marketing 15 May 2025
Experiential marketing is a fast-growing segment of the advertising landscape, expected to hit $57 billion by 2027. Yet despite soaring budgets and strong consumer interest, the industry suffers from a critical flaw: a lack of standardized, data-driven measurement for success. Recognizing this void, CrowdAxis officially enters the market with a breakthrough solution its Experiential Power Index (EPI)™. This proprietary metric aims to redefine how brands measure, compare, and optimize their experiential investments.
Brands invest heavily in experiential campaigns—pop-ups, festivals, in-person events—but face challenges in quantifying their real-world impact.
Traditional measurement methods fail to link brand alignment or emotional response to tangible ROI.
Without a standard framework, marketers rely on disjointed data points, making campaign comparisons difficult and optimization nearly impossible.
CrowdAxis is the first intelligence firm focused exclusively on experiential marketing analytics.
The EPI Score (Experiential Power Index™) provides a unified, data-backed metric for evaluating engagement, sentiment, recall, and conversion.
Built on proprietary algorithms and multidimensional data collection, the EPI offers a single number to summarize event effectiveness.
Standardization Across Experiences
Enables marketers to compare diverse event formats—concerts, sports events, pop-ups—using a unified scoring model.
Comprehensive Insights
Measures attendee engagement, emotional response, brand recall, and conversion potential with advanced analytics.
Optimized Investments
Helps brands identify high-performing activations and cut back on underperformers, driving smarter budget allocation.
Business-Outcome Alignment
Provides actionable intelligence that links marketing experience quality directly to business KPIs.
Alicia Richardson, Co-Founder, highlights the core issue: millions spent on brand experiences often rely on incomplete or anecdotal data.
The EPI score changes this by delivering reliable, data-driven insights.
Keri D. Richardson, Co-Founder, emphasizes that the EPI enables apples-to-apples comparisons across event types—a first for the industry.
Brings clarity to an industry long operating in a measurement vacuum.
Agencies can now prove impact with standardized metrics, improving client reporting and retention.
Enables strategic planning by forecasting potential outcomes based on historical EPI data from similar activations.
As experiential marketing matures, the need for precise, comparative, and actionable performance metrics becomes critical. CrowdAxis, with its pioneering EPI score, offers a long-overdue solution that transforms experiential activations into measurable, scalable business drivers. For brands seeking to validate their marketing spend and optimize their event strategies, the EPI is poised to become the gold standard.
marketing 15 May 2025
As digital marketing and public relations become increasingly interlinked, partnerships between top-tier agencies can amplify impact in powerful ways. Reshift Media, a leading digital marketing firm specializing in franchise growth, has officially named Ripley PR its public relations agency of record. With a proven track record in B2B and franchising, Ripley PR is poised to boost Reshift’s visibility in the competitive U.S. market.
This strategic partnership reflects a growing trend: the alignment of niche expertise across digital and communications channels to support brand expansion and deepen industry authority.
The U.S. is a key market for franchise growth and brand awareness, especially for Canadian-based companies like Reshift Media.
Reshift’s existing clients and future prospects will benefit from greater brand recognition, trust, and media exposure in the American franchising landscape.
With public relations playing an increasingly essential role in multi-channel digital strategies, this partnership strengthens Reshift’s full-service offering.
Shared Franchise Focus: Both companies specialize in the franchising space—a unique and complex business model requiring tailored communications and marketing strategies.
Aligned Business Models: Both agencies value independent operation, strategic customization, and deep domain knowledge, creating a natural synergy.
Mutual Respect for Reputation: Reshift CEO Steve Buors noted Ripley PR's industry reputation as unmatched, positioning them as the ideal PR partner.
Offers a full suite of digital services: social media marketing, website development, SEO, and proprietary software tailored to franchisors.
Recognized globally with accolades such as:
Best Marketing Franchise Firm – Global Franchise Awards (3 consecutive years)
Entrepreneur Top Franchise Supplier – Repeatedly recognized, #1 in 2024
Serves over 200 brands across 22 countries, with solutions that scale across geographies and franchise structures.
Founded in 2013 with a focus on B2B, franchising, home services, and manufacturing.
