News | Marketing Events | Marketing Technologies
Subscribe

News

Glance Promotes Heather Nightingale to VP of Product to Drive AI-Era Guided CX Strategy

Glance Promotes Heather Nightingale to VP of Product to Drive AI-Era Guided CX Strategy

artificial intelligence 12 Mar 2026

Enterprise customer experience platform Glance has promoted longtime executive Heather Nightingale to Vice President of Product, a move that underscores the company’s focus on evolving guided customer experience tools in the age of AI.

Nightingale, who has worked with Glance since 2016, will now oversee product strategy and product marketing, helping shape the company’s roadmap as enterprises rethink how automation and human interaction coexist in digital customer journeys.

The promotion comes as AI-driven CX tools proliferate across industries, forcing vendors to differentiate not only on automation capabilities but also on how effectively they enable real-time human support when digital interactions become complex.

A Longtime Leader Steps Into Product Strategy

Before the promotion, Nightingale served as Senior Director of Product Marketing and Partnerships, where she helped define the company’s product positioning and market strategy.

During that time, she also expanded the company’s analyst relations and partner programs while supporting Glance during a key period of growth.

In her new role, Nightingale will focus on aligning market trends, enterprise customer needs, and company growth priorities into a unified product strategy.

Her responsibilities include:

  • Strategic product planning

  • Expanding customer feedback initiatives

  • Guiding AI-related product development

  • Strengthening the company’s enterprise security and compliance positioning

The goal is to ensure the platform continues to support complex enterprise environments where customer support, sales, and service interactions often involve sensitive data and regulated workflows.

Guided CX Meets the AI Boom

Glance’s core technology centers on guided customer experience, enabling companies to provide real-time visual collaboration between customers and support agents.

Through co-browsing and screen-sharing features embedded in websites, mobile apps, and authenticated portals, agents can visually guide customers through digital processes—such as completing applications, troubleshooting issues, or navigating complicated workflows.

The approach has become increasingly relevant as businesses push customers toward self-service digital channels while still needing human support for high-stakes interactions.

Nightingale believes the rapid rise of AI will only increase the importance of that balance.

“Customer experience is entering a new phase where AI is more visible and accessible than ever before,” she said. “But AI doesn’t replace the moments where personal connection is most impactful—it enhances them.”

In practice, that means combining automated tools with human assistance when digital journeys become confusing or complex.

A Focus on Secure Enterprise AI

As AI capabilities expand across CX platforms, Glance says it is prioritizing secure, practical implementations designed for highly regulated industries.

Many large enterprises—particularly in financial services, healthcare, and telecommunications—must comply with strict security and privacy standards when deploying new technologies.

Glance’s visual collaboration platform is designed to operate within those environments, enabling real-time assistance without exposing sensitive information or disrupting existing technology ecosystems.

The company says Nightingale’s product leadership will help guide how AI features are integrated into those workflows.

CEO Signals Strategic Direction

For Glance CEO Tom Martin, the promotion reflects both Nightingale’s contributions and the company’s future priorities.

“Heather has been instrumental in shaping how we think about product, market alignment, and the evolving CX landscape at Glance,” Martin said.

He added that as AI continues reshaping digital customer interactions, the company needs focused leadership to guide both product vision and execution.

That leadership will be critical as CX technology vendors compete to deliver smarter automation while preserving the human interactions that still define customer loyalty.

The Future of Human-Centered Digital Support

As businesses continue automating customer service with chatbots, AI assistants, and self-service portals, the challenge is ensuring those systems don’t create friction when customers encounter problems.

That’s where guided CX platforms are carving out a niche—providing human assistance layered on top of digital experiences.

Glance’s technology aims to bridge that gap by allowing agents to visually guide customers through tasks in real time, reducing frustration and improving resolution rates.

For Nightingale, the mission remains simple: keep the human element at the center of digital interactions.

“Our customers choose us because we help them humanize and bring resolution to the high-stakes interactions that define brand loyalty,” she said.

As enterprises continue blending automation with human support, the next evolution of customer experience may depend less on replacing people—and more on helping them collaborate more effectively with AI.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

5W PR Expands Beauty Practice With TikTok Shop Campaigns to Tap Social Commerce Boom

5W PR Expands Beauty Practice With TikTok Shop Campaigns to Tap Social Commerce Boom

social media 12 Mar 2026

As social platforms increasingly double as retail storefronts, public relations agencies are retooling their services to help brands convert online buzz into actual sales.

That’s the strategy behind the latest move from 5W PR, one of the largest independently owned PR and digital marketing agencies in the United States. The firm announced an expansion of its beauty practice that will now include TikTok Shop–aligned PR campaigns and creator amplification programs, aimed at helping beauty brands capitalize on the explosive growth of social commerce.

