PebblePost, known for pioneering Programmatic Direct Mail, is stepping into the connected TV spotlight—literally. Today, the company launched Performance CTV, a major platform expansion that brings its outcome-obsessed performance marketing philosophy to the booming $33 billion CTV landscape.

For a sector often stuck in awareness mode, this could be a game-changer. Rather than chasing impressions or relying on click-through proxies, PebblePost’s new CTV product zeroes in on incremental revenue and verified ROAS—the metrics that actually move the needle for marketers.

"CTV has traditionally been viewed as a top-of-funnel awareness tool, but marketers today need more than eyeballs—they need results,” said Jacob Ross, CEO of PebblePost. “This is performance marketing, redefined for the TV screen.”

From the Mailbox to the Living Room

Backed by over a decade of innovation in Programmatic Direct Mail, PebblePost’s Performance Marketing Engine is now powering screen-based campaigns for major retail, travel, financial services, and commerce brands. But instead of relying on flimsy digital signals, PebblePost is leaning on $100B+ in verified transactions and high-intent CRM data sourced from hundreds of top brands.

The PebblePost Difference: Real People, Real Results

While many CTV solutions still chase vanity metrics, PebblePost is building its product on three differentiators:

• Scalable Identity Resolution: With an 80% match rate across U.S. streaming households, PebblePost maps online and offline signals to real people—not anonymous cookies—enabling precise targeting and attribution.

• Granular Targeting with Verified Purchase Data: No guesswork here. Audiences are created using real transaction data—not proxies like clicks or interests—and updated daily with real-time intent signals. AI-driven models continually re-score households to stay in step with shifting consumer behavior.

• True Incrementality Measurement: Every campaign includes a holdout group, enabling marketers to isolate actual lift. PebblePost also integrates with leading measurement providers to deliver third-party validation and complete transparency.

Proven Performance in the Wild

If you're wondering whether all this adds up to impact, ask Blue Nile. After success with PebblePost’s direct mail programs, the company tested Performance CTV and found it delivered the highest incremental ROAS of any channel in a head-to-head internal test.

“We’re excited to continue leveraging PebblePost's innovative approach to connect with our audience in impactful ways,” said Megan Sturdivant, Senior Director of Marketing at Blue Nile.

Rethinking CTV as a Performance Channel

CTV’s meteoric rise has been marred by fragmentation and identity challenges, often leaving marketers with high reach but unclear returns. PebblePost’s entry comes at a pivotal moment—offering a solution that treats CTV not as a digital billboard, but as a performance-driven channel where every impression is measured against business outcomes.

In doing so, PebblePost is not just expanding into streaming—it’s aiming to reframe how CTV is used altogether.

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Attain, a leader in permissioned commerce data, is giving marketers a serious upgrade with its relaunch of OutcomeHQ—a unified platform that turns $700 billion in verified consumer spend into real-time, actionable insight. No more guesswork. No more post-campaign regrets. With OutcomeHQ, brands can plan smarter, activate faster, and optimize campaigns while they’re still in flight.

Once known mostly for outcomes measurement, Attain has expanded its mission. OutcomeHQ now combines audience building, performance optimization, retail intelligence, and sales lift measurement into a single, intuitive interface. Think of it as an operating system for outcome-driven media.

"OutcomeHQ isn't just about data—it's about what marketers can do with it," said Brian Mandelbaum, CEO of Attain. “We’re moving from retrospective analytics to real-time decisioning. That changes everything.”

A Platform Built for Today’s Marketer

The revamped OutcomeHQ delivers three standout features:

• Premium Insights: Real-time, always-on purchase intelligence across Amazon, Walmart, Target, and thousands of other retailers—no longer gated behind custom reports or third-party vendors.

• One Click Audiences: Turn any insight into a targetable audience with a single click. With integrations across Meta, TikTok, The Trade Desk, and 20+ others, activation is immediate and platform-agnostic.

• AI-Powered Planning: Ask OutcomeHQ to build audience strategies using natural language prompts or PDFs. Whether it's “tech dads who buy Starbucks weekly” or custom behavioral cohorts, the system returns verified insights and recommended plans—fast.

Real Purchases, Not Proxy Signals

Most platforms still rely on digital intent signals or modeled data to inform strategy. Attain plays a different game. Its edge comes from actual, verified purchases made by 10 million+ permissioned consumers, representing over $700 billion in annual spend.

