Wayward has launched Wayward Boost™, a new platform designed to transform partnership media—long considered effective but difficult to scale—into a measurable, performance-driven advertising channel. The move reflects a broader shift in digital marketing toward creator-led, trust-based media amplified through paid distribution.

Wayward’s introduction of Wayward Boost signals an attempt to formalize what has historically been an informal and fragmented segment of digital advertising. Partnership media—ads built around influencers, publishers, and third-party endorsements—has consistently delivered strong engagement, yet remains underutilized due to operational complexity and lack of infrastructure.

Wayward Boost aims to change that by providing a unified platform where brands can discover partners, create co-branded content, and deploy campaigns across paid media channels. In effect, the company is positioning partnership media as a repeatable, scalable alternative to traditional performance marketing.

At its core, the platform functions as an end-to-end partnership media infrastructure. It integrates partner discovery, content production, creative generation, and campaign distribution into a single workflow. This contrasts with the current landscape, where influencer marketing, affiliate programs, and publisher partnerships often operate in silos.

The platform’s differentiation lies in its ability to convert partner-generated content into performance advertising. Using AI-powered creative tools, Wayward Boost enables brands to transform influencer posts or editorial mentions into co-branded ad units that can be distributed across the open web, retail media networks, and owned digital properties.

This approach aligns with a key industry insight: consumers tend to trust recommendations from creators and publishers more than direct brand messaging. By layering paid distribution on top of that trust, Wayward is effectively merging influencer marketing with programmatic advertising principles.

Ali Marino, co-founder and CEO of Wayward, framed the launch as an infrastructure play rather than a feature update. The challenge, he noted, has never been proving the effectiveness of partnership media—it has been scaling it with the same precision and efficiency as other paid channels.

That distinction matters in an industry increasingly dominated by large ecosystems such as Google, Amazon, and Meta. These platforms have set expectations for measurement, targeting, and automation, forcing newer channels to match their performance standards.

Wayward Boost attempts to meet those expectations through its targeting layer, Wayward Boost Intelligence™, which applies audience segmentation and optimization techniques to partnership campaigns. This effectively brings data-driven decision-making into a space that has traditionally relied on manual coordination and qualitative assessment.

The platform also reflects the growing influence of retail media networks. By enabling campaigns that direct traffic to marketplaces such as Amazon and Walmart, Wayward is tapping into a fast-expanding segment of digital advertising where purchase intent is high and attribution is more direct.

From a market perspective, the timing is notable. According to Statista, global influencer marketing spend is expected to exceed $30 billion in the coming years, while Gartner reports that marketers are increasingly reallocating budgets toward channels that combine authenticity with measurable ROI.

Despite this growth, fragmentation remains a core challenge. Brands often manage influencer campaigns, affiliate programs, and publisher partnerships through separate tools and teams. This creates inefficiencies and limits the ability to scale campaigns across multiple collaborators.

Wayward Boost’s unified approach could address this gap, particularly for enterprise marketing teams seeking to consolidate their martech stacks. By bringing partnership workflows into a single platform, the company is effectively positioning itself alongside established marketing automation and adtech solutions.

The broader implication is the emergence of what Wayward calls “Partnership Media” as a distinct category. Rather than treating influencer marketing and affiliate programs as standalone tactics, the model integrates them into a performance marketing framework that emphasizes scalability, measurement, and cross-channel activation.

For brands, this could change how budgets are allocated. If partnership media can deliver consistent performance at scale, it may begin to compete more directly with search, social, and display advertising for spend.

For creators and publishers, the model introduces new monetization opportunities. By connecting their content to paid media budgets, Wayward Boost enables them to participate more directly in performance-driven campaigns, rather than relying solely on fixed sponsorship deals.

Still, questions remain around adoption. Success will depend on how effectively Wayward can integrate with existing adtech ecosystems and demonstrate consistent ROI across different industries. The platform’s patent-pending status also suggests that differentiation will be a key factor as competitors move into the space.

What is clear is that the line between organic and paid media continues to blur. As the creator economy matures, platforms that can bridge authenticity and scale are likely to play a larger role in the future of digital advertising.

Market Landscape

The rise of partnership media reflects a broader transformation in advertising, where trust and authenticity are becoming as important as reach and frequency. Influencer marketing, affiliate programs, and publisher collaborations are converging into unified strategies that prioritize performance and accountability.

At the same time, the dominance of walled gardens is pushing brands to explore alternatives across the open internet. Platforms that can offer scalable, data-driven solutions outside of these ecosystems are gaining attention, particularly as marketers seek diversification and greater control over their media investments.

