Global | Edelman

AI in marketing isn’t theoretical anymore, it’s operational. That reality was front and centre at DigiMarCon Toronto, where leaders focused on how AI is driving measurable business impact. In creator marketing, the implications are immediate and structural. The gap between organizations using AI with rigor and those using it superficially is becoming impossible to ignore.

Let’s be clear: AI is not just making creator marketing more efficient; it’s redefining how the entire discipline operates.

The playbook is being rewritten

From how creators are discovered to how partnerships are structured to how performance is predicted and measured; the playbook is being rewritten in real time. Leaders who treat this as incremental change will fall behind those who recognize it as an operating shift.

Creator discovery illustrates this point. What once relied heavily on manual identification and vetting is now powered by systems that can analyze audience quality, content patterns and brand alignment in seconds. That does more than just save time, it raises the baseline for decision-making. If your process still looks the same as it did two years ago, you’re not just behind, you’re making weaker decisions with less information.

From instinct to accountability

The same shift is underway across creative and performance. AI can now forecast which content is likely to resonate before it goes live and optimize campaigns as they run. This shifts the role of the marketer from subjective selection to accountable decision-making. The expectation is no longer instinct alone, but informed judgement backed by data and tied to outcomes.

The discipline gap

Yet many organizations remain misaligned with this reality.

There is no shortage of AI tools in the market. There is a shortage of discipline in how they are applied. Too many teams are experimenting at the edges instead of integrating AI into the core of how Creator Marketing drives revenue and customer experience. If AI is not directly influencing who you partner with, briefing, how you optimization and measurement, it’s not a strategy. It’s a side project.

The highest-value applications are clear and tied to business outcomes. Better creator selection. Smarter content decisions. More efficient spend. Stronger conversion. Anything else is noise.

Scale without losing trust

At the same time, scaling AI without clear guardrails is a mistake. Creator Marketing is built on relationships, credibility and audience trust. Creators are not interchangeable media units. They are partners whose values depends on authenticity. Applying AI without thoughtful governance risks optimizing for short-term performance while eroding long-term trust.

That’s why governance cannot be an afterthought. It should define how AI is used, what decisions it informs and where human judgment is non-negotiable. The goal is not to replace intuition, but to sharpen it and ensure it’s applied in the right places.

Closing the gap

Closing the gap between experimentation and impact requires deliberate operating changes. Leaders should prioritize four actions:

Integrate AI into core workflows: Apply it to creator selection, briefing, optimization and measurement. If it doesn’t shape these decisions, it’s not driving business value.
Pressure-test decisions before launch: Use AI to evaluate creator fit and campaign strategy before committing.
Redesign role and workflows around AI: If AI is just an extra step, it won’t stick.
Invest in capability, not just tools: Platforms don’t create impact without training, standards and internal expertise.

AI’s value comes down to execution. Insights have limited impact unless they translate into stronger briefs, more strategic partnerships and measurable results. Organizations that fail to operationalize AI will add complexity without improving performance.

The critical divide in Creator Marketing is no longer access to AI; It’s a willingness to rethink the operating model.

Leaders who act now will move faster, spend smarter, and win more consistently. Those who don’t will continue to frame incremental change as innovation while losing ground where it matters most.

Gabe Mederos, Vice President of Creator Marketing.

Matthew Harrington, our Executive Vice Chairman, received the SABRE Individual Achievement Award for distinguished service in public relations at PRovoke Media’s North American SABRE Awards this evening. I want to add my own thoughts about a man who has been such a singular force in the success of Edelman over the past four decades.

His first day at the firm is the stuff of legend. I met Matt through his cousin Becky, who was the girlfriend of my pal Dave Wagener in college. Matt came to our New York office at 1775 Broadway. I quickly concluded that he was bright and energetic, hiring him on the spot. We were short of staff, so I sent him out right away to help our client Scitex on its first quarterly earnings release since listing on Nasdaq. I had not thought to ask Matt whether he had done one of these before. Our client, Arthur Low, gamely guided Matt through the process and the release went out on time.

As one of our rising young executives, Matt put his hand up to move to the West Coast in the early 90s to lead our growing Visa International relationship out of the San Francisco office. He was then named General Manager when the incumbent moved to the client and ultimately became Head of West Coast Operations. Among the clients he attracted to Edelman during his tenure on the left coast were Starbucks and Charles Schwab, which are still pillars of DJE’s business. He was the first dedicated client leader to Microsoft and among the first Edelman executives to work with Samsung Electronics; his relationship with both companies continues today.

