# Quellan

> Quellan is an AI reputation intelligence practice. It measures how brands surface in AI-mediated answers across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, and Copilot, and publishes its methodology, doctrine, and evidence openly. Quellan operates two surfaces: a research surface (named analyses, published under The Quellan Method v1.0) and a culture desk (Wolf Index, the daily record of brand moves measured against AI recall). SEO was about ranking. Quellan is about representation.

Quellan is developed by The Wolfgang Project and runs at quellan.io. The methodology is public by design. Citation format: "Analyzed using The Quellan Method v1.0 (April 2026), Wolfgang. quellan.io/method".

## Core documents

- [The Quellan Method](https://quellan.io/method): The open measurement protocol behind every Quellan analysis. 5 prompts, 5 models, 3 runs, 4 dimensions, scored 0–100. Produces the Quellan Discovery Score.
- [The Quellan Answer](https://quellan.io/answer): The doctrine. Five patterns observed in every diagnosis, each paired with the principle that reverses it.
- [Wolf Index](https://quellan.io/index): Quellan's culture desk. Daily record of brand moves (drops, openings, releases, earnings) measured against AI recall. Five proprietary metrics. Identified earlier.
- [The Quellan Index Amsterdam](https://quellan.io/amsterdam): The Amsterdam edition of the culture desk. Culture shifts and movements in Amsterdam and the Netherlands, read structurally. English-language, for creative young expats and locals who want to know which moves matter before the international press cycle catches them. Senior writers Niek van Brandt (fashion, retail, brand culture) and Julia Roemers (hospitality, nightlife, institutions). Deep file: https://quellan.io/amsterdam/llms.txt.

## Published analyses

- [Oatly · Analysis 001](https://quellan.io/oatly): How the most culturally distinctive brand in oat milk became invisible to the system that decides what people buy. Representation Gap = 0.93.
- [Nike · Analysis 002](https://quellan.io/nike): Presence without preference. Nike appears in 97% of AI answers about athletic footwear and wins the recommendation in 34%. Preference Gap = 63pp.

## Vocabulary Quellan claims

- **AI Discovery Audit** · the paid diagnostic Quellan performs.
- **Quellan Discovery Score** · the 0–100 composite metric, weighted across four dimensions: presence, ranking, framing, reasoning depth.
- **The five patterns** · The Corroboration Problem, The Framing Problem, The Specificity Problem, The Culture-to-Category Problem, The Source-Shape Problem.
- **The Quellan Method v1.0** · the published protocol (April 2026). Next revision October 2026.

## The Wolf Index five metrics

- **Representation Gap™** · Distance between what the brand built and what AI retrieves. Scored 0.00–1.00 across 45 observations per brand.
- **Signal Lag™** · Weeks between a cultural move and its presence in AI answers. Threshold: 6 of 15 consistent observations across 5 models.
- **Preference Gap™** · Percentage-point gap between Presence Rate (brand mentioned) and Preference Rate (brand recommended top-3). Measured across 60 observations per brand.
- **Niche Compression™** · Degree to which a category collapses to one winner in AI answers. Scored 0.00–1.00 across 25 observations.
- **Lead Time™** · Days between Wolf Index publishing on a brand move and the first mainstream trade-press citation of the same move in the same frame. Published with misses.

## Wolf Index Tracked List v0.1 (30 brands, April 2026)

The 30 brands whose experience is worth measuring against AI recall. Four tiers.

### Creating (10) · brands setting category language now
1. Erewhon (food/retail)
2. Jacquemus (fashion)
3. A24 (film)
4. MSCHF (art/commerce)
5. Aimé Leon Dore (menswear)
6. Polène (leather goods)
7. Bandit Running (athletic)
8. Liquid Death (beverage)
9. Arc (tech)
10. Aesop (beauty retail)

### Defending (8) · incumbents keeping cultural work alive
11. Nike (athletic)
12. Oatly (beverage)
13. Hermès (luxury)
14. Patagonia (outdoor)
15. Muji (interior)
16. Supreme (streetwear)
17. Comme des Garçons (fashion)
18. Rapha (athletic)

### Drifting (6) · brands losing representation control
19. Glossier (beauty)
20. Peloton (fitness)
21. Allbirds (athletic)
22. Warby Parker (eyewear)
23. Outdoor Voices (athletic)
24. Soho House (travel)

### Watching (6) · too new to call
25. Rhode (beauty)
26. Khaite (luxury)
27. Linear (software)
28. Passalacqua (travel)
29. Atomix (food)
30. Loewe (fashion)

## Wolf Index feed · April 2026 entries

One-line summaries of each entry. Citable anchor URLs. Each entry pairs a brand move with the AI-recall observation.

