The job description for a CMO has quietly—but radically—changed. Today’s top marketing leaders are expected to move at the speed of culture, understand creators as media ecosystems, deploy AI responsibly, and still deliver commercial growth under relentless scrutiny. The pipeline for that kind of leader, however, hasn’t always kept pace.

VaynerX and The Marketing Academy (TMA) are betting that changes now.

The modern integrated advertising company founded by Gary Vaynerchuk and the global marketing leadership organization led by Sherilyn Shackell have announced a shared commitment to accelerating the development of the next generation of marketing leaders worldwide. The collaboration brings together VaynerX’s culture-first, execution-driven approach with TMA’s long-standing focus on leadership development at the highest levels of marketing.

The partnership isn’t just symbolic. It’s designed to influence how future CMOs are identified, trained, and supported—well before they reach the top job.

The Future CMO Takes Center Stage

That shared vision was put into practice at VaynerX’s Future CMO Summit (FCMO), held at The Ranch at Rock Creek in Montana. The two-day, invite-only gathering brought together 20 high-potential marketers, each nominated by senior brand leaders, for an immersive professional development experience.

Rather than a traditional conference format, the summit emphasized candid conversation, real-time learning, and reflection. The focus was less on slides and more on the realities of leading in a world shaped by culture, creators, and AI.

At the core of the event—and the broader partnership—is a belief shared by both organizations: the most important person in the room is the future CMO. And the industry, they argue, has a responsibility to invest in that talent early, not after the title arrives.

A New Definition of Marketing Leadership

“Marketing is in the middle of a massive shift,” said Gary Vaynerchuk, Chairman of VaynerX. “Tomorrow’s CMOs must be fluent in culture, creators, AI, and speed, and most importantly, lead with empathy and accountability. Nurturing that talent early is essential for the future of our industry.”

That framing reflects a broader recalibration of what marketing leadership means. The modern CMO is no longer just the steward of brand and demand generation. They’re increasingly expected to be:

• A cultural translator who understands internet-native behavior

• A partner to creators and communities, not just media buyers

• A strategic operator who can apply AI without losing human judgment

• A leader capable of navigating organizational complexity and public scrutiny

This expanded remit has made the CMO role more powerful—and more fragile. Turnover remains high across many industries, often because the role evolves faster than leaders are prepared for.

VaynerX and TMA are positioning their collaboration as a way to close that readiness gap.

Why The Marketing Academy Fits This Moment

The Marketing Academy has spent years building a global network of senior marketers and future leaders, with a strong emphasis on confidence, capability, and values-based leadership. Its alumni network now includes more than 1,400 marketing leaders across the U.S., EMEA, and APAC.

“Our mission is to develop extraordinary leadership in exceptional talent,” said Sherilyn Shackell, Founder and Global CEO of The Marketing Academy. “By aligning with VaynerX around this shared ambition, we can help rising CMOs build the confidence, capability, and modern skillsets required to thrive in an increasingly complex world.”

The alignment makes strategic sense. TMA brings structure, mentorship, and long-term leadership development. VaynerX brings real-time exposure to how brands, platforms, and culture actually operate today.

Together, they’re aiming to blend theory with practice—something many leadership programs struggle to do in fast-changing digital environments.

From Summit Insights to Scaled Impact

The Montana summit wasn’t meant to be a one-off experience. Insights from the Future CMO Summit will directly inform programming throughout 2025 and 2026, shaping how both organizations approach leadership development.

Key themes emerging from the gathering include:

• Cultural fluency as a core executive skill, not a soft one

• Community-centric leadership, where audiences are participants, not targets

• Content ecosystem thinking, replacing campaign-first mental models

• AI enablement, with a focus on judgment, governance, and speed

These ideas reflect where marketing is heading, not where it’s been. As platforms fragment and attention becomes more contextual, CMOs are expected to orchestrate ecosystems rather than manage channels.

What’s Coming Next

Following the Future CMO Summit, VaynerX and TMA plan to roll out a series of coordinated initiatives aimed at emerging marketing leaders across regions. These include:

• Curated leadership development sessions and modern skill-building experiences

• Intimate roundtables and peer gatherings for future CMOs

• Cross-regional mentorship and connections with senior VaynerX and TMA leaders

• Ongoing thought leadership focused on the evolving role of the CMO

By spanning the U.S., EMEA, and APAC, the partnership also acknowledges that marketing leadership is no longer geographically uniform. Cultural context matters—and global CMOs must learn to operate across markets without defaulting to one-size-fits-all thinking.

Why This Matters to the Industry

At a time when AI is rewriting workflows and creators are reshaping media economics, marketing leadership development hasn’t always kept pace. Many organizations still rely on outdated playbooks or assume that experience alone will prepare leaders for what’s next.

This collaboration signals a different approach: proactive, intentional, and grounded in modern realities.

For brands, it suggests a future talent pool better equipped to handle complexity. For agencies, it reinforces the idea that leadership development is a shared responsibility, not just an internal HR function. And for rising marketers, it offers something increasingly rare—space to think, learn, and prepare before the pressure peaks.

