As brands face increasing competition for consumer attention across digital, social, and experiential channels, integrated communications agency Matter is expanding its event and experiential public relations offerings. The move reflects a broader shift in marketing and communications strategies, where organizations are investing in immersive experiences and event-driven storytelling to generate media coverage, strengthen brand awareness, and create deeper audience engagement.

The role of events in public relations is evolving.

For years, brand events primarily served as supporting elements within broader communications campaigns. Today, many organizations are treating events, experiential activations, and live brand experiences as central components of their marketing and public relations strategies.

Against this backdrop, Matter has announced an expanded portfolio of event-focused public relations solutions designed to help brands create greater visibility around product launches, market expansions, industry events, and experiential activations.

The agency's enhanced offering focuses on integrating event strategy with public relations, media relations, content development, creative services, and broader marketing initiatives. The goal is to help brands transform one-time events into larger narratives that generate sustained audience engagement and media attention.

The announcement highlights a significant trend shaping the communications industry.

As digital advertising costs rise and audiences become increasingly fragmented across channels, marketers are searching for opportunities to create memorable experiences that can generate organic conversations and earned media exposure. Events have emerged as one of the most effective mechanisms for achieving those objectives.

According to research from organizations such as Forrester and Gartner, experiential marketing continues to gain importance as brands seek ways to build stronger emotional connections with customers while differentiating themselves in crowded markets.

Matter's expanded approach is built around three primary service areas.

The first focuses on amplifying brand visibility at major industry conferences, trade shows, and cultural events. Rather than relying solely on event participation, the agency aims to help organizations create distinctive experiences and media opportunities that extend beyond exhibit booths and sponsorship placements.

This strategy reflects a growing challenge for marketers attending large-scale events. As conferences become larger and more competitive, simply having a presence is often insufficient. Brands increasingly need unique narratives, exclusive experiences, and integrated media strategies to stand out among hundreds or thousands of participants.

The second offering centers on market-entry initiatives and physical expansion programs. Store openings, regional launches, and new market introductions are increasingly being treated as public relations opportunities rather than purely operational milestones.

By combining local partnerships, community engagement, media outreach, and experiential elements, organizations can generate awareness and credibility while establishing a stronger local presence.

This approach has become particularly important in retail, hospitality, consumer technology, and franchise industries, where local relevance often plays a critical role in long-term growth strategies.

The third area focuses on branded experiential activations and pop-up experiences.

Experiential marketing has become one of the fastest-growing segments of brand communications as companies seek alternatives to traditional advertising formats. Temporary installations, immersive environments, interactive showcases, and community-driven events provide opportunities to generate social sharing, influencer engagement, media coverage, and direct audience interaction.

These activations are increasingly functioning as content engines as much as physical experiences. A single event can generate social media assets, video content, earned media coverage, influencer collaborations, customer testimonials, and user-generated content that extend campaign impact far beyond the event itself.

The expansion also reflects broader changes occurring within the public relations industry.

Historically, PR teams focused primarily on media relations and reputation management. Today's communications professionals are expected to support integrated campaigns spanning content marketing, social media, influencer engagement, experiential programs, digital storytelling, and brand strategy.

As a result, agencies are increasingly positioning themselves as integrated communications partners rather than traditional public relations providers.

Major technology and marketing platforms such as Adobe, Salesforce, and Google have similarly emphasized the growing importance of connected customer experiences that span online and offline touchpoints.

The rise of Generative AI and AI-powered discovery platforms adds another dimension to the value of experiential marketing. Events that generate significant media coverage, social engagement, and authoritative content can influence how brands appear within AI-generated search responses and recommendation systems.

This connection is contributing to the growing convergence of public relations, content marketing, search optimization, and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).

For enterprise marketing teams, the challenge is no longer simply creating awareness. Increasingly, success depends on creating memorable experiences that generate conversations, strengthen brand authority, and produce measurable business outcomes across multiple channels.

Matter's expanded event-focused PR solutions reflect that reality. As brands compete for attention in increasingly crowded digital environments, experiential storytelling is becoming less of a complementary tactic and more of a strategic communications necessity.

Market Landscape

Experiential marketing is becoming a larger component of modern communications strategies as organizations seek alternatives to increasingly saturated digital advertising channels.

According to industry research from Forrester and Gartner, customer engagement strategies increasingly emphasize immersive experiences, community participation, and brand authenticity.

At the same time, media consumption habits continue to fragment across social platforms, streaming environments, creator ecosystems, and AI-powered discovery channels. This shift is driving demand for integrated campaigns that combine public relations, experiential marketing, digital content, and audience engagement into unified programs.

For brands seeking visibility in competitive markets, events are evolving from standalone activities into strategic platforms capable of generating earned media, strengthening customer relationships, and supporting broader brand-building initiatives.

Top Insights

•  Matter has expanded its event-focused PR offerings to help brands generate visibility through experiential and integrated communications strategies.
• The agency's services focus on event amplification, market-entry activations, and branded experiential experiences.
• Organizations increasingly view events as content and media-generation platforms rather than standalone marketing activities.
• Experiential marketing is gaining importance as brands seek stronger audience engagement and differentiation in crowded markets.
• Event-driven storytelling is becoming a key component of integrated PR, marketing, content, and GEO strategies.

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Data and AI consultancy DAS42 has been named Snowflake’s 2026 Marketing & Advertising Services Partner of the Year, underscoring the growing importance of unified customer data infrastructure in modern advertising and media operations. Announced at the annual Snowflake Summit 2026, the recognition highlights DAS42’s work helping media companies, advertising organizations, and digital content providers consolidate fragmented audience data and build AI-enabled marketing capabilities on top of Snowflake’s data platform.

As advertising ecosystems become increasingly complex, enterprises are facing a common challenge: customer and audience data is scattered across multiple platforms, making it difficult to deliver personalized experiences, accurately measure campaign performance, and maximize advertising revenue.

