MMC Introduces a New AI Methodology for Understanding Culture

NEW YORK, Aug. 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- MMC, an Omnicom Public Relations agency, today introduced a new methodology for understanding culture, designed to identify emerging shifts before they become conventional wisdom and translate them into strategic communications insight. The methodology is brought to life through WEATHERVaiNE, MMC's proprietary cultural insights engine, powered by Bluefish AI, an agentic marketing platform.

While much of the marketing and communications industry has spent the past two years focused on helping brands optimize their visibility in AI-generated search and discovery, MMC is using AI to interpret the culture surrounding brands. WEATHERVaiNE identifies relationships across publicly available information at scale, enabling MMC strategists to recognize emerging narratives, behavioral patterns and community dynamics earlier.

"For more than four decades, MMC has helped clients understand the forces shaping reputation, behavior and relevance," said Olga Fleming, CEO of MMC. "As business and culture become more interconnected, organizations that recognize emerging change earliest will be best positioned to lead. WEATHERVaiNE gives our clients a new way to identify cultural shifts, interpret what they mean and act with greater confidence."

Traditional research asks people what they think. Social listening measures online reactions and conversations. Large language models represent the next evolution in how we understand culture, synthesizing relationships across publicly available information at scale to reveal emerging narratives, patterns and behavioral shifts. WEATHERVaiNE applies that methodology through a communications lens, transforming AI outputs into cultural intelligence. That helps organizations understand not only what is changing, but why it matters and how to act on it. The methodology helps answer questions traditional research can't, including which cultural narratives are gaining momentum, how communities form and what drives participation, giving organizations the foresight to lead rather than follow cultural change.

"AI detects culture shifts as they happen, but the signal often goes unread," said Alex Sherman CEO and co-founder of Bluefish. "MMC recognized this cultural intelligence opportunity and created the vision for WEATHERVaiNE. Bluefish provides the technology and platform to bring that vision to life, delivering concrete proof of what happens when the right methodology meets the right platform."

MMC put WEATHERVaiNE to the test during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, analyzing hundreds of thousands of AI generated responses and narrowing in on a subset of nearly 5,000 before and during the tournament focused on the behaviors and distillation of the top fanbases.

The analysis revealed that the tournament's cultural winners weren't the teams succeeding on the field. Although Spain lifted the trophy, emerging fan communities including Scotland, Norway and Japan gained disproportionate momentum by making fandom more visible, welcoming and highly shareable.

Among the report's findings:

• Participation mattered more than pedigree. The strongest fan communities paired recognizable identities with repeatable rituals, shared symbols and open invitations for participation. And it paid off. For instance, Scotland's AI presence rose 49 percentage points, while Norway gained 30 points in AI favorability, demonstrating how inclusive rituals and unmistakable fan expression can build momentum quickly.
• The stories interpreted most strongly by AI reflected three emerging trends: rivalry shifting toward solidarity, polished performance shifting toward playful personality, and brand-led narratives shifting toward community-created lore.
• The inaugural reading, The Fan-Ready Blueprint, examines the forces shaping modern fandom and offers brands a practical framework for building belonging, participation and community.  

For brands, the implications extend far beyond sport. The analysis demonstrates how earlier cultural understanding can reduce uncertainty, strengthen decision-making and help organizations build communities that people recognize, join and carry forward.

The new capability is the latest addition to a global portfolio of GEO solutions by Omnicom (NYSE: OMC) supported by Omni - spanning commerce, media and public relations - that help clients increase visibility and performance in AI search. While GEO helps brands strengthen how they are discovered and represented in AI environments, WEATHERVaiNE helps organizations interpret the cultural forces influencing what people discover, trust and act on. The resulting intelligence can inform communications, marketing, media, partnerships and broader business strategy.

Download MMC's Fan-Ready Blueprint and learn more about WEATHERVaiNE at www.HelloMMC.com.

About MMC

MMC (part of Omnicom Public Relations, the largest global network of communications and consulting agencies in the world) was founded more than 40 years ago to disrupt traditional PR by putting audience insights and creativity at the center. With deep expertise in consumer and healthcare communications, and growing leadership across CPG, food and beverage, beauty, and biotech, MMC crafts artfully disruptive ideas that earn attention, spark conversations, and drive lasting impact.

Guided by a human-first philosophy and a culture rooted in curiosity and data-driven thinking, MMC challenges conventions to create relevance that resonates. Clients choose MMC for its ability to turn bold thinking into cultural momentum.

Learn more at www.HelloMMC.com.

About WEATHERVaiNE

WEATHERVaiNE is MMC's proprietary cultural insights engine, powered by Bluefish AI. Built to bring MMC's new methodology for understanding culture to life, WEATHERVaiNE uses AI interpretation to identify emerging narratives, behaviors and community dynamics before they become conventional wisdom. MMC applies its communications expertise to translate those patterns into actionable intelligence that can inform communications, marketing, media, partnerships and business strategy. The first reading of WEATHERVaiNE, The Fan-ready Blueprint, explores the forces shaping relevance, participation and connection following the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

About Bluefish

Bluefish is the Agentic Marketing Platform (AMP) for the Fortune 500. The platform helps the world's largest brands track, optimize and measure their performance across major AI platforms like ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Brands including Adidas, Hearst, Tishman Speyer and others use Bluefish to ensure their products and services are accurately portrayed in AI-generated responses consumers see every day. Since launching in 2024, Bluefish has scaled to more than 10% of the Fortune 500, with hundreds of enterprise accounts spanning 15 verticals including travel, financial services, CPG, luxury and beauty. To learn more, please visit www.bluefishai.com.

SOURCE Marina Maher Communications