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 AiVANTA & SlangIT: AI Video + Voice for Arabic CX Uplift

AiVANTA & SlangIT: AI Video + Voice for Arabic CX Uplift

customer experience management 8 Aug 2025

1. How will the combined solution transform customer engagement for businesses in Arabic-speaking markets?
 
The AiVANTA–SlangIT partnership creates an end-to-end engagement ecosystem that blends intelligent conversations with hyper-personalized communication — both tailored for Arabic-speaking audiences. SlangIT brings voice, chat, and IVR capabilities enriched with dialect-specific NLP, while AiVANTA layers personalized, localized video messaging triggered by user actions or behavior.

This combined platform transforms CX by allowing businesses to move from generic, one-size-fits-all interactions to contextual, emotionally resonant experiences — in the customer’s native dialect, at the right time, and through the right channel. Whether it's onboarding, upselling, or service resolution, enterprises can now automate the entire interaction flow — conversation to communication and back — in a way that feels natural, local, and human.
 
2. What does ‘hyper-personalized communication’ mean in the context of video messaging for multilingual and multicultural audiences? 
 
In this context of video messaging, hyper-personalized communication means delivering video content that is not only tailored to an individual’s data — such as their name, preferences, transaction history, or plan details, but also culturally and linguistically adapted to their specific context.

For multilingual and multicultural audiences, especially in regions like the Middle East, this goes beyond language translation. It includes:

● Dialect-specific narration (e.g., Emirati vs. Egyptian Arabic),
 
● Culturally relevant references in visuals and tone,
 
● And personalized content logic based on behavioral triggers or segment attributes.
 
The result is video messaging that resonates on a personal, emotional, and cultural level — making users feel seen, understood, and valued — while enabling businesses to scale this experience across millions of customers, channels, and journeys.
 
3. Can you elaborate on how your platform will integrate with Slangit’s Knowledge Base as a Service and conversational tools?
 
The AiVANTA platform integrates seamlessly with Slangit’s Knowledge Base as a Service (KBaaS) and conversational AI tools to create fluid, end-to-end engagement journeys. This means a customer’s interaction doesn't stop at a chatbot or a video — instead, both experiences talk to each other and adapt dynamically based on user actions.

Here are a few illustrative workflows:

1. Communication → Conversation
A user receives a personalized video from AiVANTA — say, a product recommendation or a service reminder. Embedded within the video is a CTA that opens a SlangIT-powered chat interface. The chatbot continues the conversation, answers queries in local dialect, and even guides the user to take action (like policy upgrades or offer redemption).

2. Conversation → Communication
A customer initiates a conversation on a website or WhatsApp using SlangIT’s assistant. Once they express interest in a product or service, AiVANTA triggers a follow-up personalized video — explaining the selected plan, summarizing their choices, or confirming next steps — all in the user’s preferred dialect and tone.

3. Multi-Stage Loop (Telecom or Retail Use Case)
Customer receives a loyalty offer video → engages with chatbot to understand terms or redeem → receives a confirmation video post-action. Each touchpoint is contextual, localized, and automated end-to-end.

This integration ensures that every engagement — whether inbound or outbound — is intelligent, personalized, and complete, turning static communication into a living, evolving customer experience loop.

4. What measurable outcomes (e.g. Reduced support load, engagement uplift) have you observed or anticipate from early pilots or deployments?

From early pilots and live deployments, we’re seeing strong signals that the AiVANTA–SlangIT integration drives tangible impact across multiple KPIs:

1. Reduction in Support Load
By combining AiVANTA’s proactive, video-based education with SlangIT’s real-time conversational interfaces, enterprises report:

● Up to 30–40% reduction in repetitive support queries, particularly in onboarding, policy explanation, and benefit clarifications.

● Lower call center volumes, as many user actions shift to self-service chat and voice flows.
 
2. Engagement & Conversion Uplift

 Video open and completion rates as high as 60–70%, especially when the content is delivered in the user’s native dialect.
 
● In telecom and BFSI pilots, personalized video + chatbot flows have shown 20–25% uplift in campaign response rates compared to static SMS or email.
 
● Cross-sell/upsell conversions improved where conversational follow-ups were offered post-video.
 
3. Operational Efficiency

● Automation of entire interaction workflows (e.g., onboarding → confirmation → support) reduces dependency on manual teams, improving scalability and consistency.
 
These metrics reinforce the core value proposition: smarter conversations + emotionally resonant communication = better CX, lower costs, and higher lifetime value.
 
