Creator Marketing 2026: Wave 4
A Survey of Marketing Professionals Who Use Creator Marketing: Full Findings Report By Frank Dudley, Professor and Associate Director, Retail Analytics Council, and Frank Mulhern, Ph.D., Professor, former Associate Dean and Director, Retail Analytics Council. The Retail Analytics Council is part of the Medill Spiegel Research Center at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated […]
Kelly Cutler Presented on AI ROI at the 2026 AMEC Global Summit on Measurement
Kelly Cutler, associate professor and associate director of research at Northwestern University’s Medill Spiegel Research Center, presented at the 2026 AMEC Global Summit on Measurement, held May 18–20 in Dublin, Ireland. Her session, The AI ROI Reality Check: What Actually Drives Value in AI Marketing, examined the gap between AI productivity gains and genuine business […]
Feature: Highlight in Ads of Brands on Science Marketing
Spiegel Research Center Study on Trust, Transparency & Advertising to Scientists SRC research was spotlighted in Ads of Brands, highlighting a new study on how to advertise effectively to scientific audiences. The study draws on qualitative interviews with scientists and healthcare researchers and shows that they value trust, education, and clear evidence over persuasive language […]
Feature: SRC Research Guides CPG Brands on Generative AI in MediaPost
Spiegel Research Center’s AI Framework Spotlighted in MediaPost Northwestern’s Medill Spiegel Research Center was recently featured in MediaPost, where its ITMS framework: Introduce, Test, Measure, Scale was highlighted as a practical, research-based approach for helping CPG brands operationalize generative AI in product launches. Read the full article to see how academic insights are informing real-world […]
P2Pi Feature: Why Retail Media Measurement Is Lagging
Research Reveals Why Retail Media Measurement Is Lagging Expectations By Michael Applebaum January 5, 2026 Retail media is maturing faster than the systems used to measure it. New research examines why attribution alone isn’t enough — and how brands can rethink measurement to unlock true incremental value. As retail media matures, expectations around performance are rising faster […]
Feature: As AI Eats Web Traffic, Don’t Panic—Evolve
An SEO expert offers three tips for adapting to “zero click” searches and chatbots. Based on insights from Kelly Cutler, an associate professor at the Medill School of Journalism and lecturer in the Kellogg Executive Education program For many websites, 2025 has been a rude awakening to the AI era. Retailers, news publications, and marketing […]
How Generative AI Is Transforming Modern Marketing
In a recent presentation titled Transforming Marketing With Generative AI: A Research-Based Approach, Kelly Cutler, Associate Professor of Marketing and Communication at Northwestern University, explored how generative AI is reshaping the marketing landscape and what organizations must do to adapt. She begins by noting that most marketers feel excited about AI, but many lack the […]
ANA Feature: GEO Is the New SEO
GEO Is the New SEO Generative engine optimization — or how to supply content that will capture AI bots’ attention — is gaining ground By Chuck Kapelke October 29, 2025 sk ChatGPT for its opinion on the best search engine optimization (SEO) agency for the cybersecurity industry, and one name consistently shows up near the […]
ANA Feature: AI and Small Business Marketing
SMBs Ratchet Up Their Social Media Presence Small- and medium-sized businesses are starting to leverage AI to close the content creation gap By Dominick Fils-Aimé October 1, 2025 In ancient times, say 2010, social media was mainly considered the domain of large, consumer-facing companies with ample marketing budgets. However, in the last decade, social media […]
The Evolution of Digital Marketing in the Era of AI
The Evolution of Digital Marketing in the Era of AI By Kelly Cutler, Northwestern University The Evolution of Digital Data privacy has taken the spotlight recently, reshaping the way businesses approach digital marketing. Overarching federal and state regulations combined with changing technology, like the deprecation of third-party cookies and the rise of global ad blockers, […]