Happy Thursday, team!

We are rolling through the week, and the SourceCode crew is busy showing the industry how it’s done. Our very own Meghan Matheny just dropped a must-read thought leadership program checklist to help brands build programs that actually drive business impact. If you want to make sure your executive positioning is tight and aligned for the rest of the year, make sure to check out Meghan’s post here.

Speaking of building authority, this week’s newsletter tackles a massive shift in how brands actually get discovered now that algorithms are doing the reading for your customers. We dive straight into why trade media and a layered strategy are essential for winning the AI answer in B2B comms, how creators are becoming a brand’s newest ranking signal in conversational search, and the framework behind why AI recommends some brands while completely ignoring others. Plus, we look at how Liquid Death turned AI’s massive data center water problem into an irreverent stunt that hijacked the environmental conversation.

Let’s get into it.

Becky and Greg

Building a media strategy for an AI-first audience

Why trade media and a layered strategy are essential for winning the AI answer in B2B comms

TL;DR: With B2B buyers increasingly turning to generative AI and conversational search during the decision-making process, AI models have effectively become a brand’s first audience. To surface in these AI search summaries, PR strategies must shift toward securing authoritative earned media in trade and vertical publications, where AI systems primarily source their content validation.

Takeaway: While tier-one coverage remains the holy grail for broad brand awareness and executive authority, AI models lean heavily on third-party subject matter expertise found within niche trade outlets. Earned media accounts for the vast majority of AI citations, making trade coverage a critical driver of AI discoverability rather than just a secondary PR goal. Communications leaders need to adopt a layered media strategy that maps media channels directly to specific business outcomes—balancing executive reputation, buyer influence, and AI search presence—to ensure their brand makes the shortlist before a human ever sees a pitch.

Consider:

• For marketers, have you audited your media mix to ensure your brand maintains enough technical depth in vertical publications to trigger AI recommendations?
• For communications leaders, how are you mapping your media strategy to specific business outcomes like AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) versus high-level executive positioning?

Creators are becoming a ranking signal in AI search

Brands are bringing creators into their AI search strategies to shape what gets recommended

https://digiday.com/marketing/creators-are-moving-into-brands-ai-search-playbooks

TL;DR:

Brands are folding creators into their AI search strategies as a way to improve how they appear in AI-powered search results. The logic is that creator content can influence what AI systems surface when users ask for recommendations. This represents a shift in how influencer partnerships are being justified and measured.

Takeaway:

For years, creator partnerships were evaluated on reach, engagement, and conversion. Now there is a new dimension: whether creator content shapes what AI systems learn and repeat about a brand. That changes the brief, the selection criteria, and potentially the measurement framework for influencer programs. Communications leaders should recognize that earned and owned content strategies are no longer separate from search strategy. If AI systems are drawing on the broader content ecosystem to form recommendations, then credible third-party voices saying the right things in the right places becomes a structural communications question, not just a marketing one.

Consider:

• For marketers, does your current creator brief account for AI search visibility, and if not, what would need to change about how you select and deploy creator partnerships?
• For communications leaders, how are you thinking about the relationship between earned media coverage, creator content, and AI recommendation systems as they increasingly overlap?

AI recommends some brands and ignores others. Here is why.

A framework called decision coverage may explain why your brand shows up in AI results or disappears from them

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/decision-coverage-why-ai-recommends-some-brands-and-not-others/583028

TL;DR:

The concept of decision coverage offers an explanation for why AI systems recommend certain brands over others. How marketers structure their content and overall digital presence appears to influence whether AI includes a brand when generating recommendations for users.

Takeaway:

Traditional SEO taught marketers to think about keyword relevance and link authority. Decision coverage suggests the frame is shifting toward something closer to comprehensiveness and clarity of signal. If AI systems are assessing whether a brand can be confidently recommended across a range of decision contexts, then gaps in content, inconsistencies in positioning, and thin coverage of specific use cases become competitive liabilities. Communications leaders should read this as a reminder that brand clarity is not just a creative concern. How a brand is described, contextualized, and represented across the content ecosystem now has implications for whether it gets surfaced at all.

Consider:

• For marketers, have you audited your content against the decision contexts your customers actually use AI to navigate, and are you present and coherent in those moments?
• For communications leaders, how consistent is your brand’s positioning across the sources AI systems are most likely to draw on when forming recommendations?

Liquid Death turns AI’s water problem into a punchline and a campaign

A joint stunt from Liquid Death and Garage Beer uses a crude environmental critique to take aim at AI data centers

https://www.marketingdive.com/news/liquid-death-and-garage-beer-take-on-ai-data-centers-with-pee/827879

TL;DR:

Liquid Death and Garage Beer launched a joint campaign that uses an unconventional environmental angle to critique the water consumption of AI data centers. The campaign leans into both brands’ irreverent identities while attaching itself to a genuine and growing conversation about AI’s environmental footprint.

Takeaway:

Liquid Death has built its brand on finding the most absurdist possible entry point into a serious topic, and this campaign follows that playbook faithfully. What is worth noting for communicators is that the underlying issue, AI infrastructure’s resource demands, is a legitimate and increasingly visible concern. Attaching brand voice to a real tension, rather than a manufactured one, gives the stunt more traction than pure shock value alone would provide. For communications leaders watching this, the question is not whether your brand can pull off a similar tone. It is whether you have identified the genuine tensions in your category that are worth engaging with, even if your approach is more measured than this one.

Consider:

• For marketers, what real tensions or critiques exist in your category that your brand could engage with authentically, rather than waiting for a competitor or a regulator to define the conversation?
• For communications leaders, as AI’s environmental costs attract more scrutiny, how prepared is your organization to address questions about the resource implications of your own AI use?