5. What upcoming innovations or features are planned in the roadmap for your AI video personalization technology? 
 
We’re actively investing in three key innovation areas to expand the value of our personalization engine and make customer engagement truly seamless:

1. Journey-Oriented Video Automation
We’re moving beyond one-off personalized videos toward automated, multi-touch video journeys. This includes smart orchestration where videos adapt based on customer actions — e.g., onboarding → reminder → upsell — all triggered through CRM or SlangIT conversational flows.

2. Plug-and-Play Integrations
We’re building out-of-the-box connectors for platforms like WhatsApp, Salesforce, and SlangIT’s KBaaS layer to allow videos to be auto-triggered and embedded across any customer touchpoint — web, app, chat, or email — without manual configuration.

3. New Language & Dialect Expansion
To serve diverse markets, we’re deepening our multilingual stack — including expansion into new Arabic dialects, Urdu, and Farsi. We’re also training AI avatars and voice models that mirror regional tones, emotional delivery styles, and cultural references.

Together, these innovations will allow brands to not only personalize what they say, but how, when, and where they say it — delivering truly end-to-end, emotionally intelligent engagement at scale.
 
6. Are there plans to replicate this co-development model for other regional markets or languages?  
 
While we currently have no immediate plans to replicate this model, we absolutely see the value in strategic co-development with regional specialists — especially where language, dialect, or cultural nuance plays a pivotal role in customer engagement.

The partnership with SlangIT is a strong proof point: when deep local intelligence is combined with scalable AI infrastructure, the result is far more impactful than a generic solution.

We’ll continue to explore similar partnerships in other linguistically complex or under-served markets — where combining our personalization engine with local conversational AI or content intelligence can unlock meaningful, region-specific experiences.
 

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 Lisa Harrup Mieuli on Modern Marketing for Cybersecurity

Lisa Harrup Mieuli on Modern Marketing for Cybersecurity

b2b data 8 Aug 2025

 

1. What specific areas of demand generation do you believe offer the most growth potential for Gigamon under your leadership?

I see several high-impact opportunities for demand generation growth at Gigamon. There’s enormous potential in more deeply integrating brand and demand functions. Historically, these have operated in parallel tracks. By tightly aligning them, like we did with the 2025 Hybrid Cloud Security Survey, where we explored hybrid cloud security in the age of AI, it wasn't just a brand builder; it became a powerful demand-gen engine with legs across campaigns, channels, and customer touchpoints.

Artificial Intelligence-powered marketing also presents significant growth potential for Gigamon. AI is rapidly finding its way into global workplaces due to its ability to enhance productivity, automate processes, and enable smarter, faster decision-making. The marketing industry is no exception. There’s a real need to harness AI to drive smarter, more process and productivity in content development, which ultimately delivers more productive execution.

Another key area for us is the intentional focus on Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs). By clearly defining and prioritizing our most valuable customer segments, we ensure that our efforts and resources are aligned with those who drive the greatest return for the business. This enables us to craft tailored use case messaging and develop targeted go-to-market campaigns that resonate deeply with high-potential buyers. We've found this results in higher-quality leads, stronger conversion rates, and accelerated revenue growth.

Finally, I see growth in continuously adapting how we use our channels like field marketing, digital presence, media, analyst relations, and beyond. The “what” may stay consistent, but the “how” must evolve with the data and buyer behavior, meeting customers where they’re at. That requires a team culture that’s agile, data-driven, and willing to experiment.  

2. In your experience, what role does marketing play in creating trust and credibility with CISOs and IT decision-makers?

Marketing plays a foundational role in establishing trust and credibility with CISOs and IT decision-makers, especially in cybersecurity where relationships and reputation matter deeply. To build that credibility, we’re focused on meeting CISOs where they are, with relevant, data-backed insights, peer-led narratives, and use cases that reflect real-world impact. Tailoring content to their specific needs and pain points is critical. For example, we took the broader survey mentioned above and created a focused piece, CISO Executive Summary, further focusing the data on CISOs’ specific challenges and priorities.  This is a great example of how we can emphasize clarity, precision, and consistency when communicating to key stakeholders. We are delivering value in the form of data and insights for security leaders, while establishing Gigamon as a leading authority..

3. From a strategic standpoint, how critical is deep observability to an organization’s hybrid cloud security strategy?

Deep observability provides complete visibility into all data in motion, including encrypted and complex AI-driven communications, enabling organizations to detect and respond to security threats proactively. This visibility is essential for securing hybrid cloud environments, where traditional monitoring tools often fall short, especially with the rapid growth of AI-generated traffic and shadow IT applications.