Known for crafting targeted PR campaigns that resonate with franchise buyers, corporate leadership, and business media.
Earned distinctions such as:
Newsweek’s America’s Best PR Agencies (2024)
Entrepreneur Top Franchise Supplier
2025 Merit Awards – Best Communications/PR Agency
Cross-Functional Excellence: By combining digital execution with media relations, franchise brands receive comprehensive, high-impact support.
U.S. Market Penetration: With Ripley PR’s deep media connections and storytelling acumen, Reshift’s value proposition will resonate more strongly in the U.S.
Integrated Growth Strategies: PR efforts now work in tandem with digital campaigns to support lead generation, brand equity, and client retention.
In today’s increasingly complex marketing landscape, the most successful franchise brands are those supported by specialized, synergistic agency partnerships. With Reshift Media and Ripley PR joining forces, franchise systems in North America and beyond stand to benefit from a best-in-class blend of digital marketing, strategic storytelling, and industry know-how. This collaboration not only amplifies Reshift’s authority in the U.S. but also signals a broader evolution in how franchise marketing and PR are executed—more aligned, more strategic, and more impactful than ever.
ecommerce and mobile ecommerce 15 May 2025
As the global e-commerce ecosystem continues to expand, platforms face a growing challenge in managing the risk associated with high-violation product categories. Recognizing this need, LegitScript, a leader in merchant and product monitoring, has unveiled a comprehensive benchmarking program for e-commerce marketplaces. This initiative aims to equip platforms with comparative insights on policy enforcement and risk mitigation, helping them grow securely in a highly regulated digital commerce environment.
Through a combination of automated data analysis, risk scoring, and human verification, LegitScript delivers a unique view into the compliance performance of over 20 global e-commerce platforms, offering a first-of-its-kind industry benchmark.
Assess Risk in High-Violation Categories: LegitScript focuses on product verticals most likely to involve regulatory or policy infractions.
Compare Against Peers: Clients can evaluate how their marketplace performance stacks up against industry leaders and laggards.
Make Data-Backed Policy Decisions: With clear performance indicators, platforms are better equipped to evolve internal policy and compliance strategies.
Enhance Confidence for Growth: Strong risk governance becomes a competitive advantage in scaling e-commerce operations safely.
The benchmark includes analysis across categories that typically draw regulatory attention:
Controlled substances
Prescription-only medications
Cosmetics and supplements
Tobacco, vape products, psychoactives
Weapons and firearms
Risk levels are analyzed globally, allowing for regional comparisons and trend recognition.
Proprietary scoring models and human verification ensure accurate classification and contextual understanding.
80% Lower Violation Rates on Monitored Platforms: Platforms using LegitScript's monitoring reported dramatically fewer infractions.
Millions of Products Assessed: The scale and depth of the analysis cover both niche and large-scale e-commerce players.
Highlights where risk control makes a measurable difference, especially in categories prone to abuse or evasion.
LegitScript uncovered a pattern of problematic products that dominate risk profiles across marketplaces:
Weight loss drugs: Acxion, Terfamex, Redotex
Anabolic steroids: Testosterone, Oxandrolone
Sexual enhancement drugs: Tadalafil, Sildenafil
Skin whitening creams: Goree Beauty Cream, Arche Pearl Cream
Tainted supplements: Royal Honey VIP, Detoxi Slim, Ligandrol
These products are often linked to regulatory violations due to mislabeling, undisclosed ingredients, or illegal distribution.
Sellers frequently employ creative methods to evade detection. LegitScript’s benchmarking identified the top strategies used across platforms:
Deliberate misspellings: e.g., T4dalaf1l instead of tadalafil
Blurring product images to evade visual detection algorithms
Misleading categorization: Listing meds under “home goods” or “cosmetics”
Bundling violative items with legal ones to confuse detection systems
Coded language usage: Terms like “Candyland” for pill molds or paraphernalia
Understanding these tactics allows platforms to proactively tighten enforcement and detection protocols.
Protects consumers from harmful, mislabeled, or counterfeit goods
Reduces liability for e-commerce marketplaces
Establishes industry standards for risk scoring and evaluation
Provides a competitive edge to platforms that prioritize safety and compliance
LegitScript’s benchmarking program also complements its broader Platform Risk Solutions, helping clients develop a long-term risk management framework with actionable metrics.