The goal, as VaynerX and The Marketing Academy describe it, is simple but ambitious: to equip future CMOs with the tools, perspective, and community they need to shape the next era of global brand-building.

In an industry obsessed with what’s new, this partnership is a reminder that the most valuable investment may still be people.

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Formula E may race on a closed circuit, but for the 2026 Miami E-Prix, its presence won’t be confined to the track. OUTFRONT Media, one of the largest out-of-home (OOH) companies in the U.S., has been named the Official Out-of-Home Advertising Partner of the 2026 ABB FIA Formula E Miami E-Prix, alongside serving as Associate Partner of Change. Accelerated. Live: Miami.

The one-year partnership makes OUTFRONT a core media extension of Formula E, using Miami itself as the canvas. With access to Formula E intellectual property, OUTFRONT can deploy official branding across marketing campaigns, creative executions, and client activations—starting immediately with the recently held Miami E-Prix.

For Formula E, the move reinforces a growing focus on meeting fans beyond broadcast and digital channels. For OUTFRONT, it’s another signal that IRL media is becoming central to how major sporting events scale attention in dense urban environments.

Turning a Race Weekend into a Citywide Moment

The partnership centers on amplification. OUTFRONT’s OOH network is designed to push the energy of race weekend into everyday routines—commutes, neighborhoods, and public spaces—well beyond the Miami International Autodrome.

“Our entire Formula E team is excited to welcome OUTFRONT Media as the Official Out-of-Home Advertising Partner for the 2026 Miami E-Prix,” said Lee Zohlman, Partnerships Director at Formula E. “OUTFRONT has been instrumental in capturing the spirit of Formula E… ensuring that the energy of the Miami E-Prix reaches fans exactly where they live, work, and play.”

That philosophy is reflected in a citywide campaign launched around Hard Rock Stadium and throughout South Florida. The activation includes digital signage, fan village banners, media backdrops, high-impact digital billboards, and transit placements—formats designed to reach fans and non-fans alike as they move through the city.

The creative was designed and produced by OUTFRONT STUDIOS, the company’s in-house agency, underscoring a broader industry trend: OOH providers increasingly acting not just as media owners, but as full-service creative and experiential partners.

IRL Media’s Growing Role in Sports Marketing

OUTFRONT describes itself as an “in-real-life” (IRL) media company—a framing that’s gaining traction as brands look to complement digital reach with physical presence. In a media landscape dominated by screens, live sports remain one of the few reliably mass, culturally relevant moments. OOH, by design, intersects directly with those moments.

“IRL media is a force multiplier for fan engagement,” said Chris Mallen, Senior Director of Sports Marketing & Partnerships at OUTFRONT. “This partnership with Formula E represents a meaningful evolution in how live sports and IRL come together to connect brands to fans.”

That evolution is visible across OUTFRONT’s recent dealmaking. Late last year, the company announced partnerships with the Bay Area Host Committee and the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission, adding to a portfolio that already spans tentpole events like the Super Bowl and World Cup. Formula E slots neatly into that strategy, particularly as global motorsports continue to attract younger, sustainability-conscious audiences.

Formula E, Sustainability, and Brand Alignment

Formula E’s all-electric racing series has long positioned sustainability as a core differentiator, not a side narrative. OUTFRONT is leaning into that alignment.

The company highlighted its own sustainability initiatives as part of the announcement, including converting more than 75,000 lighting fixtures to LEDs—cutting energy usage per fixture by roughly 70%—recycling or repurposing nearly all vinyl canvases, installing solar panels at major office locations, and supporting public transit systems that reduce single-occupancy vehicle use.

For marketers, that alignment matters. As brands increasingly scrutinize the environmental impact of their media investments, partnerships that combine reach, cultural relevance, and sustainability credentials are becoming easier to justify—and harder to ignore.

What This Means for Brands and Cities

The OUTFRONT–Formula E partnership highlights a broader shift in how large-scale events think about media. Instead of treating OOH as a supporting channel, it’s being used as connective tissue—linking the event, the city, sponsors, and everyday audiences.

For brands activating around Formula E, the deal opens access to official IP and high-visibility placements that operate before, during, and after race weekend. For Miami, it reinforces the city’s growing role as a global sports and entertainment hub capable of hosting—and amplifying—international events.

And for the OOH industry, it’s another reminder that physical media isn’t retreating in the digital era; it’s evolving. When paired with live sports, experiential design, and social amplification, IRL media can turn a single race into a citywide cultural moment.

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Marketing AI is everywhere right now—but in healthcare and life sciences, “everywhere” often means “nowhere useful.” Between regulatory hurdles, fragmented data, and long approval cycles, most off-the-shelf AI tools struggle to move beyond surface-level productivity gains.

Supreme Group thinks it has an answer.

Today, the healthcare-focused marketing and communications agency announced Supreme Intelligence, a proprietary Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) purpose-built for the commercial realities of life sciences and healthcare companies. Rather than bolting AI onto existing workflows, Supreme Intelligence aims to rewire how campaigns are planned, created, approved, and optimized—without breaking compliance.

