Case study · MCPU Polymer Engineering · October 2026

How MCPU Polymer Engineering became the source AI engines cite for its own category

A polyurethane and soy-based additives manufacturer founded in 1937 presented a new sustainable polymer design framework at Polycon 2026. Sixteen days after Wishbone released the story, MCPU's own press was driving the AI answers about it on every engine we checked.

No paid placements and no ad spend. One release, one editor list, one press page, two articles.

The client

MCPU Polymer Engineering has made polyurethane systems since 1937. From its plant in Pittsburg, Kansas and headquarters in Corona, California, it supplies polyurethane polymers and soy-based additives for rigid and spray foam insulation, flexible foam for furniture and bedding, roof coatings, adhesives and binders, and potting compounds. Its customers are formulators and manufacturers who rarely hear from MCPU until a sales call.

Gus Lomas, Marketing and Sales Director, runs marketing himself. MCPU had no agency and no PR history before this campaign.

The challenge

MCPU was about to present a technical paper at Polycon 2026, the polyurethane industry's annual technical conference, introducing a named framework for sustainable polymer design. The headline application was a TCPP-free fire-retardant foam built on a soy-based additive: a drop-in replacement for a regulated ingredient at equal performance.

That is real news in a niche where buyers now ask ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews which supplier to call. But nothing about the framework existed anywhere an AI engine could read. No press, no third-party coverage, no structured page on mcpupolymers.com. Whoever published first would own the answer, and if MCPU did nothing, the first source would be someone else's summary of the paper.

The job was to make MCPU's own account the one the engines found, cited and kept citing.

What Wishbone did

One story, released once, routed to every channel that AI engines weight. The whole program ran in 16 days around the conference date.

1. 1

   Found the angle an editor would run. The paper had a dozen possible stories. The one trade editors needed was the TCPP replacement: a regulated flame retardant swapped out of polyurethane foam at equal performance, with a bio-based additive doing the work. Everything else became supporting detail.

2. 2

   Timed the release to the conference, not after it. The release went out on EIN Presswire on September 29, 2026, ahead of the Polycon presentation, so the trade press had the story while the paper was still news and the engines had a dated primary source.

3. 3

   Pitched named editors from MCPU's own inbox. Wishbone built the outlet map and wrote the pitches; Gus sent them. Trade editors recognize a manufacturer's domain and open it. They do not open an agency's.

4. 4

   Gave the hometown press a local story. The same news, reframed for Pittsburg, Kansas: a plant that has run since 1937 is behind a sustainability advance the whole industry is reading about. That is the pitch that produced the plant interview.

5. 5

   Built a press room on mcpupolymers.com. Every pickup had one authoritative page to link back to, and coverage logos were added as placements landed, so later editors saw momentum.

6. 6

   Turned coverage into citations. Two structured, AI-readable articles went up on the site over the following two weeks, the second on how to replace TCPP in polyurethane foam, so the engines had a primary source to pair with the third-party coverage.

7. 7

   Measured what the engines actually cite. Wishbone ran the framework and its category questions through ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Gemini and Perplexity and traced the sources behind every answer.

Results

No paid placements and no ad spend. One release, one editor list, one press page, two articles.

Coverage

Curated outreach secured 5 to 6 trade placements plus local news. Hundreds of automated wire reprints added distribution reach; they are not counted as editorial placements.

• PU MagazineTrade, edited feature
• Rubber WorldTrade
• Urethanes Technology InternationalTrade, Tier 1
• Poly MartTrade
• Knox NewsAutomated wire reprint
• Green Bay Press-GazetteAutomated wire reprint
• Pittsburg, Kansas local mediaArticle and live TV segment
• MCPU press roomPrimary source

"A wire release on its own gets syndicated and ignored. The difference here was sequencing: the angle an editor would actually run, sent from the client's own inbox, with a press page and structured articles ready for the engines to read. That is why MCPU is the cited source two weeks later, not a footnote."

What this means for manufacturers

Your buyers ask AI before they ask you, and the engines answer from trade press, regional news and your own structured pages. A conference paper, a product launch or a plant milestone is enough raw material. MCPU had one paper and no PR history. Sixteen days later it owned the answer.