Okay, maybe not all of us are but it’s fair to say most Isentia employees are a little more tapped into what’s happening out in the world of news (no matter the channel). Beyond that, we could be described as a bit ‘tech-happy’. We also love to ask questions and find answers – so we thought we’d ask some of our people about their habits to shed some light into how differently we all consume or engage with media. We also wanted to understand the contrast (or lack thereof) between our different offices around the world when it comes to how teams stay ahead of the media. After all, we’re powered by tech, inspired by people.
Here’s what we found through some of the Q&A with our Isentia colleagues:
We have at least two devices – and are always on our phones
Isn’t it amazing that smartphones became ‘mainstream’ just over ten years ago – what would we do without them now! Aside from the convenience, our people cited that the enhancements in screen resolution, size and speed were all reasons for being mobile-first. Plus, being a device that is designed for a multitude of activities including watching videos, surfing the web, checking emails, texting and messaging via WeChat or similar, appealed (funnily enough nobody actually mentioned calling!). Beyond mobile devices, laptops and iPads were also on the list. Even a Kindle and smart watch got a shout out.
We eat social media and news before breakfast
Like many around the world, our people wake up and surf social media sites like Facebook, WhatsApp and online news sites before their day begins. This was closely followed by emails, which is understandable given a 24/7 news cycle and business. In saying this, we enjoy a little Zen too with one colleague from Malaysia enjoying a cup of tea while perusing the online news, and a colleague from Korea waking up and playing music before anything else!
When surfing for news, we are also on-trend using a mix of social channels (such as LinkedIn and Facebook) for our news updates with some traditional news sources in online form (such as BBC and CNN). We’re also big fans of using alerts to stay up to date to save time and keep us updated on the things we really want to know – Google Alerts and notifications from the New Zealand Herald were a couple that were referenced.
We’re visually inspired, but all different when it comes to sharing our New Year’s celebrations
YouTube, Instagram, Facebook are top choices for inspiration.
“YouTube is an unlimited source of inspiration. You can watch TED talks, listen to music and even enjoy a fireplace.”
– Isentia Korea
However when it came to welcoming 2018 and sharing the experience, we had mixed results. Many didn’t post anything on social media or chose to only share with close family or friends via messaging services, while the other half chose to share via Snapchat, Instagram stories and one person even wrote a blog!
Quick fire round – Who influences us?
It was a split between President vs Celebrity, but we all generally felt big names, like Forbes or ABC, influenced us more ahead of local news. We also noted social influencers or KOL’s (key opinion leaders) were likely to influence us – which makes sense given our social-first nature described above.
So what’s next – What we’re loving about the changing media landscape?
Access. The term ‘news travels fast’ has never been truer and the combination of speed and increased accessibility is something our people are celebrating. Information is everywhere, at a click of the button, and has no ‘geography’. There’s also new ways in which individuals can interact with media. For example in Korea, ‘Kakao talk’ sometimes opens up chat rooms to openly group chat issues. Also, lots of us noted how quickly the Facebook news bot had integrated into their daily behaviour.
Thanks to all of our Isentia participants for sharing with us – #oneteam
Loren is an experienced marketing professional who translates data and insights using Isentia solutions into trends and research, bringing clients closer to the benefits of audience intelligence. Loren thrives on introducing the groundbreaking ways in which data and insights can help a brand or organisation, enabling them to exceed their strategic objectives and goals.
As communications professionals look toward 2026 planning sessions, one question dominates the conversation - How can we use AI in a safe, scalable, and sustainable way?
Behind this question often lies the hope for an "AI easy button"—a one-click solution for complex measurement challenges. However, as discussed in our recent APAC webinar, the real opportunity lies not in automating old metrics, but in architecting a smarter era of measurement.
Hosted by Russ Horell, Isentia’s Chief Revenue Officer for APAC, the session featured deep dives from two industry leaders who've contributed immensely to research and planning: Ngaire Crawford (Director of Insights, ANZ) and Prashant Saxena (VP of Research and Insights, SEA). Together, they unpacked the transition from using insights and converting them into strategic, measurable storytelling.
Here are the key takeaways from the discussion.
1. From experimentation to transparency
If 2024 and 2025 were the years of "playing in the sandbox," 2026 is set to be the year of transparency.