It’s a bold claim in a crowded AI market. But Supreme Group is betting that deep domain expertise—and not just better models—will be the real differentiator.

A New Kind of AI Platform, Not Another Chatbot

Supreme Intelligence is positioned as an end-to-end platform rather than a collection of AI features. The company says it unifies proprietary data, analytics, and healthcare-specific insights into a single, secure environment that agency teams and clients can use across the entire marketing lifecycle.

That lifecycle spans everything from early strategy and messaging development to medical, legal, and regulatory (MLR) review, activation, and performance measurement.

Unlike general-purpose AI tools that excel at narrow tasks—copywriting, summarization, or data analysis—Supreme Intelligence is designed to operate as a connected system. The idea is to reduce friction between steps that are traditionally siloed and slow, especially in regulated industries.

“We built Supreme Intelligence leveraging our life sciences and healthcare domain expertise to drive maximum commercial impact,” said Sheldon Zhai, Founder and Chief AI Officer at Supreme Group. According to Zhai, that domain-first approach is what makes the platform adaptable enough to be considered “a fundamentally new class of AI platforms.”

Supreme Group claims early deployments are already delivering 10x improvements in campaign speed, quality, and performance outcomes, powered by adoption across more than 350 subject matter experts, including over 55 PhDs.

Why Healthcare Marketing Is Ripe for Specialized AI

Healthcare and life sciences marketing sits at the intersection of high stakes and high friction. Campaigns must be accurate, compliant, and evidence-based—while still competing for attention in an increasingly digital-first world.

This tension has created a gap between what modern AI can do and what regulated organizations feel safe deploying. Many companies experiment with AI in isolated pilots, but few scale it across strategy, production, and measurement.

Supreme Intelligence is clearly designed to close that gap.

By embedding regulatory considerations, approval workflows, and privacy protections directly into the platform, Supreme Group is positioning AI not as a risk—but as infrastructure.

“Our fundamental promise to our clients is to solve complex business problems,” said Tom Donnelly, CEO of Supreme Group. “We developed Supreme Intelligence to fulfill that promise more effectively.”

That framing matters. In healthcare marketing, speed alone isn’t enough; trust and auditability are equally critical.

Persona-Driven Strategy: Testing Before You Launch

One of the platform’s standout capabilities is persona-driven strategy simulation. Instead of relying solely on static personas or historical assumptions, teams can deploy trained AI personas—such as a “Director of Clinical Development” or “Head of Cardiology”—to test how messaging might land before a campaign goes live.

These personas are grounded in Supreme Group’s proprietary research and industry data, allowing marketers to simulate reactions, objections, and preferences in a controlled environment.

This approach reflects a broader industry shift toward pre-launch experimentation. As budgets tighten and timelines compress, brands are looking for ways to de-risk campaigns earlier in the process. AI-powered persona testing could offer a faster, cheaper alternative to traditional market research—especially for early-stage messaging decisions.

If it works as advertised, it could change how healthcare marketers think about validation and iteration.

From “Chat” to Production-Ready Content

Content generation is where most marketers first encounter AI—but it’s also where regulated industries hit the hardest limits. Generating compliant, brand-safe, production-ready assets is a very different challenge from drafting a clever headline.

Supreme Intelligence aims to bridge that gap.

The platform supports custom workflow applications that generate assets at scale—ranging from regionalized digital campaigns to email templates—while enforcing brand guidelines, regulatory constraints, and approval requirements.

Rather than producing raw text that still needs heavy human cleanup, Supreme Group says the system is designed to output content that’s ready for real-world deployment.

That’s a significant promise. In healthcare marketing, even small compliance errors can delay campaigns by weeks. Automating guardrails, rather than relying on post-hoc review, could materially change throughput.

Dynamic Orchestration Under the Hood

A quieter—but potentially more important—feature of Supreme Intelligence is its dynamic orchestration layer.

Instead of locking teams into a single AI model or vendor, the platform automatically curates and integrates the best-performing models for each task. That could mean one model for real-time data analysis, another for content generation, and a different one for regulatory checks.

This model-agnostic approach reflects a growing realization in enterprise AI: the fastest-moving innovation isn’t in platforms, but in models. By abstracting model selection away from end users, Supreme Intelligence aims to future-proof itself as the AI ecosystem evolves.

For clients, that means less concern about betting on the “wrong” AI stack—and more focus on outcomes.

Continuous Optimization, Not Quarterly Postmortems

Measurement is another area where Supreme Intelligence pushes beyond traditional dashboards.

Rather than presenting static reports, the platform interprets live performance data to surface actionable insights in real time. Teams can adjust messaging, targeting, or spend based on immediate feedback—rather than waiting for quarterly reviews.

This aligns with broader trends in marketing analytics, where the emphasis is shifting from retrospective analysis to continuous optimization. In fast-moving therapeutic areas, the ability to pivot quickly can translate directly into competitive advantage.

