographed and shared online. It sparked conversation far beyond the site itself, turning a physical moment into a stream of online signals.

As people search, share and talk, they create the data that AI systems learn from. At scale, those behaviours shape which brands appear visible, relevant and trusted when an AI agent is asked to make a recommendation. Put simply, the brands people encounter again and again in the real world are often the ones that appear most familiar to the algorithm.

So as AI becomes the fourth place of commerce, OOH will play a growing role in shaping not just what people see, but what gets chosen. For brands navigating this evolving landscape, understanding OOH's foundational role in building these critical digital signals is no longer an option, but a strategic imperative for algorithmic success. Beyond just inspiring digital shares, OOH can also generate measurable signals through integrated QR codes, localised search activity and by its physical presence subtly reinforcing brand legitimacy and trust for AI agents.