🔍 TOP OF MIND: The Old PR Playbook Is Broken

Let's be direct: the classic PR and Communications playbook is no longer fit for purpose. 

We've entered a new era of risk where interconnected volatility is the norm. Business leaders are now navigating a landscape where a single geopolitical event can trigger a supply chain crisis, hot-button social issues like DEI and ESG have become intensely politicized, and emerging technologies like Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) are rewriting the rules of brand visibility.

In this environment, relying on static risk assessments and siloed reviews isn't just outdated: it's a direct threat to your bottom line and reputation. 

So, how do you protect your corporate narrative when the ground is constantly shifting beneath your feet? It starts with understanding the new, interconnected nature of risk and building a strategy that can adapt in real time.

Get the full analysis in our latest report: The Biggest Corporate Reputation Challenges of 2025 →

By the Numbers:

• The New Search Landscape: According to research from Advanced Web Ranking, AI Overviews are now appearing in 42.5% of search results, fundamentally changing how audiences find information and putting new pressure on brand visibility.
• The High Cost of Failure: For consumer-facing sectors, operational failures have become a primary source of reputational damage, with an alarming 47% of product incidents rated as "Very High" impact4.
• The Intelligence You Can Trust: While new channels like generative search are inherently probabilistic, Signal AI's Ask AIQ provides answers you can stand behind, with a 95% citation accuracy rate for every insight.

💡 WORTH KNOWING

FROM THE EXPERTS: What Is GEO, and Why Does It Matter for Reputation?

There's a new acronym buzzing in the communications world: GEO, or Generative Engine Optimization. As AI chatbots and generative search engines reshape how people consume information, GEO is the emerging practice of optimizing your content to be discovered, understood, and accurately represented by these new platforms.

But this new channel presents significant challenges:

• The "Probability" Problem: LLMs are inherently inconsistent. The same question asked twice can yield different answers, making it difficult to control your brand's narrative.
• The Content Ingestion Challenge: Generalist AI tools often cite community-led forums like Wikipedia and Reddit, where information can be unverified. This is a stark contrast to enterprise-grade tools built on licensed, trusted content.
• The Measurement Dilemma: The GEO market is still nascent, which means measuring success and ROI remains difficult. Anyone promising a quick fix is likely oversimplifying the challenge.

The solution? A balanced approach. Focus on creating high-quality, authoritative content, prioritizing the right owned and earned channels, and continuing to monitor broadcast, print, and digital media to get a complete picture of your reputation.

Learn more about GEO →

3 Key Takeaways from Exec Connect Boston

Our recent event in Boston brought senior communications leaders together to discuss the industry's most pressing challenges. Three critical themes emerged:

1. Internal Communications Is the Foundation: In today's polarized environment, clear and consistent internal communications are more valuable than ever. When words like DEI and ESG become politicized, unifying the employee experience through transparent dialogue is the best way to stay neutral and true to your brand values.
2. Crisis Frameworks Are Non-Negotiable: Trusting your gut isn't enough. Successful crisis management requires structured preparation, including a clear protocol for decision-making, a playbook for potential scenarios, and an established internal process that is socialized across the organization.
3. AI Is Reshaping Media Relations: GEO is driving a renewed focus on earned media, particularly in local and niche publications that are often sourced by LLMs. Practically, leaders are also using AI to streamline content review and governance, especially for global companies managing multiple communications streams.

Read the key takeaways →

⚡ WHAT’S NEW?

Signal AI Secures $165M Investment Led by Battery Ventures

We are thrilled to announce that Signal AI has secured a $165 million investment round led by the global technology investment firm, Battery Ventures. This landmark partnership will accelerate our mission to redefine risk and reputation intelligence in an era of interconnected volatility. The funding will fuel our AI development, expand our global footprint, and enable strategic acquisitions to deliver even deeper, more predictive insights to help you get ahead of what's next.

Read the full announcement →

Introducing New Features for Ask AIQ

Slow intelligence isn't intelligence; it's history. That's why we're excited to announce four new features for Ask AIQ, our conversational AI agent, designed to provide instant, trusted, and actionable intelligence.

• Mobile App (BETA): Get instant risk and reputation intelligence in the palm of your hand. Ask questions in plain language and get live answers, anytime, anywhere.
• Schedule Ahead (BETA): Automate your insights. Schedule warnings, trends, and briefings ahead of time so the intelligence you need is waiting for you.
• Flexible Research (BETA): Let AIQ perform deep, flexible research, exploring different perspectives and new avenues to provide a more comprehensive response to your hardest questions.
• Briefings (BETA): Access instant, comprehensive reputation risk reports built by expert analysts and powered by AI, which you can refresh with live data at any time.

Explore the new features →

Navigating Today's Top Reputation Challenges

Hear from Dana Bolden, Chief Communications Officer at Colgate-Palmolive, as he explores exclusive insights from our latest report on the biggest corporate reputation challenges of 2025.

Watch the webinar →

How L&G Delivers Board-Ready Reputation Reporting

L&G, a FTSE 100 company, needed to demonstrate Communications' impact on business objectives and maintain consistency in reporting to its Executive Committee. By partnering with Signal AI, Edyta Borowy, Group Corporate Reputation and Insights Manager, has streamlined their quarterly reputation reviews to the Group Management team.

The impact includes:

• Navigating Leadership Transitions: Edyta leveraged media intelligence to proactively manage reputational risks during a CEO transition, supporting the company's new strategic direction.
• Looking Around Corners: In-depth competitor cohort analysis helps the L&G team report on trends, reputational risks impacting competitors, and changes in the broader industry.
• Aligning Measurement: The partnership created a single source of truth for data, aligning measurement across Corporate Affairs, PR, Reputation Risk, and Investor Relations.

"Thanks to our ‘always on’ Signal AI’s Dashboards, I can track all individual KPIs and events on a daily basis and then work with the Signal AI analysts who help me to verify, organise and scrutinise large volumes of AI-organised data into human-enriched reports.” - Edyta Borowy, L&G

Read the full case study →

Subscribe to Signal AI's newsletter to stay ahead of trust and reputation measurement trends. Join our community of forward-thinking communications professionals navigating the evolving landscape of stakeholder trust in the AI era.

Signal AI is the leading AI-powered reputation and risk intelligence company, transforming global data into actionable intelligence. Trusted by the Fortune 500, including Deloitte, Bank of America, and Google, we revolutionize how organizations understand and act on reputation and risk. Our unique fusion of discriminative and generative AI helps over 650 global customers uncover market trends, quantify reputation drivers, and make confident decisions that drive business performance.