Meltwater vs Zappi

LLMs Increasingly Cite YouTube in AI Search Results

YouTube has emerged as a leading citation source across major AI platforms, surpassing Reddit. Meltwater data shows YouTube was the most-cited platform by eight AI systems in August 2026. Tinuiti's Q2 2026 report indicates YouTube's citation share in Google AI Mode quadrupled and more than doubled in AI Overviews from January to April 2026. Long-form videos, particularly those lasting 10–20 minutes, dominate citations, while Shorts lag. However, Scrunch found that citations fade by 43% within a month, indicating short-lived visibility. This trend underscores YouTube's growing role in AI-driven discovery, prompting brands to structure content with clear markers for AI visibility.

• YouTube was the most-cited platform by eight AI platforms (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, Google AI Mode, AI Overviews, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok) in August 2026.
• YouTube's share of citations in Google AI Mode quadrupled between January and April 2026, and more than doubled in AI Overviews.
• 94% of YouTube citations go to long-form videos, with 10–20 minute videos accounting for 32.1%.

Which B2B Brand 'Won' the World Cup?

The Drum asked social listening firm Meltwater to analyse seven B2B World Cup partners across three social metrics: mentions (loud), engagement (liked) and estimated reach (seen). Results diverged: Lenovo led in mentions (~8,700), Aramco led in engagement (~13.2m) and reach (driven largely by FIFA channels), while Verizon captured moment-driven attention. The piece highlights owned vs earned media, the dominance of LinkedIn (over 90% of B2B engagement), one-off spikes driven by celebrity posts or single assets for smaller partners, and limitations of social listening (e.g., aggregated sentiment masking negative Reddit threads). The conclusion: no single social-metric winner — each metric crowns a different brand and social listening alone cannot prove business outcomes.

• Social listening firm Meltwater analysed seven B2B World Cup partner brands across mentions, engagement and estimated reach.
• By mentions, Lenovo led with roughly 8,700 mentions versus about 2,750 for Aramco and 1,800 for Verizon.
• Aramco drew about 13.2 million engagements and Verizon about 8.8 million, while Lenovo had roughly 1.3 million engagements.

Marketbridge and Meltwater partner on B2B narrative GEO

Marketbridge and Meltwater have formed a partnership to integrate narrative intelligence and generative engine optimization (GEO) into B2B go-to-market planning. Meltwater will provide narrative and GEO intelligence while Marketbridge will fold those insights into its go-to-market intelligence, strategy, content workflows and consulting. Some joint capabilities are already live for clients, with a fuller integrated solution expected in Q4 2026. Executives say the collaboration aims to help marketers understand how large language models (LLMs) and live conversations are reshaping buying journeys, measure machine impact on pipeline, and adapt creative and messaging to what models and communities surface about brands.

• Marketbridge and Meltwater announced a partnership to bring narrative and GEO intelligence into B2B go-to-market planning.
• Meltwater supplies the narrative and generative engine optimization intelligence under the deal.
• Marketbridge integrates Meltwater's intelligence into its go-to-market intelligence, strategy, content workflow, and adds consulting and custom builds.

Carter's Relies on Data and Nostalgia to Stay Relevant

At Brandweek 2026, Carter's global VP of brand marketing Aubrie Corey and Zappi CMO Nataly Kelly discussed how the 161-year-old brand stays relevant. The strategy combines generational insights with a constant pulse of consumer data. Carter's recently launched a brand evolution targeting Gen Z parents, who favor self-expression over the 'mini me' style of the past. The brand also tapped into nostalgia with the OshKosh Reissued Collection, reviving 1980s and 1990s styles, and partnered with Umbro for World Cup-themed clothing. Kelly emphasized the need to centralize customer signals from siloed systems to effectively anticipate consumer trends.

• Carter's is a 161-year-old brand that uses consumer data to guide brand evolution.
• At Brandweek 2026, Carter's global VP Aubrie Corey and Zappi CMO Nataly Kelly discussed brand relevance.
• Carter's brand OshKosh B'gosh launched the Reissued Collection, featuring vintage styles from the 1980s and 1990s.

Converse Ad Rollout Fails Due to Lack of Single Accountability

This article is an opinion piece analyzing Converse's global ad campaign missteps, which led to two separate ads evoking lynching imagery. The first ad, featuring global ambassador Karina, was posted on Threads on Sept. 3. A second ad, a collaboration with Danish brand Palmes, was posted via Converse Mexico's Instagram on Sept. 14, with a similar image also appearing on Converse Malaysia's Instagram. The author attributes these failures to a decentralized global marketing process without a single point of accountability, where local teams and third-party partners lack shared cultural context and consumer testing data is not integrated globally. The piece advises global CMOs to test concepts earlier across markets, include partner and influencer content, and implement a one-flag rule for escalating any mentions of violence, hate symbolism, or historical trauma.

• Converse apologized for a Sept. 3 ad on Threads featuring Karina, which evoked a lynching.
• A second ad, a collaboration with Danish brand Palmes, was posted on Converse Mexico's Instagram on Sept. 14, showing a man on a ladder with sneakers overhead.
• Converse Malaysia's Instagram also posted the second ad image.

Zappi Newsroom: New Consumer Insights on Sydney Sweeney x Novig, Callaway x Good Good, and More

The newsroom page has been updated with new articles including 'Consumers on Sydney Sweeney x Novig: Winning men, losing women' (September 15, 2026), 'Consumers on Callaway x Good Good: Memorable for the wrong reasons' (September 2, 2026), and 'Why we built the Synthetic Idea Pre-Screener' (August 26, 2026). Additionally, the page now features a banner for 'The third annual connected insights report is here' with a link to get the report.