Against that backdrop, DAS42 has emerged as one of the consulting firms helping organizations modernize their data foundations. The company was recognized at Snowflake Summit 2026 with the Marketing & Advertising Snowflake Services Partner of the Year award, a distinction that highlights its work building customer identity, audience intelligence, and AI-powered advertising capabilities for enterprise clients.

The award comes at a time when media organizations, publishers, streaming platforms, and advertising agencies are under pressure to improve audience targeting while navigating privacy regulations, signal loss, and the decline of third-party cookies.

At the center of DAS42’s approach is the consolidation of fragmented audience data into a unified environment powered by Snowflake. By establishing a centralized customer data foundation, organizations can create more accurate audience profiles, improve identity resolution, and generate actionable insights for marketing and advertising teams.

Identity resolution has become a critical capability across the digital advertising landscape. As consumers interact with brands across websites, mobile applications, connected TV environments, and social platforms, marketers often struggle to connect those interactions into a single customer view.

Modern data architectures seek to solve that problem by linking disparate customer signals and enriching profiles with additional intelligence. Once unified, organizations can apply artificial intelligence and machine learning models to optimize audience segmentation, campaign execution, and customer acquisition efforts.

According to Snowflake executives, DAS42 distinguished itself by helping clients move beyond fragmented marketing systems and develop integrated advertising solutions directly within a unified data environment.

The recognition also reflects a broader industry shift toward AI-enabled marketing operations.

Over the past two years, enterprise organizations have accelerated investments in data cloud platforms and AI technologies. Gartner estimates that data-driven marketing and AI-powered decisioning are becoming foundational capabilities for customer engagement strategies, while IDC projects continued growth in enterprise spending on data management, analytics, and artificial intelligence initiatives.

For marketing organizations, however, AI effectiveness is often constrained by data quality.

Many enterprises continue to operate with disconnected customer records spread across customer relationship management systems, advertising platforms, analytics environments, and data warehouses. Without a unified foundation, AI models frequently generate incomplete or inconsistent insights.

DAS42’s work focuses on addressing that challenge before organizations begin deploying advanced AI capabilities.

The company’s projects reportedly include building identity resolution frameworks, customer enrichment processes, and clean room infrastructures that allow advertisers and media companies to analyze audience behavior while supporting privacy and compliance requirements.

Clean rooms have become particularly important within the advertising sector. These environments enable organizations to collaborate on audience data analysis without exposing personally identifiable information, helping marketers balance personalization objectives with growing privacy expectations.

One example highlighted by DAS42 involves its work with Plexus Media, which selected Snowflake as the foundation for its data strategy. According to Plexus executives, the engagement enabled the company to move from fragmented reporting systems toward a unified operational framework that supports audience intelligence, media optimization, and future AI initiatives.

The collaboration reflects a broader trend across the marketing technology sector. Rather than implementing AI as a standalone capability, organizations are increasingly focusing on building scalable data foundations first and layering AI applications on top of those environments.

This approach aligns with strategies promoted by major enterprise technology providers including Microsoft, Adobe, Salesforce, and Snowflake, all of which have emphasized the connection between data readiness and AI success.

Another notable aspect of DAS42’s recognition is its focus on agentic advertising capabilities. Agentic AI systems, which can perform tasks autonomously based on business goals and contextual information, are becoming an emerging area of interest within the advertising industry.

These technologies have the potential to automate campaign optimization, audience targeting decisions, budget allocation, and performance analysis with minimal human intervention. While adoption remains in its early stages, industry analysts view agentic AI as a potentially transformative development for marketing operations.

For media companies and advertising organizations, the award signals a broader industry reality: competitive advantage increasingly depends on the ability to unify customer data and operationalize AI at scale.

As advertising shifts toward privacy-conscious, AI-powered ecosystems, organizations that establish modern data foundations today may be better positioned to unlock future growth opportunities and improve marketing performance.

Market Landscape

The marketing and advertising industry is rapidly consolidating around data cloud platforms, customer intelligence systems, and AI-powered decision-making frameworks.

According to Gartner, customer data unification and AI-driven personalization remain among the top priorities for marketing leaders. IDC similarly forecasts strong growth in enterprise investments related to data platforms, analytics infrastructure, and artificial intelligence.

At the same time, media organizations are navigating major changes in audience measurement, identity management, and privacy compliance. As third-party data becomes less reliable, first-party data strategies and identity resolution capabilities are becoming critical competitive differentiators.

Platforms such as Snowflake are increasingly serving as the foundation for these initiatives, enabling organizations to centralize data, improve governance, and deploy advanced AI applications across marketing, advertising, and customer engagement workflows.

For agencies, publishers, and brands, the future of advertising technology will likely be defined by how effectively organizations connect customer data, analytics, and AI into unified operational ecosystems.

Top Insights

•  DAS42 was named Snowflake’s 2026 Marketing & Advertising Services Partner of the Year at Snowflake Summit 2026.
• The company was recognized for helping media and advertising organizations unify audience data and build AI-powered marketing capabilities.
• Identity resolution and clean room infrastructure are becoming critical components of privacy-conscious advertising strategies.
• Enterprise marketers are increasingly building AI applications on top of centralized data cloud platforms rather than fragmented systems.
• Agentic AI is emerging as a new opportunity for automating campaign management, audience targeting, and advertising optimization.

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Property intelligence platform Land id has launched a new integration with Canva, enabling real estate professionals to embed interactive property tours, custom maps, land data visualizations, and location insights directly into marketing assets. The move reflects a broader trend toward data-driven real estate marketing, where visual storytelling and property intelligence are becoming critical differentiators for agents, brokers, and property marketers competing for buyer attention.

As digital marketing becomes increasingly visual and interactive, real estate professionals are looking beyond traditional listing photos and static maps to tell more compelling property stories. Land id's latest integration with Canva aims to address that demand by connecting property intelligence and mapping data directly to one of the industry's most widely used design platforms.

