The Japan Times - Assembly Rolls out Stagwell Search+ Across APAC as AI Reshapes Brand Discovery

HONG KONG, HK / ACCESS Newswire / May 14, 2026 / As search becomes increasingly AI-led and zero-click, brands need new strategies to shape how they appear in answers, not just in links. APAC has emerged as a global leader in AI Search adoption, with 78% of users reporting weekly usage. Increasingly, AI Search Experiences shape brand discovery and consideration before users ever visit a website.

In response, global omnichannel media agency Assembly today announced the rollout of Stagwell Search+ in APAC - a new system designed to help brands understand and influence how they are represented across AI-driven search environments.

The launch marks a fundamental shift away from treating search as a standalone channel. Instead, Stagwell Search+ operates across a full ecosystem of paid, owned, earned, and shared media, where AI-generated answers determine visibility and performance. This shift is especially complex in APAC, where a fragmented landscape of large language models, spanning multiple languages and cultural contexts, creates inconsistent brand visibility. A brand may appear authoritative in one model while remaining invisible or misrepresented in another, introducing a new and largely unmeasured risk for marketers.

Built by Assembly in partnership with emberos, Stagwell Search+ is powered by the industry's first agentic operating system for AI search. The platform continuously monitors how brands appear across models and languages and orchestrates & measures the lift from actions across content, media, and digital channels to improve visibility. Rather than automating changes directly into platforms, the system is designed to guide human decision-making with AI agents - helping teams take precise, strategic action while protecting the quality and integrity of brand experiences.

Stagwell Search+ is currently integrated with leading global models from OpenAI, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok, and Anthropic with additional integrations across regional platforms such as DeepSeek planned for later this year.

"AI is already making brand decisions without marketers in the room - and in APAC, that challenge is amplified by language and cultural complexity," said Yi En Chye, VP of Experience and Activation, APAC. "Success is no longer defined by rankings or clicks, but by a brand's ability to secure share of prompt. Stagwell Search+ gives brands the visibility and control they need to compete in this new environment."

ABOUT ASSEMBLY

Assembly is a global omnichannel agency built for brands that want a more modern approach to building brands that perform. Backed by the Stagwell network, we are a literal assembly of data, talent, and technology built to unlock smarter, faster, and better-performing outcomes from the bottom up -not the top down. Curious, collaborative, and driven by change, we are an agency of builders who believe the better the experience, the better the performance. We don't see brand and performance as an either/or. For us, it's always both. The +\ symbol in our logo, known as the ORAD, represents this mindset. It's a mark of how we think, how we build, and how we deliver results across the full funnel. Assembly's foundation is built on three core elements: our purpose-built STAGE Experience Engine, the strategic product it powers-Brand Performance Planning (BPP) - and an organizational design built for speed, depth, and the demands of modern marketing. Together, they enable us to build better brand experiences that reimagine how brands connect, engage, and grow across data, tech, media, creative and commerce. With over 3,000 experts in 44 offices worldwide, Assembly delivers full-funnel solutions that help the world's most ambitious brands perform. Learn more at assemblyglobal.com.

ABOUT STAGWELL

Stagwell is the global challenger network transforming marketing through AI. We deliver scaled creative performance for the world's most ambitious brands, connecting culture-moving creativity with leading-edge technology to harmonize the art and science of marketing. Led by entrepreneurs, our specialists in 45+ countries are unified under a single purpose: to drive effectiveness and improve business results for our clients. Join us at www.stagwellglobal.com.

MEDIA CONTACT

Kelvin Lee
Marketing Director, APAC
[email protected]

SOURCE: Assembly

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

S.Yamada--JT