The new offering focuses on integrating traditional PR tactics with commerce-driven social media strategies—particularly on TikTok and its rapidly growing in-app retail feature, TikTok Shop.

For beauty brands, the goal is simple: turn viral attention into measurable revenue.

PR Meets Social Commerce

Social commerce has quickly become one of the fastest-growing areas of digital retail, with platforms blending entertainment, influencer content, and instant purchasing.

Beauty products, in particular, have become a dominant category on TikTok thanks to viral trends, creator tutorials, and real-time product reviews.

Recognizing that shift, 5W PR’s expanded service offering is designed to align public relations campaigns with TikTok Shop activations.

The programs include:

  • Creator partnerships and influencer collaborations

  • Product seeding campaigns with social creators

  • Strategic media and trend-based pitching

  • Real-time trend activation and content alignment

  • Affiliate management for creator-driven sales

  • Performance measurement and campaign amplification

By linking PR efforts directly to social commerce initiatives, the agency aims to ensure that brand storytelling translates into both engagement and transactions.

Turning Viral Moments Into Sales

The rise of TikTok has transformed how beauty brands launch products and build communities. Viral videos can drive massive spikes in product demand, sometimes selling out items within hours.

But capturing that momentum requires coordinated marketing across creators, media coverage, and retail channels.

“Tiktok has become a pivotal platform for beauty brands to reach highly engaged, trend-conscious audiences,” said Ilisa Wirgin.

“By aligning PR programs with TikTok Shop and creator amplification, we are helping brands translate social momentum into measurable business impact while maintaining authentic storytelling and credible media coverage,” Wirgin said.

In other words, the agency wants to bridge the gap between traditional brand storytelling and direct-response social commerce.

The Evolution of Beauty Marketing

The beauty industry has long been an early adopter of influencer marketing and digital-first campaigns. Platforms like YouTube and Instagram previously shaped the category’s marketing playbook.

Now TikTok is taking center stage.

Short-form video, algorithm-driven discovery, and built-in commerce features have made the platform a powerful launchpad for new products and emerging brands.

At the same time, beauty consumers increasingly expect authentic recommendations from creators rather than traditional advertising.

That shift has pushed agencies to rethink how PR campaigns operate.

Instead of focusing solely on editorial coverage and press placements, modern beauty PR now blends:

  • Media relations

  • Influencer marketing

  • Social-first content creation

  • Commerce-driven performance tracking

The expansion from 5W PR reflects this broader transformation.

Blending PR With Creator-Led Growth

The agency says its new services build on its experience running social-first beauty campaigns that combine media outreach, influencer collaborations, and digital PR.

By integrating those tactics with TikTok Shop activations, the firm hopes to provide brands with a more unified marketing approach across both awareness and conversion channels.

That’s particularly important for emerging beauty brands, which often rely heavily on social discovery and creator endorsements to compete with established players.

At the same time, larger brands are increasingly investing in social commerce strategies to reach younger audiences and drive faster purchase cycles.

The Bigger Trend: Commerce Everywhere

The expansion also highlights a larger industry trend: the continued blending of content, community, and commerce.

Platforms once used purely for entertainment or social networking are rapidly becoming end-to-end shopping environments.

For agencies, that means marketing campaigns must now operate across multiple layers simultaneously—storytelling, creator relationships, algorithmic distribution, and direct sales.

With TikTok continuing to reshape how consumers discover and purchase products, agencies that can bridge the gap between PR credibility and social commerce performance may find themselves increasingly in demand.

And for beauty brands navigating the crowded digital marketplace, the next viral moment might not just build awareness—it might ring the cash register.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

Velo3D Cuts Debt by 60% as CEO Converts $5M Note Into Stock at Premium

Velo3D Cuts Debt by 60% as CEO Converts $5M Note Into Stock at Premium

marketing 12 Mar 2026

Metal additive manufacturing firm Velo3D is entering fiscal 2026 with a leaner balance sheet after a pair of debt conversions cut the company’s outstanding debt by roughly 60%.

The move came after CEO Arun Jeldi acquired a $5 million promissory note from an existing debt holder and converted it into common stock at $16.38 per share—a price notably higher than the company’s recent trading levels.

At the same time, company director Ken Thieneman converted a $10 million promissory note into equity at $10.50 per share, according to the terms of the original convertible debt agreement.

Together, the transactions reduce Velo3D’s outstanding debt to roughly $10 million, strengthening the company’s financial position as it attempts to scale its additive manufacturing platform.

Insider Confidence Signals Strategic Reset

Debt-to-equity conversions aren’t uncommon in capital-intensive technology sectors, but when they occur at a premium to market price, they often signal strong internal confidence.