Gigamon serves more than 4,000 organizations worldwide with the Gigamon Deep Observability Pipeline, including more than 80% of Fortune 100 enterprises and 9 of the 10 largest mobile network providers.

4. How do you see the role of marketing evolving in response to the growing complexity of hybrid cloud security challenges?

As hybrid cloud environments grow more complex, the role of marketing must evolve from simply generating leads to deeply articulating value, especially in a space where deep observability isn’t always immediately understood or budgeted for. Our job is to educate, contextualize, and elevate the strategic importance of deep observability. That means clearly communicating not only what we do, but also how we help CISOs and their teams improve ROI, reduce risk, and drive operational efficiency.

We also have to account for a shifting audience. Gigamon has traditionally sold into network teams, but as we expand into cloud and security, we’re increasingly engaging new buyers who often don’t talk to each other internally. Marketing has to bridge those silos, tailoring messages by persona, and helping unify stakeholders around shared outcomes. Our success depends on how well we can translate complex technical value into compelling, role-specific narratives that resonate across the decision-making unit.

 5. In your view, what are the key marketing KPIs that should align with revenue-generation goals in cybersecurity-driven enterprises?

Modern marketing KPIs must reflect the full spectrum of today’s buyer journey. Think about segmenting your KPIs into three key categories: brand, engagement and intent, and pipeline generation.

Brand focuses on signals that indicate growing awareness and trust, such as branded search volume, direct traffic from target accounts, website interactions, social media or community engagement, and the impact of analyst and public relations. AR and PR can be measured through inclusion in analyst reports and inquiries, media coverage, interviews, and share of voice.

Pipeline metrics should center on both sourced and influenced pipeline to bookings. Teams should track marketing qualified accounts (MQAs), opportunity conversion rates, and marketing’s contribution to sales velocity. While we are not completely walking away from marketing qualified leads (MQLs), the shift toward MQAs acknowledges that buying decisions are made at the account level by multiple stakeholders. MQLs can still serve a role in lead-level nurturing, but MQAs should be integrated into your metric system as a more accurate and strategic measure of pipeline potential.

Engagement and intent, traditionally considered softer metrics, are critical indicators of buyer behavior. Engagement encompasses meaningful interactions—such as content consumption, return visits, anonymous visits, multi-persona activity within accounts. Intent signals indicate buyer readiness, including third-party intent data, website visits, and self-reported attribution—giving marketing teams a lens into where, how, and when to activate demand.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

 

 Dhruv Patel on AI, Upsells & Rokt’s $600M Ecommerce Strategy

Dhruv Patel on AI, Upsells & Rokt’s $600M Ecommerce Strategy

customer experience management 7 Aug 2025

1. How does the ACE generative AI tool differ from traditional ad‑optimization tools, and what measurable impact has it made on advertiser ROI so far?

The ACE (Adaptive Content Engine) generative AI tool represents a step-change in creative optimization for performance marketing within the Rokt platform. Unlike traditional ad-optimization tools that rely heavily on manual A/B testing or rule-based systems, ACE leverages advanced generative AI models trained specifically on Rokt’s proprietary Transaction Moment dataset. This enables it to generate and adapt ad creatives in real time, tailored to highly specific transactional contexts and consumer intent signals.

Whereas traditional systems typically iterate on a limited set of static variants, ACE dynamically crafts new creative variations that reflect subtle but impactful differences in tone, format, copy, and visual elements. It uses natural language generation, machine learning, and experimental design to systematically find the wording that resonates best with each audience, often yielding substantial conversion lifts (on average ~21% lift in conversion rates). It does so with a deep contextual understanding of what performs best on Rokt.

Advertisers using ACE have seen measurable performance gains, with the tool consistently delivering improvements in click-through rates, conversion rates, and ultimately return on investment (ROI). In benchmark testing, ACE-generated creatives have outperformed legacy variants by +20% conversion rates across key verticals. These gains translate into more efficient customer acquisition and higher revenue per impression, particularly for brands focused on maximizing the impact of performance marketing budgets.

2. What synergies are you seeing post‑acquisition of Aftersell, particularly in terms of upsell opportunities during cart, checkout, and post‑purchase moments?

Aftersell’s native “Upsells” capability has already lifted average-order-value by 15 %+ for thousands of Shopify merchants. By merging that engine with the Rokt Brain, we’re now deploying the same bespoke cross-sell logic to enterprise-scale retailers on Rokt’s network, unlocking materially larger revenue pools. Integrating Rokt Thanks into Aftersell lets merchants convert what was once a passive confirmation page into a high-intent engagement surface, delivering fresh incremental profit while preserving a premium shopper experience. The enhanced commercial model from this gives us reinvestment firepower to keep building first-party tools that compound those gains for merchants.

