As AI-powered search continues to change how consumers discover products, brands are beginning to ask a new question:
Can public relations influence AI search results?
The answer is increasingly yes. As AI search continues to evolve, we’ve found that strategic PR is one of the most effective ways to influence how brands appear across AI-powered search experiences. By securing the right stories, reviews, buying guides, and expert recommendations, we’ve helped clients increase visibility in AI-generated answers across ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and other emerging platforms.
A recent campaign for Arctic Zone and Titan Coolers demonstrates how strategic earned media can help strengthen a brand’s visibility across AI-powered platforms including ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and Perplexity.
If you want to explore what this means for your brand, let’s connect.
The Shift from Search Rankings to AI Recommendations
Traditional search engines typically display links and websites. AI search experiences generate direct answers and product recommendations.
When consumers ask questions such as:
- What is the best cooler to buy at Costco?
- What are the best backpack coolers?
- What is the most comfortable cooler for parents?
- What are the best soft coolers on Amazon?
AI systems evaluate information from trusted publications, product reviews, buying guides, retailer listings, and third-party recommendations to determine which products to surface.
This creates a new opportunity for brands.
Instead of optimizing only for search rankings, brands can build authority signals that influence AI-generated recommendations.
The Strategy
To support Arctic Zone and Titan Coolers during peak summer season, we focused on securing earned media coverage within publications frequently referenced by consumers during the purchasing journey.
The campaign emphasized:
- Product reviews
- Buying guides
- Seasonal shopping roundups
- Retail-focused features
- Category comparison articles
- Expert product recommendations
Coverage with strategic angles was secured in respected consumer and lifestyle publications including GearJunkie, Food & Wine, Yahoo Shopping, AOL, Business Insider, and additional 71 pieces of syndicated media outlets across BuzzFeed, Martha Stewart, People Magazine, CNN, Men’s Journal, Good Morning America and more since the beginning of January.
Why These Placements Matter for AI Visibility
What makes this particularly powerful is that AI systems often look for consensus. When a product appears across reviews, buying guides, retailer-focused articles, and expert recommendations from multiple trusted publications, the same themes begin to emerge repeatedly. Those recurring themes help AI systems develop confidence in how a product should be categorized and recommended.
For Titan Coolers, coverage repeatedly highlighted:
- Backpack cooler convenience
- Hands-free portability
- Ice retention performance
- Family-friendly design
- Best value positioning
- Costco availability
- Amazon availability
- Outdoor recreation use cases
As these themes appeared across multiple trusted publications, they created a consistent digital footprint around the brand.
The Results
As the campaign progressed, Titan products began appearing across AI-generated recommendations tied directly to consumer purchasing intent, including:
- Best Costco Item for Summer Road Trips
- Best Backpack Coolers
- Best Soft Coolers on Amazon
- Most Comfortable Cooler for Parents
- Best cooler for a beach or picnic
- Best beach or picnic cooler on Amazon
- Best cooler at Costco
- Best Value Cooler
Notably, AI platforms didn’t simply mention the brand name. They repeated the same differentiators highlighted throughout the earned media campaign.
What This Means for Brands
The relationship between PR and AI visibility is becoming increasingly clear.
Earned media no longer influences only awareness, credibility, and SEO performance. It also contributes to the authority signals AI systems use when deciding which brands and products to recommend. As AI-powered search adoption continues to grow, brands that invest in strategic earned media will be better positioned to shape not only public perception but also AI-generated discovery.
The Future of PR and AI Visibility
The next generation of brand visibility will not be built solely through advertising, SEO, or social media. It will be built through a combination of authority, consistency, third-party validation, and trusted media coverage. The brands appearing in AI-generated recommendations tomorrow are often the brands building those signals today.
For marketers, the takeaway is simple:
Strategic PR is no longer just a communications channel. It’s becoming one of the most effective ways to shape how AI understands, categorizes, and recommends brands. As consumers increasingly rely on AI to make purchasing decisions, the brands investing in authority today are positioning themselves to be discovered tomorrow.
At ChicExecs, we’ve been building AI visibility strategies through earned media long before most brands recognized the opportunity. If you’d like to explore how strategic PR can influence your brand’s presence across AI search platforms, let’s connect.