And it’s not just raw volume—it’s what the data reveals: recency, frequency, brand-switching behavior, psychographics, and more. That depth gives marketers what they’ve always wanted: the ability to understand who their customers are, what they’re buying, and why.

Michael Treon, Head of CTV & Video Strategy at PMG, praised the platform’s ability to turn complex datasets into clear, immediate value:

“The speed and accuracy of insights—especially around switching behavior and recency—are a big leap forward. OutcomeHQ gives us an end-to-end view that’s both actionable and precise.”

A New Operating Model for Media

OutcomeHQ’s power lies not just in its data, but in its integration across teams. Planning, analytics, activation, and measurement can now work in sync from one system—with shared visibility and aligned goals. No more fragmented workflows or delayed performance reads.

It also removes the dependency on external measurement vendors, which often add latency and cost. Brands now have direct, immediate access to data that ties media investment to actual sales—as they happen.

Bigger Picture: Reshaping the Data Economy

Attain’s broader strategy with OutcomeHQ goes beyond platform functionality. It’s about building a more equitable, permissioned data-sharing ecosystem, one that puts power back in the hands of marketers and consumers—rather than opaque intermediaries.

In a privacy-centric future where third-party cookies and modeled guesswork are fading fast, platforms like OutcomeHQ could define the new standard: real signals, real shoppers, real results.

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SearchStax is putting the power of generative AI directly into the hands of brands and institutions with the launch of Smart Answers, a new feature designed to transform how people interact with onsite search. Announced today, Smart Answers delivers instant, natural language summaries directly atop search results—giving users exactly what they’re looking for, faster and without the fluff.

Think Google’s AI Overviews, but built specifically for your website’s own content. That’s the experience SearchStax is aiming to deliver.

“Today’s search users expect answers, not just links,” said Sameer Maggon, Founder and CEO of SearchStax. “With Smart Answers, we’re closing the gap between modern expectations and the typical, outdated onsite search experience.”

From Keyword Chaos to Conversational Clarity

Traditional site search often leaves visitors navigating through multiple links to piece together answers. Smart Answers changes that by letting users type full, natural language questions into the search bar—and receive direct, AI-generated answers pulled from the organization’s trusted, indexed content. Each summary is cited, contextual, and built to respond to the kind of queries users are increasingly comfortable asking: long-form, nuanced, and conversational.

The feature arrives at a pivotal time: AI-native search behavior is becoming the norm. Gone are the days of typing cryptic keyword strings like “economics or finance -remote -virtual.” Today’s users ask full questions like, “What can I do with a finance degree?”—and they expect smart, precise answers in return.

Easy for Users, Effortless for Teams

Despite the complexity under the hood, Smart Answers is refreshingly straightforward to implement. Marketing and web teams get a developer-ready widget with customizable UI that can be deployed without heavy coding or infrastructure changes. It’s plug-and-play AI with enterprise-grade accuracy.

Smart Answers intelligently determines when a generative response is needed, scans the content indexed in SearchStax Site Search, and delivers a clean, digestible summary at the top of the results page. It’s built to enhance engagement, reduce bounce rates, and help users find what they need—faster.

Built for the Modern Web Experience

Key benefits of Smart Answers include:

• AI-Summarized Responses: Instant answers synthesized from your content

• Trusted, Source-Cited Summaries: Built on your indexed data

• Natural Language Support: Encourages question-based search behavior

• Increased Engagement: Higher satisfaction from intuitive, modern UX

• Low-Lift Implementation: Deployable without major site changes

The announcement also strengthens SearchStax’s partnership with Acquia, with Smart Answers integrated into Acquia Search. “It’s a powerful step forward,” said Leslie Persaud, VP of Product Management at Acquia. “Our customers can now deliver smarter, faster search experiences that align with how people expect to find information.”

The Bottom Line

In an AI-first world, traditional onsite search just doesn’t cut it. With Smart Answers, SearchStax is giving websites the tools to match the intelligence and speed of today’s leading search engines, but with the added benefit of full content control and brand alignment.

Whether your audience is students, patients, members, or consumers—Smart Answers helps them ask real questions and get real answers, without wading through a sea of irrelevant links.

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Deloitte is giving its global audit and assurance platform, Omnia, a significant AI-powered upgrade. In a move that reflects the evolving demands of audit complexity and client transformation, the firm announced the rollout of new Generative AI capabilities and a future roadmap that includes intelligent AI agents—all designed to reimagine how modern audits are conducted.