Top Insights

• Wayward Boost introduces a unified infrastructure that transforms influencer and publisher collaborations into scalable, performance-driven advertising campaigns across paid and owned media channels.
• The platform leverages AI-powered creative and audience targeting to bring measurement, automation, and efficiency to historically fragmented partnership marketing workflows.
• Integration with retail media ecosystems like Amazon positions partnership media as a high-intent performance channel capable of driving measurable conversions.
• The launch reflects growing demand for alternatives to walled gardens, as brands seek scalable advertising solutions across the open internet.
• By merging authenticity with paid distribution, Wayward is defining “Partnership Media” as a new category within the evolving adtech and martech landscape.

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At Interpack 2026, Rockwell Automation Inc. is presenting a fully virtualized manufacturing line that illustrates how digital twin technology is reshaping industrial operations. The demonstration highlights how food and beverage manufacturers can design, simulate, and optimize entire production systems before physical deployment.

At a time when manufacturers are under pressure to increase efficiency while reducing operational risk, Rockwell Automation is using Interpack 2026 to make a case for digital-first production design. The company’s showcase centers on a virtual cookie production and packaging line—a detailed simulation that mirrors real-world industrial environments from raw material processing to final palletizing.

The concept is straightforward but powerful: a digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical system that allows manufacturers to test, validate, and optimize operations in a simulated environment. In Rockwell’s implementation, the entire production lifecycle—mixing, baking, cooling, packaging, and logistics—is modeled as a unified, data-connected system.

This approach addresses a long-standing challenge in manufacturing. Processing and packaging have traditionally been engineered as separate systems, often leading to inefficiencies, integration issues, and delayed time-to-market. By contrast, a digitally connected environment enables these functions to be designed as a single operation from the outset.

The demonstration is powered by Emulate3D, Rockwell’s digital twin platform, combined with hardware innovations such as iTRAK intelligent track system. Together, these technologies simulate real machines and production assets, allowing engineers to evaluate system performance under various conditions before installation.

In practical terms, virtualization changes how manufacturing projects are executed. Engineering teams can work in parallel rather than sequentially, validating mechanical, electrical, and automation designs simultaneously. This reduces costly rework, shortens commissioning timelines, and improves collaboration between engineering, operations, and maintenance teams.

The system also reflects a broader shift toward open, scalable architectures. Rockwell’s virtual production line integrates equipment from multiple OEMs—including processing, packaging, and palletizing providers—into a single digital environment. This multi-vendor approach mirrors real factory conditions, where interoperability is often a critical barrier to efficiency.

At the core of this integration is a unified data layer. Platforms like FactoryTalk Optix act as a central source of truth, enabling data from different machines and systems to be standardized and shared. This data foundation supports not only simulation but also real-time monitoring, quality control, and traceability.

Cybersecurity is another critical component. As manufacturing systems become more connected, the attack surface expands. Rockwell addresses this with solutions such as SecureOT platform, which embeds layered protections into the operational technology stack.

The implications extend beyond engineering efficiency. A connected, data-enabled production line creates the conditions for advanced analytics and AI applications. Once systems are unified, manufacturers can apply machine learning models to optimize throughput, predict maintenance needs, and improve product quality.

This convergence of digital twins, data platforms, and AI is part of a larger industrial transformation. Companies like Microsoft and Amazon have already demonstrated how cloud-based architectures can scale data-driven operations. In manufacturing, similar principles are now being applied to physical production environments.

According to Gartner, digital twins are expected to become a foundational element of industrial operations, with a growing percentage of large manufacturers adopting the technology to improve asset performance and operational resilience. Meanwhile, IDC estimates that investments in digital transformation technologies—including simulation and AI—will continue to grow at double-digit rates across industrial sectors.

For enterprise manufacturers, the value proposition is increasingly clear. Digital twins reduce risk by allowing systems to be tested before deployment. They accelerate time to value by shortening development cycles. And they enable continuous optimization by providing a real-time feedback loop between physical and digital environments.

Still, adoption is not without challenges. Building accurate digital twins requires high-quality data, standardized interfaces, and collaboration across multiple stakeholders. Many organizations also need to modernize legacy systems to fully integrate with digital platforms.

Rockwell’s demonstration at Interpack suggests that these barriers are gradually being addressed. By combining simulation, data architecture, and partner ecosystems into a cohesive offering, the company is positioning digital twins not as a niche tool, but as a central component of modern manufacturing strategy.