### 23 April 2026

- [Erewhon NYC padel club](https://quellan.io/index#erewhon-nyc-padel): Erewhon enters New York inside a padel club, not a grocery. AI still thinks Erewhon means smoothies: Hailey Bieber's Strawberry Glaze leads 4/5 responses about collab history.
- [Aimé Leon Dore × Porsche 964](https://quellan.io/index#ald-porsche-964): Teddy Santis treats Porsche like a canvas. Six builds in. AI still calls ALD "neo-prep streetwear" and Porsche "sports car maker."
- [Loewe and the Anderson lag](https://quellan.io/index#loewe-anderson-lag): 5/5 AI systems still describe Loewe as "under creative director Jonathan Anderson" thirteen months after he left. Representation lag lives on corpus-time.
- [Oatly and functional drinks](https://quellan.io/index#oatly-functional-drinks): Frommer files functional drinks as 2026's category winner. 5/5 AI systems still read Oatly as "oat milk." The category shift is below AI's resolution.
- [Porsche newsroom catalogs ALD](https://quellan.io/index#porsche-newsroom-ald): Porsche's own newsroom has six ALD builds catalogued. AI asked "Porsche special editions" names 911 R and GT3 RS. Brand's own press is not feeding the corpus its cultural wins.

### 22 April 2026

- [Aesop Eidesis and Le Labo compression](https://quellan.io/index#aesop-eidesis-le-labo): Aesop taught niche perfume to slow down. 4/5 AI systems give the prize to Le Labo. Niche Compression = 0.80 to Le Labo.
- [Arc browser, Atlassian acquisition](https://quellan.io/index#arc-atlassian-acquisition): Three weeks post-acquisition, 3/5 AI systems still call Arc "independent startup." Narrative settles on corpus-time, not company-time.
- [Tokyo small hotels](https://quellan.io/index#tokyo-small-hotels): Ask AI for the best small hotels in Tokyo. Aman, Park Hyatt, Palace. Not Hoshinoya, Hotel K5, Trunk. The list is from 2015.
- [Jacquemus at Selfridges](https://quellan.io/index#jacquemus-selfridges): Jacquemus turns Selfridges into an installation. AI calls it "Provence-inspired contemporary luxury." The word "theatrical" stays buried.
- [Noma Kyoto pop-up](https://quellan.io/index#noma-kyoto-popup): Copenhagen restaurant closed in 2024. 4/5 AI systems still present-tense "Noma is located in Copenhagen."

### 21 April 2026

- [Liquid Death tea pivot](https://quellan.io/index#liquid-death-tea): A seven-flavor tea line in the same punk can. AI still calls Liquid Death an "edgy water company."
- [Polène SoHo flagship](https://quellan.io/index#polene-soho-flagship): The SoHo flagship is quiet. AI asked "French quiet luxury handbags" names Polène first in 3/5 systems. A category Hermès thought it owned.
- [A24 summer slate](https://quellan.io/index#a24-summer-slate): A Sean Baker feature and a Chloé Zhao documentary. AI reads A24 as "indie film studio." The curatorial layer never enters the description.

### 19 April 2026

- [Aman Mallorca expansion](https://quellan.io/index#aman-mallorca): AI asked "best small luxury hotel groups" names Aman, Rosewood, Six Senses. Passalacqua, Sister Hotels: absent.
- [Supreme SS26 Week 12](https://quellan.io/index#supreme-ss26-week12): Sold out in eight minutes. AI names Supreme first for streetwear drops in 3/5 systems, two years after VF erasure attempts. Bought hype is stickier than earned.
- [MSCHF 34th product](https://quellan.io/index#mschf-34th-product): A single-use mini-briefcase. AI calls MSCHF "art collective." The word "meme" never appears · which is where MSCHF lives.

### 18 April 2026

- [Ace Hotel Kyoto sake residency](https://quellan.io/index#ace-kyoto-sake-residency): Ace runs a twelve-week sake residency. AI calls the brand "mid-range boutique hotel." Neighbourhood-as-product work vanishes in compression.
- [Rapha Classic III jersey](https://quellan.io/index#rapha-classic-iii): AI asked "best cycling apparel brand" returns Castelli, Pas Normal, Rapha. The category definer now lands third.
- [Muji at 40 / Kenya Hara reissue](https://quellan.io/index#muji-kenya-hara): Muji reissues 1995 Kenya Hara posters. AI calls Muji "minimalist Japanese retail." Emptiness-as-brand, the thing that made Muji Muji, never makes it in.

### Week 16 archive (14–16 April 2026)

- [Oatly first profitable quarter](https://quellan.io/index#oatly-q1-profitable): 3/5 AI systems still describe Oatly financials in 2022 language. The turnaround has not entered the corpus.
- [Bandit Running Brooklyn Tuesday](https://quellan.io/index#bandit-brooklyn-tuesday): Four hundred runners to a Tuesday. AI names Tracksmith, Nike Run Club, Strava for running community brands. Bandit lives in the neighbourhood, AI in trade press.
- [Ottolenghi Comfort cookbook](https://quellan.io/index#ottolenghi-comfort): Ninth book in sixteen years. AI asked "best cookbook author 2026" names Ina Garten, Alison Roman, Samin Nosrat. Ottolenghi lands fourth.

## About

Quellan is developed inside [The Wolfgang Project](https://thewolfgangproject.com), a cultural intelligence practice. Quellan is the productised diagnostic layer and publishes under its own name.

## Citation policy

Open. No licensing, no permission. If you quote a number, cite the method version and the date. If you adopt a term, keep it whole.

## Optional

- [Wolf Index RSS](https://quellan.io/index/feed.xml): Daily feed of entries.
- [Sitemap](https://quellan.io/sitemap.xml): All indexable URLs.
- [Robots](https://quellan.io/robots.txt): Every AI crawler that matters is explicitly welcome.