Through his work as both a client and CEO counselor, he has helped elevate and redefine the role of today’s communications professional. He has led our clients and our firm through defining moments post 9/11: Leading the Cantor Fitzgerald grieving center at the Pierre Hotel, the 2008 financial crisis and the recovery from COVID. One of his most groundbreaking engagements was with Odwalla, where he helped pioneer the use of the internet for crisis management, providing real-time updates to consumers on product safety and earning a PRSA Silver Anvil for best Communications Campaign of 1997.

Matt has been a leader on the ethical practice of public relations. He helped establish our firm’s core set of values and has been outspoken in his role as board member at USC Annenberg School’s Center for Public Relations to ensure that graduates take these values into the workplace. He has worked closely with our Crisis and Issues team to fight disinformation.

As our Chief Operating Officer for the past fifteen years, he has been my true partner in growing the business to its nearly $1 billion level. He has carried the flag for the Edelman brand to our far-flung markets, presenting the Edelman Trust Barometer, doing new business development, and meeting with opinion leaders in Davos. He is the calm, cool operator who has translated nascent ideas such as the Circle of Cross Influence into revenue and top client service.

It is important to note that he has balanced work and family life. He is an incredible husband, father and now grandfather. He has been a role model to so many in the company, mentoring Judy Mackey, Justin Blake, Lisa Sepulveda, Russell Dubner and my three daughters. I have also been the direct beneficiary of Matt’s wisdom; he is a trusted counselor whose judgment and perspective have guided me through many of the firm’s most important moments.

He has also done impressive community service on the board of his alma mater, Denison University, and Classic Stage Theatre (you need to know that Matt gave up a promising acting career to go into PR).

Matt is the epitome of the Edel-person, smart, devoted to clients, global-minded and committed to excellence. I congratulate Matt on his well-deserved award and count on him for many more years of partnership.

Richard Edelman is CEO.

Latest Edelman Trust Report: 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer

The 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals a world of seemingly stagnant distrust. People’s trust in business, government, NGOs and media remained largely unchanged from 2017 — 20 of 28 markets surveyed now lie in distruster territory, up one from last year. Yet dramatic shifts are taking place at the market level and within the institution of media.

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Edelman Trust Barometer Supplements

The Polarization of Trust

The world is moving apart in trust. In previous years, market-level trust has moved largely in lockstep, but for the first time ever there is now a distinct split between extreme trust gainers and losers. No market saw steeper declines than the United States, with a 37-point aggregate drop in trust across all institutions. At the opposite end of the spectrum, China experienced a 27-point gain, more than any other market.

In Search of Truth

Globally, nearly seven in 10 respondents among the general population worry about fake news or false information being used as a weapon, and 59 percent say that it is getting harder to tell if a piece of news was produced by a respected media organization.

In this environment, media has become the least-trusted institution for the first time in Trust Barometer history — yet, at the same time, the credibility of journalists rose substantially. A number of factors are driving this paradox.

Confusion about the credibility of news is connected to the broad, wide definition of media that Trust Barometer respondents now hold. Some people consider platforms to be part of “the media” — including social media (48 percent) and search engines (25 percent) — alongside journalism (89 percent), which includes publishers and news organizations.

This year, trust in journalism jumped five points while trust in platforms dipped two points. In addition, the credibility of “a person like yourself” — often a source of news and information on social media — dipped to an all-time low in the study’s history. Most likely, the falloff of trust in social and search, and of the credibility of peer communication, are contributing to the overall decline of trust in media.

2018 Edelman Trust Barometer

The Return of Experts

At the same time, voices of expertise are now regaining credibility. Journalists have risen 12 points, and CEOs recorded a seven-percentage point gain, since 2017. Technical experts, financial industry analysts, and successful entrepreneurs now register credibility levels of 50 percent or higher.

FEBRUARY 12, 2018 CORRECTION: A PREVIOUS VERSION OF THE GLOBAL REPORT INCORRECTLY REPRESENTED THE DATA ASSOCIATED WITH FRANCE ON SLIDE 38

I had a coffee with Suzanne McCormick, President and CEO of YMCA of the USA yesterday morning in New York City. Founded in 1844 in the UK, with its first branch organized in the U.S. in 1851, the Y has taken on the important mission of creating connected communities. Fighting social isolation and insularity is a major objective for Edelman, given the alarming finding from our 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer: 70 percent of respondents across 28 countries were found to have an insular mindset, which means they are unwilling or hesitant to trust someone with different values, approaches to social issues, backgrounds, or information sources.

