Sydney 6, May 2026: LEOPRD, the PR agency for the AI era, has closed its first year with a run of major client wins and three senior appointments as demand for AI visibility strategy and reputation management accelerates globally.
New client engagements include Amazon, National Dental Care, Stock Spirits Group (Europe) and Repeat Builders, joining an existing roster that includes Flexischools, LostMtns, Pandion Health, Retail MediaWorks and Positive Energy Health and Fitness. The Sydney-based consultancy helps brands, big and small, improve how they are cited and represented in platforms like ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity by building the credibility signals that AI platforms trust.
The wins and appointments position LEOPRD as a leading authority in AI visibility and reputation strategy, with Founder Celia Harding recently named Mumbrella CommsCon PR Professional of the Year and B&T Women Leading Tech Award winner (PR category) 2026.
New hires
Sally Douglas joins as Communications Director, bringing more than 15 years’ experience and her role as co-founder of global grief platform Good Mourning. Esther Carlson joins as Growth Consultant, with previous roles at Bench, Nine and Nova. Louis Roa joins as Data and AI Lead, with experience from SSW and RX Global.
LEO, GEO and AEO in the Answer Economy
AI platforms curate a single answer, not an exhaustive list of links. When only three to five organisations are named, the question is not just whether you appear, but what the answer says about you.
Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO) improve how brands surface in AI results through technical content structures and machine-readable formatting. LEOPRD delivers that work as part of every engagement. But it is not enough on its own. LEOPRD's Reputation to Revenue research found that 62% of AI brand citations come from third-party credibility signals, while owned content influences just 20% of LLM responses.
LEOPRD coined Language Engine Optimisation (LEO) to describe the full discipline. LEO incorporates GEO and AEO and extends them into earned media strategy, narrative authority, and the platform-specific signals that the likes of ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini and Perplexity each weigh differently. The goal is to shape what the answer says. That requires strategic communications working alongside technical optimisation, because the signals that influence AI outputs are the same ones that have always defined credible public relations.
Celia Harding, Founder, LEOPRD, comments, "In a zero-click environment, where AI platforms curate an answer rather than a list of links, brands are under growing pressure to do more with less. ChatGPT alone processes over 2.5 billion prompts a day, and the value of an AI visitor is 4.4 times that of organic search. That presents a significant opportunity but also a risk if you are absent from the answer or the response is damaging. Yet most organisations still think of AI platforms as tools, not stakeholders, and have no idea what they are saying about them."
Megan Ormsby, Head of PR, Devices and Alexa, Amazon Australia, says: “LEOPRD’s AI Visibility Audit gave us a clear view of how Amazon Australia was being represented in AI-generated responses, where the gaps were, and what to do about it. These findings have guided our communications strategy, driven our thought leadership narratives, and established a benchmark used internationally. For a brand operating at our scale, that kind of data-driven clarity is invaluable.”
EMEA expansion
In October 2025, LEOPRD signed an exclusive EMEA partnership with The Remarkables, the independent global communications firm founded by Kerry Parkin, to launch The Mark, Powered by LEOPRD. The partnership distributes LEOPRD’s LEO methodology across the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa, with Stock Spirits Group (SSG) one of the first clients being delivered in partnership with The Remarkables.
LEO Insights: Reputation to Revenue 2026
LEOPRD is preparing to release the second edition of its LEO Insights: Reputation to Revenue report. Join the waitlist here.
Key AI statistics
- 62% of AI brand citations come from earned media and third-party signals (LEOPRD Reputation to Revenue, 2025)
- Gartner predicts PR and earned media budgets will double by 2027 (Gartner)
- 53% increase in purchases after 30 minutes of interaction with Copilot-assisted shopping journeys, according to Microsoft's internal data. (Microsoft)
- 77.6% of US consumers have used AI to shop in the past six months, with 43.21% using it weekly or more (Exploding Topics)