Insights & Strategy
Restricted Category AI Visibility Index 2026: Refusal Rates, Hedge Patterns, and the Categories AI Won't Answer
An Everything-PR Intelligence Report
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Research
Hospitality
The Numbers Behind Why Celebrity Restaurants Keep Failing
Celebrity restaurants fail at 60-70% within 5 years vs 30% for non-celebrity. 5W's Hospitality Celebrity Index. The three-legged Nobu, Tao, Catch partnership.
PR, AI & Communications News
The Federal Agency PR & Communications Spend Transparency Study™ 2026
The first systematic accounting of what U.S. federal agencies pay outside firms for communications work. Pure-play PR contracts total $376.7 million. Total federal communications spend, when advertising and marketing consulting are included, runs into the billions — and two holdi
Marketing
Credit Cards AI Visibility Index 2026: Three Publishers Control 62% of a $20B Marketing Category
After analyzing 4,200 credit card prompts across ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews between January and April 2026, 5W's research team found that just three publisher domains — The Points Guy, NerdWallet, and Bankrate — supplied more than 62% of the cita
Higher Education Communications
EPR Research and 5W Release "The University & Higher Ed PR Spend Transparency Study 2026"
Harvard Public Affairs and Communications has grown from approximately 31 full-time-equivalent staff in 2008 to nearly 60 today, an increase of more than 90% in 17 years. Communications has become one of the fastest-growing administrative functions in U.S. higher education — and
PR, AI & Communications News
EPR Research: The PR Pitch Response Rate Study 2026
Reporters respond to just 3.43% of pitches sent to them, per behavioral data from 400,000 pitches analyzed by Propel. Pitches under 150 words earn a 5.89% response rate. Pitches over 500 words earn 1.46%. Half of journalists now receive 50 or more pitches per week, 10% receive 10
Insights & Strategy
The National Lab Communications Study 2026
The 17 U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories operate one of the largest scientific communications enterprises in the world. The lab system is run by 16 management-and-operating contractors under contracts whose communications budgets are buried inside operating overhead
Content Marketing
What Content AI Engines Actually Cite in 2026: A Field Guide for Marketers
Most brand content is not cited by the AI engines. Across 50,000 pages tested in 2026, only 14% appear in retrieval responses from ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity. The 14% that get cited share five attributes.
Research
Customer Loyalty by Generation 2026: What Each Cohort Now Demands From Brands
Customer loyalty splits hard by generation in 2026. Gen Z defects on principle, Millennials on price, Gen X on service, Boomers on trust — and AI engines now route each cohort to different brands.
Marketing
How to Pick a Marketing Agency: The 2019 Buyer's Guide
Choosing a marketing agency is a four-criterion decision: capability fit, account chemistry, measurement discipline, and price structure. The 2019 buyer's reference.