It’s a major step toward transforming audits from document-heavy retrospectives into proactive, AI-augmented processes that help auditors move faster, deeper, and smarter.

"With the rapid advancement of AI technology, the audit profession is undergoing an exciting transformation," said Dipti Gulati, CEO of U.S. Audit & Assurance at Deloitte. "These new capabilities enhance agility without compromising our focus on trust and quality."

GenAI in the Audit Trenches

The new suite of capabilities builds upon Omnia’s foundation to target real auditor pain points with GenAI-powered solutions:

• Documentation Review: GenAI scans audit files and recommends improvements in clarity and consistency.

• Financial Statement Navigation: Auditors can query draft financials in natural language to streamline tie-outs.

• Data Summarization: Pull insights from volumes of audit documents in a fraction of the time.

• First-Draft Automation: Accounting memos and audit communications are generated using intelligent prompts.

• Smarter Research: GenAI-powered tools surface guidance on complex accounting topics and improve turnaround.

• Proactive Risk Management: External data sources are scanned to flag emerging risk events in real time.

These capabilities are more than bells and whistles—they represent a practical overhaul of traditional processes, giving audit teams new speed, flexibility, and accuracy under pressure.

"These tools are not replacing auditors—they’re empowering them," said Chris Griffin, Deloitte’s Audit & Assurance talent and transformation leader. “By merging experience with automation, we’re helping professionals meet higher expectations with sharper tools.”

Next: AI Agents as Audit Assistants

Looking ahead, Deloitte is embedding agentic AI into Omnia—digital specialists that can execute tasks, remember information, and collaborate with other agents. Think of them as autonomous coworkers who don’t sleep.

These AI agents will assist with:

• Cross-source data collection

• Anomaly detection in complex data

• Audit project orchestration and workflow management

It’s an evolution toward what Will Bible, Deloitte’s U.S. leader for audit innovation, describes as an interconnected ecosystem—a “network of adaptive, cross-functional AI tools” that complements, not replaces, human judgment.

Built with Trust in Mind

All of this AI horsepower is built under Deloitte’s Trustworthy AI™ framework—ensuring responsible development, governance, and compliance. In an industry built on assurance, this framework adds an essential guardrail against GenAI’s known risks, such as hallucinations or model drift.

“We're not just bolting AI onto legacy workflows,” said Bible. “We’re reshaping what auditors can do with a platform designed for modern complexity.”

A Decade of Investment, Millions of Prompts

Omnia has evolved since its 2015 launch into Deloitte’s core audit engine—serving 85,000 professionals globally. The firm’s GenAI chatbot has logged over three million prompts in its first year, and more than 120,000 professionals have been trained via the Deloitte AI Academy™. Meanwhile, Deloitte is actively deploying agentic AI not just for clients—but internally across its own operations.

It’s this blend of infrastructure, investment, and upskilling that positions Deloitte ahead of the curve in modern audit automation.

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Zendesk just made a bold move to solidify its leadership in AI-driven customer service. The company announced the acquisition of HyperArc, an AI-native analytics startup known for its cutting-edge HyperGraph engine and real-time GenAI-powered insights. The deal positions Zendesk to reimagine its analytics offering—one that goes beyond dashboards and dives into predictive, contextual intelligence.

From Explore to Next-Gen Analytics

At the heart of this acquisition is Zendesk’s intent to move past its existing analytics product, Explore, by building a unified, GenAI-native analytics platform. That means more than just prettier charts. Think: instant insights from massive service datasets, self-serve intelligence, and predictive recommendations powered by generative AI.

“GenAI is transforming analytics,” said Shashi Upadhyay, President of Product, Engineering, and AI at Zendesk. “With HyperArc’s HyperGraph tech, we’ll unlock faster, deeper, and more accessible insights—letting customer service teams make smarter decisions without waiting on analysts.”

What HyperArc Brings to the Table

Founded by former Salesforce and Google engineers, HyperArc has carved out a niche in AI-first analytics. Its HyperGraph engine models data contextually and continuously learns from user interactions—essentially mimicking how your best analyst would draw conclusions, only at machine speed.

The system doesn’t just surface metrics; it interprets patterns, recommends actions, and adapts to new data in real-time. With HyperArc now part of Zendesk, that kind of functionality is coming to customer service teams across industries—without the steep learning curve of traditional BI tools.

“Our mission has been to turn AI into a true analytical partner,” said Zuye Zheng, CTO and Co-Founder of HyperArc. “Joining Zendesk means scaling that mission to hundreds of thousands of businesses, helping them unlock a new era of customer intelligence.”