In this case, Jeldi’s conversion price of $16.38 per share stands out because it exceeds the company’s prevailing stock valuation at the time of the transaction. That effectively represents a voluntary premium paid by the CEO to increase his equity stake.

“My decision to acquire and convert this debt at a significant premium to market reflects my belief in the long-term value of Velo3D,” Jeldi said in a statement.

He added that the company has now “substantially deleveraged” its balance sheet and is focusing on growth initiatives in the coming fiscal year.

Why Debt Reduction Matters in Additive Manufacturing

The financial restructuring comes at a critical moment for companies in the additive manufacturing sector.

Metal 3D printing platforms require substantial capital investments in:

  • Advanced manufacturing systems

  • Materials research and development

  • Aerospace-grade quality control infrastructure

  • Customer deployment and support networks

Reducing debt can provide breathing room for companies pursuing long-term industrial adoption.

For Velo3D, whose systems are widely used in high-performance industries such as aerospace and defense, balance sheet flexibility may be essential as customers expand production programs and supply chain requirements.

A Platform Built for Complex Metal Printing

Velo3D has built its reputation around high-precision metal additive manufacturing systems designed to produce complex geometries that are difficult—or impossible—to manufacture using traditional methods.

The company’s technology has been used in applications across aerospace, defense, and energy sectors where lightweight components, intricate cooling channels, and optimized structural designs can deliver performance gains.

In recent years, additive manufacturing has gained renewed attention as governments and manufacturers seek to modernize supply chains and localize production capacity, particularly for critical industrial components.

Entering Fiscal 2026 With a Leaner Capital Structure

With the debt conversion complete, Velo3D now enters fiscal 2026 with significantly lower leverage and increased insider equity alignment.

While the company still faces the broader challenges affecting the additive manufacturing market—including fluctuating capital spending and adoption cycles—the balance sheet improvement could provide greater flexibility as it pursues growth opportunities.

For investors, the insider-led conversion sends a clear message: leadership is betting that the company’s next chapter will be worth more than its current market valuation suggests.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

BrandComms.AI Launches Agentic Platform in U.S., Promising Smarter Ads—Not Just Faster Ones

BrandComms.AI Launches Agentic Platform in U.S., Promising Smarter Ads—Not Just Faster Ones

artificial intelligence 12 Mar 2026

The generative AI boom has made it easier than ever for brands to produce ads. But according to a new entrant in the martech space, speed isn’t the real problem—effectiveness is.

That’s the pitch behind BrandComms.AI, an agentic AI platform that officially launched in the United States this week. The company says its system aims to solve a growing industry challenge: how to use AI to create advertising that actually performs, rather than simply generating more content at scale.

With early customers including Taco Bell and Realtor.com, BrandComms.AI is positioning its technology as an alternative to both traditional agency workflows and the wave of basic generative AI creative tools flooding the market.

Instead of focusing primarily on automation, the platform blends AI production capabilities with decades of marketing science to guide how campaigns are conceived, tested, and deployed.

An AI Platform Built Around Advertising Effectiveness

The company’s approach is grounded in roughly 30 years of proprietary marketing science from Forethought. That research focuses on how consumers make decisions within specific product categories—a dataset BrandComms.AI says can inform more effective creative development.

By embedding those insights directly into its AI workflows, the platform attempts to ensure every piece of creative output is tied to brand strategy, category dynamics, and consumer psychology.

“The industry doesn’t have an AI problem—it has an effectiveness problem,” said Isobell Roberts, the company’s chief AI officer.

“Generative and agentic AI has made it easy to produce more advertising, but not better advertising,” Roberts said. “Our platform applies existing brand insights, governance, and proven consumer decision-making science so creative is built to perform before it reaches the market.”

That distinction—optimizing ads before they launch rather than analyzing performance after the fact—reflects a broader shift in how marketers are beginning to use AI tools.

The Brand Engine Behind the Platform

At the center of the platform is the BrandComms.AI Content Store, a proprietary system designed to function as a brand intelligence engine.

Rather than relying on generic large language model outputs, the Content Store is trained on a company’s:

  • Historical brand assets

  • Consumer insights and research

  • Creative learnings from past campaigns

  • Category-level decision drivers

The goal is to ensure that AI-generated creative remains aligned with brand identity and differentiation.

In practice, that means a fast-food chain, for example, would generate creative concepts rooted in the specific competitive dynamics and consumer behaviors of the quick-service restaurant category rather than generic advertising frameworks.

The approach also aims to address a growing concern among marketers: that generative AI tools often produce content that feels polished but indistinguishable across brands.