And, with Aftersell anchoring us in the DTC ecosystem, Rokt Ads can now reach a new segment of brands while simultaneously giving the entire network access to a broader pool of high-quality advertisers. Ultimately, this leads to more ad demand diversification and better results for our ecommerce partners and advertisers. 

3. You grew revenue by 40 % YoY to reach $600 million. What were the key levers of that growth, and what does 2025 look like from a revenue‑strategy perspective?

In 2024, we drove a 40 % year-over-year lift to $600 million by landing a wave of new ecommerce partners—vastly expanding supply—and by unlocking higher spend from existing advertisers across the network. For 2025, our plan is to compound that momentum by focusing on four priorities: first, elevating relevancy so every impression shown to shoppers performs better; second, broadening demand by winning new client segments and verticals; third, rapidly scaling Rokt Pay+, which turns the payments page into a profit engine; and fourth, integrating mParticle to deepen our CDP capabilities. Alongside these initiatives, we will keep pushing both supply and demand growth aggressively, onboarding bigger brands and powering transactions at an even faster clip.

4. What are the most overlooked moments in the ecommerce transaction journey where you are delivering hidden value for clients?

Ecommerce teams usually fixate on acquisition and product pages, but the quiet profit is hiding in checkout. For example, Rokt turns what merchants see as a cost center (the payments step) into a revenue engine by letting payment providers and BNPL partners compete for a placement, so every click monetizes itself without adding friction. In other placements, such as the cart, our ML can surface in one-click add-ons that lift AOV before the order even finalizes, while the order-confirmation page surfaces premium first- or third-party offers that convert at engagement rates multiples above standard ads. By optimizing these moments, Rokt consistently unlocks incremental dollars per transaction and upgrades overall unit economics that most brands never realize are possible.

5. What advice would you give to ecommerce brands looking to drive more value at the point of transaction without compromising customer experience?

To drive more value at the point of transaction without compromising the customer experience, it’s critical to start by letting data guide every decision. Treat each checkout change as a hypothesis: instrument the funnel end-to-end, set clear success metrics such as incremental revenue per session or attachment-rate lift, and test relentlessly. Evidence-backed micro-optimizations always win over sweeping, unvalidated redesigns and protect the shopper experience while surfacing new revenue. Equally important, ensure strong foundations, especially identity resolution. When you can reliably recognize a shopper across devices and sessions, you can present tailored offers, payment methods, and loyalty nudges that feel helpful rather than intrusive, which ultimately drive more incremental revenue. A strong data foundation turns checkout into a moment of relevant value instead of an upsell that clutters the journey.

6. How does your recent appointment—and those of your fellow leaders—support Rokt’s broader goals for growth and innovation?

My role as CPO is to integrate our products—Rokt Ads, Pay+, Thanks, and Aftersell—into one cohesive, AI-powered platform that helps brands and retailers deliver more relevant experiences at the moment of transaction. It’s about turning our data and AI advantage into products that are simple to use, drive real results, and become essential to our partners.

Claire, as Chief AI Officer, is making sure our models continue to get smarter, faster. Her team is building the AI capabilities that power everything from relevance to creative generation—like our new ACE (Adaptive Content Engine) tool—and making sure that innovation is responsibly applied and easy to integrate into our products.

Pete, as SVP of Advertiser Partnerships, is focused on growing and strengthening our advertiser ecosystem. He’s helping us bring in new categories and deepen relationships with top brands, which feeds even more data and demand into the platform.

Together, we’re tightening the loop between product, AI, and partnerships—so Rokt can keep pushing the boundaries of real-time relevance and fuel the next phase of our growth.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

 

 Liat Barer on AI-Powered, ID-Less Audio Ads in Gaming

Liat Barer on AI-Powered, ID-Less Audio Ads in Gaming

technology 7 Aug 2025

1. What do you look forward to about combining audio ads and ID-less, AI-powered audience targeting in the gaming space?

The intersection of ID-less targeting and immersive audio unlocks a powerful, privacy-first channel for brand storytelling. We’re excited about how AI models trained on contextual (like the game category, genre affinities and related in-game contextual elements) and behavioral signals (like gameplay patterns, game device type, time-of-day, and even specific game moments) can drive meaningful ad experiences without the direct need to track specific users. Audio, by design, doesn’t require screen interaction for engagement, so when it’s combined with smart segmentation, it delivers high-scale, low-friction user engagement. This is the future of privacy-aligned performance.