Industry Impact: Analytics That’s Actually Useful

This isn't just about adding bells and whistles to Zendesk's data suite. It's about setting a new industry benchmark for AI usability in analytics. While other platforms dabble in GenAI integrations, Zendesk now has the infrastructure—and team—to go full throttle.

HyperArc’s team, including co-founders Tristan and Zuye, will join Zendesk and continue developing the tech, indicating this isn’t an acquihire—it’s a platform play.

By integrating HyperArc’s capabilities, Zendesk is aiming for:

• Faster time-to-insight through GenAI-driven exploration

• Democratized data access—any support agent or team lead can ask natural-language questions

• Real-time decision support based on live service data

• Scalability for enterprise environments without requiring a data science team

What’s Next for Zendesk Customers?

Expect a gradual rollout: enhancements will begin appearing soon in Explore, with a roadmap toward a full next-gen analytics platform. The goal is to make GenAI-driven intelligence accessible out of the box—no training, no tinkering, just faster answers and better decisions.

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Sitecore, a leader in digital experience platforms, is doubling down on its agentic AI ambitions with a new strategic partnership with Gradial, an AI-native marketing orchestration company. Announced today, the collaboration promises to automate the execution layer of digital campaigns—turning marketing briefs into live, personalized campaigns with minimal human handoffs and zero technical bottlenecks.

This isn’t just another AI integration; it's an infrastructure-level shift aimed at marketers who are drowning in fragmented tools, redundant workflows, and sluggish turnaround times.

A New Era: AI That Doesn’t Just Suggest—It Acts

While most marketing platforms sprinkle AI into dashboards for predictions or personalization, Sitecore and Gradial are pushing into agentic AI territory: systems that can take action on behalf of the user. Their joint vision is to eliminate the operational drag by embedding intelligent automation directly into the campaign delivery layer.

“Their AI-powered orchestration capabilities enhance Sitecore’s composable DXP by automating the execution layer marketers need most,” said Eric Stine, CEO of Sitecore. “This means smarter campaigns, delivered faster—and anchored in creativity and brand purpose.”

Gradial’s orchestration engine acts like an always-on execution partner, integrating directly with Sitecore’s digital experience stack to automate the messy middle of marketing: turning briefs into deployment-ready campaigns without the tickets, delays, or tool-switching that usually come with the territory.

From Strategy to Execution, Minus the Chaos

Let’s face it: today’s marketing tech stack is a patchwork. Even with cloud-based content hubs and composable platforms, the final step—getting campaigns launched—is often the slowest. Gradial views this as a systems problem, not a staffing one.

“We see content ops as a systems challenge—complex, dynamic, and in need of intelligent automation,” said Doug Tallmadge, CEO of Gradial. “By partnering with Sitecore, we’re enabling marketing execution that’s scalable, precise, and deeply human.”

This partnership promises to offload the repetitive labor while preserving strategic oversight, allowing marketers to lead with insight, not infrastructure.

Strengthening the Bench for AI-Driven Growth

To support this next phase of evolution, Sitecore is also announcing new leadership hires, each with deep AI and cloud transformation credentials:

• Michael Bannon, former CFO, steps up as President and Chief Administrative Officer, overseeing strategy, finance, legal, and enterprise tech.

• Michelle Boockoff-Bajdek joins as Chief Marketing Officer, bringing AI credibility from her time as CMO of IBM Watson and IDC. Expect big moves around purpose-led growth and GenAI integration.

• Dave Tilbury, formerly of Capgemini, becomes Chief Operating Officer, taking charge of customer-facing functions including sales, customer value, and revenue ops.

Together, they’ll lead the charge in turning Sitecore into the go-to platform for AI-powered, marketer-first digital experience delivery.

Looking Ahead: AI as a Creative Partner

The Sitecore–Gradial partnership is a clear signal that AI in marketing is moving beyond insight and into execution. And as more enterprise marketing teams aim to do more with less—without sacrificing personalization—agentic AI could become the secret weapon that allows brands to scale smart, not just fast.

The new AI-powered features and roadmap will be showcased at Sitecore Symposium this November in Orlando, where the company will share how its customers are using automation to redefine speed, creativity, and ROI.

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imagine.io, the all-in-one platform for 3D product visualization, just got a serious post-production upgrade. In a move that eliminates the need for external tools like Photoshop, the company has rolled out built-in image editing capabilities, allowing users to tweak brightness, contrast, saturation, and more—right within the platform.

