At the heart of every brand is something just as valuable as its products or services—it’s the relationship it cultivates with its audience. It stems from a brand’s promise to deliver value, whether through information, inspiration, entertainment, or utility. This value exchange is the lifeblood that powers a brand, driving loyalty, advocacy, and ultimately growth. In our work, this is where we focus our attention.  

Now, with artificial intelligence rapidly transforming the way we work and connect with each other, a new dimension has emerged in how we evaluate the brand-audience relationship. 

AI is no longer a distant, futuristic concept; it’s a powerful tool that is reshaping content creation, audience engagement, and the way organizations operate. From the powerful chatbots that can produce personalized content in an instant to the predictive analytics models that can anticipate audience preferences and behaviors, AI is revolutionizing the way brands can show their value and in turn create those lasting relationships they need to survive.     

This rapid advancement has left many organizations struggling with how to effectively integrate this transformative technology into their operations. A 2022 study by Deloitte underscores the magnitude of this challenge, revealing that while 72% of companies recognize the importance of AI, only 31% of companies feel adequately prepared to effectively integrate it into their everyday workflows. 

This disparity between companies’ excitement to utilize AI and their AI strategies highlights a critical gap. The stakes for addressing this AI readiness gap are high. By some estimates, companies are expected to invest $307 billion in AI software by 2027. 

Given this seismic shift, the questions that brand leaders must ask themselves are: How do we ensure that we’re investing in AI wisely? And how can we do so in ways that encourage and support our workforce and grow a loyal audience?

AI-powered audience engagement

To address the shift in how brand strategists and creatives work and ultimately design ways to engage with their audiences, we developed AI Quotient, or AIQ. This is an assessment based on our proprietary Audience Quotient ®, a diagnostic that evaluates brands across five pillars and provides them with a roadmap to effectively attract and engage loyal audiences. 

Similarly, with AIQ, we are committed to helping brands build a loyal community that strengthens their business—because the rules of engagement are rapidly evolving. Organizations can no longer rely on traditional metrics like traffic from organic search to measure their community’s strength and reach as these metrics are set to be dramatically transformed as more people begin to use large language models (LLMs) instead of traditional search engines for information. This paradigm shift necessitates a reassessment of engagement strategies.

AIQ specifically evaluates how effectively an organization is positioned to leverage AI to attract and engage audiences amid these seismic changes. We utilize our proprietary methodology, which includes both qualitative and quantitative research.

The outcome is a diagnostic report of the current status and a set of clear, actionable recommendations. These insights empower an organization’s marketing and communications teams to work faster and smarter, all in service of unlocking business growth through the practical application of AI.

Our unique approach 

To do this, we use what we call a journalistic approach. (After all, a third of our staff is made up of former journalists!) This means in everything we do—from our branding and design work to our AIQ—we are guided by the same open-mindedness, curiosity, and commitment to uncovering the truth as a journalist is when they’re chasing a story.