2. How are you going to approach the effectiveness of contextual or behavioral AI signals over ID-based tracking for achieving campaign precision?

We’re investing heavily in building solutions for our advertisers to be able to reach and understand gamers based on contextual signals for mobile games. Partnerships like the one we have launched with NumberEight is a great example for that. Being able to understand who gamers are based on what, when and why they play is what we believe to be the best way for advertisers to tap into the massive audience of gamers, without compromising on relevant audience targeting. Pairing that with in-game-session behavioral indicators like level progression, game experience and flow, session depth, and engagement rhythm will bring this capability to the next level, allowing advertisers to not only understand who gamers are, but to target them at the right moment and state of mind. 

Instead of targeting "who the user is," we focus on where they are in their experience and how they’re playing, which is more actionable in real time.

3. Which of the Audiences mentioned (e.g., Gen Z, Affluent Consumers, Sports Fans) align most closely with your brand’s current targeting priorities? 

The honest answer is - it really depends on the brand. The magic of reaching users in games, is that you can basically reach EVERYONE, since today, everyone’s a gamer. Different brands look for different audiences, and the power of being able to break down the different games based on their affinity clusters (not 3P or 1P IDs) is what makes our games-network so appealing for brands. We can today identify within our games Gen-Z’s, Parents and also Senior Citizens - and they can all be relevant for different brands, depending on what they want to get out of their campaign. 

4. How do you plan to leverage seasonal and moment-based audiences like Black Friday or Super Bowl activations in immersive channels such as gaming? 

We’re definitely leaning into moment-based audience packaging, especially for high-spend tentpole moments like Back to School, Black Friday/Cyber Week, Holiday Season, Super Bowl & other major global sporting events. 

We use general real-time triggers (e.g., device locale, device type, time of year etc.) and also game real-time triggers (what we call ‘in game E-motions’ like in-game calendar events, in-game challenges, levels and so on) to surface themed and moment-relevant creative and segment players based on their current state of mind and context - ensuring timely, relevant delivery.

What’s powerful in audio, and made possible with AI, is that we can tailor the message dynamically, like a radio spot- without any creative fatigue or layout disruption.

5. In-game audio is praised for being non-disruptive. How important is it for your brand to balance creativity with user experience in new media formats? 

It’s everything. Our entire product strategy at Odeeo is built around the principle of "audio as additive, not intrusive." We don’t pause the game or hijack the screen. That means we aim to nail the tone, pacing, and relevance of the message because users stay in the experience while the ad plays.

We work closely with brands on creative adapting, ensuring the voice, script, sound and even length fit the gaming vibe and pace. This is a huge benefit for both gamers, game developers and brands. 

I think for brands this is a huge added value. No brand wants their ads to be consumed when users are in a bad state of mind or feel like the brand ad is interrupting them, so being able to get exposure while the consumers are receptive and not intruded, is a real game changer. 

6. Your Affinity Audiences are built without personal identifiers. How critical is ID-less targeting in your company’s future-proofing strategy for privacy regulations?

It’s absolutely core to our roadmap. We’ve accepted that persistent IDs are a legacy tool, not a future asset. Regulations like GDPR, CPRA, and similar in other regions, alongside the evolving stance from Apple and Google signal a clear direction: privacy by default.

We’re building all our audience strategy to be based on non personalized IDs leaning on on-device signals, contextual intelligence, and AI models that adapt in real time. 

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

 Luke Williams on Transforming CX with the 4 Voices Strategy

Luke Williams on Transforming CX with the 4 Voices Strategy

customer experience management 6 Aug 2025

1. How does the ‘4 Voices’ strategy you created influence the way you approach enterprise CX and research programs?  

The ‘4 Voices’ strategy—Customer, Partner, Employee, and Market—reflects my belief that there is no single pathway to truth in CX or research. Each voice offers a distinct perspective, and only by listening holistically can we uncover insights that are both grounding and surprising. This multi-perspective approach deepens our understanding, surfaces systemic patterns, and ensures that strategy and action are based on a more complete view of reality. In enterprise environments, this triangulation is essential—it aligns teams, clarifies priorities, and converts  fragmented feedback to focused, cross-functional execution.

