Hello friends,

Wild to think that Christmas is just over three weeks away. It’s been a huge year and we’re deep in planning mode for an even bigger 2026. In the last few weeks, we’ve delivered PR campaigns for Flexischools and Lost Mtns and welcomed a variety of new clients who we’re supporting with AI visibility audits and optimisation (more on those soon).

Before everyone checks out, I wanted to say a personal thanks to everyone who has supported LEOPRD’s launch this year and cheered us on on our journey. Thankfully, some rest is on the horizon. I’m heading to London (with the kids in tow) for their first cold Christmas, twinkly lights and some downtime skiing with the fam to ring in the New Year.

If I don’t catch you before, have a very merry Christmas.

C and the LEOPRD team x

 AI + PR Updates We’re Watching

ChatGPT Shopping - ChatGPT can now run full shopping research for consumers, generating personalised buyer’s guides in minutes by scanning product pages, reviews and live pricing. It also does visual shopping, so users can upload a photo and get close product matches. 

Hundreds of millions already use ChatGPT to find, understand and compare products. Shopping Research is built for high-consideration decisions: it asks clarifying questions, pulls current details from reputable sources, and returns steerable comparisons with trade-offs, especially in spec-heavy categories like electronics, beauty, home/garden, kitchen/appliances and sports/outdoor. Quick checks still get a normal ChatGPT answer; deeper “help me choose” prompts trigger the research flow.

What it means for brands: discovery is being reorganised around conversation. The funnel is compressing into a short Q&A where AI compares, ranks and explains options. Visibility now depends on being easy to read, trust and cite in that flow, with structured product data and credible third-party proof doing the heavy lifting. 

Adobe acquires Semrush - Adobe’s $1.9 billion acquisition of Semrush shows that large-cap companies are placing serious financial bets on the rise of LEO/GEO, as AI visibility - not just traditional SEO - is becoming a measurable, valued business asset. 

What this means for brands: Adobe forecasts companies will choose to invest in optimising their content and web pages to be more visible to AI tools, as people increasingly use AI chatbots, agents, and AI browsers to do everything from getting the news and finding recipes to shopping and booking travel.

AI slop” and “parasocial” words of the year - Macquarie naming “AI slop” and Cambridge naming “parasocial” signals the cultural integration of AI, and we're developing vocabulary to describe it.

What this means for comms leaders: As AI firmly becomes part of media diets, audiences are getting sophisticated about quality. They can distinguish between thoughtful AI-assisted work and low-effort content. Tone of voice, clarity, authenticity and the human touch are the differentiators

Tools You Need To Know

A few new tools that have got the office talking: 

Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image) - launched globally on 20 Nov and is rolling out to Workspace customers in Slides, Vids, the Gemini app and NotebookLM. Infographics are a breeze to create. Go Play.

Gemini in Google Maps - Travel and hospitality venues pay attention - the rollout to bring hands-free Q&A and landmark-based navigation to billions of daily journeys has begun. Whether you’re on IoS or Android, a simple ‘Hey Google + instructions’ like “Is there a budget-friendly restaurant with vegan options along my route? Or what's parking like there?” is now available. Are you optimising for this? 

Claude Opus 4.5 - Anthropic’s new flagship model (launched Nov 24) is pitched for agents and coding, but for comms teams the standout is how well it handles complex, long-context work. It’s better at deep research, synthesising heavy docs, and turning rough, multi-stakeholder inputs into clean briefs, decks, Q&A and strategy in one swoop.

LEOPRD held a breakfast briefing for senior leaders on AI visibility. The intro to LEO (language engine optimisation) uncovered that most teams still don’t know how they appear inside responses from ChatGPT, Gemini or Perplexity (if at all), yet these platforms are where customers increasingly start their discovery journey. 

We’ll be running more briefings across Australia and beyond in 2026. Register your interest and we’ll let you know when we’re in your city.

What’s Making Headlines

Forbes 30 Under 30 - The annual list is a ready-made attention spike around next-gen founders, athletes and creators. It pulls huge social sharing, signals credibility fast, and gives brands a clean way to attach to emerging talent, ambition and future-shaping stories.

TikTok Awards - With 2.2M viewers, the TikTok Awards are now competing directly with the Logies on audience, but outperforming on participation. Publicly voted, they pull massive volume (Stan/TikTok 2025 comms cite millions of votes and daily voting intensity.) The creator economy is booming. Individual, authentic and shareable, Ilai Matangi winning Creator of the Year with family-friendly comedy and 2M followers is the proof point.

Spotify Wrapped - the annual critique of your personality based on your favourite tunes drops this week if past timing holds. The new ‘taste profile’ lets you hide your guilty secrets from inclusion (bye white noise/Wiggles). Get ready to enjoy the annual hotbed of identity posting, that’s now a solid tradition.

Stranger Things Season 5 - Netflix treated the launch of the final season with major fanfare. Sydney Harbour was lit up with two nights of blood-red sky projections (Nov 25–26), a major pop-culture moment and showing how major fandoms in Australia now get city-scale, social-first staging.

Takeaway: Meet audiences where they are. Whether it’s creator awards, status lists like 30 Under 30, cause-led days, or rituals like Wrapped, people want shared, cultural moments they can be a part of. Brands that show up online and offline with credible signals and clear value get pulled into authentic conversations, and AI-driven discovery follows.

Before you go…

Australia’s social media ban will open a big gap in how teens connect and create IRL. As brands work to earn authenticity and trust, now is the time to step up with real support. Think creative outlets, safe community spaces, skills workshops, or real-world hangouts. Brands that help in a way teens actually feel will earn trust that lasts, and that same trust is what helps brands show up more in AI recommendations later.

If you have a worried tween in your household, Project Rockit is helping young people save their memories and download their data before the ban hits:

• Instagram/Facebook/Threads: Settings & Activity → Accounts Centre → Download your information

• TikTok: Settings & Privacy → Account → Download your data

• Snapchat: Settings → My Data → Select data to include

• YouTube: Google Takeout → Create export

• X: Settings & Privacy → Download an archive

• Reddit: Settings → Account → Download data