BCW Launches Cognitive AI Platform That Predicts Impact of Future Top Global Macro TrendsNovember 14, 2023

NEW YORK, November 14, 2023 – BCW, one of the world’s leading global communications agencies, today introduced the Decipher Index, a new platform that uses cognitive artificial intelligence (AI) to predict the top themes with the greatest potential for impact in the future. Developed in partnership with Limbik, the Decipher Index’s rolling prediction of key trends worldwide will provide an issues roadmap heading into and throughout 2024, a year analysts expect will be marked with global uncertainty in light of a multitude of elections around the world.

To create the Decipher Index, the agency identified more than 20 macro themes and issues it expects to drive global interest over the next 12 months. BCW’s technology partner Limbik trained its proprietary cognitive AI on these themes in order to predict their potential for impact, in terms of both global online engagement and regional resonance. Experts from BCW and Limbik then evaluate the likelihood of these themes to have an impact on businesses, organizations, and brands. Data is continuously ingested and analyzed by the AI, and updates and analysis are provided weekly at www.decipherindex.com.

Beyond predicting the propensity for online engagement, the Decipher Index also ranks themes regionally by Potential for Impact (PFI), which evaluates believability, an emotive indicator of resonance. Every Thursday, visitors to www.decipherindex.com will see the global ranking and the top themes broken out by region across North America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa; Latin America; and Asia-Pacific, along with a summary of implications in the “Bottom Line Up Front.”

The themes the Decipher Index will rank include: 2024 elections; artificial intelligence; business and China; business in Russia; climate change; cybersecurity; diversity, equity & inclusion; education; electric vehicles; energy; food systems & security; global economy; healthcare; immigration and migration; infrastructure; international sports; labor and human rights; political spending and support; reproductive rights; supply chain; sustainability and environment; and, cultural issues and woke capitalism.

According to the predictions made by the Decipher Index’s cognitive AI, the top three themes predicted to be viral in the upcoming week are the 2024 elections; immigration and migration; and cultural issues and woke capitalism. The remainder of the ranking of the aforementioned themes can be found on www.decipherindex.com.

“It’s quite clear that 2024 will be a year defined by uncertainty and transformation in every sense of those words,” said Corey duBrowa, Global CEO, BCW. “There will be political uncertainty with more than 40 countries hosting elections in 2024, and natural byproducts of political uncertainty are economic and geopolitical ambiguity, both of which can lead to increased social unrest and unprecedented headwinds for our clients.

“All of this adds up to a complex ‘poly-crisis’ period where it will be more important than ever for leaders to have a sense of what’s on the horizon,” duBrowa continued. “With the Decipher Index we can predict - on an ongoing basis and with the confidence provided by data - the shifting themes that will emerge globally and use that information to help our clients better prepare for and navigate material risks to reputation, license to operate or company value.”

“In previous elections, we’ve seen adversaries focus on socially divisive issues to influence if people vote, how they vote, and whether they trust election results,” said Zach Schwitzky, Co-Founder and CEO, Limbik. “Use of cultural issues as an election wedge can cause significant risk to organizations, so getting ahead of them will be absolutely critical.”

Added Chad Latz, Global Chief Innovation Officer, BCW, “What makes the Decipher Index so valuable is that beyond identifying potential challenges, we can also use it to identify emerging opportunities for clients. When we see a theme taking root, we can help clients make the most of that information on behalf of their business or brand. Up until now, data has been used to evaluate the past or present, but with the Decipher Index we can tell clients in real time, with an incredibly high degree of confidence, what issues people will be engaging with in the future.”

Decipher Index is available to anyone by visiting www.decipherindex.com. It was developed following the July 2023 launch of BCW Decipher powered by Limbik, a cognitive AI-powered capability designed to protect organizations against weaponized information.

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About Limbik

Limbik is a cognitive AI company which has developed PFI ("Potential for Impact"), the first platform engineered to proactively identify information threats and optimize response options. PFI is deployed by democratic governments, forward-thinking NGOs, and leading businesses to combat the risk of weaponized information. With offices in the United States, Canada, and the European Union, the Limbik team are veterans of Madison Avenue, the U.S. government, academia, and venture-backed technology companies. For more information, visit www.limbik.com.