In a time when e-commerce platforms face increased scrutiny and complex compliance challenges, LegitScript’s benchmarking program provides clarity and confidence. By evaluating millions of products across high-risk categories, the program empowers marketplaces to strengthen their risk posture, enhance trust with users, and accelerate compliant growth. As platforms vie for global reach and brand integrity, this new benchmarking capability becomes an indispensable tool for sustainable success.
business 15 May 2025
In an era where consumer demands and regulatory landscapes are shifting rapidly, the need for real-time, granular product intelligence has never been greater. NielsenIQ (NIQ), the global leader in consumer intelligence, is rising to this challenge by announcing the global expansion of its Product Insights platform (NPI). Initially successful in the United States, NPI will now scale across 25 additional markets in Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America throughout 2025 and 2026.
This expansion marks a pivotal shift in how consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands and retailers can understand, track, and respond to both micro-level product attributes and macro-level market challenges, including evolving consumer preferences, inflation, regulatory changes, and tariffs.
NPI is a powerful AI-enabled platform offering over 27,000 product-level attributes, categorized by SKU.
Attributes include dietary claims, clean label indicators, sustainability features, and regulatory compliance markers.
The solution resolves up to 99% of consumer queries, including:
Is the product GLP-1 compliant?
Is it gluten-free?
Is it made in the country of origin?
NIQ is taking its proven platform beyond the U.S. into key international markets, allowing global retailers and CPG brands to:
Respond to local and global regulatory changes like food additive bans and origin labeling.
Adapt to inflation and tariff shifts impacting product pricing and sourcing decisions.
Stay relevant in fast-moving markets where product innovation and consumer preferences are evolving rapidly.
Real-time tracking of tariffs, labeling regulations, and ingredient restrictions.
Ensures global compliance, helping brands navigate complex legal environments.
Identifies early-stage trends in claims, packaging, and ingredients.
Speeds up time-to-market with data-driven insights on what attributes influence purchase decisions.
Retailers use NPI data to:
Improve category management
Optimize shelf layouts
Deliver personalized shopping experiences that enhance loyalty and drive sales
NPI uses generative AI to turn billions of product datapoints into actionable business intelligence.
Retailers and CPG companies can:
Forecast demand trends
Adjust product assortments in real time
Inform strategic decisions from marketing to R&D
NPI isn't just a data tool—it’s a foundational layer in NIQ’s strategic vision to modernize global consumer insights.
It serves as a “single source of truth” for:
CPG product development
Go-to-market strategies
Long-term innovation pipelines
NIQ now partners with 23,000 customers globally, including many of the world’s largest brands and retailers.
This expansion cements NIQ’s leadership in:
Consumer intelligence
Retail measurement
Data-driven innovation
With the global expansion of NPI, NIQ is transforming how brands and retailers understand consumer behavior—at both macro and micro levels. Whether it's navigating regulatory disruptions, responding to inflationary pressures, or decoding fast-changing consumer preferences, NPI equips companies with the intelligence they need to stay agile and competitive in a complex global retail environment.
As 2025 approaches, NIQ’s global footprint in product insights will redefine retail intelligence—turning billions of data points into strategic advantage for businesses worldwide.
business 15 May 2025
In a move reflecting strong financial health and strategic confidence, ON24, the B2B intelligent engagement platform, has announced a $50 million share repurchase program. The decision, authorized by ON24’s Board of Directors, highlights the company’s focus on delivering long-term shareholder value while reinforcing its position in the intelligent engagement and marketing automation landscape.
As digital transformation continues to accelerate across the B2B marketing ecosystem, ON24 is investing not only in innovation and customer success but also in shareholder returns—demonstrating a balanced approach to capital allocation.
Board Confidence: The buyback reflects the Board’s belief in ON24’s growth trajectory, platform capabilities, and market positioning.
Financial Strength: ON24 is funding the repurchase from its strong cash reserves, which totaled $181 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities as of March 31, 2025.
Long-Term Value Creation: The initiative supports the company’s mission to build sustainable shareholder value, even amidst broader market fluctuations.
Authorization Amount: Up to $50 million in common stock.
