Tag

marketing'

The State of AI Regulation for Brands: May 2026

American AI regulation is fragmenting, not consolidating. Brands face a complex compliance landscape with the EU AI Act, a patchwork of state laws, and federal preemption efforts. The 2026 midterms will accelerate, not resolve, this fragmentation. This article outlines the operating picture for brands to govern marketing, communications, and AI deployment through 2026, focusing on key deadlines, state-specific legislation, and enforcement trends from the FTC and state Attorneys General.

EPR Editorial Team · May 14, 2026

Beauty

How Beauty Brands Get Inside the AI Answer Box

What beauty brands compete for now, how the competition is structured, and how the leaders build authority signals AI engines weight. Five layers of the AI Beauty Authority Stack — entity to amplification.

EPR Editorial Team · May 14, 2026

Beauty

Why EltaMD Became the Default Dermatologist Sunscreen: A Case Study in Clinical Authority and Editorial Compounding

EltaMD is the case study in beauty brand authority — built on two decades of dermatologist recommendation, editorial validation, and clinical positioning. The same signals that drove in-office credibility now drive the synthesis layer. Why the moat is hard to replicate quickly.

EPR Editorial Team · May 13, 2026

AI Communications

AI-Generated Ads: The Disclosure Crisis Coming in 2027

By the second quarter of 2027, advertisers in major jurisdictions will be required to disclose AI-generated content in their ad creative. The brands using AI tools today have no disclosure framework. The crisis is already on the calendar.

EPR Editorial Team · May 13, 2026

AdTech & MarTech

Retail Media Networks Are a $140 Billion PR Vacuum

Retail media projects to $140B globally by 2027. Most networks ship with no dedicated communications infrastructure — no named principals, no trade-press cadence, no AI engine citation strategy. The PR vacuum is the early-mover lane to shape the category narrative.

EPR Editorial Team · May 13, 2026

AdTech & MarTech

The AdTech Reset: Why the Middle of the Stack Died, Not the Cookie

The AdTech reset saw the middle of the stack collapse, taking $40 billion in spend. The cookie isn't dead; the independent middle of the AdTech stack is. This structural shift, accelerated by third-party identifier wobble, led to consolidation and migration of programmatic spend to fewer survivors. The article details what died, what survived and gained (walled gardens, retail media networks, identity layer), and implications for AdTech communications, highlighting the 18-month window to redefine or be acquired.

EPR Editorial Team · May 13, 2026

Cannabis

Cannabis AI Search Visibility: The 2026 Playbook

How cannabis brands build visibility across AI search systems — why the category is uniquely challenging for AI retrieval, the role of Reddit and trade press, compliance considerations, and the disciplines that work.

EPR Editorial Team · May 13, 2026

PR, AI & Communications News

The Billion-Dollar Bailout: A Running Tracker of Every Publisher AI Licensing Deal — Who Took the Money, Who's Holding Out, and What the Terms Actually Are

From News Corp's $250 million to Reddit's $60 million-a-year API license, the publisher response to AI has produced a new ecosystem of deals worth nearly $2 billion in committed value. A complete accounting of the new content economy.

EPR Editorial Team · May 12, 2026

Insights & Strategy

Daily AI Use Is Now the Strongest Predictor of Consumer Optimism in America — Stronger Than Party, Race, Gender, or Age

Daily AI use is now the strongest predictor of consumer optimism in America, stronger than party, race, gender, or age. This behavioral shift, driven by a new "AI Power User" cohort, is rapidly changing consumer research, marketing funnels, and brand visibility, with implications for businesses and communications.

EPR Editorial Team · May 12, 2026

AdTech & MarTech

The Operating System for Modern Marketing: Inside Zeta Global's AI Surge

The company turning AI from a marketing buzzword into a billion-dollar revenue engine. Zeta Global has spent the AI era building, shipping, and beating guidance for seventeen straight quarters.

EPR Editorial Team · May 12, 2026