2. How can organizations move beyond simply collecting feedback to activating it across business units?

Collecting high-quality feedback at scale is challenging—but without connecting it to business decisions, it becomes a pleasant commodity rather than a catalyst for change. Moving beyond collection means designing feedback programs with business outcomes in mind. Every metric should have a clear owner and a defined action if performance declines. This creates accountability and ensures that signals resonate with both customer needs and operational priorities. Metrics must be meaningful, not abstract —translating sentiment into tactical insight. Ultimately, activation happens when data is embedded in workflows, and teams see the clear link between feedback, action, and impact.

3. What methodologies do you recommend for aligning research insights with measurable business outcomes? 

To align research insights with measurable outcomes, I advocate for a mixed-method approach grounded in business impact. But outcomes don’t exist in a vacuum—customer sentiment, behavior, and intent are always relative: to the market, to competitors, and to past experiences. That’s why I recommend using relative metrics alongside standard KPI; they better reflect the customer’s context and decision-making lens. It’s equally important to model barriers to those outcomes—understanding not just what customers want, but what’s preventing them from getting there. When research accounts for both drivers and friction, it becomes a far more powerful tool for driving focused, ROI-positive action.

4. What role does action-first thinking play in closing the gap between customer feedback and business performance? 

Action-first thinking fundamentally reshapes how we approach feedback—it shifts the mindset from passive analysis to proactive readiness. Instead of waiting to interpret what feedback might mean, we design systems with predefined responses so that signals trigger action, not debate. This posture assumes that teams are ready to respond, and the data simply tells them when. Often, we don’t need four-decimal precision to intervene; where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. The goal is to empower teams to act —autonomously and swiftly—to investigate, triage, and improve without waiting for perfect clarity. This is what closes the gap between listening and performance.

5. In your view, what differentiates companies that sustain long-term CX excellence from those that fall behind? 

Many companies aspire to be customer-centric but often settle for being merely customer-focused—responding to feedback without truly redefining their strategy around customer value. The key difference is that customer-centric organizations identify what truly creates value for their target personas and actively engineer strategies to deliver on those needs, even when it requires bold pivots. They don’t just improve the current experience—they reimagine it. These companies are also more discerning about whom they serve best and more deliberate in designing for those use cases. Crucially, they build innovation and adaptability into their core—developing the muscle memory to evolve as customer expectations shift. The ones who master 10x innovation are often better at 10% improvements, too, sustaining CX excellence over the long term.

6. How will your capabilities evolve to meet emerging demands around real-time CX, personalization, and predictive analytics?

We’re actively investing in capabilities across real-time CX, personalization, and predictive analytics—but just as critically, we’re focusing on preparing customers to embed these capabilities into their everyday routines. Measurement has come a long way—today we can detect a bad experience in real time, even before the customer leaves the parking lot. But that speed is meaningless without companion systems that empower employees to respond with equal agility. Personalization, often misunderstood, isn’t about treating every customer as entirely unique; it’s about recognizing archetypes and delivering mass-personalization that aligns with those distinct cohorts. On the analytics front, we’re extending from predictive to prescriptive—using models and knowledge bases to recommend the most probable high-impact actions. While humans will always make the final call, these tools de-risk decisions and help build the muscle for consistent, everyday experience-making at scale.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

 Driving Retail Media Innovation with Skai's Nich Weinheimer

Driving Retail Media Innovation with Skai's Nich Weinheimer

digital asset management 6 Aug 2025

1. How critical is the unification of commerce operations and media buying under a single platform to your digital transformation strategy, and what barriers do you face in achieving that integration? 

Over the past decade at Skai, as we've built our retail media business and aligned our enterprise advertising/marketing technology together in one unified platform, we have infused “retail intelligence” into our approach. And with clients looking to align a variety of “jobs to be done” for managing their retail and media initiatives – especially on channels like Amazon that command north of 70% of the market share – we are being asked to do more than just integrate first and third-party data sources to inform activation. The signals and solutions for strategic digital shelf, marketplace organic and operational reporting, ticketing automation, creative optimization, and revenue recovery are all adjacent and of great importance for context or for direct input into media activation. So as we increasingly see RFPs seek alignment across all these solutions, we believe that having a best-of-breed suite of powered-by solutions available via one contract with Skai will allow the market to enjoy streamlined access to innovation.
 
2. How are tools like competitor analysis, content optimization, and retail insights shaping your go-to-market approach during high-stakes seasons or product/category expansions?

High-stakes seasons/events command a lot of budget and attention, so it’s key to nail the strategy and have access to the right information in order to better approach the competition or the nuances of the category. Aligning the myriad signals coming from competition intradaily can help ensure that your event days are as successful as possible. Content optimization gives you the tools to ensure you aren't missing traffic because you aren't indexing for terms that consumers are using to find products with value propositions like yours; this is of great importance especially when you're in high-traffic events. Additionally, expanding into new adjacent categories may mean adjusting content to attract and convert shoppers in growth categories.
 