As the industry moves toward more connected and intelligent operations, the ability to design and optimize production systems in a virtual environment may soon become a baseline requirement rather than a competitive advantage.

Market Landscape

Digital twin technology is rapidly gaining traction across industrial sectors, particularly in food and beverage manufacturing where efficiency, traceability, and compliance are critical. Vendors are increasingly integrating simulation tools with data platforms and AI capabilities, creating unified environments that support the entire production lifecycle.

This trend aligns with the broader shift toward Industry 4.0, where physical operations are augmented by digital intelligence. As manufacturers adopt cloud, IoT, and advanced analytics, digital twins are emerging as the bridge between design, execution, and optimization.

Top Insights

• Rockwell Automation’s virtual production line demonstrates how digital twins can unify processing and packaging, enabling manufacturers to design, simulate, and optimize entire operations before deployment.
• The use of Emulate3D and iTRAK systems highlights how simulation and smart hardware integration can reduce engineering risk and accelerate commissioning timelines in complex manufacturing environments.
• Open, scalable data architectures powered by platforms like FactoryTalk Optix enable seamless integration of multi-vendor systems, improving interoperability and operational visibility.
• Embedded cybersecurity through SecureOT reflects the growing importance of protecting connected industrial systems as data-driven manufacturing expands.
• Digital twins are becoming central to Industry 4.0 strategies, enabling AI-driven optimization, predictive maintenance, and real-time performance monitoring across production lines.

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Boardwalk Pipelines has completed its acquisition of Spire Marketing, signaling a strategic expansion into integrated natural gas marketing and trading. The newly rebranded entity, Boardwalk Continuum Marketing, reflects a broader industry shift toward end-to-end energy platforms that combine infrastructure with commercial intelligence.

Boardwalk Pipelines LP has finalized its acquisition of Spire Marketing Inc., a move that underscores how energy companies are consolidating infrastructure and commercial capabilities to compete in increasingly complex gas markets. The acquired business will now operate as Boardwalk Continuum Marketing LLC.

The deal brings together pipeline transportation, storage assets, and gas marketing operations under a unified platform. In practical terms, the company is positioning itself to offer bundled energy solutions—combining supply, logistics, and trading services for customers across the natural gas value chain.

At its core, Boardwalk Continuum Marketing functions as a gas marketing and trading business. It purchases natural gas from producers and delivers it to a wide range of end users, including utilities, industrial buyers, and retail energy providers. By integrating these capabilities with its existing pipeline and storage network, Boardwalk is aiming to create a more responsive, data-driven supply model.

The timing reflects broader shifts in energy demand. Growth in LNG exports and gas-fired power generation is reshaping North American gas flows, increasing the need for flexible supply and transportation solutions. Companies that can connect upstream production with downstream demand—while optimizing pricing and logistics—are gaining strategic advantage.

CEO Scott Hallam framed the acquisition as part of a longer-term transition. The company, he noted, is moving beyond asset ownership toward solution delivery. That distinction is becoming more relevant as energy markets grow more volatile and interconnected, requiring real-time decision-making across supply chains.

This is where marketing and trading capabilities play a larger role. Historically, pipeline operators focused on capacity and throughput. Today, the ability to manage contracts, forecast demand, and optimize flows using advanced analytics is just as critical. While not branded as a technology platform in the traditional SaaS sense, integrated energy marketing operations increasingly rely on digital systems that resemble enterprise data platforms—processing large volumes of market, pricing, and operational data.

Leadership continuity appears to be a priority. Pat Strange, who previously led Spire Marketing, will continue as president of the new entity. That decision suggests an effort to retain institutional knowledge and maintain customer relationships during the transition.

From a competitive standpoint, the move aligns with a wider industry trend. Energy companies are building vertically integrated platforms that combine physical assets with commercial and analytical capabilities. This mirrors transformations seen in adjacent sectors, where companies like Amazon and Microsoft have integrated infrastructure with data-driven services to create scalable ecosystems.

For enterprise customers, particularly large industrials and utilities, the value proposition is straightforward. A single provider capable of handling supply procurement, transportation logistics, and storage can reduce operational complexity and improve cost predictability. In markets where pricing can shift rapidly, access to integrated services also enables faster response times.

The rebranding to “Continuum” is more than symbolic. It reflects the continuous flow of natural gas across supply, transportation, storage, and demand nodes. More importantly, it signals a shift toward continuous optimization—where data, analytics, and trading decisions are tightly linked.