For e-commerce teams, marketers, and 3D creators tired of juggling between rendering software and post-processing tools, this update brings the visual workflow full circle.

No More App Switching: Edit Renders Right Where You Create Them

The new editing tools are tightly integrated into imagine.io’s rendering interface, allowing for non-destructive, precision editing. Users can toggle between original and adjusted versions, with changes that persist across sessions. No clunky exports. No lossy file conversions. Just end-to-end control, all in one place.

“Post rendering is a critical step in the content creation journey,” said Preet Singh, CEO & Founder of imagine.io. “These new editing capabilities empower users to achieve studio-quality results in seconds—all without leaving the imagine.io ecosystem.”

Feature Highlights That Matter

• Non-Destructive Editing: Flip between original and edited states with a single click—edit fearlessly.

• Precision Controls: Adjust brightness, contrast, sharpness, hue, saturation, and more using responsive, real-time sliders.

• Persistent Edit States: Your changes stay saved across sessions with intuitive save/reset controls to simplify iteration.

• Optimized Accessibility: Enhanced keyboard support and performance improvements deliver a snappy, inclusive UX.

For brands that work with large libraries of 3D assets—or frequently adjust visuals to meet platform-specific guidelines—this feature is more than a convenience. It’s a productivity booster.

Why It Matters for Visual Storytelling

imagine.io’s new editing tools cater to a fast-growing demand in e-commerce and digital marketing: agile content creation. Brands need to produce high-quality visuals faster, across more platforms, with fewer handoffs. By keeping the entire rendering and editing pipeline under one roof, imagine.io gives users the power to scale content without scaling complexity.

This launch also marks a deeper play into the visual storytelling space, where speed, quality, and accessibility are now must-haves—not luxuries.

Available Now to All Users

The new post-production editing suite is live and available immediately for all imagine.io users. It reflects the company’s commitment to simplifying 3D content creation without compromising quality, and helping modern brands build better visuals—faster.

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Brand Networks (BN), the Augeo-owned digital advertising innovator, is making paid media radically easier—and more accessible—for small and mid-sized businesses. Today, the company introduced Aimy, an AI-powered advertising assistant that helps users plan, launch, optimize, and analyze ad campaigns across Google, Meta, X (formerly Twitter), and soon LinkedIn and TikTok, all with minimal input and zero media-buying experience required.

Billed as the first solution of its kind, Aimy is now available for early access.

Advertising Without the Complexity

For most SMBs, digital advertising often feels like a high-stakes maze: multiple platforms, shifting algorithms, confusing metrics, and tools that seem built for agencies—not local teams. Aimy flips the script by offering a goal-based, AI-guided experience that handles everything from targeting and creative suggestions to real-time performance tuning.

“Aimy isn’t here to replace creativity—it’s here to remove barriers,” said Mike Garsin, CEO of Brand Networks. “We’re giving lean teams access to media tools that used to be reserved for big budgets and expert operators.”

Key Features of Aimy

• AI-driven campaign planning based on business goals

• Automated creative suggestions with live previews

• Cross-channel media buying (Google, Meta, X, with LinkedIn and TikTok next)

• Real-time pacing alerts and continuous optimization

• Custom reporting dashboards tailored to campaign objectives

• Insights backed by 15+ years of BN’s media buying data and benchmarks

It’s not just for SMBs either—Aimy is scalable, designed to support agencies, enterprise platforms, and large brands managing multiple local campaigns.

A Legacy of Innovation, Extended to the Long Tail

This isn’t BN’s first rodeo. The company has been pushing the limits of ad tech since 2007—pioneering automated cross-channel optimization, developing ad products for X (like media polls and conversation cards), and launching hyperlocal targeting solutions for programmatic and social.

With Aimy, BN is extending its capabilities to a previously underserved audience: businesses without media teams, but with serious ambitions.

Mobile-First, Performance-Forward

Aimy is also optimized for life on the move. Users can launch and manage campaigns from desktop or mobile, get real-time alerts, and make changes on the fly—ideal for small business owners who don’t have time to sit in dashboards all day.

As AI continues to reshape digital marketing, Aimy represents a refreshing take: less hype, more help. It’s not trying to do everything—it’s trying to do the things that matter, and do them well.

Available now in early access, Aimy might just be the assistant that levels the media playing field—giving every business, no matter its size, a shot at running smart, high-performing campaigns without the usual overhead.

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