The integration allows Land id users to import interactive property tours, custom map visualizations, images, and property insights into Canva-based marketing materials. Real estate agents, brokerage marketing teams, developers, and land professionals can now incorporate richer property data into presentations, social media campaigns, landing pages, email marketing assets, and printed collateral without relying on static screenshots or manually created graphics.

The announcement highlights how technology platforms are increasingly converging to support modern real estate marketing strategies.

Over the past decade, Canva has become a core tool for marketing teams across industries by simplifying content creation through templates, collaboration features, and automated design workflows. Within the real estate sector, the platform has gained widespread adoption among agents and brokerage firms seeking faster ways to create branded marketing materials without requiring specialized graphic design expertise.

Land id, meanwhile, has focused on providing property intelligence and visualization tools that help users understand and present land characteristics, ownership details, boundaries, terrain data, and location-specific insights.

The new integration effectively combines those capabilities into a single workflow.

Instead of exporting static property images and manually inserting them into marketing materials, users can now incorporate dynamic property tours and map-based content directly within their design projects. The result is a more visually rich presentation of property information that can help buyers, investors, and stakeholders better understand a property's characteristics before scheduling a visit or engaging with an agent.

The timing aligns with broader shifts occurring across the real estate technology landscape.

Consumer expectations for property marketing have evolved significantly as digital experiences become increasingly immersive. Buyers now expect detailed visual content, virtual tours, location intelligence, and data-driven insights before making purchasing decisions. This trend has accelerated across residential, commercial, luxury, agricultural, ranch, and land-focused property markets.

For brokers and agents, creating those experiences often requires multiple software platforms, specialized design resources, and significant production effort. Integrations such as the one between Land id and Canva aim to streamline that process by reducing workflow complexity and lowering production barriers.

The development also reflects a growing trend toward integrated marketing ecosystems within real estate technology stacks.

Historically, property data platforms, customer relationship management systems, marketing automation tools, and content creation platforms operated largely as separate environments. Today, software vendors are increasingly prioritizing interoperability, enabling users to move data, visuals, and content seamlessly across applications.

This approach mirrors broader enterprise technology strategies seen across industries, where integration and workflow efficiency have become key priorities. Companies such as Salesforce, Adobe, and Microsoft have similarly focused on connecting content creation, collaboration, and data platforms to support digital-first business operations.

For real estate marketers, the ability to combine creative content with property intelligence is becoming increasingly valuable. Listing presentations, social campaigns, email outreach, and digital advertisements are no longer judged solely on visual appeal. Buyers increasingly seek context, transparency, and actionable information that helps evaluate a property's value and potential.

Interactive maps and property tours can provide that context by illustrating factors such as boundaries, terrain features, nearby amenities, access points, and land-use considerations in ways traditional marketing materials often cannot.

The integration may be particularly relevant for land sales, ranch properties, commercial developments, and rural real estate transactions, where location intelligence often plays a larger role in purchasing decisions than interior photography alone.

The move also highlights the growing influence of PropTech and MarTech convergence. As real estate marketing becomes more data-driven, technologies traditionally associated with mapping, geospatial analytics, customer engagement, and content creation are increasingly being combined into unified marketing workflows.

For Land id, inclusion within Canva's App Marketplace expands visibility among a large base of content creators and real estate professionals already using the platform for day-to-day marketing activities. The company indicated that additional functionality is expected as the partnership evolves.

For agents and brokerage marketing teams, the integration offers a practical example of how property intelligence and creative automation are becoming interconnected. As competition for buyer attention intensifies across digital channels, tools that combine rich data visualization with streamlined content production may play an increasingly important role in real estate marketing success.

Market Landscape

The real estate technology sector is experiencing rapid growth as property professionals adopt digital tools designed to improve marketing effectiveness, buyer engagement, and operational efficiency.

According to industry research from organizations such as National Association of Realtors, buyers increasingly begin property searches online and expect detailed digital experiences before engaging directly with agents. At the same time, real estate marketing teams are investing in technologies that support visual storytelling, virtual property exploration, and data-driven decision-making.

The convergence of property intelligence platforms, design tools, customer engagement systems, and marketing automation technologies reflects a broader shift toward integrated PropTech ecosystems. As competition intensifies across residential and commercial markets, the ability to combine compelling creative assets with actionable property data is becoming a key differentiator.

For marketing teams, the future of property promotion is likely to be increasingly interactive, personalized, and intelligence-driven—bringing together geospatial data, visual communication platforms, and customer engagement technologies within unified workflows

Top Insights

•  Land id has integrated with Canva, enabling real estate professionals to add interactive property tours and custom maps directly into marketing content.
• The integration combines property intelligence with visual content creation, streamlining workflows for agents, brokers, and marketing teams.
• Real estate marketers can now incorporate richer property insights into presentations, social campaigns, landing pages, and print materials.
• The announcement reflects growing convergence between PropTech and MarTech platforms as data-driven marketing becomes increasingly important.
• Interactive property visualizations are emerging as a competitive advantage in attracting buyers and improving property storytelling.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts

As generative AI increasingly influences how consumers and business buyers research brands, a new challenge has emerged for marketing and communications teams: understanding how AI systems characterize their companies before a prospect ever visits a website. Brandi AI is seeking to address that challenge with the launch of Sentiment Hub, a new brand intelligence capability designed to help organizations monitor, analyze, and influence how AI-powered platforms describe brands across search and discovery experiences.

The rise of AI-powered search and answer engines is creating a new frontier for digital marketing.

For decades, marketers focused on traditional search visibility, measuring rankings, clicks, impressions, and conversions to evaluate brand performance online. Today, however, consumers and B2B buyers are increasingly turning to AI-generated answers to compare vendors, evaluate products, and make purchasing decisions. That shift is forcing organizations to reconsider how brand visibility and reputation are measured.

