ICUC

Now Live! Ask ChatGPT for holiday gift ideas, and does your brand appear? If not, here's what you need to know. New ICUC research tested holiday gifting prompts across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, and the results look very different on each. Asked explicitly which brands to consider, the three platforms named 30 different brands between them. Only three of those brands showed up on more than one list. Not a single one showed up on all three. That matters as AI becomes another layer of holiday discovery, and we also discovered social buzz did not translate into AI visibility. Our latest white paper, Winning the Holiday Dollar, explores how AI, creators, social commerce, and changing spending behavior are reshaping the 2026 holiday season, and what your brand can do to win the holiday dollar. Read the full report today: https://lnkd.in/gU4pcPs6

On this Day for Truth and Reconciliation, ICUC proudly stands in solidarity with the survivors, families, and Indigenous communities affected by the residential schools that stripped young children of their right to safety and belonging. We encourage everyone to continue your education in this space by following these organizations for helpful resources. Indian Residential School Survivors Society A BC-based non-profit that helps Residential School Survivors and their families heal, providing culturally grounded counselling, Elder and Cultural Support, and the 24/7 Lamathut crisis line at 1-800-721-0066. On September 30, it is the organization doing the day-to-day work the day exists to honour, and its crisis line is the practical resource to amplify. (irsss.ca) National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Hosted at the University of Manitoba, the NCTR is the permanent home of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's archive, holding Survivor statements and residential school records so the history cannot be lost or denied. It is where "learn the history" stops being an abstraction on Truth and Reconciliation Day and becomes a place you can actually go. (nctr.ca) Indigenous Leadership Initiative An Indigenous-led organization that strengthens Indigenous Nationhood and land stewardship, best known for advancing Indigenous Guardians programs that put Nations in charge of caring for their own territories. It widens the frame beyond remembrance to self-determination, which is the reconciliation half of the day. (ilinationhood.ca)

COMING SOON: Winning the Holiday Dollar. The latest ICUC Insights report covers eight months of listening, including 55.5K+ public mentions, 24K+ TikTok and Instagram posts, and identical gifting prompts run across ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity. The questions we set out to answer: When does holiday shopping actually start? What do shoppers value more than a low price? How are they stretching their budgets? Which gift categories are growing, and which are shrinking? When do creators start posting holiday content? Which platforms are becoming holiday storefronts? Does AI recommend your brand? Coming soon. Follow ICUC so it lands in your feed. #SocialListening #HolidayMarketing #SocialCommerce #RetailMarketing

Every month, ICUC reads platform news so you don't have to, and reports the details that actually matter to your work. Here's a peek inside the latest issue: Meta agreed to an $18 billion settlement with 29 U.S. states over allegations that its platforms harmed young users. Pending court approval, under-18 accounts get: - A 2-hour daily cap across Facebook and Instagram, removable only with parental permission - Night Mode from midnight to 6 a.m., and muted notifications during school hours - A prompt every 15 minutes of continuous scrolling - Chronological feeds by default instead of algorithmic ranking - Autoplay off and like counts hidden by default - Stronger age-verification technology Beyond the news, our subscribers received this insight: less algorithmic distribution and fewer hours in the feed make it harder to reach teen audiences, and the engagement metrics you have been reporting may not mean what they used to. However, this change is also a validating moment. Platforms are being pushed toward the same thoughtful, human-first approach to safety that has been core to how we work all along. Check out the ICUC Newsletter. Platform shifts, moderation and community trends, and what they mean for the brands living in the comments. Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/gGy79Wc

Pharma innovation is moving faster than ever, yet brand sentiment is heading the opposite direction. ICUC analyzed 18.6M social media mentions in 2025 and found that 80.7% of posts carried negative sentiment. So in 2026, how can pharma brands build trust with their customers? A solution may be found in online conversations that pharma brands currently aren't leveraging. Watch this clip from our Fierce Pharma webinar, then follow the link to hear the full conversation. https://lnkd.in/gK7fbQub

Not every customer wants to be anticipated. Most likely, they just want to be heard. Grace Putney breaks down why reactive support still plays a critical role, even as proactive AI takes over more of CX. Her take in the CX Today link below. https://lnkd.in/gYtFMgQF

Reddit was one of ChatGPT's most-cited sources, but by mid-August, that all changed. According to new Promptwatch data, Reddit's share of voice (i.e., how often the platform was cited by OpenAI's LLM) had drastically declined by 86%. What this means: How your brand shows up in AI search keeps changing without notice, and no brand controls the rules. Our read: Lasting trust is built through a real presence in the communities where your brand is actually talked about. Swipe for what changed, why it matters for brands, and where to focus now. Source: https://lnkd.in/djhhzYFm

Discord is building a lower funnel. Digiday reports the platform is pushing into outcomes-based advertising: https://lnkd.in/gcuj2Y4X In the article, Nicole van Zanten spoke with Krystal Scanlon at Digiday on what separates a format that respects a community from one that just extracts from it. Our read: community platforms have always been the hardest place to buy attention and the easiest place to lose trust. When performance advertising arrives somewhere built on servers, mods and in jokes, brand safety should be your biggest concern. Three things worth asking before you spend there. Who moderates the space around your placement? What happens in the replies when nobody on your side is watching? Can your team answer in line with how that community actually speaks? Final thought: Presence in a community is earned, not bought.

Important brand conversations are happening outside your owned channels. They spread between customers, on forums, and across social platforms - often before they show up in your traditional reporting. For savvy brand and marketing teams, there's an opportunity to identify signals that matter early and use them to build trust. In ICUC's latest eBook, The Hidden Signals Shaping Your Brand, you'll discover how brands turn online conversations into actionable intelligence that improves reputation, customer experience, and business decisions. Swipe to see what’s inside, then download the full eBook here: https://lnkd.in/gj3Es4pm

Athletes are becoming media brands, and marketers need a new playbook to keep up. Our own Nicole van Zanten spoke with EMARKETER about what's really happening when athletes like Courtney Williams, Natisha Hiedeman, and Jaylen Brown turn Twitch livestreams into 30,000+ person audiences. Her take: "Athletes on Twitch aren't doing PR. They're doing community management." Read the full piece: https://lnkd.in/gTkHfDTQ