Featured Client Projects
What’s Working in Audience Development?
I partnered with Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting for “What’s Working in Audience Development,” an in-depth look at how publishers are attracting and retaining audiences in 2025. I created a primary research study of 97 publishing execs, analyzed the results and wrote the white paper, which was sponsored by Omeda.
Here are three of the top findings:
53% of publishers are concerned about traffic erosion from AI platforms. But 31% are seeing more traffic from the LLMs.
Search traffic is down. 50% of publishers are reporting declines. But it's not just AI that's causing it.
Newsletters and direct traffic are rising—62% see newsletters as a top driver.
COMING SOON!
I’ll be publishing all-new sponsored research that digs deep into the evolution of consumer search behaviors across traditional search, social search, retail search and AI search.
Watch this space in Q2 2025!
Amazon App Users Don’t Shop Like Web Users
Amazon is a titan of ecommerce. But Amazon on a web browser and in the mobile app are two distinct worlds, with sometimes contrasting user activity.
This report, based on data from Datos and MFour Mobile Research, illuminates the following differences:
Variations in engagement levels
Purchase likelihood
Product categories that perform better in-app and on web
Loyalty dynamics
Are consumers ready for ads created with generative (gen) AI? I partnered with digital ad industry organization IAB for a survey that reveals that Gen Z and Millennial consumers are much less enthusiastic about AI ads than industry executives think they are.
Our research identified three best practices advertisers should consider:
Be thoughtful about disclosing when ads use gen AI.
Deploy gen AI ads in places where consumers are most likely to embrace and engage with them.
Follow the same creative best practices and considerations as for human-created ads.
Findings from this study were featured in eMarketer, Ad Age and MediaPost.
AI, Amazon and Walmart: Four User Behavior Trends to Know
Nearly half of US retail ecommerce sales flow through Amazon and Walmart, offering a window into AI’s growing role in shopping behavior. This paper, using Datos’ clickstream data, explores how shoppers on these platforms engage with AI tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity, and vice versa.
Key questions addressed:
How do Amazon and Walmart visitors engage with AI sites like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity?
Do buyers show different AI usage trends compared to browsers who don’t buy?
How often do Amazon and Walmart users visit AI sites during their shopping sessions?
Are people who use AI sites more likely to shop on Amazon or Walmart?
Brand to Demand: Unlocking Sustainable Growth in B2B
In my first WARC Advisory collaboration, I was the lead analyst and author of a white paper introducing a new framework for planning and executing a unified Brand-to-Demand Experience (BDX) strategy.
This paper synthesized insights and data from a variety of sources (conference presentations, interviews, WARC database) into a detailed and logical narrative. The goal of the paper is to educate B2B marketers on the value of bringing together brand strength and demand strength in one connected marketing approach.
The paper was published by WARC Advisory and sponsored by Stein IAS and LinkedIn. I’m very proud to say that it made its debut at the 2024 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Consumer Search Behavior: What’s Changing and What’s Not in the Age of AI
Sonata Insights’ inaugural co-branded research explores how US search usage is evolving across key traditional search, social search, retail search and AI platforms. The key finding? So far, the impact of AI on web search activity is nuanced, not disruptive.
For this research, I analyzed exclusive desktop and mobile web browsing data from Datos, A Semrush Company, covering May 2023 to May 2024.
The study was covered in Search Engine Land, MediaPost and other publications and was featured in a widely discussed article by search marketing expert Rand Fishkin.
The Pacific Perspective: Behavioral Signals from APAC’s Digital Ecosystem
This forward-looking report, a collaboration between Sonata Insights and M7 Innovations, identifies six digital media trends transforming the APAC digital landscape and shaping consumer behavior elsewhere in the world:
1) Mobile Micro-Dramas Grab Huge Audiences
2) Gen AI Boosts Localization Output
3) Super Apps Fuel Social Commerce
4) AI Agents Make Social Shopping More Seamless
5) Avatars Dominate Next-Gen Social
6) AI Influencers Garner Big Followings
AI for Creative Generation and Campaign Optimization
This white paper, written for Ascendant Network (a community of the most influential marketing, retail, and commerce media leaders) and its partner Yieldmo, uses insights from interviews with agency and brand executives to show how they are using AI in the creative process, what the biggest opportunities are and where the most significant challenges exist.
RMNs and Social Media: Creators are the Missing Link
This white paper, written for Ascendant Network (a community of the most influential marketing, retail, and commerce media leaders) and its partner Inmar Intelligence, uses insights from interviews with retail media, agency, and brand executives to show how creators are changing retail media strategies and driving better results.
Unlocking Business Impact Through Personal and Cultural Relevance
My second WARC Advisory white paper, based on an exclusive consumer survey conducted by WARC and sponsored by TikTok, unveils new insights into the digital content that consumers consider personally and culturally relevant, and the important strategies marketers can use to achieve greater relevance.
The paper’s findings were unveiled at the ANA Masters of Marketing event in October 2024.