AI reputation research for communications and brand leaders

Start with the question your business needs to answer.

Recognition Lab helps established organizations understand how AI represents them and determine what communications should do next. New and evolving businesses can begin by defining the recognition and public evidence they need to build.

Recognition Lab solutions

Choose the depth the decision requires.

All research solutions are shown together so you can compare the research scope and investment before choosing a starting point.

Starting prices give you a sense of the investment. We can help you determine where to begin based on the decision in front of you and the budget available.

Core research options

Signature organizational baseline

Comprehensive Recognition Benchmark

Understand how AI sees your brand across up to three reputation priorities. Then determine how those priorities fit together and where communications resources should go.

Starting at $10K

Best when leadership needs a wider organizational baseline before approving a communications strategy or significant reputation investment.

What’s included

What you’ll be able to decide

Where your reputation supports the priorities that matter most and where communications resources should go. The findings also show how those priorities fit together.

How progress is measured

The Benchmark establishes a documented baseline across the reputation priorities in scope. A future review can return to the same questions to assess consistency across AI systems and support for important claims. It can also examine differentiation and the authority of the sources shaping the intended position.

How the research supports it

  • Research across five leading AI systems
  • Analysis across all seven Recognition Framework dimensions
  • Up to three priority reputation themes
  • Competitive context with up to three organizations
  • A high-level view of selected leaders
  • A detailed digital report with recommended communications priorities
  • A founder-led strategy review
  • An AI Reputation Playbook session for your team
Ask about Comprehensive

One business objective

Focused Recognition Benchmark

Understand how AI sees your brand in relation to one defined business objective. Then determine what needs to change and where communications resources should go.

Starting at $6K

Best when one business objective is driving the decision and your team needs a defensible answer before it acts.

What’s included

What you’ll be able to decide

What needs to change in relation to one defined objective and where communications resources should go.

How progress is measured

The Benchmark establishes a documented baseline for the business objective in scope. A future review can repeat the same questions to assess whether representation is becoming more consistent and the public evidence has strengthened. It can also show whether the intended position is better supported.

How the research supports it

  • Research across five leading AI systems
  • Analysis across all seven Recognition Framework dimensions
  • A custom question set focused on one business objective
  • Repeated and documented observations
  • Focused competitor and source analysis
  • A digital report with recommended communications priorities
  • A founder-led strategy review
Ask about Focused

Directional research

Recognition Snapshot

Get an initial view of how AI sees your brand in relation to one focused question. Then decide whether the issue deserves deeper investigation.

Starting at $1,500

Best when your team has noticed a specific issue but doesn’t yet know whether it justifies a larger research engagement.

What’s included

What you’ll be able to decide

Whether the available evidence points to an issue that deserves deeper investigation.

What this can indicate

The Snapshot identifies directional indicators around one focused question. It can show whether the issue warrants deeper investigation, but it does not establish the repeated baseline needed to measure progress over time.

How the research supports it

  • Research across selected AI systems appropriate to the question
  • Analysis across the Recognition Framework dimensions relevant to the question
  • A limited research scope built around one focused question
  • Selected source observations
  • A concise findings summary with recommended next steps
  • A founder-led findings review

A Snapshot provides directional evidence. It isn’t a substitute for the repeated, wider research included in a Recognition Benchmark.

Ask about the Snapshot

Specialized research

Pre-benchmark recognition strategy

Recognition Blueprint

Define how a new or evolving business should be understood before its reputation takes shape. The Blueprint examines buyer language and category expectations. It also considers the available alternatives and possible positioning directions. It then identifies a credible recognition direction and the public evidence needed to support it.

Starting at $3,500

Best for founders and organizations developing something new or preparing to reposition—especially when there isn't enough public evidence yet for a meaningful Recognition Benchmark.

What’s included

What you’ll be able to decide

Which audience and buyer problem the business should lead with. The findings then define a recognition direction and the evidence needed to make it credible.

What future measurement should test

The Blueprint defines the position and evidence signals a future Snapshot or Benchmark should test. It creates a measurement plan; it does not establish that the intended recognition already exists.

How the research supports it

  • Research across three leading consumer AI systems
  • Approximately 18–24 controlled research prompts
  • Buyer-problem and natural-language analysis
  • Category and adjacent-category analysis
  • Review of direct competitors, buyer alternatives and aspirational reference points
  • Decision-criteria analysis
  • Testing of two or three positioning directions for clarity and fit
  • Review of the public evidence currently available
  • Recommended recognition direction
  • Website question map
  • Content, authority and evidence-building roadmap
  • Plan for a future Recognition Snapshot
  • A founder-led findings and strategy session

Recognition Blueprint defines a direction and the evidence needed to support it. It does not measure established recognition or prove market demand. It also cannot guarantee how AI systems will represent the business in the future.

Ask about Recognition Blueprint

Leader reputation

Executive Benchmark

Understand how AI sees a leader. Then determine whether that reputation supports the role they hold or the opportunities they want to pursue.

Starting at $5K

Best when an executive wants to strengthen their reputation for their current role or future opportunities. It can also support an organization building the visibility of a key leader.

What’s included

What you’ll be able to decide

Whether the leader’s current reputation supports the role they hold or the opportunities they want to pursue.

How progress is measured

The Benchmark establishes a documented baseline for the leader’s expertise and authority. It separately assesses whether the reputation aligns with the leader’s role and how well credible sources support that distinction. A future review can return to the same questions to assess whether those signals have strengthened or changed.

