Reputation impacts your bottom line, AI determines how much.

Marketing budgets have long been dominated by advertising spend, digital channels, and campaign performance. According to South Africa’s top-ranked public relations (PR) agency, PR Worx, the real question is not where companies spend their money, but what they’re investing in.

“Advertising rents attention. Public relations buys the building,” says Madelain Roscher, CEO of PR Worx. “Advertising can put your message in front of millions of people almost instantly, but the moment the campaign ends and the budget disappears, so does the bought visibility. The rental agreement expires.”

Public relations, she argues, works differently. Every independent news article, media interview, executive profile, industry award, conference presentation and third party endorsement becomes part of a company’s permanent reputation. These are not simply communications outputs. They are business assets that continue working long after they are published.

It is a lesson South African business can ill afford to ignore. Analysis of JSE data reported by Moneyweb shows that intangible assets – the category that includes brand and reputation – have fallen from 27% to around 19% of market capitalisation over the past four years, with the Chartered Institute of Business Accountants warning that South Africa’s intangible asset values have flatlined at 2005 levels.

“While the world’s most valuable companies are built on reputation and trust, South African companies are letting that value slip,” says Roscher. “Reputation is the one asset every business can build, regardless of size, and too many are leaving it unattended.”

The stakes are rising because artificial intelligence (AI) has fundamentally changed how people discover information. Prophet’s 2026 research shows consumer use of generative AI has surged from 45% to 73% in just two years. Increasingly, customers are asking AI platforms which company to trust, which service provider to choose, and which expert to believe.

“AI is not reading your advertising campaign. It is reading the independent evidence that exists about your business,” says Roscher. “It reads credible journalism. It analyses executive thought leadership. It references industry publications, awards, expert commentary and authoritative sources. It looks for signals that other credible organisations have already validated your expertise.

“In other words, AI behaves remarkably like a journalist. It doesn’t simply repeat what you say about yourself. It evaluates what respected third parties say about you.”

Roscher believes this changes the commercial value of public relations completely. A company that has spent years investing in earned media isn’t starting from scratch every morning. It has built a library of credibility. Every article strengthens that library. Every executive interview adds another reference point. Every independent endorsement becomes another piece of evidence supporting the organisation’s authority.

Unlike advertising, those assets continue to work. A feature published three years ago can still influence how AI understands a company today. An executive interview from last year may still be referenced when someone asks AI about leaders in an industry. A well earned industry award continues to reinforce trust long after the trophy has been placed on the office shelf.

Roscher adds that this does not mean advertising has become replaceable. The strongest brands understand that paid, owned and earned media each play different roles: advertising creates immediate visibility, while public relations creates lasting credibility and AI search results.

“The organisations leading tomorrow won’t choose one over the other. They’ll understand that the real opportunity lies in building reputation that outlives every campaign.”

For boardrooms, she says, this requires a different conversation.

“The question is no longer, how many people saw our advert? The better question is, what evidence exists that proves we deserve to be chosen? In an AI driven world, credibility is no longer just influencing people. It is influencing the technology millions of people rely on to make business decisions every single day.

“Reputations are now read by machines and believed by millions. Start building yours today, because the next time a customer asks AI who to trust, the answer will already have been written.”