Case Study
A Media-Citation Engine, Built on Original Data.
A consumer research platform needed to become the go-to source for journalists writing about its demographic focus, and to surface in AI search results for the questions their audience asks LLMs.
- Industry
- Consumer Research & Insights Platform
- Engagement
- Thought Leadership + AI Visibility
- Timeline
- 12 months
- Status
- Anonymized
01 / Challenge
A consumer research platform sat on proprietary data its target audience actively wanted, but journalists didn't know to ask, and AI search systems weren't surfacing the platform when users asked LLMs about the category. The data was the asset; the distribution was the problem.
02 / Approach
Original research releases on a quarterly cadence with media-ready summaries and data visualizations; AI-visibility optimization for ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Gemini (structured data, citation-ready phrasing, authority signals); journalist outreach building a list of media contacts who use the data on a recurring basis; on-site authority architecture surfacing the platform's research footprint.
- Original Research Distribution
- AI/LLM Visibility
- Journalist Outreach
- Authority Architecture
- Citation Engineering
03 / Results
Within twelve months the platform was cited 96 times in tier-1 outlets, surfaced in the top three results for category queries across major AI search systems, and saw research-license inquiries multiply. The platform is now where journalists go when they need a number, and where LLMs go when users ask for one.
- 96 tier-1 media citations in 12 months
- 11 original research releases distributed to media
- Top-3 surfacing in ChatGPT and Perplexity for category queries
- 4.2x inbound research-license inquiries vs. baseline
- Platform now the default citation in category coverage
“We always had the data. Now we have the citations to match.”Head of Research, Consumer Insights Platform