The Machine in the Middle: Winning in the Answer Economy
Twenty-seven brands. More than 200,000 AI responses. Eight platforms. Two markets. One burning question: what makes AI recommend one brand over another?
Celia Harding, founder, LEOPRD; with Oren Fixler, External Channels & Media, Telstra; Stu Wragg, Chief Strategy Officer, Herd MSL; and Megan Ormsby, Head of Communications, Devices & Services at Amazon
Celia Harding, founder of LEOPRD, premieres findings from the second edition of its Reputation to Revenue Report, including insights exclusive to humAIn 2026. Comparing startups, scaleups, unicorns and global businesses, the research reveals what separates the brands AI knows from those it endorses—and what moves a brand from missing, to mentioned, to most-wanted.
Celia will examine:
- How startups, unicorns and established brands win differently
- The distinct “personalities” of different AI platforms
- The influence of founders and other credible human voices
- Why good marketing can’t disguise a poor product experience
- Who AI’s real influencers are
- The commercial difference between visibility and recommendation
Celia will then be joined by Oren Fixler, External Channels & Media at Telstra; Stu Wragg, Chief Strategy Officer at Herd MSL; and Megan Ormsby, who leads communications for Amazon Devices & Services, to explore what this shift means in practice.
Together, they’ll examine how established brands earn visibility and trust, whether PR is becoming a performance channel, and how to improve LLM discovery without losing the human story. They’ll also confront what happens when an organisation’s reputation, marketing claims and customer experience collide inside the model.
The audience will leave with a practical framework for interrogating what AI believes about their brand, understanding what shapes those answers, and identifying what marketing and communications teams can - and cannot - do to influence them.