How AI Is Shaping Priorities 

AI opportunity is already shaping the priorities that matter most to publishers, associations, and trade and professional media organizations operating at the intersection of content and community. These organizations are looking to AI to:

• Enhance experiences for readers, authors, members, and stakeholders
• Strengthen content discovery and audience engagement across publications, products, and programs
• Improve marketing effectiveness and customer engagement
• Optimize sponsorship, advertising, and audience monetization opportunities
• Streamline editorial and review workflows while safeguarding integrity
• Unlock new revenue streams through licensing, product innovation, and emerging opportunities
• Use data to drive smarter decisions and greater efficiency

For some organizations, the starting point is clear business goals — and the question becomes how AI, often combined with other capabilities, can best accelerate progress. For others, leadership or the board is taking a broader view:  

• AI is here – what are we going to do about it? 

• What does AI really mean for us? 

• Where should we start? 

C&E supports both perspectives. We’ve been helping clients use AI for years, integrating it in our broader strategic services across marketing, digital, and publishing strategy. We now also offer the AI Opportunity Map — a dedicated service for organizations that want to examine their operations through an AI lens.

C&E AI Service Round-Up 

What follows is a round-up of how we help organizations understand AI, capitalize on opportunities, and protect against risks. 

AI Opportunity Map

AI dominates publishing discussions, but opportunities vary widely in business value and maturity. Leaders need a strategic AI vision, while teams require practical solutions for today’s challenges. Both want clarity on what AI means for their organization and where to invest their efforts. The AI Opportunity Map is a practical tool that connects AI use cases to business value and maturity, helping you prioritize and plan next steps. 

Brand AI Engine 

We have two services that equip your brand to harness the full range of modern marketing AI capabilities in a consistent, safe, and responsible way.

• Capsule Messaging Collection^TM: Our proprietary framework that structures and differentiates brand messaging, ensuring clarity and consistency. Once messaging is defined, the Capsule Messaging Collection makes it usable at scale — for humans and AI — underpinning applications from personalization and message testing to training brand-aligned LLMs. 

• Brand LLMs: We help clients create brand-specific large language models that generate copy in the right voice, tone, and context — powered by their Capsule Messaging Collection and brand kit. 

Digital Platforms and Marketing Technology 

Our services enhance audience engagement, digital experience, customer-centricity, and marketing performance through smarter adoption of marketing systems and platforms — guided by where AI delivers real impact.

• Marketing Technology Audits: We review your current marketing technology environment through the lens of your business goals — highlighting what’s working, where gaps exist, and where new opportunities lie. We pay special attention to how AI capabilities — from predictive analytics to personalization to generative content — can strengthen effectiveness and efficiency. With AI transforming the landscape, it’s the right moment to step back and evaluate your entire stack. 

• Marketing Technology Evaluations: Once you have evaluated your needs, we help you choose the right technology. Because we understand how AI is reshaping marketing, we focus on tools that don’t just meet today’s requirements but position you for modern, data-driven marketing. We also know where AI genuinely improves marketing outcomes — and where it’s just hype. 

• Platform Evaluations: We assess publishing platforms with a close eye on their AI capabilities — both what’s available today and what’s on the roadmap. We also help you determine which AI functions are best delivered by the platform itself, vs. which are better handled through integrated technologies. 

Business Strategy  

AI Rights and Your Publishing Agreement: For scholarly journals and books, publishing licensing agreements are typically exclusive arrangements that grant your publishing partner control over the use and monetization of your content. In return, you receive royalties tied to the revenue those rights generate. 

These agreements now routinely extend to AI applications. This includes the right to license your content for: 

• AI training datasets 

• Generative AI systems and outputs 

• Derivative content creation 

• Integration into AI platforms 

In many cases, exclusivity restricts your ability to independently use or license your content for AI purposes without your publisher’s approval. This makes it critical to evaluate the scope of rights being granted and the compensation structures attached to them. 

We help you navigate the AI rights relationship with your publisher: 

• Compensation Models: How is your organization compensated for revenue generated by AI rights? What royalty allocation framework applies? 

• Strategic Control: Under what circumstances might it be advantageous to opt out (if possible) of your publisher’s AI licensing arrangements? 

• Independent Opportunities: Will your publisher allow you to pursue AI-related deals on your own, and if so, under what terms? 

• Value Creation: If you originate an AI licensing opportunity, how will your publisher recognize and reward your contribution? 

• Future-Proofing: Does your agreement anticipate new AI applications and business models not yet on the market? 

• Publisher Relationships and AI Opportunities: Which publishers are striking the most lucrative, and innovative, AI deals? Would a partnership with those publishers generate additional revenue for your organization?