An “Agentic Workforce” of AI Models

Another key differentiator is the platform’s agentic architecture.

Instead of relying on a single generative model, BrandComms.AI orchestrates an “AI workforce” that can involve up to 64 specialized models across different stages of creative production.

These models can handle tasks such as:

  • Concept ideation

  • Script and dialogue generation

  • Voice synthesis

  • Visual generation

  • Production workflows

Because the platform is model-agnostic, brands can select the most appropriate AI models for each stage of the process—or combine AI-generated assets with traditional creative production in a hybrid workflow.

That flexibility may prove important as enterprises experiment with multiple AI ecosystems while avoiding lock-in with a single vendor.

Compressing Creative Timelines

Traditional advertising production cycles often take months, particularly for large campaigns that require multiple rounds of concept development, stakeholder reviews, and pre-testing.

BrandComms.AI claims its platform can reduce that process to weeks rather than months by unifying several stages of creative development within a single system.

The workflow integrates:

  1. Concept ideation

  2. AI-assisted content production

  3. Pre-launch effectiveness testing

  4. Campaign execution

Because concepts are evaluated against predefined performance thresholds before deployment, the platform attempts to identify stronger creative options earlier in the development process.

For marketers operating under tighter budgets and faster campaign cycles, that compression could become a competitive advantage.

Humans Still Stay in the Loop

Despite its heavy use of AI, BrandComms.AI emphasizes that human governance remains central to the platform.

Creative development includes human oversight to ensure campaigns maintain emotional resonance, strategic alignment, and brand safety—areas where fully automated systems often struggle.

This hybrid approach reflects a growing consensus across the advertising industry: AI may accelerate creative workflows, but human judgment still plays a critical role in shaping brand storytelling.

A Crowded—but Rapidly Growing—AI Advertising Market

BrandComms.AI enters a market already crowded with generative AI tools promising faster content production. Platforms from major tech vendors and emerging startups alike are competing to become the backbone of AI-powered marketing operations.

But many of those tools focus primarily on content generation rather than creative effectiveness.

By centering its pitch on marketing science and pre-launch performance validation, BrandComms.AI is betting that brands will increasingly prioritize tools that improve outcomes rather than simply increasing output.

If that thesis proves correct, the next wave of AI advertising platforms may look less like automated content factories—and more like decision engines guiding how campaigns are built from the start.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

Post-Purchase Marketing Delivers 38% Higher Revenue Per Send, Says Listrak’s 2026 Retail Benchmark Report

Post-Purchase Marketing Delivers 38% Higher Revenue Per Send, Says Listrak’s 2026 Retail Benchmark Report

marketing 12 Mar 2026

Retail marketers have long obsessed over abandoned carts and first-purchase conversions. But the real growth opportunity may start after the checkout confirmation page.

That’s the key takeaway from the 2026 Cross-Channel Benchmark Report released by Listrak, which suggests retailers are increasingly turning post-purchase engagement into a revenue driver rather than treating it as a simple “thank you” message.

According to the report, post-purchase campaigns generated a 38% increase in revenue per send (RPS) as brands adopted more advanced personalization strategies—sometimes tailoring messaging down to the exact SKU a shopper bought.

The shift signals a broader change in retail marketing strategy: lifecycle marketing is moving deeper into the customer journey, where retention and cross-sell opportunities often outperform acquisition in terms of ROI.

Retailers Turn the Post-Purchase Moment Into a Growth Engine

Historically, post-purchase emails served mainly as order confirmations or shipping updates. The report argues that approach is rapidly becoming outdated.

Retailers in 2025 increasingly personalized follow-up communications based on specific products purchased, layering in:

  • Product-based recommendations tied to the original purchase

  • Cross-category offers to expand basket size over time

  • Targeted win-back campaigns triggered by previous buying behavior

The result: a more dynamic lifecycle approach where post-purchase messaging functions as a revenue engine rather than a transactional obligation.

“Gone are the days of a generic one-touch ‘Thank You’ message,” said Ross Kramer, co-founder and CEO of Listrak. “Lifecycle precision is becoming the competitive advantage, and the post-purchase journey is now a meaningful cross-channel touchpoint.”

In other words, retailers are learning that the best time to recommend the next purchase might be immediately after the last one.

Transactional Messages Get a Boost From Inbox Changes

The report also highlights an unexpected factor helping engagement metrics: changes in email inbox design.

Transactional messages—including order confirmations, shipping notifications, and related updates—saw improvements in click-through rates across both email and SMS campaigns. One reason is evolving inbox categorization systems from major providers like Google and Apple.

Both companies have continued expanding message sorting and foldering features—particularly for transactional communications—making it easier for consumers to find and interact with purchase-related updates.

