Avenue Z, the hybrid agency pioneering AI Search Optimization (AEO), has been selected to co-lead a featured workshop at SXSW 2026 with Profound, the marketing platform built for the era of AI Search.
The interactive session, “Conversation Culture: A Live AEO / AI Search Audit for Brands,” will debut the industry’s first live AEO Brand Audit, showing in real time how generative answer engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity interpret and recommend brands.
Co-led by Tina Fleming, Avenue Z’s VP of AI Strategy, and Nick Lafferty, Head of Growth Marketing at Profound, the featured workshop will equip marketers and communicators with tools to evaluate brand discoverability, authority signals, and perception inside AI-native environments as AI-driven search reshapes buying decisions.
The session also marks the official debut of Profound’s proprietary AEO Audit technology, integrated with Avenue Z’s end-to-end AI Search Optimization solution – pairing Profound’s data infrastructure with Avenue Z’s PR, performance media, content, and technical optimization to deliver measurable impact in weeks, not months.
“AI Search is the biggest platform shift in the history of marketing, said James Cadwallader, Co-founder and CEO of Profound. “As AI Agents act for consumers, brands need their own Agents influencing how they’re understood and recommended.”
This SXSW selection caps a milestone year for Avenue Z, which was recently named to ADWEEK’s 2026 AI Power 50 for developing the industry’s first comprehensive AEO solution for brands.
As Avenue Z CEO Jeffrey Herzog notes, the firm was built to lead clients at the intersection of Search and AI, and partnering with Profound to launch this breakthrough technology at SXSW reinforces that mission, giving brands the power to shape how they’re understood and recommended in AI-powered environments.
If you’d like to attend the interactive workshop, registration is now open to SXSW Innovation Conference attendees here.
Read the full press release here.
Optimize Your Brand’s Visibility in AI Search
Millions turn to AI platforms daily to discover and decide. Make sure they find your brand.
