Meltwater Summit

 In a crowded, ad-blocking world, earned media is becoming the way brands break through, by giving communities a reason to talk about them. In this session, two communications leaders share how they’ve rebuilt their approach around culture and community, and how they’re measuring the business impact. You’ll learn how to: Plan with earned first: Bring earned into planning from day one and write cultural insights into the creative brief, rather than “PR-ing the ad” at the end. Think communities, not audiences: Demographics flatten people. Find the communities that influence your category, listen to what they care about, and give them a reason to speak on your behalf. Build movements, not moments: Use a global spine with local soul, giving markets a framework and the freedom to adapt it to their own culture. Measure actual reach and business outcomes: Move beyond inflated impressions to who really saw the work, how communities reacted, and what it did for the business, including exposure

 Consumers are moving from searching for information to asking AI to make decisions for them, and that shift is changing how brands are chosen. In this session, Sam Jones, Founder and CEO of Gener8, shares world-first research based on more than 100 million AI conversations from over 200,000 consented users across the US and UK. You’ll learn: How fast AI usage is growing: Monthly AI usage in the UK has grown 3.6x in twelve months, and more than one in three people now use LLMs every month. Where AI sits in the purchase journey: 35% of UK AI users made at least one commercial prompt in August, rising to 65% among the heaviest users. iPhone comparisons have flipped from 60% on Apple’s website to 60% inside an LLM. How much people trust AI: 47% of UK adults trust Gen AI assistants, more than any form of advertising tested, and 46% are comfortable letting AI buy a product under £50 on their behalf. What appearing in AI answers is worth: When your brand is named in a response, people are 3.

 AI search is changing how people discover brands, and who controls the story. In this session, marketing, PR and comms leaders from Meltwater, Unilever, Snap, and Eight&Four discuss what it takes to show up, and be represented accurately, in AI-generated answers. You’ll learn how to: Think beyond presence: Use the IAB’s “four P’s” framework (presence, prominence, portrayal and performance) to measure whether your brand appears in AI answers, whether it’s accurate, and whether it drives action. Build a mix, not a silo: Earned media still drives many AI citations, but social is rising fast. Stay consistent with your narrative and flexible on channels. Anchor on “must-win” attributes: Define what you want to own in every market and carry it through product pages, brand sites and creator content. Protect accuracy: Once AI picks up a piece of content, it can resurface at any time, so factual accuracy in earned coverage matters more than ever. Measure carefully: There’s no standard for

In today's Turning Keywords Into Coverage in an AI-Search World Product Workshop, Crystal Jennings, VP of Public Relations at LT Agency, shared a practical framework for helping communications teams build stronger visibility in AI-powered search. The session explored how defining a clear brand identity, targeting the right topics, and earning authoritative coverage can help organizations become more discoverable across AI search experiences. Using a real-world case study, Crystal walked through a step-by-step approach to identifying the keywords and conversations that matter most, monitoring AI visibility with Meltwater, and measuring progress over time. The discussion also highlighted how AI search rewards consistent, relevant, and credible content, making strategic earned media more important than ever. We covered:How to define the brand pillars and topics you want your organization to be known for How to identify relevant keywords and search opportunities using Meltwater's AI Search

We're thrilled to announce our keynote speaker for Meltwater Summit On Tour: London Introducing the award-winning mathematician, bestselling author, broadcaster, and Professor at the University of Cambridge, Professor Hannah Fry, who will be joining us as the keynote speaker at Meltwater Summit On Tour: London on 1 October 2026.As AI continues to reshape communications, marketing, and media across the UK and EMEA, Professor Hannah Fry will bring her unique perspective on the intersection of data, technology, and human behaviour in a thought-provoking keynote you won't want to miss.What you'll hearHow AI is reshaping the way organisations make decisions, build trust, and create competitive advantage An honest conversation about both the genuine opportunities and the real risks of deploying AI in brand management, media monitoring, and crisis responseWhat you'll take awayInsights from one of the world's leading voices on AI, data, and human behaviour Practical strategies and networking w

We’re excited to introduce Meltwater Summit on Tour: Asia! For years, Meltwater Summit in New York has been our flagship event for communications, PR, and marketing leaders exploring the future of media, influence, and AI-powered intelligence.Now Summit is going on tour, and it's next stop is Singapore!Don’t miss your chance to attend this August 27th, 2026! As an existing customer you may be eligible for complementary tickets! Simply email summit.singapore@meltwater.com for more information.What is Meltwater Summit on Tour?Meltwater Summit on tour is a full day event for networking and professional development experience where PR, communications and marketing professionals transform insights into impactful strategies. Join fellow leaders in Singapore for an exciting day of expert-led insights, bold ideas, and strategies built to perform. You’ll hear from brands like Toyota, Mariott, Unilever, Microsoft, and Reddit (and more), make genuine connections with fellow leaders and walk away

If this year's Summit left you inspired, energized, and already thinking about next year, you're not alone!  The waitlist for Meltwater Summit 2027 is officially open! By joining today, you'll be among the first to hear event updates and you'll lock in access to a special registration rate when tickets become available. Here's what's already shaping up for next year:Keynote speakers worth clearing your calendar for Sessions built around what you can actually use, not just what sounds good on a slide Hands-on time with the product, not just a demo from the stage A chance to reconnect with the Meltwater community you met (or reunited with) this year Join the waitlist today and be first in line for updates and exclusive pricing.Meltwater Summit 2027 Waitlist  We'll see you in 2027!! 

