Havas Red launches EchoWeave as brands race to win AI visibility

Havas Red has launched a new global capability aimed at helping brands navigate the fast-emerging world of AI-driven search, as marketers race to understand how they are represented across large language models.

The new offering, EchoWeave, has been spearheaded out of Australia and the UK following six months of development, marking what the agency sees as a fundamental shift in how brand visibility is built.

As generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and Copilot increasingly double as search engines, Havas Red is positioning generative engine optimisation (GEO) as the next battleground for marketers.

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“Large language models are redefining brand discovery,” Steve Fontanot, commercial managing director, APAC at Havas Red, said. 

EchoWeave is designed to help brands track, measure and influence how they appear across different AI platforms, including how often they are cited, which sources models rely on and where gaps exist in their visibility.

The platform also enables brands to compare their presence against competitors across multiple AI environments, as well as evaluate whether their existing content is optimised for AI-driven discovery.

The move comes as interest in GEO accelerates rapidly, with estimates suggesting the market could exceed $1 billion and grow at more than 30% annually.

Fontanot said the scale of that growth is already being reflected in client demand.

“Every client we have presented this to over the past few months is in,” he said.

While some of that investment may be new, he acknowledged much of it is likely being reallocated from existing areas such as SEO, paid media and brand tracking. But rather than replacing those disciplines, GEO is emerging as an additional layer.

“It’s not about replacing SEO or paid media - it works alongside them,” Fontanot said.

What is becoming clear, however, is that visibility in AI search behaves very differently to traditional channels.

“The way you show up in LLM search is unique to each model, whether that’s Google, DeepSeek or Perplexity,” he said.

That fragmentation is forcing brands to rethink how they approach visibility, particularly as AI-generated answers become a primary source of information for consumers. One of the more surprising insights to emerge is the importance of earned media.

“On average, 82% of LLM citations come from earned media sources,” Fontanot said.

“That makes communications and PR more critical than ever in shaping how brands are understood by AI.”

Internally, responsibility for AI visibility is still evolving. Fontanot said ownership varies across organisations, with communications teams, CMOs and increasingly senior leadership all becoming involved.

“In some organisations it sits with comms, in others with marketing, and in some cases it’s being driven at a senior level because of the potential for immediate impact to revenue,” he said.

“Organisations need to get across this really quickly.”

The launch of EchoWeave reflects a broader shift within Havas Red’s merged media model, which integrates earned, social, influencer and experiential capabilities.

As AI continues to reshape how people search, compare and make decisions, the agency is betting that understanding - and influencing - how brands appear in machine-generated answers will become a core part of marketing strategy.

“Generative AI is reshaping how people search, compare and make decisions, and no brand can afford to leave its visibility up to algorithms,” said James Wright, Global CEO, Havas Red.

“With EchoWeave, we are giving clients the ability to understand and strengthen how AI systems present their brand. This marks a fundamental evolution in how earned influence is built.”

The global launch of EchoWeave will be led by three senior executives Will Turner (pictured left) as senior digital manager, Steve Fontanot as commercial managing director for the APAC region and Elizabeth English as client services director.

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