Industry data supports the strategic direction. According to International Energy Agency, global natural gas demand is expected to grow steadily through the decade, driven by power generation and industrial use. Meanwhile, McKinsey & Company notes that energy companies investing in integrated value chains and digital capabilities are better positioned to manage volatility and capture margin opportunities.

Still, execution will be key. Integrating a marketing business into an infrastructure-heavy organization requires alignment across systems, processes, and culture. Data integration, in particular, will be critical for delivering the real-time insights needed to optimize trading and logistics.

The deal also highlights a subtle but important shift in how energy companies are thinking about growth. Rather than expanding purely through new infrastructure projects, many are focusing on maximizing the value of existing assets by layering on commercial and analytical capabilities.

As energy markets become more dynamic—shaped by geopolitical factors, regulatory changes, and evolving demand patterns—companies that can operate across the full value chain will likely have an edge. Boardwalk’s acquisition of Spire Marketing, and the launch of Boardwalk Continuum Marketing, positions it squarely within that emerging model.

Market Landscape

The natural gas sector is undergoing a structural transformation, with companies increasingly blending physical infrastructure and commercial intelligence. Integrated platforms that combine pipelines, storage, and marketing are becoming the norm, particularly as LNG exports and power generation demand reshape global gas flows.

At the same time, digitalization is quietly influencing the sector. Trading desks and marketing units are adopting analytics platforms, forecasting tools, and data integration systems similar to those used in enterprise SaaS environments. This convergence of energy and data infrastructure is redefining competitive dynamics across the industry.

Top Insights

• Boardwalk’s acquisition integrates pipeline, storage, and marketing capabilities into a unified platform, enabling bundled natural gas solutions that improve efficiency and responsiveness for industrial and utility customers.
• The launch of Boardwalk Continuum Marketing reflects a broader shift toward data-driven energy trading, where analytics and real-time market insights play a central role in supply optimization.
• Growing demand from LNG exports and gas-fired power generation is driving the need for flexible, end-to-end gas supply solutions across North America.
• Leadership continuity under Pat Strange signals stability for existing customers while enabling expansion through Boardwalk’s larger infrastructure and market reach.
• The deal aligns with industry trends where energy companies are maximizing asset value by integrating commercial, logistical, and analytical capabilities into cohesive platforms.

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Hightouch is making a strong bid to define the next phase of marketing automation—one driven not by prompts, but by autonomous AI agents.

The company has raised $150 million in a Series D round led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives and Bain Capital Ventures, valuing the company at $2.75 billion. The round also drew participation from a roster of high-profile investors, including Iconiq Capital, Sapphire Ventures, Amplify Partners, Y Combinator, and TD7.

But beyond the funding headline, the bigger story is the company’s positioning: “agentic marketing” as a new category.

From AI Assistants to AI Operators

Over the past two years, marketers have experimented heavily with generative AI—mostly for content creation. The results, by many accounts, have been mixed.

Hightouch is taking aim at that gap.

Instead of tools that generate drafts or suggestions, its platform is designed to deploy AI agents that operate directly on enterprise data—identifying opportunities, creating campaigns, and executing them across channels with minimal human intervention.

It’s a shift from AI as a helper to AI as an operator.

According to the company, this approach has fueled rapid growth, with revenue increasing more than 100% annually over the past two years as enterprises look for more practical ways to apply AI.

Why Marketing Has Been Harder for AI

The pitch resonates because marketing has proven to be a tougher nut for AI to crack than other functions.

In software engineering, AI can work with structured code and well-defined systems. Marketing, by contrast, relies on:

• Brand voice and creative nuance
• Proprietary customer data
• Fragmented workflows across tools and channels

Most AI tools struggle to access—or understand—those layers of context. The result is often generic content that never makes it into production.

Hightouch’s answer is what it calls an “enterprise context layer,” combining customer data, brand guidelines, and campaign orchestration into a single foundation for AI agents.

Always-On Campaign Execution

Built on that foundation, Hightouch’s platform enables AI agents to:

• Analyze customer data to identify audience opportunities
• Generate on-brand creative assets
• Execute campaigns across advertising, email, SMS, and web
• Continuously optimize performance

The emphasis is on continuity. Instead of running campaigns in bursts, agents operate continuously—monitoring signals, adjusting strategies, and launching new initiatives as conditions change.

That “always-on” model reflects a broader shift in marketing toward real-time engagement and dynamic optimization.

Early Enterprise Traction

The company already counts major brands among its customers, including Domino's, PetSmart, DraftKings, Ramp, and WHOOP.