Brandi AI, a platform focused on Brand Intelligence and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), has announced Sentiment Hub, a new capability designed to help marketing and communications teams understand not only whether their brand appears in AI-generated responses, but how those responses characterize the brand relative to competitors.

The launch reflects a growing concern among enterprise marketers. Visibility alone is no longer enough. A company may appear prominently in an AI-generated answer yet still lose business if the response frames the brand as expensive, less reliable, outdated, or inferior to competing alternatives.

Sentiment Hub aims to provide visibility into that emerging layer of brand perception.

According to the company, the platform enables organizations to define specific market categories, buyer questions, competitive comparisons, and brand attributes they want to monitor. The system then evaluates how AI-powered platforms—including ChatGPT, Microsoft's Copilot, Google's AI Overviews, and Perplexity—describe brands across those scenarios.

The development highlights a broader transformation occurring across the search ecosystem.

Historically, reputation management and brand monitoring tools focused on social media conversations, customer reviews, news coverage, and search visibility. AI-generated answers introduce a new challenge because they aggregate information from multiple sources and present synthesized opinions directly to users.

As a result, marketers increasingly need to understand not only where information originates but how AI systems interpret and present that information.

The company positions Sentiment Hub as a solution for measuring what it describes as AI-generated brand sentiment. The platform analyzes whether AI systems portray a brand as a category leader, trusted provider, premium option, lower-cost alternative, or potential risk relative to competitors.

One of the platform's differentiators is its focus on source-level attribution. According to Brandi AI, the system identifies which articles, publishers, reviews, or third-party sources are contributing to positive or negative AI-generated narratives.

This capability could prove particularly valuable as Generative Engine Optimization evolves into a more formal marketing discipline.

GEO focuses on improving brand visibility within AI-generated responses rather than traditional search rankings alone. As AI assistants increasingly influence customer research journeys, organizations are investing in strategies designed to ensure that AI systems reference accurate, authoritative, and favorable information.

Industry analysts have noted that buyer behavior is shifting rapidly. Research from Gartner suggests that generative AI is becoming an increasingly important part of customer research and decision-making workflows. Meanwhile, Forrester has highlighted growing enterprise investments in AI-powered customer engagement and digital experience initiatives.

Brandi AI's launch also reflects the growing convergence of marketing, public relations, content strategy, and reputation management.

Traditional SEO programs have historically emphasized keywords, rankings, and backlinks. Modern GEO strategies require a broader approach that incorporates media coverage, thought leadership, customer reviews, expert commentary, community discussions, and brand authority signals.

The platform's source-tracking capabilities are designed to help organizations identify where specific narratives originate and how those narratives influence AI-generated descriptions.

The launch has also attracted attention from communications professionals because of its alignment with the PESO Model®, a framework that integrates paid, earned, shared, and owned media strategies.

According to communications strategist Gini Dietrich, one of the longstanding challenges in reputation management has been connecting perception shifts to measurable business outcomes. As AI-generated answers increasingly shape buyer opinions before direct engagement occurs, understanding the sources driving those perceptions becomes increasingly important.

The introduction of Sentiment Hub comes at a time when major technology providers—including Google, Microsoft, and emerging AI search platforms—continue to expand generative experiences that influence how information is discovered online.

For enterprise marketers, the implications extend beyond visibility metrics. AI-powered discovery is creating a new layer of competitive intelligence where brands must monitor not only their rankings but also the narratives AI systems associate with them.

As generative search adoption accelerates, tools capable of measuring AI-driven perception may become an increasingly important component of marketing technology stacks. Whether Sentiment Hub establishes a new category within brand intelligence remains to be seen, but the launch underscores a broader industry reality: in the AI era, how a brand is described may be just as important as whether it is found.

Market Landscape

Brand intelligence is entering a new phase as AI-generated answers become a primary source of information for consumers and business buyers.

According to Gartner, organizations are increasing investments in AI-powered marketing technologies as customer discovery behaviors evolve. Forrester research similarly indicates that buyers increasingly rely on digital self-service channels and AI-assisted research before engaging directly with vendors.

This shift is fueling the rise of Generative Engine Optimization, a discipline focused on influencing how brands appear within AI-generated recommendations and answers. Unlike traditional SEO, GEO emphasizes authority, trust signals, entity recognition, and narrative positioning across AI ecosystems.

As platforms such as ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Microsoft Copilot, and Perplexity continue to shape customer decision-making, marketers are expanding their focus beyond rankings and traffic metrics to include AI visibility, AI sentiment, and AI-driven brand perception.

For enterprises, understanding how AI systems characterize products, services, and corporate reputations may become a critical component of future marketing and communications strategies

Top Insights

•  Brandi AI launched Sentiment Hub, a platform designed to measure how AI answer engines describe brands, competitors, and market categories.
• The solution enables marketers to track AI-generated sentiment across buyer questions, brand attributes, and competitive comparisons.
• Source-level attribution allows teams to identify which publishers, articles, reviews, and third-party sources influence AI-generated narratives.
• The launch reflects growing enterprise interest in Generative Engine Optimization as AI-powered search reshapes digital discovery.
• Marketing and PR teams are increasingly seeking tools that connect AI visibility, brand perception, reputation management, and revenue outcomes.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts

A bold tourism campaign built around one of America's most debated food topics has earned one of marketing's highest honors. Integrated agency Adams & Knight and the Connecticut Office of Statewide Marketing & Tourism received a Gold Effie Award for the "Pizza Capital of the U.S." campaign, a destination marketing initiative that transformed a regional food rivalry into a national tourism conversation while delivering measurable visitation and brand-awareness gains.

In an era where destinations compete fiercely for traveler attention across digital channels, social media platforms, and AI-driven discovery experiences, standing out has become increasingly difficult. Connecticut's tourism marketers took an unconventional approach: rather than promoting scenic attractions or seasonal travel experiences, they positioned the state at the center of a passionate cultural debate over pizza.