For marketers, that means transactional messages are gaining renewed value as engagement channels, especially when they include contextual product recommendations or promotions.

SMS Continues Its High-Intent Marketing Streak

Another standout trend in the report is the continued growth of SMS-driven marketing campaigns.

Triggered SMS programs saw year-over-year increases in both message volume and revenue contribution, reinforcing the channel’s role as a high-intent communication tool. The fastest-growing SMS campaigns included:

  • Browse abandonment alerts (page and product views)

  • Post-purchase follow-ups

  • Time-sensitive promotional triggers

These campaigns perform well partly because SMS reliably reaches consumers on their primary device—and typically within minutes.

For retailers navigating increasingly crowded email inboxes, SMS offers a direct path to consumers who have already demonstrated purchase intent.

Why Lifecycle Marketing Is Becoming a Retail Imperative

The findings arrive at a time when ecommerce brands face rising acquisition costs and growing pressure to maximize the value of existing customers.

In that environment, lifecycle marketing—particularly post-purchase engagement—offers a relatively efficient path to revenue growth.

Industry analysts have increasingly pointed to post-purchase marketing as a key driver of:

  • Higher repeat purchase rates

  • Increased customer lifetime value (CLV)

  • Stronger brand loyalty

The Listrak report reinforces that trend, suggesting retailers are beginning to operationalize post-purchase engagement with the same level of sophistication once reserved for acquisition campaigns.

Data Across 12 Ecommerce Verticals

Listrak’s benchmark report analyzes cross-channel marketing performance across 12 ecommerce verticals, combining campaign performance data with industry-specific insights.

The platform also highlights its use of AI-driven analytics—marketed as Listrak Intelligence—to surface patterns across large retail datasets.

While AI-powered marketing analytics tools have become increasingly common across the martech ecosystem, the growing emphasis on lifecycle insights reflects a broader shift in how brands measure success.

Instead of focusing purely on immediate conversion metrics, many retailers are now tracking how well their messaging programs influence repeat purchases over time.

The Competitive Stakes for Retailers

If the report’s findings hold true across the broader market, retailers that fail to evolve their post-purchase strategy may leave significant revenue on the table.

In the modern ecommerce funnel, the sale is no longer the finish line—it’s the starting point for the next transaction.

Retailers that can orchestrate personalized cross-channel journeys immediately after checkout may gain a measurable edge in customer retention and lifetime value. Those that rely on static confirmation emails risk missing one of the most valuable marketing touchpoints available.

And as lifecycle marketing grows more sophisticated, the humble order confirmation may quietly become one of the most strategic messages in retail.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

Perion Launches Outmax AI Agent for TikTok to Boost Ad Performance by Up to 25%

Perion Launches Outmax AI Agent for TikTok to Boost Ad Performance by Up to 25%

artificial intelligence 11 Mar 2026

As brands continue shifting marketing budgets toward short-form video platforms, advertising technology providers are racing to deliver smarter campaign optimization tools. Perion Network Ltd. is the latest to expand its AI-driven advertising infrastructure with a new integration aimed squarely at one of the world’s fastest-growing ad ecosystems.

The company announced the launch of its Outmax AI agent for TikTok, extending Perion’s proprietary AI optimization platform to the social media giant TikTok. The move allows advertisers to optimize campaigns on the platform using algorithmic intelligence designed to go beyond TikTok’s native optimization tools.

With nearly 1.6 billion global users, TikTok has become a central pillar in many brands’ digital media strategies. Perion’s new AI model aims to help advertisers capture more value from that massive audience by improving campaign performance and efficiency.

AI Optimization Beyond Platform Defaults

Perion’s Outmax technology operates as an AI-powered optimization layer within the company’s broader advertising infrastructure.

Rather than relying solely on platform-provided optimization settings, the system analyzes campaign data and applies algorithmic decision-making to align advertising performance with a brand’s specific business goals.

In practical terms, this means advertisers can optimize campaigns for custom outcomes—such as revenue, engagement quality, or customer acquisition—rather than simply targeting standard platform metrics like impressions or clicks.

The newly released Outmax AI model for TikTok integrates directly with the platform’s advertising system while applying additional predictive modeling to improve bidding, targeting, and performance outcomes.

According to Perion, early deployments of the model are already delivering performance improvements of up to 25% compared with baseline campaign results.

Riding TikTok’s Explosive Advertising Growth

The integration arrives as TikTok’s advertising ecosystem continues to expand rapidly.

Brands across industries—from retail and consumer goods to entertainment and travel—are investing heavily in the platform to reach younger audiences and capitalize on the viral reach of short-form video content.

Industry forecasts suggest TikTok’s advertising revenue could surpass $50 billion annually by 2027, making it one of the most significant digital advertising channels globally.