Purpose That Performs: Building CSR Programs That Earn Attention and ActionHilary Smith, NBCUniversal This week's session is a masterclass in turning a company's core strength into genuine social impact — and making it work for the business at the same time. Hilary Smith walked us through how NBCUniversal built its Creative Impact Lab from the ground up, and the five-step roadmap she used to make it stick. 👉 Watch the full keynote  Here are a few highlights worth watching for:Start with what you're uniquely great at: IBM leads with AI. Nike gets kids moving. LinkedIn focuses on workforce development. NBCUniversal's superpower is storytelling — and 77% of nonprofits cite communications as their biggest organizational challenge. The match was obvious once they looked inward. The lesson: your best CSR strategy is already hiding inside your business. Make employees the centre of it: Hilary turned volunteering into a genuine perk — complete with a "Creative Council" title that employees co

This week's session is a wake-up call — and one of the most timely conversations from the entire Summit. Dan Bramme, CEO of Cyabra, and Jonathan Rosen, CEO of Orchestra, broke down exactly how coordinated inauthentic activity works, why brands keep getting caught off guard, and what a smarter response playbook actually looks like. 👉 Watch the full keynote   The bot playbook has evolved: Forget the old image of bots talking to bots in an echo chamber. Today's inauthentic actors embed themselves inside real conversations, making manufactured narratives almost indistinguishable from organic ones — and pulling real people deeper in. The line between fake and real is blurring fast. The Cracker Barrel case study is striking: When the brand updated its logo, three coordinated narrative tracks — attacking tradition, suggesting financial instability, and villainising the CEO — reached 4.5 million people in under 36 hours. Media picked it up, the stock dropped, and roughly $100M was wiped out.

This week's session is one every comms and marketing professional needs to watch. Gina Kleiner from LinkedIn joined Meltwater's Chief Product Officer Chris Hackney to share original research on how LLMs are actually citing content — and what that means for how you build brand visibility going forward. 👉 Watch the full keynote  Here are a few highlights worth watching for: The search game has fundamentally changed: 60% of searches now end without a click — users get what they need directly from the LLM. And experts predict AI search will outpace traditional search by 2028. If your brand isn't showing up as the answer, you're not in the consideration set. The data is striking: Meltwater analyzed 9.5 million LLM queries across the six biggest AI models. LinkedIn came out as the #2 most cited domain — and 75% of citations came from individual creators, not company pages. The implication for your employee and executive advocacy strategy is huge. Expertise beats virality: The most-cited Lin

This week's (second!) session might be the most actionable one yet. Jenny Force, VP of Global Marketing at Meltwater, and Palmer Hutchins, VP of Marketing at G2, came armed with fresh research, real results, and zero fluff. If AEO — Answer Engine Optimization — isn't on your radar yet, it needs to be after this. 👉 Watch the full keynote  Here are a few highlights worth watching for: The buying journey has already changed: 51% of B2B decision makers now start their vendor search in an AI chatbot — not Google. And 69% ended up choosing a different vendor than they originally planned after using AI in their research. The playing field is being redrawn in real time. Winning the answer is the new winning the click: Palmer's framework says it all — go from being mentioned, to cited, to a branded citation, to becoming the recommended solution. That last step — owning the answer to a hyper-specific prompt in your category — is where your AEO strategy should ultimately be pointed. Reviews need

This week's mainstage feature is one you won't want to miss. With the FIFA World Cup 2026 kicking off this month — right here in the US — Bettina Garibaldi gave us a rare behind-the-scenes look at how you market the biggest sporting event on the planet. And yes, there were plenty of lessons for every communicator and marketer in the room. 👉 Watch the full keynote  Here are a few highlights worth watching for: The scale is staggering: 48 teams, 104 matches across 40 days, three countries, and 16 host cities. To put it in perspective, the Qatar final alone drew the equivalent viewership of 13 Super Bowls combined — and the NY/NJ region is hosting the final. It's not a soccer tournament, it's a cultural moment: Bettina's approach isn't about selling tickets — those sell themselves. Her job is designing moments around music, fashion, food, and community that draw in people who may never have watched a match in their life. On working with creators: FIFA doesn't just tap sports creators. Th