That strategy has now earned national recognition.

At the 2026 U.S. Effie Awards, marketing agency Adams & Knight and the Connecticut Office of Statewide Marketing & Tourism secured the only Gold Effie awarded in the Travel and Tourism category. The campaign outperformed entries from major tourism organizations and global agencies representing destinations and hospitality brands around the world.

The Effie Awards are widely regarded as one of the marketing industry's most respected effectiveness awards because they evaluate not only creative execution but also business impact and measurable outcomes. For tourism marketers, earning an Effie often signals that a campaign successfully translated awareness into tangible economic and visitor-growth results.

The "Pizza Capital of the U.S." initiative began with a deliberately provocative statement. A highway sign welcoming visitors from New York declared Connecticut the nation's pizza capital, instantly triggering debate among consumers, media outlets, food enthusiasts, and competing destinations.

Rather than treating the activation as a short-term publicity stunt, Adams & Knight developed the concept into a year-long integrated marketing platform. The campaign combined earned media, digital marketing, public engagement initiatives, experiential activations, social content, and interactive participation mechanisms designed to keep Connecticut at the center of public conversation.

The strategy reflected a broader shift in destination marketing. Traditional tourism campaigns often focus on showcasing attractions and experiences directly. Increasingly, however, successful destination brands are leveraging cultural relevance, shareable narratives, and audience participation to generate organic visibility across multiple channels.

The Connecticut campaign capitalized on that trend by creating what marketers often refer to as a "cultural moment"—a topic capable of generating sustained discussion beyond traditional advertising placements.

The results were substantial.

According to campaign data, the initiative generated more than 19 billion earned media impressions and secured over 4,000 earned media placements. The campaign also achieved mainstream visibility through appearances in national entertainment and news conversations, including a widely discussed segment on the The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Beyond awareness metrics, the campaign produced measurable tourism outcomes. Google search interest for Connecticut pizza increased by 68%, while long-distance visitation to the state reportedly grew by 37% among travelers located between 500 and 3,000 miles away.

For destination marketers, those visitation metrics are particularly significant. Tourism organizations increasingly face pressure to demonstrate economic impact and return on marketing investment, especially as public-sector marketing budgets come under greater scrutiny.

The campaign's performance highlights the growing importance of integrated marketing strategies within the tourism sector. Rather than relying on a single advertising channel, the initiative synchronized public relations, digital marketing, social engagement, experiential activations, and content creation into a unified narrative.

This approach aligns with broader industry trends identified by organizations such as the U.S. Travel Association and tourism marketing analysts, who have emphasized the growing value of earned media, digital engagement, and authentic storytelling in influencing traveler decisions.

The success also reflects changing consumer behavior. Travelers increasingly discover destinations through online conversations, creator content, social media engagement, search engines, and AI-powered recommendation platforms. In this environment, campaigns capable of generating discussion often achieve broader reach than traditional advertising alone.

The campaign's structure also demonstrates principles increasingly associated with Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). By generating widespread media coverage, cultural relevance, and authoritative digital mentions, the initiative created signals that can influence how destinations appear within AI-powered search and recommendation systems.

For tourism boards and destination marketing organizations, the Connecticut case offers an example of how controversy, when carefully managed and strategically aligned with brand objectives, can become a catalyst for awareness and visitation growth.

Competition in the Travel and Tourism category underscored the achievement's significance. Finalists included campaigns from major global agencies representing tourism destinations, hospitality organizations, and travel brands, making Connecticut's victory notable within a highly competitive field.

The Gold Effie also adds to a series of recent industry recognitions for Adams & Knight and Connecticut Tourism, including honors from PRWeek and the Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI).

More importantly, the campaign demonstrates a lesson increasingly relevant across modern marketing disciplines: attention alone is not enough. The most effective campaigns transform awareness into measurable behavioral outcomes. In Connecticut's case, a debate about pizza became a vehicle for driving visitation, improving brand perception, and elevating the state's visibility on a national scale.

Market Landscape

Destination marketing is undergoing significant transformation as traveler discovery shifts toward digital-first and AI-assisted experiences.

According to industry research from organizations such as the World Travel & Tourism Council and tourism marketing analysts, travelers increasingly rely on search engines, social media content, online reviews, creator recommendations, and AI-powered discovery tools when evaluating destinations.

As competition for attention intensifies, destination marketing organizations are moving beyond traditional awareness campaigns and investing in integrated strategies that combine public relations, experiential marketing, digital engagement, influencer partnerships, and content-driven storytelling.

The Connecticut "Pizza Capital of the U.S." campaign illustrates how cultural relevance and sustained audience engagement can generate both media attention and measurable tourism outcomes. As AI-powered discovery platforms continue to influence travel planning, campaigns capable of creating authoritative digital conversations may become even more valuable for destination brands seeking visibility and economic impact

Top Insights

•  Connecticut Tourism and Adams & Knight won the only Gold Effie in the Travel and Tourism category for the "Pizza Capital of the U.S." campaign.
• The campaign generated more than 19 billion earned media impressions and over 4,000 media placements through an integrated marketing strategy.
• Google searches for Connecticut pizza increased by 68%, while long-distance visitation rose by 37%, demonstrating measurable tourism impact.
• The initiative combined PR, experiential marketing, digital engagement, social content, and audience participation to sustain year-long visibility.
• The campaign highlights how destination marketers are increasingly leveraging cultural conversations to drive tourism growth and brand awareness.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is rapidly evolving from an emerging marketing concept into an operational discipline, according to new research from GNW Consulting and Demand Metric. The study found that a majority of B2B organizations are already investing in AI-driven search visibility strategies, with many reporting measurable business results as buyers increasingly rely on AI-powered discovery platforms to research vendors, products, and solutions.