How the research supports it

  • Research across five leading AI systems
  • Analysis across all seven Recognition Framework dimensions
  • Research focused on one executive
  • Analysis of the expertise and position associated with the leader
  • Relevant peer and source context
  • A digital report with recommended communications priorities
  • A founder-led strategy review
Ask about Executive

Custom organizational research

Enterprise Benchmark

Understand how AI represents the different parts of a complex organization and the markets it serves. Then determine where the most important reputation priorities connect and where they require different responses.

Contact for pricing

Best for organizations that need to examine multiple parts of the business and their markets within one research design.

What’s included

What you’ll be able to decide

Which reputation priorities should be shared across the organization and where more specific responses are needed.

How progress is measured

The Benchmark establishes a documented baseline across the organization and the markets in scope. Future reviews can assess where representation has become more consistent and where meaningful differences remain. They can also show whether claims have stronger source support.

How the research supports it

  • AI-system coverage defined through the custom research design
  • Recognition Framework coverage aligned with the organization’s goals
  • Research across selected brands or business units
  • Additional market or leadership scope where needed
  • Competitive and source analysis appropriate to the engagement
  • A custom report and delivery format
  • An executive findings review
  • An AI Reputation Playbook session for the team
Ask about Enterprise

Independent agency research

Agency Evidence Brief

Use independent evidence to build a strategic direction or pressure-test an existing one before presenting it to a prospect or client.

Starting at $3K

Best when your agency is developing a direction or wants to pressure-test an existing idea before presenting it to a prospect or client.

What’s included

What you’ll be able to decide

Which strategic direction the evidence supports and what needs further development. The findings help the agency make a stronger recommendation.

How the evidence informs the direction

The brief examines the available evidence and its gaps to help the agency build a direction or pressure-test an existing one. It also identifies counterevidence that should shape the recommendation. It provides a point-in-time basis for strategy rather than measuring reputation progress.

How the research supports it

  • Research across selected AI systems appropriate to the opportunity
  • Analysis across the Recognition Framework dimensions relevant to the pitch
  • A targeted investigation of the prospect or client
  • Selected competitor and source observations
  • Communications implications for the proposed work
  • A presentation-ready brief
  • A founder-led strategy call

The research is designed to inform the direction, not confirm a predetermined conclusion.

Rush delivery and expanded research scope can be discussed based on timing and capacity.

Ask about an Agency Evidence Brief

Every Recognition Benchmark is led by Holly Hansen, an experienced communications leader. She interprets the evidence and develops the recommendation herself, so the conclusion reflects your business context rather than an automated output.

Learn more about Holly

AI Reputation Readiness

Prepare your team for the questions leadership will start asking.

The leadership question“What does AI say about us?”Your team will understand what the available evidence can support and when a stronger baseline is needed.

A briefing for communications and marketing leaders who need to understand how AI is changing reputation management and the decisions their teams will face.

The session covers

  • How AI develops an impression of an organization from public evidence
  • Why visibility monitoring can’t establish an organization’s reputation
  • What teams can responsibly conclude from AI answers
  • When a visibility change deserves a communications response
  • How public evidence can strengthen or limit the reputation an organization wants to build
  • What leadership should ask before committing additional communications resources

The session gives teams a shared foundation for evaluating AI reputation questions. It doesn’t establish the organization’s position or replace a Recognition Benchmark.

Best for: Leadership teams and organizations beginning to consider AI reputation as a communications responsibility.

Format: One 60-minute virtual or in-person session led by Holly Hansen.

Pricing: Contact for pricing.

Experienced communications counsel

Need help putting the strategy into action? We also offer strategic communications services.

Strategic Services can build on Benchmark findings, but you don’t need a Benchmark to work with Recognition Lab.

Recognition Lab can support organizations that already understand the problem and need experienced communications counsel to determine what to do next.

Recognition Lab doesn’t sell execution as the automatic next step. The recommendation can support new investment or redirect existing work. It may also show that an activity should stop.

Your team can carry out the recommendation internally or bring it to an existing agency. Recognition Lab can also provide strategic support.

Scope and pricing are determined by the needs of the engagement.

Communications strategy

Set a clear direction around the problem the organization needs to solve and build content priorities around the evidence it needs to strengthen.

Position and authority

Brand positioning, messaging, executive visibility and thought leadership.

Public evidence

Earned media, evidence building, original content and third-party visibility.

AI communications workflows

Design practical ways to use AI across communications planning and production while keeping human judgment in control.

Agency and partner alignment

Brief agencies and communications partners around the problem the work needs to solve.

Team and talent

Advise internal leaders or identify the communications expertise needed to move the work forward.

Ongoing decision support

Track the questions that matter without reacting to every change.

Quarterly partnerships are designed for organizations that need to revisit priority reputation questions as the public record develops.

Return to a documented baseline.

Each review returns to an agreed set of questions and examines what has changed since the previous research period.

The purpose isn’t to produce another stream of alerts. It is to determine whether new evidence changes the communications decision.

Partnerships are scoped around the organization’s needs.

Make the next investment count

Find out whether your communications investment is strengthening the position you need.

Start with a focused question or establish a wider baseline. Recognition Lab will help you choose the level of research that matches the decision in front of your team.

Email or book 30 minutes with Holly.