Ngaire Crawford emphasized that while AI is incredible at summarising data and recognising patterns, it does not automatically generate insight. As we integrate these tools, the focus must shift to methodological integrity—understanding the source data, the structure, and the limitations of the models we use.
"Models are really good pattern finders. But they don't necessarily set what good looks like, or understand the consequences of being wrong. And the antidote to that is always going to be good design." – Ngaire Crawford
2. "More data, better insight" is the misconception
A major misconception remains that feeding AI endless amounts of data will naturally result in better answers. In reality, without the right framework, more data often just creates more noise.
Prashant Saxena warns against the "sameness" that AI can generate. If everyone uses the same models on the same big data sets without specific objectives, they will get similar, generic answers. The role of the insights professional is evolving from descriptive reporting to strategic storytelling—using judgment to break through the "echo chamber" of AI validation.
3. Kill, keep, create: redefining our metrics
The panelists played a game of "keep, kill, create" to determine the future of measurement metrics.
Kill: The panel was unanimous in moving away from vanity metrics. Ngaire called for the end of Cumulative Reach, noting it is a biased metric that offers no context. Prashant agreed, suggesting that AVEs (Advertising Value Equivalents) need to be finally left behind.
Keep:Share of Voice remains useful as a foundational benchmark (a "census" of market presence), provided it is redefined to measure the share of a specific idea or perception rather than just volume
Create: The future lies in Authenticity Metrics. Prashant argued that while reputation is a downstream outcome, authenticity is the upstream outcome that drives it.
"Authenticity is more upstream, as reputation and trust are more downstream... That's an authentic ritual on a day-to-day basis, which leads to reputation." – Prashant Saxena
4. The "home field advantage" for communicators
Despite the technical buzz surrounding AI, the panel argued that communications professionals hold a distinct advantage. "Prompt engineering" is, at its core, a language and communication skill.
The future doesn't necessarily belong to the most technical users, but to the most articulate—those who can clearly define an outcome, ask the right questions, and deconstruct language to get the best result from a model.
Trust your judgment
As we move into 2026, the advice from our experts is to not let AI replace your strategic point of view.
Have an opinion: Don't wait for metrics to be imposed on you. Go into conversations knowing what you want to measure and why.
Pause before you prompt: As Prashant advised, "Paper before a chatbot.". Define your strategy and objectives on paper, using your human experience and judgment, before turning to AI to execute the work.
By combining the speed of AI with the nuance of human strategy, communicators can finally build the sophisticated measurement systems they have always wanted.
Interested in viewing the whole recording? Watch our webinar here.
Alternatively, contact our team to learn more insights into meaningful measurement, KPIs and communicating using the right dataset.
"
["post_title"]=>
string(52) "Key takeaways from the Future of Measurement webinar"
["post_excerpt"]=>
string(126) "Our recent webinar explores what the future of measurement in 2026 looks like and what brands must do to scale in this AI era."
["post_status"]=>
string(7) "publish"
["comment_status"]=>
string(4) "open"
["ping_status"]=>
string(4) "open"
["post_password"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_name"]=>
string(45) "build-a-scalable-ai-measurement-strategy-2026"
["to_ping"]=>
string(0) ""
["pinged"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_modified"]=>
string(19) "2025-12-09 12:07:34"
["post_modified_gmt"]=>
string(19) "2025-12-09 12:07:34"
["post_content_filtered"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_parent"]=>
int(0)
["guid"]=>
string(32) "https://www.isentia.com/?p=43875"
["menu_order"]=>
int(0)
["post_type"]=>
string(4) "post"
["post_mime_type"]=>
string(0) ""
["comment_count"]=>
string(1) "0"
["filter"]=>
string(3) "raw"
}
Blog
Key takeaways from the Future of Measurement webinar
Our recent webinar explores what the future of measurement in 2026 looks like and what brands must do to scale in this AI era.
The media landscape is accelerating. In an era where influence is ephemeral and every angle demands instant comprehension, PR and communications professionals require more than generic technology—they need intelligence engineered for their specific challenges.
Isentia is proud to introduce Lumina, a groundbreaking suite of intelligent AI tools. Lumina has been trained from the ground up on the complex workflows and realities of modern communications and public affairs. It is explicitly designed to shift professionals from passive media monitoring back into the role of strategic leaders and pacesetters.
“The PR, Comms and Public Affairs sectors have been experimenting with AI, but most tools have not been built with their real challenges in mind.” said Joanna Arnold, CEO of Pulsar Group.
