ARF Research Leadership Committee
The ARF conducts original, critical research, answering the toughest questions the industry encounters in today’s ever-shifting landscape. The foundation funds this research by committing a portion of members’ dues to its research initiatives.
Based on member feedback, the 2026 research agenda will focus mainly on these projects:
- The Attention Measurement Validation Initiative, Phase 3
- Retail Media Networks
- Ad Context: Audio Branding, Brand Sustainability in News Environments and Premium vs. UGC
- The ARF AI Initiatives, including the Experiments in the Psychology of AI Series, AI Use in Workflows–Advertisers’ & Agencies’ Perspectives and AI Usage and Impact Tracker
Additionally, ongoing projects include:
- The 9th Annual Privacy Survey
- The State of the Research and Analytics Disciplines (4th Bi-Annual Organizational Benchmark Survey)
To help focus on the industry’s most pressing issues, the ARF formed the Research Leadership Committee (RLC) in 2019. In 2020, this 21-member group quickly became essential to the foundation’s research process. Members interested in joining the 2026 committee should contact Membership.
The benefits of joining include:
- Helping to shape the ARF’s 2026 research agenda.
- Ensuring 2026 research funds support the needs of RLC members.
- Being recognized as an industry thought leader.
- RLC members co-create alongside the ARF Research Department by:
- formulating research questions,
- impacting the brands and campaigns studied,
- helping to fashion RFPs and select research partners,
- gaining early access to raw data and,
- helping to interpret and shape results, final reports and conference presentations.
RLC members attend a one-hour virtual meeting every eight weeks. Each meeting is held at 1 P.M. ET. You can call in from anywhere. Members will also attend occasional meetings as research is completed to help interpret the results.
To find out more about the RLC, email our Membership team.
2025 Participants include:
