HUNTER Launches Hi⁵ Framework to Future-Proof Brand Visibility in AI-Driven Discovery

New Solution Helps Brands Earn Citations and Recommendations from AI Agents in the Post-Click Economy

HUNTER launches Hi⁵ Framework: AI-driven brand discovery solution for zero-click search optimization
Solves critical "agentic era" challenge where AI systems directly recommend brands without clickthrough
Framework includes 5 core components: Hunt, Highlight, Hook, Halo, and Hold
Powered by partnerships with 5 leading tech providers: Scrunch, Muck Rack, The Marketing Cloud, LLMtel, and Mira Studio from Meltwater

NEW YORK, Dec. 10, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HUNTER, a leading integrated marketing and PR firm known for earning consumer attention and elevating corporate reputation, today announced HUNTER: Hi⁵, a new agency capability that builds brand visibility through a five-step generative engine optimization (GEO) framework.

Why This Matters Now
As AI agents increasingly gatekeep consumer discovery in zero-click environments, brands face a fundamental shift: success now depends on being cited, recommended, and trusted by AI systems that deliver information directly to consumers.

HUNTER: Hi⁵ addresses this shift by building the credibility that compels AI systems to cite, recommend, and trust certain brands over competitors. HUNTER has advised organizations across beauty, fashion, technology, luxury, and food and beverage on successful AI integration, with a particular focus on optimizing press releases and brand-owned sites to maximize agent visibility. HUNTER: Hi⁵ packages these services into an efficient, actionable, and measurable new solution.

“Agents are the new personal shoppers for information. We make them your advocates, so your brand goes from seen to sourced,” said Michael Lamp, Chief Digital & Social Officer, HUNTER. “Our Hi⁵ framework builds credibility into every touchpoint so agents trust, choose, and recommend you. That’s brand discovery for the agentic era.”

How Hi⁵ Works:

Hunt: for brand visibility and white space.
Highlight: the brand’s story for maximum visibility.
Hook: LLMs with the right media outreach.
Halo: reach of coverage and conversation
Hold: your brand position as a preferred source.

What Hi⁵ Delivers:

30 days: Trust graph audit and AI visibility report, schema/FAQ plan, press TL; DR templates
60–90 days: Expert content packages, structured site update recommendations, full-scale press and website toolkits
Ongoing: Citation share growth, lift in answer visibility rate, and a defensible credibility moat

“AI systems increasingly control how consumers discover brands, and this evolution particularly emphasizes the exponential power of earned media and the need for GEO-aware approach for driving coverage,” said Grace Leong, CEO of HUNTER. “By offering the HUNTER: Hi⁵, we’re providing our clients with an impactful PR-led solution that will maximize agent visibility while also future-proofing brands for AI-driven consumer behavior shifts.”

HUNTER: Hi⁵ is powered by strategic partnerships with leading technology and data providers to deliver real-time brand intelligence; these partners include:

Brand Monitoring & Recognition: LLMtel provides directional overviews, alerting brands when their messages aren't being recognized by AI systems, enabling rapid responses to visibility gaps and website optimization recommendations to help establish authority with AI systems.
Query Intelligence & Impact Tracking: Scrunch tracks the volume of category-related queries to measure answer rate, citation rate and domain authority over time; scans brand websites to unearth how AI crawlers discover and evaluate content.
Editorial Insights & Trend Analysis: Mira Studio, Meltwater's AI-powered teammate, delivers deeper insights about editorial coverage and trending topics to better unite earned with owned, while Generative Pulse Muck Rack’s tool that helps brands understand how they appear in generative AI search, surfaces top brands, domains, outlets and editors to ensure media outreach is targeted to the journalists most trusted by LLMs, while also measuring AI sentiment and visibility over time.
Secure AI Agent Development: The Marketing Cloud enables HUNTER to use walled AI environments and build secure agents for client work, ensuring proprietary strategies remain confidential while maximizing Hi⁵ implementation effectiveness.

Frequently recognized as a “Best Place to Work,” Large Agency of the Year and Consumer Agency of the Year, HUNTER drives growth and earns valuable attention and reputation for consumer and corporate clients across food & beverage, travel, home & lifestyle, technology, financial services, retail, and health & beauty sectors.

Say Hi⁵ to the future. For more information on how your brand can compete in AI-powered search, contact geo@hunterpr.com.

About HUNTER:
Founded in 1989, HUNTER is an award-winning marketing communications firm with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto and London and a footprint across North America. Beginning with research-driven consumer insights, HUNTER executes strategic, integrated programs that build brand equity, increase engagement and drive measurable business results for B2B and consumer products and services. The 325-person firm employs a powerful blend of marketing solutions including strategic planning, social and digital media, talent and influencer engagement, media relations, experiential and multicultural marketing, and content creation and distribution for all platforms and channels to earn consumer attention and elevate corporate reputation for some of the world’s best known and most beloved brands. The agency is a member of Stagwell Inc. (NASDAQ:STGW).

About The Marketing Cloud:
The Marketing Cloud (formerly Stagwell Marketing Cloud) is a data-driven suite of AI-powered SaaS and service solutions built for the modern marketer. Powered by proprietary data and advanced tools spanning research, communications, creative, and media, it enables organizations to achieve measurable business outcomes by making smarter decisions, faster. The Marketing Cloud was born out of Stagwell’s (NASDAQ: STGW) award-winning network, known for delivering creative performance for ambitious brands.

Contact:
Shanice Graves
sgraves@hunterpr.com

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is the HUNTER: Hi⁵?

A: Hi⁵ is HUNTER’s five-step GEO framework that earns visibility inside AI answers and citations as the source. We Hunt, Highlight, Hook, Halo, and Hold, building your credibility so LLMs trust, choose, and share your brand.

Q: How does Hi⁵ differ from traditional SEO?

A: SEO optimizes for rankings and clicks. Hi⁵ optimizes for Answer Visibility and Citation Share inside AI outputs. We structure press, web and social for extraction, then measure and defend your position as agents’ preferred source.

Q: Which industries benefit most from GEO/AEO?

A: Any category where AI agents influence discovery or purchase decisions: CPG, beauty, retail, food & beverage, health, tech, travel, and finance. If customers ask AI for advice, GEO drives outcomes.

Q: What results can brands expect and when?

A: Early signals appear within days, based on the recency bias present in earned media; more appearances in AI answers, rising citation frequency and reduced competitive displacement will take shape over 60-90 days. We baseline Answer Visibility and Citation Share, then report gains by query cluster and platform.

Q: How does HUNTER measure AI visibility and citation?

A: We track several key metrics to show how often you appear in AI answers. This includes Answer Visibility (how often your brand shows up), Citation Share (how often you're credited as a source), Recommendation Rate (how frequently AI suggests you), Source Coverage (how many platforms feature you), Schema Health (how well-structured your website data is for AI to read), Freshness Velocity (how quickly new content gets picked up), and Competitive Displacement (how you compare to competitors). Think of it like SEO rankings, but for AI tools instead of search engines.

Q: What does implementation require from us?

A: Access to brand experts and existing content, analytics/CMs logins and approval for structured updates (schema, FAQs, TL;DRs). We run a trust-graph audit (visibility reporting), then ship press/web/social upgrades in toolkits or bundles.

Q: Why is HUNTER the right partner for GEO in 2026?

A: Earned first DNA plus technical rigor. We blend media relationships with structured content engineering, so your expertise is impossible to ignore and easy to cite.

Key Agency Data Points:

HUNTER has been in business for 36 years.
Five consecutive years of double-digit growth
Five global office locations
Current client roster includes Fortune 500 brands
Inaugural client relationship spanning 36 years

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