For adtech companies like Perion, that growth represents a major opportunity to provide optimization tools that help marketers manage increasingly complex campaign strategies across multiple platforms.

Scaling Perion’s AI-Native Advertising Infrastructure

The TikTok integration is part of Perion’s broader strategy to build what it calls an AI-native execution infrastructure for digital advertising.

The company’s technology stack is designed to unify campaign execution, data analysis, and optimization across multiple advertising environments.

At the center of this infrastructure is the Outmax AI agent, which continuously analyzes campaign performance signals and dynamically adjusts parameters such as bids, targeting, and creative distribution.

By embedding these AI agents across multiple advertising platforms, Perion aims to give advertisers more control over campaign outcomes while improving operational efficiency.

Meeting Advertiser Demand for Smarter Optimization

One reason tools like Outmax are gaining traction is the increasing complexity of digital advertising ecosystems.

Advertisers now manage campaigns across search, social media, connected TV, retail media networks, and programmatic display platforms—each with its own targeting options and optimization rules.

While major platforms offer built-in automation tools, many advertisers seek additional layers of intelligence that can unify performance insights across channels.

Perion’s approach focuses on algorithmic optimization outside the platform’s default models, giving brands greater flexibility to align campaigns with specific business outcomes.

Early Results From TikTok Campaigns

Initial campaigns using the Outmax AI model on TikTok suggest the approach is producing measurable improvements.

According to the company, advertisers using the new model have achieved performance gains of up to 25% compared with previous campaign benchmarks.

These gains typically come from a combination of factors, including better traffic quality, more efficient bidding strategies, and improved audience targeting.

For brands running large-scale TikTok campaigns, even modest performance improvements can translate into significant increases in return on ad spend.

Aligning With Perion’s Long-Term Growth Strategy

The TikTok integration also aligns with Perion’s broader expansion goals.

CEO Tal Jacobson says the company plans to deploy additional Outmax AI models across high-growth advertising platforms as part of its long-term strategy.

“Deploying additional Outmax AI agent models across high-growth platforms such as TikTok enables us to work with more customers across more platforms worldwide,” Jacobson said in the announcement.

The company has also outlined ambitious growth targets through 2028, positioning AI-powered advertising infrastructure as a key driver of its future revenue.

The Bigger Picture: AI as the New Advertising Engine

Artificial intelligence has become the backbone of modern digital advertising.

Platforms and adtech providers alike now rely on machine learning models to determine when ads appear, how much advertisers should bid, and which audiences are most likely to convert.

As competition intensifies and advertising costs rise, optimization tools capable of delivering measurable performance improvements are becoming increasingly valuable.

Perion’s Outmax AI agent represents one example of this broader industry shift toward AI-driven campaign execution systems that operate across multiple platforms.

With TikTok continuing to capture advertiser attention and budgets, the companies that can help marketers navigate that ecosystem more efficiently may gain a significant advantage.

For Perion, bringing its AI optimization engine to TikTok is both a strategic expansion—and a bet on the continued rise of short-form video as a core advertising channel.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

DemandFactor Rebrands as Demand.com to Double Down on Enterprise B2B Demand Generation

DemandFactor Rebrands as Demand.com to Double Down on Enterprise B2B Demand Generation

marketing 11 Mar 2026

Brand identity matters in the crowded world of B2B marketing technology—and sometimes a simpler name says more than a complex one.

Demand generation provider DemandFactor, Inc. announced it is officially rebranding as Demand.com, a move designed to sharpen its market positioning and signal the company’s next phase of growth in enterprise demand generation.

The change introduces a new brand identity and digital presence aimed at reflecting the company’s evolving platform capabilities, which now span demand generation, performance marketing, partner activation, and agency solutions.

While the name is new, the company says its leadership, services, and client relationships will remain unchanged.

A Simpler Name With a Broader Ambition

Rebrands are common in the marketing technology sector, especially when companies expand beyond their original service offerings.

In this case, the transition from DemandFactor to Demand.com represents both a simplification and a strategic repositioning.

The company says the new name better reflects its mission to become a central hub for enterprise demand generation—essentially a destination brand focused entirely on helping organizations generate qualified B2B pipeline.

According to Rick Robinson, Senior Vice President of Sales at Demand.com, the rebrand aligns the company’s identity with what it already delivers.

“We’ve always been singularly focused on demand,” Robinson said in the announcement. “Now our brand matches that focus.”

The shorter name also carries practical advantages in marketing and sales contexts, where clarity and memorability can influence brand perception.

Building a Platform for the Modern B2B Buyer

The rebrand coincides with the launch of a redesigned website that highlights the company’s expanded capabilities across the full B2B marketing funnel.