These organizations are using Hightouch to activate customer data and drive personalized marketing across channels—an area where traditional CDPs and marketing automation platforms have often fallen short.

The promise is improved speed, higher-quality output, and better campaign performance—though, as with any emerging category, results will vary depending on implementation.

A New Category—or a New Label?

Hightouch is explicitly framing this as the emergence of “agentic marketing.”

It’s a term gaining traction across the industry, referring to systems where AI agents can plan and execute tasks autonomously rather than simply responding to prompts.

The concept overlaps with existing categories—customer data platforms, marketing automation, and AI content tools—but aims to unify them into a single, execution-focused system.

Whether “agentic marketing” becomes a widely adopted category or just another buzzword will depend on how effectively platforms like Hightouch deliver measurable outcomes.

Why Investors Are Paying Attention

The funding round underscores strong investor interest in this direction.

Marketing is one of the largest enterprise functions, and one that remains relatively inefficient compared to areas like engineering or finance. If AI can meaningfully automate and optimize marketing workflows, the upside is significant.

Hightouch’s approach—building on top of existing data systems rather than replacing them—also aligns with enterprise preferences for interoperability and control.

That could give it an edge over more closed, all-in-one platforms.

The Road Ahead

The new capital will be used to expand Hightouch’s platform, particularly in areas like AI-driven decisioning, campaign orchestration, and cross-channel execution.

The ambition is clear: to become the system of record for agentic marketing.

That’s a tall order in a crowded MarTech landscape. But if the shift toward AI-driven execution continues—and early signals suggest it will—platforms that can combine data, context, and automation may have a real shot at reshaping how marketing operates.

The Bottom Line

Hightouch’s $150 million raise is more than a funding milestone—it’s a statement about where marketing technology is headed.

As enterprises move beyond AI experimentation, the focus is shifting to systems that can actually run marketing, not just assist with it.

If agentic marketing delivers on its promise, the role of marketers may evolve from executing campaigns to supervising intelligent systems that do it for them.

And that could change the MarTech stack as we know it.

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Innovid is sharpening its pitch to performance-focused marketers with a new round of measurement upgrades aimed at answering a deceptively simple question: what’s actually driving results?

In its latest “Feature Beat” update, the company is rolling out enhancements designed to connect media exposure to real business outcomes—moving beyond surface-level metrics toward deeper attribution, clearer sales impact, and more actionable insights.

It’s a timely shift. As ad channels multiply and budgets face tighter scrutiny, marketers are under pressure to prove not just engagement, but effectiveness.

From Metrics to Meaning

For years, digital advertising has leaned heavily on proxy metrics—clicks, impressions, view-through rates. Useful, but often disconnected from actual business performance.

Innovid’s latest updates aim to close that gap.

The platform now incorporates enhanced purchase measurement, allowing marketers to track both online and offline conversions while using control groups to isolate incremental impact. In other words, not just whether a campaign correlates with sales—but whether it caused them.

That distinction matters more than ever as brands look to justify spend across increasingly complex media ecosystems.

Attribution Gets More Granular

Attribution is another area getting a significant upgrade.

Innovid is expanding visibility into how specific variables—campaigns, audiences, creative versions, and targeting strategies—contribute to outcomes. The data is sourced directly from ad inventory, giving marketers a clearer view of where ads actually ran.

This level of detail enables:

• Source-level transparency across publishers, apps, and properties
• Better identification of high-performing channels and tactics
• More precise optimization during campaigns, not just after

For media buyers and planners, that kind of granularity can help untangle overlapping signals across platforms—a long-standing challenge in multi-channel advertising.

Shedding Light on Opaque Environments

One of the more notable aspects of the update is its focus on transparency.

Certain environments—particularly connected TV (CTV) and programmatic ecosystems—have historically been harder to analyze at a granular level. Innovid’s enhancements aim to bring more clarity to those spaces by showing exactly where ads appeared.

That visibility could be especially valuable as brands shift more budget into CTV and other premium digital channels, where measurement has often lagged behind spend.

Benchmarks Add Context to Performance

Data alone isn’t always enough. Without context, it’s difficult to know whether performance is strong, average, or underwhelming.

To address that, Innovid is introducing vertical benchmarking capabilities.

Marketers can now compare campaign performance across industries, formats, and objectives, gaining a clearer sense of where they stand. The platform also provides insights into reach and frequency efficiency, helping teams understand how their optimizations impact audience exposure over time.

This kind of contextualization is increasingly important as teams move toward continuous optimization rather than post-campaign analysis.