For healthcare marketers used to long feedback loops, this could be one of the platform’s most disruptive features.

Built for Compliance—and Customization

Supreme Group emphasizes that Supreme Intelligence was built with regulatory rigor from day one. The platform supports privacy protections, approval workflows, and audit trails designed for healthcare and life sciences environments.

At the same time, its agentic architecture allows for deep customization. Supreme Intelligence isn’t limited to a fixed feature set; it can be configured to address specific challenges across the marketing lifecycle.

That flexibility matters as clients’ needs evolve. Supreme Group says it is actively expanding the platform with new workflows and applications in response to customer demand.

“We are rapidly building new AI workflows and applications, expanding alongside our customer’s needs,” Donnelly said.

How It Compares to the Rest of the Market

Supreme Intelligence enters a competitive—but fragmented—AI landscape.

On one end are general-purpose AI tools that offer broad capabilities but limited industry specificity. On the other are point solutions focused on narrow use cases like content generation or analytics.

Supreme Group is aiming for the middle ground: a verticalized AI platform that combines breadth with deep domain expertise. That strategy mirrors what’s happening in other regulated sectors, where vertical AI platforms are gaining traction over horizontal tools.

If successful, Supreme Intelligence could set a template for how agencies—and not just software vendors—build and deploy AI at scale.

What It Means for Healthcare Marketing

The launch of Supreme Intelligence signals a broader shift in the agency-client relationship. AI is no longer just a productivity layer; it’s becoming a shared operating system for strategy, execution, and measurement.

For healthcare and life sciences companies, that could mean faster launches, more confident experimentation, and better alignment between creativity and compliance.

For agencies, it raises the bar. As proprietary AI platforms become differentiators, the value of domain expertise—and the ability to operationalize AI responsibly—will matter more than ever.

Supreme Group is betting that its investment in a purpose-built AIP will pay off as clients demand more speed, transparency, and measurable impact from their marketing partners.

Whether Supreme Intelligence becomes a model for the industry remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: in regulated marketing, AI is finally moving from novelty to infrastructure.

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Digital signage has quietly become one of the most influential—and demanding—channels in modern marketing. From retail stores and restaurants to corporate offices and healthcare facilities, screens are everywhere. The problem isn’t distribution anymore; it’s content. Keeping thousands of displays fresh, relevant, localized, and on-brand has become a full-time job—often without the headcount or budget to match.

Mvix, a long-time player in turnkey digital signage for mid-market and enterprise organizations, thinks it has a solution. The company has launched AI Suite, a new set of AI-powered capabilities built directly into the Mvix platform, aimed at helping marketing teams and retail media operators produce rich signage content faster, cheaper, and at far greater scale.

Available now as part of Mvix’s Signature 360 platform, AI Suite positions itself not as a novelty feature, but as a practical production layer for real-world signage operations.

Why Digital Signage Content Is Hitting a Wall

Over the past decade, digital signage has evolved from static slide shows to a primary communication channel. Screens now handle:

• In-store promotions and retail media ads

• Menu boards and dynamic pricing

• Employee communications and safety updates

• Brand storytelling and experiential content

Yet many mid-market organizations still rely on the same limited workflows: static templates, overworked designers, or external agencies that slow everything down.

The result is a familiar bottleneck. Content calendars fall behind. Screens go stale. Localization suffers. And teams spend more time managing production than thinking strategically.

Mvix’s AI Suite is designed to attack that bottleneck head-on by collapsing ideation, creation, and publishing into a single workflow—without requiring creative agencies or specialized tools.

What AI Suite Actually Does (and Why It’s Different)

AI features are showing up everywhere in martech, but many are bolted-on or narrowly scoped. Mvix is making a bigger claim: that AI Suite is one of the most comprehensive AI implementations in the digital signage industry, purpose-built for signage use cases rather than generic content creation.

Instead of offering a single AI image generator or text assistant, AI Suite supports multiple content formats in one unified workflow, including:

• Branded images

• Short-form promotional videos

• Spokesperson-style announcements

• Product-focused retail ads

• Music-driven creative elements

That breadth matters. Digital signage networks rarely rely on just one format. A single location might need promotional ads, informational messaging, and branded storytelling—all optimized for different screen sizes and contexts.

By supporting these formats natively, AI Suite aims to keep content varied and engaging without forcing teams to juggle multiple tools or vendors.

Built for Marketers, Not AI Specialists

One of the more notable aspects of AI Suite is its target audience. This isn’t positioned for designers, developers, or data scientists. It’s built for marketing managers, content strategists, and retail media operators—the people already responsible for keeping screens updated.

According to Mvix Executive VP Mike Kilian, that focus reflects reality.

“Marketers and content owners need to publish more, across more screens, in more locations, with less time,” Kilian said. “AI Suite removes friction from content production and helps teams deliver better experiences at scale.”

The emphasis here is on speed and consistency, not experimental creativity. AI Suite is designed to help teams:

• Generate content quickly without starting from scratch

• Maintain brand standards across locations

• Produce variations for different regions, promotions, or advertisers

• Keep content calendars full without adding staff

In other words, it’s about operationalizing creativity, not replacing it.