“Lumina is different; it is the first intelligence suite designed around how narratives actually form today, combining human credibility signals with machine-level analysis. It helps teams understand how stories evolve, filter out noise and respond with context and confidence to crises and opportunities.”
Setting a new standard for PR intelligence
Lumina is centered on empowering, not replacing, the human element of communications strategy. This suite is purpose-built to help PR, Comms, and Public Affairs professionals significantly improve productivity, enhance message clarity, and facilitate early risk detection.
Lumina enables communicators to:
Understand & Interpret: Move beyond basic alerts to strategically map the trajectory and spread of narrative evolution.
Focus & Personalise: Achieve the clarity necessary to execute strategic action before critical moments pass.
We are launching the Lumina suite by making our first module immediately available: Stories & Perspectives.
In the current fragmented, multi-channel media environment, communications professionals need to be able to instantly perceive not just how a story is growing, but also how it is being perceived across different stakeholder groups.
Stories & Perspectives organizes raw media mentions into clustered, cohesive Stories, and the Perspectives that exist within each, reflecting distinct media, audience, and public affairs angles. This unique functionality allows users to:
Rise above the noise: Instantly identify which high-level topics are gaining momentum or fading from attention.
Get to the detail, fast: Uncover the influential voices, niche communities, and specific channels actively shaping the narrative.
Catch the pivot point: Precisely identify the moment a story shifts—from a strategic opportunity to a reputation risk—or when a new key opinion former begins guiding the conversation.
"Media isn’t a stream of mentions," said Kyle Lindsay, Head of Product at Pulsar Group. "But rather a living system of stories shaped by competing perspectives. When you can see those structures clearly, you gain the ability to understand issues as they form, anticipate how they’ll evolve, and act with precision. That’s what we mean when we talk about AI built for communicators, and that's what an off-the-shelf LLM can't give you."
The Lumina Roadmap: AI tools for the future of comms
The launch of Stories & Perspectives is the first release of many. Over the upcoming months, we will systematically roll out the full Lumina roadmap, introducing a comprehensive set of AI tools engineered to handle every phase of the communications lifecycle.
The full Lumina suite will soon incorporate:
Curated media summaries: AI-driven daily summaries customized specifically to the priorities of senior leadership, highlighting only the most relevant stories.
Reputation analysis: Advanced measurement tracking how critical themes like ethics, innovation, and leadership are statistically shaping corporate perception.
Press release & media relations assistant: Tools designed to accelerate content creation and craft hyper-focused, personalized pitches that reach the precise contacts faster.
Predictive intelligence layer: Technology engineered to track and anticipate story momentum and strategic change before the window of opportunity closes.
Intelligent agents: Background agents continuously scanning all media channels for emerging key spokespeople and previously undetected reputation risks.
Enhanced audio, broadcast & crisis detection: Complete, real-time oversight of all channels—including audio and broadcast—enabling rapid context building and optimal crisis response delivery.
Want to harness the power of Lumina AI for your PR, Comms, or Public Affairs team? .
Complete the form below to register your interest.
"
["post_title"]=>
string(79) "Announcing Lumina: The purpose-built AI suite for PR, Comms, and Public Affairs"
["post_excerpt"]=>
string(129) "An intelligent suite of AI tools trained on the language, workflows, and realities of modern public relations and communications."
["post_status"]=>
string(7) "publish"
["comment_status"]=>
string(4) "open"
["ping_status"]=>
string(4) "open"
["post_password"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_name"]=>
string(76) "announcing-lumina-the-purpose-built-ai-suite-for-pr-comms-and-public-affairs"
["to_ping"]=>
string(0) ""
["pinged"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_modified"]=>
string(19) "2025-12-09 09:39:52"
["post_modified_gmt"]=>
string(19) "2025-12-09 09:39:52"
["post_content_filtered"]=>
string(0) ""
["post_parent"]=>
int(0)
["guid"]=>
string(32) "https://www.isentia.com/?p=43742"
["menu_order"]=>
int(0)
["post_type"]=>
string(4) "post"
["post_mime_type"]=>
string(0) ""
["comment_count"]=>
string(1) "0"
["filter"]=>
string(3) "raw"
}
Blog
Announcing Lumina: The purpose-built AI suite for PR, Comms, and Public Affairs
An intelligent suite of AI tools trained on the language, workflows, and realities of modern public relations and communications.