3. What role does visibility into metrics such as buy box ownership and keyword trends play in driving sales growth and competitive advantage in your digital commerce strategy?

It's fairly straightforward: If you're not in the buy box, you are missing sales. Controlling your brand presence and any gray-market sellers of your brand is a critical challenge to solve to ensure you aren't losing organic sales or paying for traffic that other sellers are capitalizing on. Keyword trends are important to track as volume shifts and new terms surface that may fit your category or product; it's important to know and estimate volume and stay abreast of trends to ensure your campaigns and organic sales are as competitive as possible. 
 
4. How are you aligning your revenue recovery strategies with reinvestment goals to ensure operational resilience and sustained growth? 

Ultimately, recovered revenue – less the fees for the service – are funds that can be used to improve the bottom line of the business and to reinvest in inventory, ads, teams, or technology. Ensuring Amazon and other retailers are remunerating your brand correctly is simply smart business and AR practice.
 
5. In what ways is your team leveraging cross-channel data to inform real-time media optimizations and strategic decisions?

Our clients are often leveraging our algorithmic “what-if” scenario tools to decide how to shift existing or incremental budgets between channels and/or tactics. Increasingly with Celeste AI (Skai’s groundbreaking GenAI agent purpose-built for commerce media), our clients are discovering effects of interaction between disparate channels -- like Youtube and Amazon -- and leveraging the AI agent’s ability to run complex regressions in a matter of seconds.
 
6. What criteria are most important when selecting strategic AI partners or platforms - speed of insight, scalability, retail integration, or transparency of algorithms?

Trust. Transparency. Legal compliance and infosec. And then from there, it’s understanding how the agent or specific AI toolset has been “coached” to understand context, client specifics, and the jobs to be done.
 
Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.
 Mission-Driven Marketing with Purpose and Results

Mission-Driven Marketing with Purpose and Results

business intelligence 5 Aug 2025

1. What is your core philosophy when crafting brand stories for mission-driven organizations like the CAHP Credit Union?

At Merlot Marketing, our philosophy centers on mission-driven storytelling that shows how a brand’s purpose directly benefits the people it serves. With organizations like CAHP Credit Union, they have such an amazing purpose, that the story almost tells itself.  Our job is to articulate their purpose by understanding the unique needs of their members and grounding everything in authenticity. It’s about more than promoting services; it’s about honoring the values behind them. When the story reflects the heart of the mission and speaks to the people it serves, it inspires trust, loyalty and long-term growth.

2. How will you tailor creative and messaging to resonate with the Credit Union’s unique member base—California peace officers and their families?

We focus on reflecting the experiences and shared values of peace officers and their families. We want to honor their service by speaking their language and communicating with sincerity and respect. Our approach combines emotional connection with practical clarity and language that not only illustrates why the Credit Union matters, but also when offices are open and what services are available. It’s about meeting members where they are and delivering messages that feel both personal and purposeful.

3. How does your agency structure collaboration between strategy, creative, and account management teams?

At Merlot Marketing, collaboration is built into our DNA. An agency is only as good as the collaboration with its clients. There must be alignment in both organizations’ mission, values and purpose.  Our job is to articulate and tell their story in a way that resonates with their customers.  We’re intentionally cross-functional and collaborative, not siloed by department.  We do this purposefully, so strategy, creative and account management are aligned from day one. Ideas flow freely, feedback is shared in real time, and everyone is focused on the same goal: delivering smart, impactful work that drives results. It’s a true team effort, which includes the client, every step of the way.

4. How do you ensure campaigns deliver measurable ROI while also fulfilling emotional storytelling goals?

We start by aligning on clear KPIs that reflect the client’s goals. Whether it’s member growth, engagement or awareness, we set clear KPIs and then use meaningful storytelling to drive connection and action. The right story captures hearts, great service captures minds and together they fuel measurable results. When strategy and creativity work together, performance and success naturally follow.
 
5. What leadership lessons have shaped your approach to running an agency with purpose?

I’ve learned that purpose starts with people. We have an amazing team and leading with an intentional culture empowers teams to do great work with heart and hustle. Our “why” is simple: to produce great work, with great people, for great clients. And our mission keeps us grounded: to deliver passion, creativity and results to every client with whom we’re privileged to work. When your team believes in the work and feels supported, purpose isn’t just a message, it’s a mindset that produces winning results! 