McCormick is in her fourth year as CEO. She wants to work much more with the private sector. She has forged partnerships with the National Basketball Association (bet that you did not know that Dr. Naismith created the game of basketball at a YMCA in Springfield, MA) and the National Football League. Among the companies already involved with the Y are American Express, Amazon and Walmart.

The Y has a massive footprint across the U.S., serving 18.8 million people annually, 6.8 million of whom are youth. The Y reaches 10,000 communities and has 2,600 locations. Much of the work happens in schools, with Y personnel running after-school programs. The Y is also the largest nonprofit childcare provider in the U.S. Ys collectively represent $9B in annual revenue and employ nearly 300,000 people. For many of the employees, the Y is their first job, from lifeguard to camp counselor. Each Y is independent but acts as a franchisee, with common operating standards and systems.

She believes that the Y can become the premier third space in the country. “Think of the story of our founder, George Williams, who came to London from the countryside to work in a factory during the Industrial Revolution in the 1840s. Young men had no social circle beyond bars and brothels. So, he began a Bible study class to enable wholesome connections with other young men from rural areas. This began our journey to help people find their purpose and connection in local communities.”

She has big plans for the 175th anniversary, including a once every four years gathering of Y staff and volunteers in New Orleans in September. She also wants to flag Y-Cons (a take-off on Icons), celebrities and athletes who got their start at the Y. I am no celebrity but have wonderful memories of the West Side Y preschool for my three daughters, basketball at the Lincolnwood Y and killer workouts at the Lawson Y with lunatic trainer Dick Voit and Voit’s Warriors (best line…who taught you that push-up style, lover boy).

The Y is open to a new relationship with companies interested in sponsoring national or regional programs. I can see food clients doing work in healthy eating, pharmaceutical clients helping consumers to change lifestyle through exercise and vital sign monitoring or financial services clients helping on financial literacy or tech clients using the Y for reskilling. I am meeting with McCormick at the end of May in Chicago to advance this discussion and encourage all my colleagues in PR to do the same.

Richard Edelman is CEO.

Our assumptions about who believes what about health are spectacularly wrong. Doubts about nutrition, vaccination, and public safety recommendations are no longer a fringe view. They stem neither from a single ideology nor lack of education and do not result from distrust of doctors or experts. In fact, our latest 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Trust and Health, based on a survey of 16,000 respondents across 16 countries, finds that a staggering 70% believe at least one of six divisive health claims about foods, vaccines and medicines to be true. Understanding the worldview and concerns of the public is everything. CEOs and communicators in health must wake up to this radical new reality.

Divisive health beliefs span the globe, highest in the developing nations of India (89%) and South Africa (88%), lowest in Japan, Canada, and the U.S. (50-61%). The divisive health beliefs apply equally across educational levels (university degreed versus non-university degreed) and are more acute among young people (79% for ages 18-34 ) and right-leaning voters (78%), though majorities hold for ages 55 and older (60%) and the left-leaning (64%). It is shocking that only a slight majority (52%) believes the risks of childhood vaccination outweigh the benefits to be false, while slightly over one third (36%) of respondents say adding fluoride in drinking water is harmful is false, a public health staple in the many Anglophone countries since the 1960s.

The one-year drop in confidence (-10 points to 51%) to make informed health decisions for ourselves and our families is staggering. From China to the UAE to Mexico, the majority of people feel their country is divided on key health issues, potentially leading to a profound loss of trust in the healthcare system. Artificial intelligence has already displaced medical expertise in the eyes of many; doctors are competing to influence health decisions with AI, peers, friends and other non-credentialed sources.

More information alone is not the way out of this. Those with more divisive health beliefs are in fact more immersed in information, with on average two thirds saying that they frequently consume health news or consult AI platforms for answers, double or triple the engagement of those who believe no divisive claims. They are nearly three times as likely to read health news from different political orientations. We see evidence of confusion: They are also more likely to be getting mixed advice from credentialed and uncredentialed voices, and so it follows that they’re three times more likely to disregard HCP medical guidance in favor of advice from friends, family, or social media in the past year than those who disbelieve divisive health claims. This is not a story of too little; it’s a matter of too much information without proper context.

