Teams & Talent

Discover the latest and most impactful research on teams, talent, training and organizational design here. All the research listed comes from the ARF or one of its subsidiaries: The Journal of Advertising Research (JAR), the Marketing Science Institute (MSI) or the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement (CIMM). Feel free to bookmark this page, as it will be updated periodically.
Testing AI’s Strategic IQ: Can Generative Models Think Like Top Executives?

Testing AI’s Strategic IQ: Can Generative Models Think Like Top Executives?

  • Psychology of Gen AI
  • ARF; MSI

The ARF and MSI tested whether generative AI can adopt executive personas and provide credible, role-specific strategies in this third study in the Psychology of Gen AI series. This experiment highlights how AI performs when “thinking like” organizational leaders, its limitations in institutional logic and feasibility,  and how human-in-the-loop feedback can refine outputs and create nuanced and worthwhile results.  

Member Only Access
Mapping the Future: How Analytics and Insights Are Evolving
  • Article

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
Designing with Machines: A Co-Creative Model for Generative AI in Advertising Agencies

Designing with Machines: A Co-Creative Model for Generative AI in Advertising Agencies

  • ARF
  • Journal of Advertising Research

A new study uncovers how advertising agencies are attempting to integrate generative AI into their creative workflows, and the repercussions of that process. Based on interviews and field data, the research presents a four-phase model—readiness, co-creativity, validation and execution. Although the study reveals certain anxieties surrounding this integration, in the end both human and AI elements together are required to boost and enliven the creative process.

Member Only Access
Learn About the Benefits, Limitations and Dangers of Using LLMs in Advertising Research

Learn About the Benefits, Limitations and Dangers of Using LLMs in Advertising Research

  • ARF
  • Knowledge at Hand

This report offers an abridged version of the cumulative 2025 AI handbook, exploring the benefits, limitations and dangers of generative AI models when employed in various tasks associated with marketing and advertising research. This report sums up the insights from several experiments where ARF researchers tested AI's capabilities in survey design, sentiment analysis, coding open-ended responses, language translation and addressing AI risks.

Member Only Access
The ARF Member AI Workshop

The ARF Member AI Workshop

The ARF Member AI workshop introduced members to the potentialities of various AI platforms and tools to boost their work productivity. The workshop covered how LLMs such as Copilot, ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude can be employed in three main areas: presentations and reports, advertising research and meetings. Issues such as privacy and security of using AI, as well as the current limitations and challenges of the technology were also discussed. The hands-on, interactive workshop was an opportunity for all those interested in best practices and guidelines for using AI to learn how to interweave such programs into their daily work processes.

Member Only Access
The ARF Diversity Report

The ARF Diversity Report

  • ARF ORIGINAL RESEARCH

The 2020 US census revealed that the United States is far more diverse and multiracial today than ever before in its history. Approximately 38% of the population belong to racial minority groups. The trend is expected to continue, which has resulted in companies increasing their focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), both internally and in their marketing efforts. In order to inform member companies of where we are as an industry, as well as to offer best practices and actionable insights in their own DEI efforts, the ARF has put together The Diversity Report.

Member Only Access
How Does the Digital Environment Impact Advertising Creativity?

How Does the Digital Environment Impact Advertising Creativity?

  • JOURNAL OF ADVERTISING RESEARCH

Does the digital environment support or constrain advertising creativity? The answer is both. But how? Researchers in Australia relied on two seminal methods—the rigorous Delphi recruitment method through which research queried creative experts worldwide, and the Four P’s model of creativity. These were applied to investigate “place” (the digital environment) and its impact on the remaining P's: process, person and product. What they found was that technology both enhances and represses creativity.  

Member Only Access
Are Marketers Using the Right Metrics?

Are Marketers Using the Right Metrics?

  • MSI

Which is more efficient when it comes to advantageous decision outcomes, marketing-mix metrics or financial metrics? Researchers in this award-winning MSI working paper investigated this question, basing their research on a behavioral framework and statistical model. On average, according to their sample, marketing-mix metrics are more effective than financial. Even so, managers seem more eager to use financial metrics, possibly, because they are easier to understand across the organization.

Member Only Access
 Next »