Media room
CEO of Featured, HARO and Connectively.
Brett runs three of the platforms that connect journalists with expert sources. He talks about PR in the AI era: why human pitches win, how earned media drives AI visibility, and what reviving HARO taught him.
Founder & CEO
Featured.com is the co-pilot for PR. Experts and PR teams use it to find media opportunities and earn coverage across journalist requests, podcasts, bylines, speaking, awards, and GEO (generative engine optimization).
About Featured →CEO
Help a Reporter Out (HARO) connects journalists with expert sources through a three-times-a-day email of journalist requests. Featured acquired HARO from Cision in April 2025 and revived it as a free service for journalists and sources, supported by newsletter ads.
About Help a Reporter Out →CEO
Connectively is the media-sourcing platform Cision launched as HARO’s successor in 2024. Featured acquired and revived it alongside HARO, relaunching Connectively on June 2, 2026.
About Connectively →About 21% of HARO pitches are fully AI-generated and 35% of journalists opt out of them. Human-written pitches are accepted about three times as often.
Media mentions help with model mentions. AI is the new front page, and earned coverage is what the models trust.
Why Featured bought HARO from Cision, the harder line on spam and fake accounts, and rebuilding trust email by email.
One point of contact, a trusted core of 15 to 20 experts, and an outer tier. The operating model that works, from universities to brands.
Influence has fragmented into podcasts and Substacks, and journalists now run several revenue streams. What that means for PR.
“Media mentions help with model mentions. Platforms like HARO are a great way to help boost up those media mentions so that your model mentions can start to increase.”
“AI is the new front page. PR used to get you on the front page of newspapers. Backlinks used to get you on the front page of Google. And now you have a variety of ways to get you on the front page of AI.”
“Today's business day for a PR professional doesn't start where it used to be. It starts on Claude.”
“I think at the core of it, there's magic still to be had at Help A Reporter Out.”
IN CLEAR FOCUS
Comms Confidential
Let's Talk PR & More
Majestic's SEO in 2026
In Reality
The Brandinc PR Podcast
Under Embargo
PureLogics Pulse
On Top of PR
cogcast
Human-First AI Marketing Podcast
The Edward Show
The AI SEO Insighter
Build a Better Agency
Hack Your Own PR
The Real Connect
Inside the Media Minds
Visibility Era
Fastlane Founders and Legacy
Right About Now
PRessing On
Public Relations Review
PR Yourself
The Digital PR Podcast
Stories and Strategies
Marketer of the Day
Media Magnet
Your Brand Amplified
Domain Name Wire
Market Movers with Linkifi
The BuzzStream Podcast
The Long Game
The Agency Insider Show
Marketing QuacksBrett Farmiloe is the founder and CEO of Featured.com and CEO of Help a Reporter Out (HARO) and Connectively, the media-sourcing brands Featured acquired and revived in 2025. He has spent 20 years building outlets for experts to share their expertise, and speaks on PR in the AI era, earned media, and AI visibility.
Brett Farmiloe is the founder and CEO of Featured.com, the co-pilot for PR, and CEO of Help a Reporter Out (HARO) and Connectively. Experts and PR teams use Featured to find media opportunities and earn coverage across journalist requests, podcasts, bylines, speaking, awards, and generative engine optimization.
In April 2025 Featured acquired HARO from Cision and relaunched it a week later as a free service for journalists and sources, supported by newsletter ads. HARO has since sent more than 100 million emails. Featured relaunched Connectively in June 2026.
Brett’s career started in an RV: after quitting his job as a financial auditor, he and three friends drove 16,000 miles across 38 states interviewing 300 people about how they found meaning in their work. He then ran Markitors, a digital marketing agency for small businesses, for ten years before it was acquired in 2021, and started Featured in January 2022.
He has given more than 100 keynotes, including a TEDx talk, and has contributed to Inc. and Fast Company. He is based in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The fastest way to reach Brett for interviews, podcasts and speaking is a message on LinkedIn or X. Press inquiries about Featured, HARO or Connectively can also go to support@featured.com.