Why This Matters Now

The broader trend is clear: measurement is becoming a competitive differentiator.

As third-party signals decline and privacy regulations reshape data access, marketers are looking for more reliable ways to connect media spend to outcomes. At the same time, finance teams are demanding stronger accountability from marketing investments.

Innovid’s updates reflect that shift, emphasizing:

• Outcome-based measurement over engagement metrics
• Incrementality over correlation
• Transparency over black-box reporting

It’s part of a wider industry move toward more rigorous, evidence-based marketing.

The Bigger Picture

These enhancements also highlight how ad tech platforms are evolving.

Measurement is no longer a standalone function—it’s becoming deeply integrated into campaign execution. The ability to analyze, optimize, and validate performance in near real time is quickly becoming table stakes.

For Innovid, strengthening its measurement capabilities could help differentiate it in a crowded ad tech landscape where many platforms offer similar activation tools but vary widely in analytics depth.

The Bottom Line

With its latest updates, Innovid is pushing measurement closer to what marketers actually need: a clear line between media investment and business outcomes.

By combining purchase impact analysis, granular attribution, and contextual benchmarks, the platform aims to give teams the confidence—and the evidence—to make smarter decisions faster.

In a fragmented, performance-driven advertising landscape, that clarity isn’t just helpful. It’s essential.

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Supergoop! is rethinking how it scales growth—and it’s starting with media consolidation.

The sunscreen brand has named January Digital as its media agency of record, bringing, for the first time, its direct-to-consumer, retail, and marketplace media efforts under a single partner. The move signals a broader shift toward unified, full-funnel strategies as brands look to connect fragmented customer journeys across channels.

The partnership kicked off with a campaign centered on Supergoop!’s flagship product, Unseen Sunscreen SPF 50—a product that has helped redefine sunscreen as an everyday essential rather than an occasional purchase.

From Channel Silos to Unified Strategy

Historically, many consumer brands have managed media across DTC, retail, and marketplaces in silos—often with different agencies, budgets, and measurement frameworks.

That model is increasingly difficult to sustain.

Consumers move fluidly between channels, discovering products on social, researching via search, and purchasing through retailers or marketplaces. Without a unified strategy, brands risk inconsistent messaging, inefficient spend, and limited visibility into what’s actually driving performance.

Supergoop!’s decision to consolidate media under one agency reflects a growing recognition that full-funnel coordination isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s essential for scale.

A Campaign Built Around Cultural Momentum

The initial campaign focuses on Unseen Sunscreen SPF 50, arguably the brand’s most recognizable product.

Positioned as invisible, wearable, and suitable for daily use, the product has played a key role in shifting consumer perception of SPF—from a beach-day necessity to a daily skincare staple.

The campaign leans into that positioning, emphasizing ease of use and performance to reinforce habitual adoption. It also ties into Supergoop!’s broader brand evolution, including its expansion into sports through partnerships like the PGA TOUR.

In that context, Unseen Sunscreen serves as both a hero product and a bridge between lifestyle and performance use cases.

Full-Funnel, Multi-Channel Execution

January Digital is activating a comprehensive media mix that spans:

• Paid social and search
• Connected TV (CTV) and video
• Marketplace channels like Amazon
• Retail media networks, including Target Roundel and Nordstrom

This kind of cross-channel orchestration is becoming standard for brands aiming to capture demand wherever it emerges. But executing it effectively requires more than just presence—it requires alignment.

That’s where consolidation can make a difference. A single agency overseeing the full funnel can optimize spend holistically, rather than channel by channel.

Measurement Takes Center Stage

Beyond media execution, measurement is a key driver behind the partnership.

As brands invest across more channels, proving ROI becomes more complex. Attribution models often struggle to connect the dots between awareness, consideration, and conversion—especially when purchases happen off-site in retail or marketplace environments.

By centralizing media strategy, Supergoop! aims to bring more rigor and consistency to how performance is tracked and evaluated.

That focus on measurement reflects a broader industry trend: marketing leaders are under increasing pressure to tie spend directly to business outcomes.

Why This Matters for CPG Brands

Supergoop!’s move highlights a shift happening across consumer brands, particularly in categories like beauty and personal care.

The traditional divide between brand marketing and performance marketing is fading. Instead, companies are adopting integrated approaches that balance storytelling with measurable impact across every touchpoint.

Retail media networks, in particular, are playing a growing role in this mix, offering closed-loop attribution that connects ad exposure directly to sales. Combining those channels with DTC and marketplace efforts creates both opportunity—and complexity.