The Mid-Market Angle: Where AI Actually Matters

Enterprise brands often have agencies, studios, and budgets to brute-force content production. Mid-market organizations don’t. That’s where AI Suite is most likely to resonate.

Mvix highlights several concrete impacts for mid-market teams:

• Higher content velocity: Faster ideation, production, and publishing

• Brand consistency: Repeatable, on-brand outputs across screen types

• Retail media enablement: Rapid creation of ad variants for advertisers

• Operational agility: Quick responses to seasonal or real-time changes

• Richer formats: Moving beyond static templates into video and audio

This aligns with a broader industry shift. As retail media networks expand beyond ecommerce into physical spaces, the ability to produce and rotate ad creative quickly becomes a competitive advantage. Screens are inventory—but only if there’s content to fill them.

Beyond Content: AI for Signage Operations

While AI Suite’s headline feature is content creation, Mvix is also signaling where it’s heading next: infrastructure intelligence.

The company says it’s leveraging its device-level KPIs to develop predictive large language models aimed at improving endpoint performance. In practical terms, that means using historical device data—CPU usage, disk health, memory, network traffic—to anticipate problems before screens go dark.

Anomaly detection algorithms are being developed to forecast:

• Playback bottlenecks

• Network blocks

• Hardware or resource failures

For organizations running large signage networks, downtime isn’t just a technical issue—it’s lost revenue, missed promotions, and damaged brand perception. If Mvix can make predictive maintenance a reality, it would push AI Suite beyond marketing into operations, an area where AI often delivers clearer ROI.

How Mvix Stacks Up Against the Market

Many digital signage platforms now tout “AI-powered” features, but they’re often limited to single-use tools or experimental add-ons. Mvix’s approach is notable for its end-to-end ambition.

Rather than asking teams to adopt AI piecemeal, AI Suite integrates directly into the existing Mvix workflow. That lowers the barrier to adoption—an important factor for mid-market customers who may be skeptical of AI hype but eager for tangible productivity gains.

It also reflects a growing trend in B2B tech: AI as embedded infrastructure, not a standalone product. The tools that win aren’t the flashiest; they’re the ones that quietly remove friction from everyday work.

Why This Launch Matters

AI Suite arrives at a moment when digital signage is evolving from a display channel into a performance-driven medium. Screens are no longer just about visibility—they’re about engagement, monetization, and measurable outcomes.

By focusing on scalable content creation and predictive operations, Mvix is positioning itself not just as a signage vendor, but as a platform for always-on physical media.

For marketing teams drowning in content demands, that promise is compelling. The real test will be how well AI Suite balances speed with quality—and whether it truly reduces dependence on agencies and manual workflows.

If it does, Mvix may have found one of the more practical uses of AI in martech: not replacing people, but finally giving them room to breathe.

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In an era when local television is under pressure from streaming giants and shrinking ad budgets, Hemisphere Media Group and Entravision are making a confident—and highly targeted—broadcast play. The two media companies have launched WAPA Orlando, a new full-power television station designed specifically for Central Florida’s Latino audience, with a sharp focus on the region’s rapidly growing Puerto Rican community.

WAPA Orlando officially began broadcasting on February 2, 2026, airing on Entravision-owned WOTF-TV (Channel 26) and reaching viewers across the Orlando–Daytona Beach–Melbourne DMA. The station carries programming from WAPA-TV, Puerto Rico’s top-rated television network for 16 consecutive years, while layering in locally produced news and digital-first distribution strategies.

The move reflects a broader recalibration in Spanish-language and Latino-focused media: go deeper locally, serve specific communities better, and blend legacy broadcast strength with modern digital execution.

A Local Station Built for a Distinct Latino Audience

Unlike many Spanish-language stations that aim for a broad pan-Latino appeal, WAPA Orlando is deliberately narrow in its focus. The station is tailored to Central Florida’s Puerto Rican population, which has surged over the past decade and now represents the second-largest Puerto Rican community in the continental United States.

Orlando is often referred to as Puerto Rico’s “79th municipality,” a cultural shorthand that underscores how deeply intertwined the island and Central Florida have become. That demographic reality creates an opportunity for programming that feels culturally specific rather than generically Hispanic.

WAPA Orlando is positioned as the first broadcast television station dedicated specifically to Orlando’s Puerto Rican community, combining island-produced content with local reporting that reflects the lived experiences of Puerto Rican families in Florida.

Leveraging WAPA’s Content Engine

At the heart of the new station is WAPA-TV’s production infrastructure, one of the most prolific news and entertainment operations in Puerto Rico. WAPA currently produces more than 80 hours per week of original programming, spanning news, entertainment, and cultural content.

That content pipeline gives WAPA Orlando an immediate advantage: a deep bench of proven programming without the startup friction that typically plagues new stations. Viewers will see familiar formats, trusted anchors, and established franchises—elements that matter in communities where media trust is earned over time.