Demand.com positions itself as a platform that helps enterprises engage decision-makers through data-driven marketing programs and performance-focused campaigns.

Its services include:

  • Demand generation campaigns

  • Performance marketing programs

  • Partner activation strategies

  • Channel partner recruitment initiatives

  • Agency and marketing solutions

These offerings reflect the changing dynamics of B2B buying behavior.

Today’s buyers conduct extensive research before engaging with vendors, often interacting with multiple digital touchpoints along the way. Demand generation platforms aim to guide these journeys by delivering targeted content and engagement opportunities that nurture prospects toward purchase decisions.

The Power of First-Party Data in Demand Generation

A key differentiator highlighted by the company is its reliance on first-party data.

Demand.com says it maintains a global audience database of more than 220 million B2B decision-makers, supported by data verification processes designed to maintain 99% accuracy.

In an era when privacy regulations and the decline of third-party cookies are reshaping digital marketing, first-party data has become increasingly valuable.

Companies that own and manage their own audience datasets often gain more reliable targeting capabilities and deeper insights into buyer behavior.

For demand generation providers, those datasets form the backbone of campaign performance.

Why Demand Generation Is Becoming Strategic

Demand generation has evolved significantly over the past decade.

Previously, many organizations treated lead generation as a volume-based activity—collecting as many contacts as possible and passing them to sales teams.

Today’s enterprise marketing organizations take a more sophisticated approach, focusing on pipeline quality, buyer intent signals, and measurable revenue impact.

That shift has driven demand for platforms that can deliver:

  • Accurate audience targeting

  • Account-based marketing programs

  • Multi-channel campaign orchestration

  • Detailed performance analytics

Demand.com’s repositioning reflects this broader industry trend toward performance-driven marketing infrastructure.

A Competitive Landscape of B2B Marketing Platforms

The demand generation market includes a wide range of specialized vendors, from intent data providers to account-based marketing platforms.

Major enterprise players such as Demandbase, 6sense, and ZoomInfo have built extensive ecosystems designed to help companies identify and engage potential buyers earlier in the purchasing cycle.

Demand.com is positioning itself within this ecosystem as a performance-focused partner that combines data, marketing execution, and analytics.

By consolidating multiple marketing services under one brand, the company aims to simplify demand generation for enterprise clients.

Continuity for Customers and Partners

Despite the new name, the company emphasized that its operational structure remains unchanged.

Existing contracts, partnerships, and service agreements will continue seamlessly under the Demand.com brand. The leadership team and internal operations also remain intact, ensuring continuity for current clients.

For many customers, the biggest change will simply be the updated digital experience and branding.

The Bigger Picture

The rebrand underscores an important reality in modern B2B marketing: demand generation is no longer just a marketing function—it’s a core revenue driver.

Organizations are increasingly investing in platforms and partners that can deliver measurable pipeline growth rather than just marketing activity.

By adopting the Demand.com identity, the company is signaling that it intends to play a larger role in that ecosystem.

In a market where brand clarity can influence purchasing decisions as much as technical capability, the new name may help the company communicate its value proposition more directly.

And in the competitive world of B2B marketing, that clarity can be a powerful differentiator.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

Club Med Deploys Algolia AI Search to Accelerate Vacation Discovery and Boost Direct Bookings

Club Med Deploys Algolia AI Search to Accelerate Vacation Discovery and Boost Direct Bookings

artificial intelligence 11 Mar 2026

As travel companies race to streamline digital booking experiences, search has become one of the most important—and often overlooked—conversion drivers. Global resort operator Club Med is betting that smarter search technology can transform how travelers discover and book vacations online.

The company announced it has selected Algolia, a leading AI search and retrieval platform used by more than 18,000 businesses, to power a redesigned discovery and booking experience across its global website.

The new implementation uses Algolia’s AI-driven search infrastructure to help travelers explore vacation packages across 70 global destinations while surfacing relevant offers in milliseconds. The goal is to simplify trip discovery for the brand’s more than 1.5 million annual travelers and increase direct online bookings.

Reinventing Travel Search for the Digital Booking Era

Online travel platforms often overwhelm users with endless package options, filters, and pricing combinations. Travelers may spend several minutes navigating pages before finding relevant offers.

Club Med’s redesign aims to eliminate that friction.

With Algolia’s search technology integrated throughout the booking journey, users can now quickly filter resorts by travel dates, budget, and participant details while instantly viewing relevant vacation packages.

Search results appear in as little as ten milliseconds, according to Algolia—roughly 200 times faster than typical industry benchmarks.

Instead of browsing through dozens of packages, travelers receive tailored suggestions almost instantly.

