Vercel

AI Thought Leadership for a Category Leader

Content Creation, Content Strategy

Vercel asked Column Five to define two emerging categories in AI-powered web development. We created The State of Vibe Coding and The State of AEO—two industry reports that established Vercel as the thought leader at the intersection of AI and the web.

How do you establish a definitive voice on concepts most people haven't heard of yet, and do it twice?

AI thought leadership is the practice of building a credible, citable point of view on emerging AI concepts before the market consolidates around standard terminology. For AI infrastructure companies like Vercel, owning the conversation early shapes how analysts, developers, and AI search engines describe the category. Column Five built two reports for Vercel on vibe coding and AEO that did exactly this.

Vercel powers over 4 million websites for companies like TikTok, Netflix, and OpenAI. In 2025, they pivoted from “The Frontend Cloud” to “The AI Cloud”—and needed an AI thought leadership content strategy to back it up. They came to us with an ambitious ask: create two industry reports that would define emerging categories and establish Vercel as the authority at the intersection of AI and web development.

Developing AI Thought Leadership for a Technical Brand

We started by making sense of what “vibe coding” actually means. The term was already circulating in developer communities, but it lacked a clear definition and any authoritative source to anchor it. For The State of Vibe Coding Report, we synthesized research across global adoption patterns, productivity trends, and security implications—and gave Vercel the point of view to own it.

The core argument: natural language is becoming the world's newest programming language.

Thought Leadership for AI Companies Requires More Than One Angle

The State of AEO Report tackled a parallel disruption: as AI-powered search changes how people find information, the rules of discoverability are being rewritten. We framed this not as a threat but as an opportunity, laying out a clear picture of what the transition looks like and what brands need to do to stay visible. In both cases, Vercel sat at the center: an AI platform built for exactly the AI-native infrastructure this new landscape demands.

The Result: Two Reports, One Clear AI Thought Leadership Position

Both reports were designed and delivered to work across every channel —website, developer communities, industry media, and enterprise sales enablement. They gave Vercel content to share and more importantly a point of view to own in the AI space.

"Column Five is a collection of some of the smartest, most talented people that I’ve ever worked with. They have a unique superpower for taking your ideas and making them 50x better."

—Keith Messick, CMO at Vercel

 

Get in touch to explore a thought leadership project with us today.

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