AI discovery is the process by which people find brands, products, and information through AI systems. This new channel behaves unlike traditional search engines or social media, offering recommendations rather than lists. Brands cannot buy placement in AI discovery; they must be found credible, consistent, and relevant by the AI system to be named, consolidating attention on fewer brands.
The first impression for an IPO is no longer a pitch deck, it's a synthesized paragraph generated by AI. This article explains how to optimize your company's digital footprint for ChatGPT and other AI engines to ensure a successful roadshow.
The talent industry is facing a major shift as AI engines begin to dominate the casting process. A new report, the AI Casting Index 2026, reveals that AI prioritizes documented talent over influencers, giving the industry just 18 months to adapt to this new paradigm.
AI is now the first step in casting calls, generating ranked lists of potential campaign faces. A new study, the "AI Casting Index," reveals that AI recommends documented talent due to a "Structure Premium." This means actors and athletes dominate recommendations, while many creators are overlooked because their careers primarily exist within feeds, not documented public records. To adapt, creators must build a verifiable public footprint beyond their content. Brands must also understand the limitations of AI-driven casting.
Twenty years ago we launched Haute Living into the last viable print luxury market in America. Since then I've watched the discovery layer break four times — digital killed print, social killed digital-first, influencer killed top-down social, and now AI is killing all of them at once. Seven months into a shift most PR peers won't name for another year.
The Terakeet investigation into an Epstein-linked engagement opens a rare window into how reputation management really operates — search engineering, content production, and SEO designed to manage visibility rather than address the underlying conduct. What the scandal reveals about the discipline.
Impressions are no longer a credible consumer PR metric. Four measures replaced them: coverage quality, share of conversation, Share of Model, and contribution to demand. Share of Model (SOM) — the percentage of AI-engine answers in a category that name the brand — is the fastest-rising metric in consumer PR.
A consumer PR program is priced as a monthly retainer, driven by four variables: scope, category risk, team seniority, and program goals. This article outlines 2026 retainer benchmarks and explains how to evaluate PR quotes effectively.
A consumer brand is ready for PR when it passes three gates: a real story, a product ready for demand, and at least six months of sustained budget. Failing any gate wastes PR spend because PR compounds over time — it does not produce thirty-day revenue, and it cannot fix a weak product or replace a sales function.
The consumer PR funnel gained a new first stage in 2026: the AI query. Before a shopper reaches search or a store, they ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or Gemini what to buy and receive a shortlist. A brand absent from that shortlist exits the funnel before it formally begins. Earned coverage now serves two functions — it drives human awareness and supplies the source material AI engines use to assemble the shortlist. The AI-First Funnel has four stages: AI query, verification, consideration, and purchase. Effective PR now needs to be structured and written for both human understanding and AI retrieval.