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<\/a><\/a>\nThe weakest communicators in the study lost 2.2% against their sectors over the same window. The 13-point gap held even though companies at the bottom of the scoring range had genuine AI programs. What separated the tiers was how the story was told.<\/p>
\n\u201cThe biggest difference we saw across AI announcements was the level of commitment and follow-through,\u201d said Greg Matusky, CEO at Gregory. \u201cEvery top scorer had a CEO who owned the story personally, named specific use cases with real business stakes, and shipped something within 90 days of the announcement. The lower tiers left AI to an earnings call conversation or a press release with vague plans, and the market treated those announcements as noise.\u201d<\/p>
\nThe pattern also survived the removal of Apple, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Microsoft, and Nvidia: excluding all six mega-cap technology companies, strong communicators still beat weaker ones by 11.3 points at 90 days.<\/p>
\nGregory scored 449 S&P 500 companies on the quality of their primary AI strategy announcements between 2022 and 2025, assigning each an AI Communications Quality Score (ACQS) from 0 to 20 across five dimensions: CEO ownership, named use cases, 90-day follow-through, tier-1 media coverage, and board governance record. The firm then measured each stock's return against its SPDR sector ETF at 90, 180, and 365 days from the announcement date.<\/p>
\nOnly 13 of the 449 companies scored \u2014 fewer than 3% \u2014 earned an 18 or higher. Those top scorers shared identifiable habits. Their CEO personally authored or announced the news, often in a high-profile setting, like a CES keynote. They had concrete numbers to convey scale, named partners for third-party validation, a named product or platform, and concrete examples of the product in action. All of this was conveyed in a past-present-future narrative arc that anchored AI to historical comparisons the audience already understood.<\/p>
\nThe full study includes the complete ranking of the top 100 companies by ACQS, tier-level performance analysis, and a breakdown of the eight messaging techniques the highest scorers share.<\/p>
\nDownload The AI Communications Advantage Study at GregoryAgency.com<\/a>.<\/p> \nAbout Gregory<\/b><\/p> \nNamed the Agency of the Year by PR Daily in 2025, Gregory is a global public relations firm with offices in Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and London. Learn more at gregoryagency.com<\/a>.<\/p>