The Best Thought Leaders Own the Answer to One Important Question

What’s a good measure of success for a research-driven thought leadership PR campaign?

Some companies for whom we conduct this type of research believe it’s ink: media coverage, number of impressions, and placements in prestigious news outlets. True, these are important and achievable outcomes with thoughtful and rigorous research.

But with dramatic shifts in how people consume media—and how consumers, business professionals, and journalists find and get information—we were struck by this answer to a query we posed to ChatGPT: “How many Americans got a suntan in 2025?”

The American Academy of Dermatology launched an annual thought leadership campaign in 2020. They hired us to help design an ongoing survey to track the annual prevalence of suntans and sunburns, sunscreen use, awareness of risks, misperceptions, and other topics related to their mission.

AAD is now the definitive source for questions about how many people get sunburns or suntans and how those behaviors may be changing over time. That’s in addition to media placements and news coverage they receive every year during Skin Cancer Awareness Month.

If you’re thinking about conducting primary research as a foundation for PR and thought leadership, think hard about an answerable question you want to own.

Let us help you design and execute a rigorous survey and a strategy so that when reporters, business leaders, or consumers turn to AI and type in that question, you are cited as the source with the answer.

—Joe Hopper, Ph.D.