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Searchabilitea · November 2026 · From our work

750,000 fans, 36 sources: how we helped build a report AI can cite

Milwaukee threw the biggest party in state history. We helped Baiku turn it into a data story built to be read, shared and quoted.

Ryan Thompson, Mention Group · · 4 min read

750,000 fans, 36 sources, one report AI can cite Illustration: a parade route winds from on foot, by bike and by bus stops up to an example AI answer that cites the Baiku parade report. Chips read 16 swipe cards, 36 linked sources, 2 languages, 48 hours from parade to publish. SEARCHABILITEA · NOVEMBER 2026 750,000 fans.36 sources.One reportAI can cite. How Mention Group helped build Baiku's Brewers parade report. 16swipe cards36linked sources2languages2 daysparade to publish on foot by bike by bus AI ANSWER · EXAMPLE Milwaukee Police estimated more than750,000 people at the 2026 Brewers parade. [1] baiku.org report

The moment. On October 30, police estimated more than 750,000 people downtown for the Brewers' first World Series parade. By that night everyone was asking the same things: how many people, how did they all get there, and what did it mean for business?

Two days later, The biggest party Wisconsin ever threw went live on baiku.org. It is Baiku's special report on the weekend, and the first edition of its Car-Free Index. Mention Group helped design and develop the concept and the interactivity. Here is what we built, and why it is built the way it is.

What we built

The coverA headline, a number and one button. On a phone it opens a 16-card story you swipe through like a highlight reel.
Guess the crowdReaders drag a slider and lock in a guess before the 750,000 estimate appears. People remember what they guessed.
Flip cardsA projection on the front, what it is and what it isn't on the back. The $10 to 12 million forecast never pretends to be measured spending.
Bike share chartBublr checkouts on parade Friday against the Friday before and Game 1 day, from data Baiku tracked: 429, 571, then 1,249.
Share cards and a PDFThree takeaway cards to download or share, and the whole report as a PDF, so it travels to group chats and inboxes.
Two 30-second gamesSal's Beer Challenge and Make the Final Out, with a leaderboard and a score you can brag about. Built to bring people back.

It reads in English and Spanish. Fans can also add their own photos to a gallery of the day, which now holds 30 shots from the curb.

36 sourcesbehind the numbers in one report, each one linked, from police statements to bike share data.

Why it matters: built to be cited

When someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini or Google how big the parade was, the answer has to come from somewhere. AI tools lean on pages that state a fact plainly, show where it came from and are easy for a machine to read. So we built the report for two audiences at once: a fan on a phone, and the engine deciding what to quote.

  • Every number carries a bracketed link to one of 36 named sources.
  • Estimates, projections and preliminary figures are labeled as exactly that, in the text and on the cards.
  • NewsArticle, Event and Dataset structured data, so machines know what the page is, what happened and what was measured.
  • One canonical address, in the sitemap, open to search and answer engines, with an English and a Spanish edition.
  • Social posts load only when a reader taps. The page stays fast and does not hand data to anyone by default.

The fun parts do real work too. A guess, a game or a card to share is what turns a page people read once into a page they send to friends. Every share is another path back to the source.

What to do this week

  1. Pick your town's next big moment, a festival, a game day, an opening, and write down the five numbers people will search for.
  2. Publish them fast, each one with its source, and label anything that is an estimate.
  3. Give readers one thing to do: a guess, a card to share, a quick game. Then make sure the page has structured data and sits in your sitemap.

Read the full report on baiku.org, or see the case study.

The AI answer in the graphic is an illustration of the kind of answer the report was built for, not a screenshot. The report is independent and is not sponsored by or affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers, MLB or the City of Milwaukee.

FAQ

What did Mention Group do on the Brewers parade report?

Mention Group helped design and develop the report's concept and interactivity: the swipe-through story mode, the crowd guess, the flip cards, the share cards and the games. Baiku published the report and owns its reporting and data.

Who published the report?

Baiku, a Milwaukee platform for getting around the city by bus, bike and on foot. It lives at baiku.org as Report 001 of Baiku's Car-Free Index.

Is the report affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers?

No. It is an independent report. It is not sponsored by or affiliated with the Brewers, MLB or the City of Milwaukee.

Can Mention Group build something like this for my organization?

Yes. We build sourced, interactive data stories for events, destinations and civic moments, made to be shared by people and cited by AI answers.

Have a moment worth a report?

We build sourced, interactive data stories that people share and AI can cite. Start with a free visibility check and we'll show you where you stand.

Talk to usSee the case study