The rise of artificial intelligence is fundamentally changing how business buyers discover information online, forcing marketing leaders to rethink traditional search strategies. New research from marketing operations agency GNW Consulting and research partner Demand Metric suggests that Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO, is quickly becoming a core component of modern B2B marketing programs.

The 2026 State of Generative Engine Optimization in B2B Marketing study surveyed 225 B2B marketing and revenue leaders to examine how organizations are adapting to AI-powered discovery environments. The findings reveal a market moving beyond experimentation, with companies increasingly allocating resources, budget, and operational focus toward optimizing visibility within AI-generated search experiences.

Perhaps the most significant finding is the scale of adoption already underway. According to the report, 92% of surveyed organizations are either experimenting with or actively operationalizing GEO initiatives. Among organizations currently investing in the discipline, 78% report measurable return on investment.

The results indicate that AI search optimization is no longer being treated as a speculative initiative. Instead, many organizations now view GEO as a strategic response to changing buyer behavior and the growing influence of generative AI platforms on purchasing decisions.

As enterprise buyers increasingly turn to AI assistants, conversational search tools, and large language models to evaluate vendors and solutions, traditional search engine optimization strategies alone may no longer be sufficient. Visibility within AI-generated answers, summaries, recommendations, and research workflows is becoming a new competitive battleground for B2B brands.

According to Raja Walia, founder and CEO of GNW Consulting, the market has reached an inflection point where organizations are moving from exploration to execution.

That shift is reflected in the study's budget findings. Organizations allocating more than 5% of their marketing budgets toward GEO initiatives reported higher levels of measurable business impact than organizations making smaller investments. The data suggests that companies treating GEO as a strategic function rather than a tactical experiment may be achieving stronger results.

The report also highlights growing confusion within the broader search industry. While 88% of SEO agencies surveyed claim to offer GEO or AI search optimization services, more than one-third characterize those offerings as loosely defined.

This finding underscores one of the challenges facing marketing leaders today. As AI search rapidly evolves, many organizations are still attempting to define best practices, measurement frameworks, technology requirements, and operational ownership models.

The emergence of GEO has also exposed limitations in traditional SEO methodologies. For more than two decades, search optimization has largely focused on rankings, keyword visibility, backlinks, and organic traffic growth. AI-powered discovery platforms introduce new variables, including citation frequency, content authority, contextual relevance, entity recognition, and answer inclusion within AI-generated responses.

The study suggests that organizations are already seeing meaningful changes in traffic patterns. While many industry estimates place AI-generated website traffic at less than 1% of total traffic volume, 22% of survey respondents reported receiving more than 5% of website traffic from AI-driven discovery sources.

That figure may signal a broader shift in how prospects navigate the buying journey.

Another notable trend involves the growing influence of community-driven platforms. Respondents ranked community content and AI-optimized content strategies slightly ahead of traditional SEO tactics as drivers of AI discovery. This reflects how AI systems increasingly rely on trusted discussions, expert-generated content, and authoritative resources when generating recommendations.

For B2B marketers, this trend reinforces the importance of publishing high-value content across multiple channels rather than relying exclusively on traditional website optimization.

The research also points to an emerging governance challenge. Despite widespread adoption activity, fewer than 15% of organizations have appointed a dedicated GEO owner. In many companies, responsibilities remain distributed across SEO teams, content marketing functions, demand generation groups, and digital strategy leaders.

As investment grows, organizations may need to establish more formal ownership structures to coordinate AI visibility strategies, performance measurement, content development, and technology implementation.

The timing of the report is particularly relevant as major technology companies continue to accelerate AI integration across search and discovery experiences. Organizations such as Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and Salesforce are embedding generative AI capabilities into products that influence how business users research and evaluate solutions.

For marketing leaders, the report's central conclusion is difficult to ignore: GEO is rapidly becoming a measurable marketing discipline rather than an emerging trend. Organizations that continue to view AI search optimization as an experimental initiative may face increasing challenges as competitors strengthen their presence within AI-powered discovery environments.

As generative AI reshapes the search landscape, visibility is no longer determined solely by rankings. Increasingly, it depends on whether a brand becomes part of the answers buyers receive.

Market Landscape

The emergence of Generative Engine Optimization represents one of the most significant shifts in digital marketing since the rise of traditional SEO.

According to Gartner, AI technologies are becoming central to customer acquisition, content discovery, and digital experience strategies. IDC forecasts continued growth in enterprise AI spending as organizations seek competitive advantages in customer engagement and revenue generation.

The findings from GNW Consulting and Demand Metric suggest that GEO adoption is advancing faster than many previous marketing disciplines. While most emerging marketing categories require years to establish measurable value, organizations are already reporting ROI from AI-driven search visibility initiatives.

For B2B organizations, the challenge is increasingly shifting from understanding GEO to operationalizing it effectively. As AI-powered discovery platforms become more influential in vendor research and purchasing decisions, marketers will need strategies that combine SEO, content marketing, community engagement, brand authority, and AI optimization into a unified visibility framework

Top Insights

•  92% of surveyed B2B organizations are already experimenting with or operationalizing Generative Engine Optimization initiatives.
• Nearly four out of five companies investing in GEO report measurable ROI, signaling a shift from experimentation to execution.
• AI-driven traffic appears to be growing faster than commonly reported industry benchmarks, with 22% of respondents receiving more than 5% of traffic from AI sources.
• Community platforms and AI-optimized content are emerging as critical visibility drivers within generative search ecosystems.
• Most organizations still lack dedicated GEO ownership despite increasing investment and measurable business impact.

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Affiliate marketing is entering a new phase shaped by artificial intelligence, evolving search behavior, and changing consumer trust dynamics. According to a new industry report from 5W, brands that combine affiliate marketing with earned media relationships, influencer partnerships, and authoritative content placements are outperforming traditional performance-driven programs. The findings suggest that as AI-powered search experiences redefine online discovery, partner quality may become a more important growth driver than affiliate scale alone.