Consolidation is one way to manage that complexity.

The Agency Angle

For January Digital, the win reinforces its positioning as a partner for full-funnel, data-driven growth strategies.

Agencies are increasingly expected to go beyond channel execution, offering strategic guidance across the entire customer journey. That includes not just media planning, but also measurement frameworks and cross-channel optimization.

Winning AOR roles like this suggests demand is shifting toward agencies that can operate at that level.

The Bottom Line

Supergoop!’s decision to unify its media under January Digital reflects a broader evolution in how brands approach growth.

As customer journeys become more fragmented, the need for coordinated, full-funnel strategies is becoming unavoidable. Consolidating media efforts is one way to bring clarity, efficiency, and measurable impact to that complexity.

For Supergoop!, the goal is clear: turn strong brand affinity into sustained, scalable growth across every channel where customers shop.

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Bloomreach is tightening its grip on the Shopify ecosystem with a new embedded app that aims to make advanced personalization both powerful and painless.

The company’s latest release—Loomi AI for Shopify—connects Shopify stores directly to Bloomreach’s marketing, search, and merchandising tools, all powered by its Loomi AI engine. The pitch: give merchants real-time, AI-driven personalization across every customer touchpoint without requiring code, integrations, or IT overhead.

In a market where personalization often comes with complexity, Bloomreach is betting that simplicity will win.

Personalization Without the Plumbing

For many Shopify merchants, personalization remains a trade-off. Sophisticated capabilities typically require stitching together multiple tools, managing data pipelines, and relying on technical teams.

Loomi AI for Shopify aims to remove that friction.

By embedding directly into Shopify, the app creates a unified layer where customer, product, and commerce data flow together in real time. That means merchants can activate personalization across channels—search, email, SMS, and onsite experiences—without exporting data or building custom integrations.

The result is less time managing infrastructure and more time optimizing customer experiences.

Real-Time Context Becomes the Differentiator

What sets this release apart is its emphasis on real-time intelligence.

Instead of relying solely on historical data, Loomi AI uses live behavioral signals—what customers are browsing, clicking, and buying in the moment—to adjust experiences dynamically.

That enables:

• Personalized search and browsing: Delivering relevant product results without manual rules
• Triggered marketing campaigns: Using live data to power email, SMS, and omnichannel outreach
• On-site personalization: Tailoring experiences from the first interaction, even for anonymous users

This shift toward real-time decisioning reflects a broader industry trend. Static segmentation is giving way to continuous, context-aware personalization that evolves with each interaction.

A Unified Approach to Merchandising and Marketing

Another key feature is synchronization.

Loomi AI connects merchandising and campaign execution into a single workflow. During high-stakes moments—like product launches or seasonal campaigns—teams can align onsite experiences with marketing efforts in real time.

That coordination is often easier said than done. In many organizations, merchandising and marketing operate in silos, leading to inconsistent customer experiences.

By unifying these functions, Bloomreach is aiming to reduce those gaps and create a more cohesive journey from discovery to purchase.

Global Reach, Local Relevance

The app also taps into Shopify Markets data to deliver localized personalization at scale.

For merchants selling internationally, that means adapting search results, recommendations, and campaigns based on region and language—without managing separate systems for each market.

Localization has become a critical growth lever in ecommerce, but it’s notoriously complex to execute. Automating that process could give merchants a meaningful edge, especially as cross-border commerce expands.

Smarter Promotions, Not Bigger Discounts

One of the more nuanced capabilities is AI-driven promotion targeting.

Rather than applying blanket discounts, Loomi AI identifies which shoppers actually need an incentive to convert—and targets them specifically. The goal is to protect margins while still driving incremental revenue.

It’s a subtle shift, but an important one. As customer acquisition costs rise, indiscriminate discounting is becoming less sustainable. Precision, not volume, is the new priority.

Why This Matters Now

The launch comes at a time when Shopify merchants are under increasing pressure to differentiate.

With more brands competing for attention—and new channels like AI-driven discovery platforms entering the mix—delivering consistent, personalized experiences is no longer optional.

Bloomreach is positioning Loomi AI as a way to meet that demand without adding operational complexity. The mention of emerging channels like AI assistants and conversational platforms hints at where this is heading: personalization that extends beyond traditional ecommerce touchpoints.

Competitive Context

Bloomreach isn’t alone in bringing AI personalization to Shopify. A growing number of apps and platforms are offering similar capabilities, from recommendation engines to marketing automation tools.

