Vested, a leading marketing and communications agency specializing in financial services, has announced a strategic partnership with Scrunch AI, a pioneering platform that helps businesses monitor, analyze, and optimize their brand presence on AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Meta AI. As AI increasingly influences how consumers seek advice and recommendations, this partnership is designed to ensure financial brands maintain maximum visibility and authority in the rapidly evolving AI-driven search landscape.
This collaboration builds upon Vested’s internal AI incubator, VestTech, which researches, develops, and evaluates emerging AI tools. Among many platforms vetted, Scrunch AI stood out as a clear fit to advance client goals in AI visibility, semantic clarity, and content structuring. Binna Kim, Group CEO of Vested, emphasizes that AI is revolutionizing how consumers discover, evaluate, and purchase financial services. The landscape now extends beyond traditional keyword-based Google search rankings to include AI platforms processing millions of user questions daily. Through this partnership, Vested aims to help financial brands become the trusted sources that AI platforms cite and prioritize.
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Chris Andrew, CEO and co-founder of Scrunch AI, highlighted the shifting dynamics by noting that while traditional websites will remain, up to 90% of their human traffic could diminish as AI agents assume gatekeeping roles in delivering information. Together, Vested and Scrunch AI are focused on helping financial institutions stand out and earn trust in this new era of AI-driven search.
The rise of AI-led discovery is reshaping online search, particularly in regulated sectors like finance where trust is paramount. AI-generated summaries and overviews are progressively replacing traditional link-based results, posing a risk of invisibility for brands that do not optimize their content for AI engines. Vested’s approach centers on Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), which involves creating structured, expert-led content specifically designed to align with how AI platforms source and display information.
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Together, Vested and Scrunch AI will offer a comprehensive suite of services including insightful research and thought leadership through webinars and exclusive events, AI search audits to evaluate brand appearances on AI platforms, development of schema and structured content to increase AI citations, digital reputation building via PR and expert content, and ongoing monitoring to address misinformation.
Recently, Scrunch AI secured $15 million in Series A funding to build the infrastructure for AI-native marketing and customer experience platforms, underscoring the growing importance of AI presence in shaping the future of marketing for financial services.
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