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Affiliate marketing has long been viewed as a performance channel built around commissions, conversions, and measurable return on investment. However, a new report from communications agency 5W argues that the future of affiliate success will depend less on transaction volume and more on credibility, authority, and trusted partnerships.

In its latest research report, The PR Advantage in Affiliate Marketing 2026, 5W examines how earned media relationships, editorial partnerships, and influencer collaborations are influencing affiliate performance across multiple industries. The report arrives at a pivotal moment for digital marketers as artificial intelligence transforms both content discovery and customer acquisition strategies.

According to the study, global affiliate marketing spending reached $20 billion in 2026, while U.S. affiliate investment climbed to $13.2 billion—nearly double the $6.8 billion recorded in 2019. Despite this growth, affiliate marketing remains underprioritized within many organizations. The report cites Forrester data showing that affiliate programs now contribute roughly 16% of all U.S. e-commerce sales, yet only 7% of marketing leaders identify affiliate marketing as a top budget priority.

That disconnect may become increasingly important as search ecosystems evolve.

The rise of AI-powered search experiences, including features introduced by companies such as Google and Microsoft, is changing how consumers discover products and brands online. Traditional organic search traffic is being influenced by AI-generated summaries, conversational interfaces, and recommendation-driven experiences that reduce direct clicks while increasing the importance of authoritative content sources.

The report argues that this environment strengthens the value of trusted publisher relationships and influencer-led affiliate strategies. Nearly 80% of affiliate marketers now use AI tools for content creation, SEO optimization, campaign management, or performance analysis. At the same time, marketers face increasing pressure to differentiate content and secure placements within high-authority publications that AI systems frequently reference.

This shift aligns closely with the emergence of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), a growing discipline focused on improving brand visibility within AI-generated answers and recommendation systems. Unlike traditional SEO, which emphasizes rankings and clicks, GEO prioritizes authoritative citations, trusted brand mentions, and content sources that AI platforms consider reliable.

One of the report's most notable findings is the growing convergence between influencer marketing and affiliate marketing. Brands that integrate both channels generate 46% more sales than those operating them independently, according to the research. Influencer-driven affiliate conversions also increased 37% year over year, reflecting changing consumer preferences for recommendations from trusted creators and niche experts.

The findings suggest that marketers may need to rethink affiliate recruitment strategies. Historically, affiliate programs have focused on maximizing partner volume through outreach campaigns and commission incentives. However, the report contends that high-value partners—including major editorial publishers, industry reviewers, and influential creators—are often inaccessible through purely transactional recruitment approaches.

Instead, brands increasingly need relationship-based engagement strategies that combine public relations, influencer relations, content marketing, and affiliate management into a unified growth framework.

The report also highlights a growing challenge within affiliate measurement. An analysis of 2,368 North American brands found that click volumes increased 2% year over year, while conversions declined 5% and conversion rates fell 6%. This trend points to shifting buyer behavior rather than declining channel effectiveness.

Many marketers continue to rely heavily on last-click attribution models, which often assign disproportionate value to coupon sites, cashback platforms, and lower-funnel affiliates. As a result, content publishers and awareness-driving partners may receive less credit despite influencing purchase decisions earlier in the customer journey.

The issue is becoming increasingly significant as customer journeys fragment across search engines, social platforms, creator ecosystems, and AI-powered discovery channels.

Fraud remains another major concern. The report estimates that click fraud, cookie stuffing, and fake lead generation schemes cost businesses more than $3.5 billion annually. Approximately 18% of affiliate traffic is flagged as invalid, underscoring the need for stronger verification systems and partner evaluation frameworks.

To address these challenges, 5W introduced a five-part partner quality framework focused on audience alignment, editorial authority, content quality, incrementality, and brand safety. The framework is designed to help marketers identify affiliates that generate sustainable growth rather than simply capturing demand that would have converted through other channels.

The report also establishes benchmark data across 12 industries, including Technology & SaaS, Financial Services, Beauty, Consumer Products, Gaming, Travel, and Healthcare. Technology and SaaS programs were found to offer some of the highest commission ranges, while financial services generated the largest flat-fee payouts per qualified lead.

For enterprise marketing teams, the broader takeaway is clear: affiliate marketing is evolving beyond performance metrics alone. As AI transforms content discovery and digital trust becomes a critical competitive factor, successful affiliate programs will increasingly depend on authoritative partnerships, quality content ecosystems, and integrated marketing strategies that blend PR, influencer engagement, SEO, and affiliate operations into a unified growth engine.

Market Landscape

Affiliate marketing is undergoing a structural transformation as AI changes how consumers discover, evaluate, and purchase products online.

According to Forrester, affiliate marketing now contributes approximately 16% of U.S. e-commerce revenue, making it one of the most significant performance marketing channels. Meanwhile, Gartner research continues to show growing investments in AI-driven marketing technologies, content automation, and customer acquisition platforms.

The emergence of Generative Engine Optimization is creating new opportunities for brands to gain visibility within AI-powered search experiences. As platforms increasingly prioritize authoritative sources, publishers, creators, and trusted editorial properties may play a larger role in influencing customer decisions than traditional traffic-generation tactics.

For enterprise marketers, affiliate marketing is becoming less about partner quantity and more about partner quality, trust signals, and long-term audience relationships

Top Insights

•  Global affiliate marketing spending reached $20 billion in 2026, while U.S. investment nearly doubled compared with 2019, highlighting continued channel expansion.
• Brands combining influencer marketing and affiliate programs generate 46% more sales, demonstrating the growing value of creator-driven commerce strategies.
• Nearly 80% of affiliate marketers now use AI tools for content creation, SEO optimization, and campaign analysis as discovery channels evolve.
• AI-powered search experiences are increasing the importance of authoritative publisher relationships and Generative Engine Optimization strategies.
• Affiliate fraud continues to challenge marketers, with invalid traffic and fraudulent activity estimated to cost businesses more than $3.5 billion annually.