For Hemisphere Media, this expansion extends WAPA’s brand beyond Puerto Rico in a meaningful way, transforming it from a dominant island network into a cross-market platform serving Puerto Rican audiences on the mainland.

Local News, Built with Entravision’s Infrastructure

While WAPA supplies the content muscle, Entravision brings the local-market expertise. The station’s local newscasts will be produced by Entravision and branded as NotiCentro Orlando, drawing on Entravision’s award-winning news organization.

At launch, WAPA Orlando will air two daily locally produced newscasts, in the morning and midday. Evening and late-night editions are planned as the station scales.

More importantly, the partnership establishes a collaborative national news framework, led by Entravision, that taps into reporting resources from 24 U.S. markets. That structure allows WAPA Orlando to cover local Central Florida stories while also contextualizing national issues affecting Latino and Puerto Rican communities across the country.

In practical terms, this means broader editorial reach without sacrificing local relevance—a balance many local stations struggle to achieve.

Why This Launch Matters Now

The timing of WAPA Orlando’s launch is notable. Local broadcast television has faced years of disruption, but it remains uniquely powerful in specific demographic niches—especially when paired with culturally relevant content.

At the same time, Puerto Rican audiences in the U.S. mainland have often been underserved by media that fully reflects their identity, language, and political concerns. WAPA Orlando steps into that gap with a clear value proposition: trusted Puerto Rican journalism, localized for Central Florida.

“This is a completely unique local service custom made for the Orlando Hispanic community,” said Alan J. Sokol, President and CEO of Hemisphere Media Group, emphasizing the blend of WAPA’s journalism with Entravision’s market expertise.

For advertisers, the appeal is equally clear. A focused, engaged audience with strong cultural ties is often more valuable than a larger but less defined viewership—particularly in categories like retail, healthcare, financial services, and political advertising.

Digital Strategy as a Core Pillar, Not an Add-On

Unlike traditional station launches of the past, WAPA Orlando is not treating digital as secondary. Entravision will develop and manage the station’s full digital strategy, including a dedicated website and standalone digital platform aimed at Orlando’s Latino audience.

Entravision will also handle all sales operations, supported by a dedicated local sales and production team. Beyond traditional TV spots, advertisers will have access to creative services, talent-driven integrations, turnkey video production, and combined commercial and digital buys.

This integrated approach reflects a growing industry reality: local TV stations increasingly function as multi-platform media hubs, not just linear broadcasters.

A Strategic Expansion for Both Companies

For Hemisphere Media Group, WAPA Orlando extends its footprint in the continental U.S. while reinforcing its leadership in Puerto Rican-focused media. The company already operates a wide portfolio that includes broadcast, radio, cable networks, FAST channels, and digital platforms targeting Hispanic and Latin American audiences.

For Entravision, the partnership strengthens its position in a key Florida market while aligning with a premium content brand that already commands loyalty. The collaboration also underscores Entravision’s continued investment in community-focused media, even as many broadcasters consolidate or pull back from local news.

Jeffery Liberman, President and COO of Entravision, described the launch as a way to better serve audiences, distributors, and advertisers by combining trusted brands with complementary strengths.

The Bigger Picture: Local Media, Reimagined

WAPA Orlando is more than a new channel—it’s a case study in how local broadcast media can evolve. By anchoring itself in a specific cultural community, leveraging high-volume content production, and integrating digital from day one, the station challenges the notion that broadcast TV is in irreversible decline.

Instead, it suggests a more nuanced future: fewer generic stations, more targeted ones—and partnerships that marry scale with specificity.

For Central Florida’s Puerto Rican community, WAPA Orlando promises something rare in today’s media landscape: coverage that feels both local and familiar, informed by a shared cultural lens.

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As AI-powered automation races through the home services industry, one software provider is making a deliberate—and increasingly contrarian—bet on human connection. ServiceForge, a customer service software company for home service contractors, has named Ripley PR as its public relations agency of record, signaling a push to elevate its “Keep Service Human” positioning across the trades.

The partnership pairs a human-first CX platform with a PR firm deeply embedded in the skilled trades ecosystem, at a time when contractors are weighing efficiency gains from AI against the risk of losing trust at the customer level.

A Human Counterpoint to AI-Heavy Customer Service

ServiceForge provides home service businesses with tools such as 24/7 answering services, scheduling, and lead qualification, helping contractors capture and manage demand around the clock. While those capabilities aren’t unique on their own, the company’s differentiation lies in how they’re delivered.

Instead of defaulting to chatbots or fully automated systems, ServiceForge emphasizes live, trained representatives—real people handling real customer interactions. The company argues that for high-consideration services like HVAC, plumbing, roofing, or electrical work, customers still want reassurance from a human voice.

That stance cuts against a broader industry trend. Many home services platforms are aggressively rolling out AI-driven call handling and conversational automation to reduce costs and scale faster. ServiceForge is positioning itself as the alternative: technology-enabled, but human-led.

