Owning the “Verification Layer” in AI-Driven Development

This case study explores how Sonar evolved from influencer experiments into a high-impact influencer program designed not just to generate awareness, but to shape how software developers and engineering leaders think about building software in the AI era.

The insights are based on the 2025–2026 collaboration between Freeman & Forrest and the Sonar marketing team.

"The influencer program has been a real accelerator for Sonar. Freeman & Forrest brought in technical experts who actually understand what we're doing and are excited about it. Having them validate our AI verification story has extended our reach in ways traditional marketing simply can't." - Chris Grams, VP of Corporate Marketing at Sonar

About Sonar

Sonar, the industry standard for code verification and automated code review, helps reduce outages, improve security, and lower risks associated with AI and agentic coding. As an independent verification platform, Sonar enables organizations to securely develop at the speed of AI. Sonar is the foundation for high-performance software engineering, analyzing over 750 billion lines of code daily to ensure applications are secure, reliable, and maintainable. Rooted in the open source community, Sonar is trusted by 7M+ software developers globally, including teams at Nvidia, ServiceNow, Booking.com, Goldman Sachs, AstraZeneca, and Ford Motor Company.

About Freeman & Forrest

Freeman & Forrest is the first influencer marketing service built exclusively for enterprise tech. Founded by industry veterans with decades of experience at AWS, Google, Microsoft, and high-growth startups, we understand exactly what it takes to reach developers. Across our influencer campaigns, our clients have seen a 115x boost in awareness, a 10x improvement in lead generation, and a 6x gain in event sign-ups.

The Strategic Pivot: From Ad-Hoc Experiments to a Structured Program

Sonar kicked off a pilot at the end of 2025 with Freeman & Forrest to validate the influencer model, testing different creators, content, and channels. When the results exceeded expectations, Sonar leveled up the program to a more ambitious and programmatic investment in 2026.

While the 2025 pilot was fruitful, it became apparent that shorter-term influencer partnerships limited how deeply creators could learn Sonar’s products and positioning. The 2026 program therefore shifted toward a more structured approach—giving creators product access and enough context to consistently reach technical audiences with credibility and precision.

For Sonar, this marked a strategic pivot from building brand awareness to claiming market leadership in AI code verification. This also coincided with a broader industry shift from AI-assisted development to agent-driven development, requiring updated messaging and positioning. As Stephanie Solomon, Sonar’s Content Strategy Lead, explains, “For us, it’s not just about conversions and leads—it’s about creating conversations in the right forums where developers and leaders build trust and affinity toward SonarQube as the default verification layer for AI code.”

Sonar now uses influencer partnerships to:

• Reach technical audiences through voices they trust
• Establish ownership over the code verification narrative
• Drive higher-quality pipeline—not just impressions, but developers and leaders progressing through the marketing funnel
• Rapidly test message-market fit, understanding which narratives, use cases, and phrasing resonate across creators and channels
• Increase participation in product betas

This shifts influencer marketing from a distribution channel into a strategic lever for shaping market perception.

What Makes the Partnership Effective

Sonar initiated a partnership with Freeman & Forrest to achieve the following benefits:

End-to-End Operations: F&F handles the full influencer lifecycle: identifying, vetting, negotiating, and managing influencers, while ensuring all content adheres to Sonar’s brand and messaging.

Deep Technical Specialization: With a specific focus on enterprise tech, F&F ensures that Sonar’s positioning isn't diluted into generic marketing fluff or misaligned with the wrong technical partners.

“That technical depth shows up in the well-matched creators they bring us, the innovative formats they push for, and the way they have truly become brand stewards for Sonar,” says Stephanie.

Strategic Integration: F&F has access to product betas and internal narratives, and is able to reciprocate with insight into which stories and creators are actually moving the market.

Stephanie summarizes it as, "Sonar sets the why and where we’re going; F&F runs the who, how, and how often at the creator level."

Driving Impact

Freeman & Forrest recommended three measurement areas for the pilot: influencer content reach, engagement, and first-level conversion actions (CTA clicks).

Initial results from the 4-month pilot delivered 4.8M impressions (478% of goal), 18.5k clicks (186% of goal), and over 21k engagements (likes, comments, shares, saves, etc).

Beyond aggregate campaign metrics, the program also produced moments of outsized impact, demonstrating its ability to drive action in specific contexts:

• Influencer promotion of a beta Sonar product drove more than 10x signup goals within the first 4 days.
• Influencer promotion routed to Sonar’s GitHub repository resulted in a 50% spike in stars (see below).

Sonar and Freeman & Forrest also partnered on the inaugural Sonar Summit virtual event with a dual objective: engage credible technical influencers as speakers, while also activating them to drive registrations through their audiences.

The results significantly exceeded expectations:

• 1,566 directly trackable registrations (313% of goal).
• All six influencer sessions ranked in the top 25 out of 65 total sessions.
• 54 total activations including influencer posts, newsletter placements, and Sonar Summit sessions
• 0.53% average CTR, more than 2x the industry benchmark of 0.22%
• 2.0M+ impressions and 11.3K+ clicks on influencer posts

This motion demonstrated how influencer programs can drive both awareness and measurable action at scale.

Santiago (far left) and Kesha (far right) are examples of F&F-sourced speakers driving high-impact engagement at the inaugural Sonar Summit (2026)

Scaling and Tuning

As the program scaled, a few patterns began to emerge around what influencer activations drive the strongest results.

Content grounded in real developer workflows

Content that demonstrates how Sonar fits into actual development environments consistently outperforms more abstract or brand-led messaging.

Product-led storytelling tied to real use cases

Connecting Sonar’s AI code verification positioning to concrete examples drives stronger engagement and clearer understanding.

Product launches and beta moments as natural catalysts

These moments create strong opportunities to generate curiosity, drive developers into the product, and show how SonarQube works in practice.

Intentional tiering of engagement types

High-reach influencers with broad technical audiences and niche creators who drive high-quality engagement are both valuable for different purposes.

Consistency over one-off activations

A steady cadence of influencer activity reinforces positioning and builds familiarity over time.

Over time, these patterns helped Sonar refine both creator selection and messaging strategy.

“F&F know their business. They understand influencers and developer audiences and create an environment of respect for both their expertise and the expertise of their influencer partners. It’s important for Sonar to get out of the way and let them lead.” says Stephanie.

What Comes Next

Looking ahead, Sonar is scaling the program to integrate influencer content more deeply into its broader content engine.

The program now supports a low-latency testing ground to validate new narratives before they are scaled across the website, sales, and broader GTM channels. It also sits under a broader influencer program within Sonar that incorporates internal advocates as well as non-paid influencer partners. This demonstrates a commitment to this type of effort moving forward.

By pairing Sonar’s strategic vision with Freeman & Forrest’s consultancy and execution, the program has become a core driver of how the company shapes the conversation around AI-driven development, positioning Sonar as a consistent presence in the broader, ongoing dialogue around AI development safety.