What differentiates Loomi AI for Shopify is its breadth and integration. Instead of focusing on a single function, it connects search, marketing, and merchandising under one AI-driven layer.

That all-in-one approach could appeal to merchants looking to consolidate tools and reduce fragmentation in their tech stack.

The Bottom Line

With Loomi AI for Shopify, Bloomreach is aiming to make enterprise-grade personalization accessible to everyday merchants.

By combining real-time data, AI decisioning, and a no-code interface, the platform promises to deliver consistent, context-aware experiences across every channel—without the usual complexity.

As ecommerce continues to evolve—and as customer journeys become more fragmented—the ability to unify data and act on it instantly may prove to be a defining advantage.

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NIQ is sharpening its focus on localized growth with the launch of Precision Solutions in the U.S., a new platform designed to help brands and retailers move beyond one-size-fits-all strategies.

The premise is simple: broad, market-level decision-making no longer cuts it in a fragmented retail landscape. Shopper behavior now varies dramatically by store, neighborhood, and region—and companies that fail to adapt risk wasting spend and missing high-value opportunities.

Precision Solutions aims to close that gap by bringing together data, analytics, and execution into a single, localized decision engine.

From Mass Strategy to Micro Decisions

For years, retail growth strategies have leaned heavily on aggregated data—national trends, category performance, and generalized shopper insights.

That model is increasingly outdated.

Today’s consumers behave differently not just by demographic segment, but by geography. What sells in one store—or even one zip code—may underperform just a few miles away. Yet many organizations still lack the tools to act on that level of granularity.

NIQ’s new platform is built to change that.

By combining retail measurement data, consumer panel insights, and AI-driven analytics, Precision Solutions helps organizations pinpoint where growth is actually happening—and where it isn’t.

A Unified View of Growth Opportunities

One of the key selling points is integration.

Historically, brands have had to piece together insights from separate tools: one for sales data, another for shopper behavior, and yet another for analytics. That fragmentation slows decision-making and makes it harder to connect actions with outcomes.

Precision Solutions consolidates those capabilities into a single platform, allowing teams to:

• Identify high-potential stores and local markets
• Pinpoint valuable shopper segments
• Allocate spend more effectively
• Test strategies in real-world conditions
• Measure impact with clearer attribution

The goal is not just better insights, but faster and more confident execution.

AI Adds a Predictive Layer

Beyond data aggregation, NIQ is layering in AI-enabled analytics to move from hindsight to foresight.

The platform can simulate potential outcomes, helping teams understand which strategies are likely to perform before committing resources. It also aims to isolate true performance signals—cutting through noise to identify what’s actually driving growth.

That’s particularly valuable in retail environments where multiple variables—pricing, promotions, assortment, media—interact in complex ways.

Instead of guessing which lever to pull, teams can test and refine strategies with measurable feedback loops.

Why Localization Is Becoming Critical

The launch comes at a time when localization is emerging as a competitive differentiator.

Rising media costs and tighter margins are forcing brands to be more selective with their investments. At the same time, retailers are demanding more tailored strategies that reflect local demand patterns.

The result is a shift from “do more everywhere” to “do the right things in the right places.”

NIQ’s Precision Solutions is built around that philosophy—prioritizing depth over breadth in growth strategies.

Implications for Brands and Retailers

For brands, the platform offers a way to align trade spend, marketing, and assortment decisions with actual local demand—potentially improving ROI and reducing wasted investment.

For retailers, it provides more granular insights into store-level performance, enabling better merchandising and promotional strategies.

In both cases, the emphasis is on measurable outcomes. The ability to test strategies in-market and quickly assess results could shorten decision cycles and reduce risk.

Competitive Context

NIQ operates in a space where data providers and analytics platforms are increasingly converging.

What sets Precision Solutions apart is its focus on unifying multiple data streams—retail measurement, consumer panels, and AI analytics—into a single workflow. That integration could appeal to organizations looking to simplify their tech stack while gaining deeper insights.

At the same time, the success of such platforms depends heavily on data quality and usability. Delivering actionable insights at the local level requires not just granular data, but also clear, intuitive tools for decision-makers.

The Bottom Line

With Precision Solutions, NIQ is making a clear bet: the future of retail growth lies in localization powered by data and AI.

By helping brands and retailers identify, test, and scale strategies at a granular level, the platform aims to turn fragmented shopper behavior from a challenge into an opportunity.

In a market where efficiency and accountability are under constant scrutiny, precision may prove to be the new competitive edge.

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