Evertune is the Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) platform that helps brands improve visibility in AI search through actionable insights. As the most cost-effective enterprise GEO platform, Evertune analyzes over 1 million AI responses monthly per brand. Founded by early team members of The Trade Desk, Evertune has raised $19M in funding from leading adtech and martech investors. Headquartered in New York City, the company has a growing team of more than 40 employees.
Evertune's AI Brand Index Holiday 2025 Edition analyzed over 1 million AI responses across six major product categories during the most competitive shopping season of the year. The findings reveal which brands dominated AI recommendations and what this shift means for marketers heading into 2026.
What is the AI Brand Index?
The AI Brand Index measures unaided brand awareness across AI models - essentially tracking how often AI "thinks of" your brand when consumers ask open-ended shopping questions. The AI Brand Index quantifies whether your brand appears in AI answers at all, and if so, where it ranks in those recommendations.
The AI Brand Score weights both frequency (how often a brand appears) and position (where it ranks in responses). A brand mentioned in 40% of responses but consistently appearing first can score higher than a brand mentioned 70% of the time but always ranking last. Evertune developed this metric to provide marketers with a clear benchmark for AI visibility, similar to how market share quantifies traditional competitive position.
Why AI recommendations matter for holiday shopping
Holiday shopping has always been competitive, but 2025 introduced an entirely new battleground. According to recent consumer research, 58% of shoppers now use AI models for product research and recommendations - up dramatically from 25% in 2023.
Traditional marketing channels still matter, but AI search engines have created a new path to purchase where organic visibility depends entirely on what AI models learned during training and live search. Brands that appear in these AI answers gain immediate consideration. Brands that don't might be excluded from a consumer’s consideration set, regardless of their ad spend, retail distribution, or legacy status.
Holiday 2025 winners: Brands that dominated AI recommendations
Across the six categories we analyzed, here are the brands that are winning.
Tesla's EV dominance: Tesla scored 94 out of 100, maintaining a 38-point lead over second-place Hyundai. When consumers asked AI about electric vehicles, Tesla appeared first in the vast majority of responses. This represents the largest competitive gap in any category analyzed, positioning Tesla as synonymous with EVs in AI's understanding.
Apple's smartwatch monopoly: Apple scored 96, with a 19-point lead over Samsung. Budget alternatives like Amazfit and Withings barely registered, suggesting AI has absorbed the cultural narrative that smartwatches equal Apple.
Tiffany's jewelry leadership: Tiffany scored 90, establishing an 11-point gap over Cartier. Decades of cultural presence - from Breakfast at Tiffany's to engagement ring defaults - translated directly into AI visibility. When AI thinks "fine jewelry," it thinks Tiffany first.
Gaming's Big Three: Sony (85), Nintendo (82), and Microsoft (77) maintained remarkably close scores, but after Microsoft, there was a 35-point cliff to any other brand. AI essentially stopped recommending gaming consoles outside this trio.
Airlines' reputation divide: Southwest and Delta tied at 86, but for completely different reasons. Southwest built AI visibility through decades of "bags fly free" consumer-friendly messaging, while Delta earned it through premium positioning and operational reliability. The gap between them and American Airlines (43) reveals how deeply customer experience narratives have penetrated AI training data.
CRM's content marketing advantage: Salesforce (92) maintained a narrow lead over HubSpot (85), but HubSpot's decade of content marketing and inbound methodology created the tightest competitive race at the top of any category. This 7-point gap demonstrates how sustained educational content can challenge even category pioneers.
Three patterns that define AI visibility success
Cultural narrative trumps market fundamentals: Mejuri (AI Brand Score: 46) nearly matches heritage jewelry houses Bulgari (48) and Harry Winston (43) despite being only 10 years old. Rivian (54) ties with Hyundai (56) in EV recommendations despite delivering a fraction of the vehicles. Strong editorial presence, cultural buzz, and clear brand positioning matter more than revenue, retail footprint, or manufacturing scale.
Niche excellence beats generic scale: Garmin (74) essentially ties Samsung (77) in smartwatch visibility despite targeting a much narrower audience of serious athletes. Alaska Airlines (66) outranks American Airlines (43) through intense regional loyalty. Zoho (71) sits firmly in the top three CRMs despite most consumers never hearing the name. Owning a specific narrative - "serious fitness tracking," "West Coast reliability," "affordable CRM alternative" - can compete with mass-market dominance.
Legacy status creates vulnerability: Traditional leaders struggled across categories. Nissan pioneered mass-market EVs but scores just 29. Fossil has watchmaking credibility but scores 30 in smartwatches. Oracle and SAP dominate enterprise CRM but barely register in AI recommendations. Early innovation or historical market leadership don't automatically transfer to AI visibility without sustained narrative-building and modern positioning.
What this means for your 2026 marketing strategy
The holiday 2025 data makes one reality clear: AI search optimization has moved from experimental to essential. Brands that appeared in AI recommendations during peak shopping season captured consideration at the exact moment consumers were making purchasing decisions. Brands that didn't lost opportunities regardless of their advertising spend or promotional strategy.
For marketing leaders building 2026 budgets, three actions matter:
- Establish your baseline AI Brand Score to understand your current competitive position before AI visibility gaps widen further. Benchmark against direct competitors to identify whether you're winning, losing, or stuck in the dangerous middle tier where you're mentioned occasionally but never top-of-mind.
- Develop category-specific content strategies that address the exact questions consumers ask AI models. These differ from traditional SEO keywords. Consumers ask AI conversational questions like "What's a reliable and fun electric vehicle?" rather than searching "best EVs 2026." Your content needs to answer the questions AI models encounter, not just rank for search terms.
- Track AI visibility changes quarterly as AI models evolve constantly through retraining and updates. A strong position today can erode quickly if competitors invest in GEO while you remain static.
Ready to learn more about your brand's AI visibility? Evertune's AI Brand Index provides the competitive benchmarking and strategic insights you need to win in AI search. Explore how Evertune tracks your brand across all major AI models and identifies the specific content opportunities that drive visibility improvements. Book a demo to see your AI Brand Score.
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