Building a Unified Digital Experience

The search upgrade is part of a broader transformation of Club Med’s global website.

The company restructured its digital platform by refining its information architecture, redesigning templates, and improving overall navigation clarity. The goal was to create a consistent brand experience across all markets while maintaining the flexibility needed for localized offers and promotions.

By embedding Algolia’s AI search platform throughout the buyer journey, Club Med created a unified discovery environment where travelers can explore options seamlessly across multiple content categories.

This includes multi-filter search, contextual pricing, and federated results—a search format that pulls relevant information from multiple data sources and displays them within a single results page.

For travelers comparing resorts, packages, and travel dates, this consolidated view reduces the need to jump between pages.

Early Results: Higher Engagement and Conversions

Since deploying Algolia’s technology, Club Med reports measurable improvements in user engagement and booking activity.

The platform has helped increase click-through rates and online conversions while delivering faster search results and more relevant recommendations.

According to Maroua Chouari, QA Automation Engineer at Club Med, search has become a strategic tool for driving direct bookings.

“Transforming search into a guided, intuitive experience—one that is fast, helpful, and aligned with how guests plan their trips—is essential for Club Med,” Chouari said.

By combining speed with structured filters and localized curation, the platform helps travelers discover relevant vacation options more easily.

AI That Learns From Traveler Behavior

One of the key technologies powering the new experience is Dynamic Re-Ranking, an Algolia feature that automatically reshuffles search results based on real-time user behavior.

Instead of relying solely on static merchandising rules, the system learns from traveler interactions—such as clicks, searches, and bookings—and prioritizes the most relevant resorts and packages accordingly.

That means search results continuously adapt to changing customer preferences without requiring manual adjustments from marketing or merchandising teams.

The platform also includes Query Suggestions and Collections, enabling regional teams in Club Med’s 35 local markets to launch seasonal promotions and curated experiences quickly.

These tools allow marketing teams to highlight limited-time offers, themed trips, or regional packages directly within search results.

Data-Driven Optimization Across the Booking Funnel

To better understand how travelers interact with its website, Club Med is integrating several analytics platforms into the search ecosystem.

The company is connecting:

  • Google Analytics 4

  • Contentsquare

  • Algolia analytics tools

This unified analytics stack enables the company to track metrics such as click-through rates, funnel engagement, and A/B testing performance.

With this data, product teams can continuously refine search experiences and optimize conversion paths.

Why Search Is Becoming a Competitive Advantage in Travel

The move highlights a growing trend across the travel industry: search-driven discovery is becoming central to digital bookings.

Modern travelers expect the same instant, personalized discovery experiences they encounter on ecommerce platforms. When those expectations aren’t met, they often abandon sites in favor of competitors or online travel agencies.

For travel brands trying to increase direct bookings, improving search relevance and speed can significantly impact revenue.

Platforms like Algolia are gaining traction because they enable companies to deliver fast, AI-powered search experiences without building complex infrastructure from scratch.

What’s Next: Personalization and Conversational Search

Club Med isn’t stopping with faster search results.

The company plans to expand its AI capabilities with deeper personalization and conversational interfaces.

Future initiatives include testing AI-driven re-ranking models against local merchandising rules, exploring advanced personalization features, and piloting conversational trip planning using Algolia’s Agent Studio technology.

These capabilities could allow travelers to interact with the booking system more naturally—for example, by describing their ideal vacation and receiving curated recommendations in response.

Algolia’s Growing Role in Digital Commerce

For Algolia, the partnership reinforces its position as a leading provider of AI-powered search technology across industries ranging from ecommerce to travel.

According to Nate Barad, Vice President of Product and Technical Marketing at Algolia, the collaboration demonstrates how AI search can reshape customer discovery experiences.

“By embracing AI-powered search to surface the right offers at breathtaking speed, Club Med is fueling the growth of its digital bookings while delivering a standout user experience,” Barad said.

Algolia plans to showcase its AI search and discovery platform at the upcoming Shoptalk Spring conference in Las Vegas, where attendees will be able to explore demonstrations of its generative AI shopping tools.

The Bigger Picture

The travel industry has spent the last decade investing heavily in digital booking infrastructure. But as online competition intensifies, the quality of the discovery experience may determine which brands capture customer attention.

Fast, intelligent search is quickly becoming one of the most effective ways to guide travelers toward the right vacation.

By embedding AI-driven discovery throughout its booking journey, Club Med is positioning search not just as a utility—but as a core driver of digital growth.

If the strategy succeeds, travelers may spend less time searching for their next getaway—and more time packing for it.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

   

Page 173 of 642

Looking to publish a press release, guest article, interview or podcast? Connect with us.

GET FEATURED