6. Looking ahead, what opportunities do you foresee in public-sector or cause-driven marketing?

There’s an amazing opportunity to humanize public-sector brands.  Often, they are cold and calculated with their messaging and we have an opportunity to bring clarity, empathy and purpose to the forefront. Through thoughtful, mission-aligned campaigns, we can build trust, deepen connection and make these organizations more relatable to the people they serve. What’s awesome is that the people who run these organizations actually do care. That’s the importance of marketing. Ensuring that their customers or clients understand that they are providing more than just a service, but rather a connection that goes far deeper than any transaction.  It’s not just about branding or visibility; it’s about creating meaningful engagement that connects authentically with their audience.
 
Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.
 Why Modern Brands Need a Systems-First Approach

Why Modern Brands Need a Systems-First Approach

digital marketing 5 Aug 2025

1. You have redefined yourself around a “systems-first” model. What prompted this shift, and how does it reflect the needs of modern businesses?

 
The shift came from seeing too many businesses stall—not because they lacked vision, but because their teams operated in silos. Brand, tech, marketing, and leadership often moved in parallel but disconnected ways. We knew there had to be a better model.
 
So we adopted a systems-first approach: one that prioritizes interconnected thinking and operational clarity. Today’s businesses face increasing complexity and pace, and they need more than just good ideas. They need alignment—between their purpose, platforms, teams, and communications. Our systems-first model provides that foundation and gives our clients a smarter, more scalable way to grow.
 
2. Can you walk us through how the Four Pillars—Strategy, Branding, Technology, Growth—interact as a cohesive system?
 
Each pillar reinforces the next.
  • Strategy sets the purpose and market direction.
  • Branding expresses that vision in a way people can connect with.
  • Technology builds the infrastructure to support and scale that experience.
  • Growth ensures it reaches the right audience with measurable results.
Instead of treating these as isolated services, we architect them as a loop—where learning in one pillar improves performance in the others. For example, a growth insight might influence a UX change, which drives a tech update, which informs a brand adjustment. This dynamic system keeps our clients evolving with intention.
 
3. What frameworks or tools do you use during transformation engagements to align teams across product, brand, and go-to-market?
 
We start by creating shared visibility across teams—something surprisingly rare in fast-growing companies. We run collaborative workshops to map stakeholder priorities and align on goals using frameworks like:
  • OKRs (Objectives & Key Results)
  • Customer Journey Architecture
  • North Star Narrative Alignment
 
We use tools like Miro for systems mapping, Notion for project documentation, Figma for design collaboration, and Trello to manage delivery cycles. This toolset becomes the “operating layer” that enables agile collaboration, regardless of discipline or timezone.
 
4. Can you share how your systems-first model helped avoid fragmented or redundant workflows in a recent client engagement?
 
Absolutely. We worked with a growing B2B marketplace that was scaling fast across Latin America and the U.S. Each regional team had their own priorities, CMS, and marketing materials. We quickly uncovered duplication of assets, brand inconsistencies, and mismatched product messaging.
 
By implementing a systems-first model, we introduced a centralized content architecture, unified their CMS into a scalable structure, and rolled out a global design system. With one source of truth across regions, we reduced duplicate efforts by 40%, improved brand consistency, and allowed their teams to collaborate instead of compete for resources.
 
5. For brands operating in multiple markets, how do you manage multilingual and CMS complexity without sacrificing UX?
 
We focus on flexibility in the backend and consistency in the frontend. First, we choose the right techstack, whether it’s the right cms or custom application to the right infrastructure environment, we structure content types in a modular way so local teams can customize without breaking the experience.
 
From a UX standpoint, we create adaptive templates that respond to different languages and reading patterns, including right-to-left scripts when needed. We also account for cultural nuance in imagery, CTAs, and microcopy. That way, every market gets a tailored experience that still feels like the same brand.
 
6. How are you preparing for continued AI and automation disruption in the marketing space?
 
We see AI as a co-pilot, not a competitor. Internally, we’ve integrated AI into multiple parts of our workflow—from content prototyping and concept exploration to visual generation and predictive analytics.
 
We’re also building internal processes to ensure AI supports our team rather than replaces it. That includes training creatives on AI tools, using custom GPTs for brand voice consistency, and developing automation pipelines for reporting and asset versioning.
 
Ultimately, we’re preparing by staying hands-on. AI won’t remove the need for strategic thinking or storytelling, but it will raise the bar for efficiency and creativity. We plan to meet that challenge head-on.
 
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