• Article

Navigating Uncertainty: Strategic Insights for Marketers and Brands Exclusively from ARF & MSI

  • ARF; MSI

In a time of persistent consumer unease, The Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) and the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) have joined forces to deliver timely, evidence-based insights on how marketing leaders can navigate uncertainty with empathy, agility and strategic foresight. Their complementary reports offer both psychological and organizational guidance, arming researchers and brand decision-makers with a holistic toolkit for resilient, value-driven marketing.

Mapping the Future: How Analytics and Insights Are Evolving

  • ARF
  • Organizational Insights Council

This is a report on the third in a series of surveys conducted by the ARF Organizational Insights Council on the evolving terrain of the analytics and insights profession. Drawing from interviews with over 400 professionals across ARF member companies, the study provides a deep dive into skill trends, structural shifts, AI adoption and sector-based investment in research and analytics.

Member Only Access

Harmony or Discord? Exploring the Impact of Generative AI on Human Creativity in Advertising

  • ARF
  • JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH

With generative AI tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney rapidly entering the advertising toolkit, the creative landscape is shifting. This study explores how advertising professionals perceive and use these technologies, where friction arises and what the future of human-AI collaboration in advertising might look like. Drawing on qualitative interviews and industry surveys, the paper offers a nuanced view of both enthusiasm and anxiety within the creative community—and sets a research agenda for the field.

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Dive Deep into Retail Media Networks: One of the Fastest Growing Channels in the US

  • ARF
  • ARF

Retail Media Networks (RMNs) have emerged as one of the fastest-growing advertising channels in the U.S., transforming how brands reach and engage consumers. Leveraging first-party data, RMNs enable targeted, measurable campaigns across retailers’ ecosystems, opening a unique blend of performance-driven and brand-building opportunities. Learn about this emerging channel, including the commonalities and differences in how they are being used between advertisers and agencies, in this deep dive into RMNs.

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PG VS R: The Psychology of Prompted Thought

  • ARF; MSI

Can sanitized AI tools truly capture the nuance required for advertising and brand research? Is a less restrained one more likely to produce skewed results? This comparative deep dive, from ARF and MSI explores how two popular large language models—ChatGPT-4o and Grok 3—respond when prompted with complex topics. The findings highlight how content moderation affects not only tone and specificity, but the very boundaries of inquiry. For advertising researchers navigating sensitive brand perception topics, understanding these model tradeoffs is essential.

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Cracking the Code of Content Discovery: What Keeps Viewers Watching?

  • ARF
  • Knowledge at Hand | CMO Brief

The streaming landscape has never been more abundant—or more overwhelming. With over 1.7 million shows and movies across global platforms and 1,600+ FAST channels, audiences are inundated with choice. This ARF Knowledge at Hand report explores how fragmentation, option fatigue and algorithmic shortcomings affect content discovery and what media organizations are doing to reduce discovery friction and retain (even grow) engagement.

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