Science needs a reset to adapt to this unstable world of trust, offering a new deal to patients and health providers. To date institutional science has solely focused on the WHAT, expressed by top-down communication from credentialed authority figures. That is no longer sufficient for those with skepticism about global institutions, experts, and government borne of the COVID-19 ordeal. The HOW must be explained in simple terms, using data visualizations and with greater transparency on clinical trial processes. The WHY requires acknowledgement of benefits versus side effects and the relative value of the innovation versus cost.

Here is a five-point communications strategy for Health:

Institutions and providers alike need to show up as guides, not advocates.
Trust must be brokered across groups with different views, elevating shared goals without needing to achieve unanimity.
Acknowledge that we don’t have all the answers. Luckily, this is already a built-in part of the scientific method to correct as we learn.
Frequency, frequency, frequency. People need to hear and be heard multiple times before they consider a recommendation on health.
Surround sound. We should utilize a broader circle of trust, valuing friends and family and patient advocacy groups alongside medical experts.

It is time for science to go on offense, to recognize the futility of facts alone, and bring the public along as partner in a better life.

Richard Edelman is CEO.

This post originally appeared on Fortune.com

I have just visited the Anne Frank House installation at the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) in Chicago, which will open to the public on May 1. This is the first time that the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam has allowed its precious artifacts to come to the U.S. The installation is a precise copy of the Annex built behind the original Frank family apartment in Amsterdam. I sit on the board of the museum and have been very involved in this project.

When I asked Dr. Chevy Humphrey, President & CEO of the museum, why she wanted to host this exhibit, she told me, “Julius Rosenwald, who made Sears, Roebuck and Company a dominant retailer in the U.S., was the original funder of the museum. He was Jewish, proud of his religion and determined to use his financial success to improve society. He funded the building of schools throughout the South from 1913-32 to educate African American children in towns where local school boards did more to support white students. This exhibit carries on his work, providing students with context about the Holocaust, explained by a young girl their own age.”

The Diary of Anne Frank is a collection of writings by a teenager who lived in isolation with her family for two years in Amsterdam, hiding from the Nazi SS. Thirty million copies of the book in seventy languages have been sold since it was published first in the U.S. in 1952. The Diary also became a play on Broadway, then a movie in 1958.

Anne Frank was born in Frankfurt in 1929 to Otto and Edith Frank. Otto Frank was a successful businessman, running a food business. With the rise of Hitler, the Franks moved to Amsterdam, living above a food processing factory. As the Nazi onslaught proceeded across Europe, he constructed an annex behind their original apartment. In 1942, the deportation of Jews from Holland began. The Franks moved into their annex, fed and clothed by loyal company employees.

This deception worked until August,1944, when two workers in the factory were forced by the SS to give up the Franks. The entire family was sent to Auschwitz. The two daughters, Margot and Anne, were later transferred to Bergen Belsen, another death camp, where they died in February 1945. Their mother died in January 1945 in Auschwitz. Otto Frank lived through the ordeal and was freed by Russian troops in late January 1945, then took six months to find his way back to Amsterdam through Odessa and Marseille, only to find himself the sole survivor.

On his return to his factory in Amsterdam, he met his secretaries, who presented him with four volumes of Anne’s diaries. Her first diary was a 13th birthday present from her parents. Her first entry was, “I hope I will be able to confide everything to you, as I have never been able to confide in anyone, and I hope you will be a great source of comfort and support.” There is an incredibly moving video of one of the secretaries, showing how she delivered the diaries into Otto Frank’s hands.

There are three objects from the house that I found deeply moving. First there was a bicycle hung on the wall alongside a backpack. It was useless for the hideaways except as a source of continuing hope for a better future. Second was a makeshift menorah, carved of wood, its candles the symbol of resistance. Third was the cut-out photos of movie stars on the wall above the beds of the two girls; the first awakening of teens to a life on the outside that they could only dream about.

Dr. Humphrey is a singular leader who understands the power of her office to influence and educate the community. She understands that the primary mission of her institution is to improve the understanding of science, enabling visitors to dream about careers in technology. But she told me, “You need an appreciation of humanities to fully appreciate science. The racial pseudo-scientific theories of the Nazis, a master race that sits above Jews and people of color or those with deep religious faith, need to be understood and rejected today. That is the message of the Anne Frank exhibit, painful truth through history.” To all my readers, please come to Chicago in the next nine months to see this all-important exhibition at the Griffin MSI.

Richard Edelman is CEO.

25 Years of Trust

AI is rewiring creator marketing, and most brands aren’t keeping up

Matthew Harrington, a Singular Force

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