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Sport Clips Haircuts has expanded its use of artificial intelligence in local marketing, deploying more than 3,400 AI-powered agents from SOCi across nearly 1,800 franchise locations. The rollout represents one of the largest implementations of agentic AI for multi-location marketing, allowing the men's and boys' haircare franchise to automate review management, local search optimization, and customer engagement tasks that were previously handled manually.

As artificial intelligence moves beyond content generation and workflow assistance into autonomous execution, franchise brands are increasingly exploring how AI agents can manage routine marketing operations at scale. Sport Clips Haircuts' latest deployment of SOCi's AI-powered agentic workforce highlights how enterprise brands are beginning to operationalize AI for localized customer engagement and digital visibility management.

The company announced that more than 3,400 SOCi Genius Agents are now actively supporting its network of nearly 1,800 locations. The AI agents are responsible for managing customer review responses, optimizing local search visibility, maintaining business information accuracy, and supporting local discovery efforts across digital channels.

For franchise organizations, local marketing has traditionally been one of the most difficult functions to scale. Individual locations must maintain accurate listings, monitor reviews, engage with customers, and optimize visibility across platforms such as Google Search, Google Maps, and AI-powered discovery experiences. These tasks often fall on local managers whose primary responsibility is running day-to-day business operations.

Sport Clips generates more than 7,000 customer reviews each month, creating a substantial operational challenge for franchise teams. The volume of interactions requires continuous monitoring and timely responses to maintain customer trust and local search performance.

SOCi's solution introduces a different approach. Rather than functioning as a recommendation engine or workflow assistant, the AI agents execute marketing tasks autonomously while remaining aligned with brand standards and operational requirements.

Each agent is trained on Sport Clips' brand voice, communication guidelines, and business policies. At the same time, the system is designed to account for location-specific characteristics, allowing responses to reflect regional customer preferences and local market nuances while maintaining consistency with the broader brand identity.

The deployment reflects a growing trend toward agentic AI systems within marketing technology. Unlike traditional automation platforms that rely on predefined workflows and static rules, agentic AI platforms can make contextual decisions, execute tasks independently, and continuously improve performance based on feedback and outcomes.

This shift arrives as local search itself undergoes significant transformation. The rise of AI-powered search experiences, conversational discovery tools, and location-based recommendation engines is changing how consumers find businesses online. Brands are increasingly required to maintain accurate, active, and responsive digital presences across multiple platforms simultaneously.

According to Gartner, organizations are accelerating investments in AI-driven automation as they seek to improve operational efficiency while reducing manual workloads. IDC has similarly projected continued growth in enterprise AI spending, particularly in customer engagement, marketing automation, and digital experience management.

For Sport Clips, the implementation is intended to reduce the burden on local operators. Instead of spending time monitoring digital channels and responding to reviews, franchise team leaders can focus on customer service, employee management, and operational performance within their locations.

Christina Clarke, Chief Marketing Officer at Sport Clips, emphasized that scalability has been one of the most significant advantages of the deployment. New locations can activate AI agents immediately without requiring additional staffing, training programs, or marketing resources.

The ability to replicate local marketing execution across hundreds or thousands of locations has become increasingly important for franchise organizations. Multi-location brands often struggle with maintaining consistency while preserving local relevance. Too much centralization can make customer interactions feel generic, while excessive localization can create brand inconsistency.

SOCi's agentic workforce aims to address that challenge by combining centralized governance with localized execution. The model enables corporate marketing teams to maintain oversight while allowing AI agents to adapt communications based on specific location contexts.

The announcement also highlights a broader evolution within the marketing technology sector. Enterprise marketing platforms are increasingly positioning AI not merely as a productivity tool but as a digital workforce capable of performing operational tasks independently. Similar trends are emerging across customer service, advertising optimization, sales enablement, and customer data management.

Major technology providers including Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Adobe have all expanded investments in autonomous AI capabilities as enterprises seek ways to automate increasingly complex business processes.

For marketers, the implications extend beyond efficiency gains. As AI-driven discovery channels become more influential in consumer decision-making, maintaining consistent local visibility and engagement may become a competitive necessity rather than a marketing advantage.

Sport Clips' deployment offers a glimpse into how agentic AI could reshape franchise marketing operations. Rather than adding incremental automation tools to existing workflows, organizations are beginning to replace manual execution entirely with AI-powered systems capable of managing customer interactions, optimizing local presence, and supporting business growth at scale.

Market Landscape

The deployment of more than 3,400 AI agents by Sport Clips reflects a broader shift toward agentic AI within enterprise marketing technology.

According to Gartner, AI adoption is increasingly moving from experimentation toward operational deployment, with businesses prioritizing automation that directly improves efficiency and customer engagement. IDC forecasts continued growth in AI-related software spending as organizations seek scalable solutions for customer experience management and marketing operations.

The franchise sector is particularly well-positioned for agentic AI adoption because brands must coordinate marketing execution across hundreds or thousands of independent locations. As search engines evolve into AI-powered discovery platforms, local visibility, review management, and business information accuracy are becoming critical competitive factors.

For enterprise marketers, the emergence of AI agents represents the next phase of marketing automation—one where autonomous systems execute tasks, learn from outcomes, and continuously optimize performance without requiring constant human intervention

Top Insights

•  Sport Clips deployed more than 3,400 SOCi AI agents to automate local marketing activities across nearly 1,800 franchise locations nationwide.
• The AI agents manage review responses, local search optimization, and digital engagement, reducing operational workloads for local franchise teams.
• Agentic AI differs from traditional marketing automation by autonomously executing tasks and adapting performance over time.
• The deployment supports more than 7,000 monthly customer reviews, helping maintain responsiveness and local search visibility at scale.
• Multi-location brands are increasingly adopting AI-powered digital workforces to improve efficiency, consistency, and local customer engagement.

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