Why Ripley PR—and Why Now

To amplify that message, ServiceForge turned to Ripley PR, a global agency known for its specialization in skilled trades, B2B technology, and manufacturing. Ripley PR has built a reputation for translating technical platforms into narratives that resonate with contractors, franchise owners, and trade media—audiences that don’t respond well to buzzwords or abstract innovation claims.

“We have a unique story to tell, and Ripley PR has the expertise to ensure that story connects with the right audience,” said Jane Blanchard, head of brand and marketing at ServiceForge. She pointed to Ripley’s credibility in the home services space and its track record working with software innovators as key factors in the decision.

The timing suggests ServiceForge is preparing to sharpen its positioning as automation fatigue begins to surface. As AI tools proliferate, differentiation is shifting from who uses AI to how thoughtfully it’s applied.

Positioning ‘Keep Service Human’ as a Market Signal

For Ripley PR, the mandate goes beyond basic media coverage. According to founder and CEO Heather Ripley, the goal is to make “Keep Service Human” part of the broader industry conversation—especially among contractors who feel pressured to automate without fully understanding the trade-offs.

“ServiceForge is an original voice within the trades,” Ripley said. “Their model answers real consumer demand.”

That demand is increasingly visible. While consumers expect fast responses, they’re also quick to abandon brands that feel impersonal or frustrating to deal with—particularly when service issues are urgent or expensive. In that context, ServiceForge’s positioning doubles as a brand promise and a strategic critique of AI-first CX models.

A Broader Trend in Home Services Martech

The partnership highlights a subtle shift in home services MarTech. For years, innovation was measured by how much human involvement could be removed from the process. Now, the conversation is becoming more nuanced.

Leading platforms are starting to frame AI as augmentation rather than replacement—supporting agents instead of eliminating them. ServiceForge’s message fits squarely into that evolution, and Ripley PR’s role will be to ensure it lands with credibility rather than nostalgia.

About the Firms

Founded in 2013, Ripley PR has been recognized by Newsweek as one of America’s Best PR Agencies and by Entrepreneur as a Top Franchise Supplier. Its services span media relations, brand strategy, crisis communications, and thought leadership, with a strong foothold in trade and B2B verticals.

ServiceForge, meanwhile, continues to position itself as a CX platform built specifically for the realities of home service contractors—where trust, responsiveness, and human interaction still drive bookings and loyalty.

Why This Matters

As AI becomes table stakes in customer service software, differentiation is moving up the value chain—from features to philosophy. ServiceForge’s decision to double down on a human-first narrative, and to invest in specialized PR to carry that message, reflects a growing belief that how technology is used matters as much as what it does.

For the home services industry, the partnership is a reminder that automation doesn’t have to mean depersonalization—and that, for many customers, a real voice still beats a perfect algorithm.

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Ceisler Media & Issue Advocacy and Athena Global Advisors have announced a merger that brings together two long-time collaborators into a single, expanded organization—one designed to offer end-to-end services across communications, marketing, issue advocacy, and management consulting.

The deal formalizes a partnership that’s been quietly in motion since 2020, when the firms began sharing clients and teaming up on projects where strategy, messaging, and execution needed to move in lockstep. Now, instead of coordinating across company lines, those capabilities will live under one roof.

How the Merger Is Structured

Under the agreement, Ceisler Media will become an Athena company, but it will continue operating under its own name. The firm retains its brand, culture, leadership, and operational independence—a structure that signals integration without absorption.

Founder Larry Ceisler and the entire Ceisler Media leadership team remain in place, along with staff and offices across Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg, and the Lehigh Valley. For clients, the day-to-day relationship with Ceisler Media stays intact, while access to Athena’s broader capabilities expands.

Athena, meanwhile, adds a seasoned public relations and issue advocacy engine directly into its portfolio, rather than relying on partners or subcontractors.

Why This Combination Makes Sense Now

On paper, the two firms are highly complementary. Ceisler Media brings three decades of experience in public relations, media strategy, and issue advocacy, with a client roster spanning Fortune 50 companies, government agencies, nonprofits, and small businesses. Athena contributes management consulting, brand strategy, data analytics, digital intelligence, and large-scale execution capabilities across industries like media, telecom, sports, transportation, and consumer brands.

Together, the combined offering spans:

• Branding and marketing strategy

• Public relations and media engagement

• Issue advocacy and reputation management

• Digital intelligence and data analytics

• Event strategy and production

• Management and organizational consulting

The result is a full-stack communications and strategy consultancy—a model that’s increasingly attractive as clients look to consolidate vendors and demand tighter alignment between strategy and execution.

From Informal Partnership to Integrated Platform

Larry Ceisler framed the merger as a natural next step rather than a sudden shift. “It’s rare to encounter a like-minded peer who leads their business with the same values and sense of collaboration,” he said, pointing to shared commitments to transparency, empathy, and excellence as the foundation of the deal.

That emphasis on values matters in an industry where culture clashes often derail integrations. By preserving Ceisler Media’s independence while embedding it within Athena, the firms appear to be prioritizing continuity—for both employees and clients.

