Red Thread PR (RTPR), an independent public relations agency specializing in brand storytelling, thought leadership and strategic communications, today shared key takeaways from the Philadelphia Ad Club’s AI Shaping Discovery event. Laura Emanuel, managing director of RTPR, served as a featured panelist alongside Mike King, founder and CEO of iPullRank, and Patrick Coyne, director of organic and AI search at Arc Intermedia, in a discussion moderated by David Sonn, founder and president of Arc Intermedia, bringing a distinct public relations perspective to a conversation about optimizing brand visibility in an era increasingly shaped by AI-generated answers.
Part of the Philadelphia Ad Club’s Impact & Innovation Series, the event explored how AI search is changing the way people discover, evaluate and understand brands. Brands must earn third-party citations from a broader set of media sources to yield the credibility signals that LLMs rely upon. The conversation underscored that AI visibility is not just reliant on content optimization but relevancy optimization – which presents a significant opportunity for agencies like Red Thread PR.
“It’s no longer earned media coverage at any cost – it’s earned media that helps serve the models and serves up the citations,” said Emanuel. “This means we need to stop asking ‘do we show up?’ and instead ask ‘what prompts led the model to serve us up (or not)?’ It still comes back to influencing the right conversation, and that means thinking less like a content publisher and more like a category shaper.”
At the event, Emanuel brought a public relations perspective to a conversation that is often driven by paid search and keyword optimization; instead, Emanuel posited that reputation optimization is the way forward. She emphasized that brands need to stop writing for the algorithm and start writing for the answer. Emanuel emphasized that there is a rising importance of share of answer, or how accurately, prominently and credibly a brand appears when AI-driven platforms synthesize information for audiences. Earned media now acts as one of the biggest credibility signals that helps shape how AI understands and cites a brand.
Emanuel’s discussion reflected RTPR’s broader approach to modern communications and how it is helping brands build momentum across a fragmented media landscape by connecting earned authority with owned content, social amplification, influencer credibility and cultural relevance. As AI platforms reshape discovery, an integrated approach is more essential than ever for brands looking to influence awareness, and shape the answers audiences receive.
About Red Thread PR
Red Thread PR is an independent public relations specialty agency based in Philadelphia. Bringing an integrated, multi-channel mindset to brands, Red Thread PR weaves meaningful stories across the PESO model, with expertise across corporate communications, media and influencer relations, partnerships, social media, internal communications, reputation management and social impact. We build unstoppable brands by helping clients navigate the changing tides of culture and business with a focus on Brand Longevity™, and work with a range of companies including Comcast Xfinity, BowFlex, Humana, DuPont, TruGreen, ACI Worldwide, NJM Insurance Group, and Saint-Gobain North America. We are part of Brownstein Group’s network of agencies, alongside Born and Raised, Nucleus Digital and Poster Child.