Athena founder Maggy Wilkinson echoed that sentiment, noting that the firm was built on the idea that strategy, execution, and trust should coexist. “This merger builds on a proven partnership and allows Athena to expand our in-house capabilities, scale how we serve clients, and accelerate growth,” she said.

Implications for Clients—and the Market

For clients, the immediate benefit is access. Services that once required coordination across multiple vendors—or informal partnerships—can now be delivered internally. That reduces friction, shortens timelines, and gives clients a single strategic throughline from insight to execution.

From a market perspective, the merger reflects a broader trend in marketing and communications: convergence. PR firms are moving upstream into strategy and analytics, while consultancies are pushing deeper into storytelling, media, and advocacy. Clients increasingly expect both.

Rather than competing head-on with global holding companies, Athena and Ceisler are carving out a mid-market-to-enterprise niche focused on integration, agility, and regional depth—particularly in the Mid-Atlantic.

Scale, Experience, and Credibility

The numbers add weight to the strategy. Ceisler Media, founded in 1995, currently services more than 70 clients with a team of 25 full-time employees. Athena, founded in 2013, brings 130 full-time employees, a diverse client portfolio, and recent accolades, including Wilkinson’s recognition as one of the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 2025 “Most Admired CEOs” and Athena’s multi-year run as a Philadelphia Inquirer Top Workplace.

Combined, the firms have the scale to handle complex, multi-market engagements—without losing the hands-on leadership involvement many clients value.

What Comes Next

The companies say the merger will allow them to broaden services for existing clients immediately, while also investing more deeply in subject matter expertise and technology. That suggests future expansion in areas like data-driven communications, digital intelligence, and integrated campaign measurement—capabilities increasingly central to modern MarTech and PR strategies.

For now, the message is clear: this isn’t about cutting costs or rebranding. It’s about building a more cohesive platform at a time when communications, technology, and public perception are evolving faster than ever.

As agencies and consultancies race to adapt, Athena and Ceisler are betting that integration—not specialization alone—is the path to staying relevant.

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The utility company (NYSE: SR) has reaffirmed plans to redeem all outstanding 5.90% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Perpetual Preferred Stock, a move that will retire roughly $250 million in preferred equity and eliminate future dividend obligations tied to the securities.

The redemption, first disclosed earlier, is scheduled for February 13, 2026, and applies to all 10,000 outstanding Series A preferred shares, along with their associated depositary shares (NYSE: SR.PRA). Each depositary share represents a 1/1000th interest in a single share of preferred stock.

For investors, the mechanics are straightforward—but the implications point to a broader trend of issuers reshaping capital structures as interest rates and financing conditions evolve.

What’s Being Redeemed—and at What Price

Spire will redeem the Series A preferred shares at the standard $25.00 per depositary share, equivalent to a $25,000 liquidation preference per preferred share. That base redemption amount will be paid to holders on the redemption date.

In addition, shareholders of record as of January 26, 2026 will receive a final quarterly dividend of $0.36875 per depositary share, payable on February 17, 2026. This dividend represents all accrued and unpaid dividends through—but not including—the redemption date.

Importantly, Spire is splitting the payment into two parts:

• February 13, 2026: Redemption of depositary shares at $25.00 per share

• February 17, 2026: Payment of the previously declared quarterly dividend to holders of record

After those payments are made, the company will have no further dividend or financial obligations related to the Series A preferred stock.

Why This Matters

While preferred stock redemptions are not unusual, timing matters. Many companies issued higher-coupon preferred securities during periods of lower rates or heightened uncertainty. As balance sheets stabilize and financing strategies shift, issuers are increasingly choosing to redeem these instruments rather than continue paying relatively expensive dividends.

At 5.90%, Spire’s Series A preferred dividend sits well above what many investment-grade issuers can now achieve through alternative financing or internal cash flow. Retiring the preferred shares reduces ongoing dividend expense and simplifies the company’s capital stack—an outcome often viewed favorably by common equity investors.

For preferred shareholders, the redemption delivers predictability: par value plus all accrued dividends, with no ambiguity around future payments.

What Happens Next for Investors

Holders do not need to take action to receive the redemption proceeds, assuming their shares are held in street name through a broker. Depositary shares will be automatically redeemed on the redemption date, with dividends paid shortly thereafter to eligible holders.

Spire has directed any questions or requests for official redemption materials to Computershare Trust Company, N.A., which is handling the process.

Once the redemption is complete, the Series A preferred stock and its depositary shares will cease to exist, and Spire will no longer carry preferred equity obligations tied to this issuance.

The Bigger Picture

Spire’s move fits into a broader pattern across utilities and infrastructure-heavy companies: tightening capital structures, reducing higher-cost instruments, and positioning for long-term stability rather than yield-driven financing.

For income-focused investors, it’s another reminder that callable preferred stock carries reinvestment risk—especially when issued with coupons that may look generous a few years later. For issuers, it’s a reminder that optionality embedded in preferred securities can become a strategic lever when market conditions change.

In Spire’s case, the lever is being pulled deliberately and cleanly—bringing a decade-long preferred issuance to a tidy close.

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