Execution Methods:
Open market purchases
Privately negotiated transactions
Rule 10b5-1 trading plans
Timeframe: The program is expected to span multiple quarters, providing flexibility and responsiveness to market dynamics.
Discretionary Control: ON24 may modify, suspend, or discontinue the program at any time based on business conditions.
Stock Valuation: Share repurchase is often pursued when the stock is perceived to be undervalued, allowing the company to repurchase shares at an attractive price.
Economic Environment: With continued market volatility and inflationary pressure, returning capital to shareholders can signal stability and confidence.
Investor Sentiment: Buybacks are generally interpreted as a positive signal to investors, indicating strong cash flows and a focus on capital efficiency.
The repurchase will likely reduce the number of outstanding shares, potentially increasing earnings per share (EPS) over time.
ON24 continues to invest in its product roadmap, customer success, and go-to-market strategy.
The repurchase aligns with a strategy that balances reinvestment for growth and shareholder returns.
By signaling financial discipline and long-term vision, ON24 reinforces its credibility with institutional and retail investors.
As a leader in B2B intelligent engagement, ON24 powers interactive webinars, virtual events, and content experiences for leading global enterprises.
The platform's AI-powered insights and marketing automation capabilities give businesses the tools to generate and convert demand more efficiently.
With continued digital acceleration, ON24 is well-positioned to expand its value proposition across marketing, sales, and customer success functions.
ON24’s $50 million share repurchase program is a strategic move that reflects the company’s confidence in its platform, leadership, and financial future. At a time when many companies are tightening capital deployment, ON24 is leveraging its robust balance sheet to deliver shareholder returns while continuing to innovate in the high-growth B2B engagement market.
This initiative not only signals financial discipline but also reaffirms ON24’s commitment to sustainable value creation as it navigates an evolving digital marketing landscape.
digital marketing 15 May 2025
In today’s digital-first economy, user experience defines the success of nearly every product and platform. Recognizing this shift, Mujo Learning Systems, a leading independent publisher of business, AI, and digital marketing curriculum, has launched “User Interface & User Experience Design” a practical, portfolio-driven textbook designed for business, marketing, and technology students aiming to master modern UI/UX design.
This release is more than just a new title it’s a timely solution for a widening digital skills gap in the classroom, giving students the tools to thrive in high-demand roles across design, product development, and digital strategy.
Digital Expectations Are Rising: From startups to Fortune 500 firms, the ability to craft intuitive and inclusive digital experiences is now essential—not optional.
Employers Demand Real-World Skills: Academic institutions often struggle to match the pace of technological change, leaving students underprepared for roles that require working knowledge of tools like Figma, Adobe XD, prototyping systems, and responsive design best practices.
Mujo’s Answer: A hands-on, project-based UI/UX curriculum that aligns academic outcomes with industry expectations.
Covers modern UI/UX principles, including usability heuristics, responsive design, information architecture, and mobile-first strategies.
Keeps pace with current tools and trends used by professional designers.
Students work on practical assignments, from wireframes and prototypes to full design briefs.
Encourages portfolio creation to showcase skills to future employers.
Emphasizes accessibility and inclusivity—critical components of today’s UX standards.
Trains students to understand the user’s perspective and design with purpose.
Suitable for in-person, online, or hybrid learning environments.
Adaptable for college, university, or continuing education settings.
Educators gain turnkey teaching support via Mujo’s Teacher Resource Cloud, which includes:
Editable lecture slides for seamless course planning.
Self-marking quizzes and test banks to reduce grading time.
Project templates and real-world case studies to enrich classroom discussion.
LMS-ready digital courseware to easily integrate into Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, etc.
Pacing guides and lesson plans to streamline curriculum delivery.
These resources help instructors deliver high-quality content efficiently, whether they’re seasoned educators or new to teaching UI/UX.
Mujo’s textbook helps students not just learn UI/UX principles, but also apply them in meaningful ways:
Build Professional Portfolios: Each chapter includes practical projects that result in tangible work samples.
Develop Design Thinking: Students learn to empathize, ideate, prototype, and iterate—mirroring the professional product development process.
Collaborate Like Pros: Exercises simulate team-based design challenges, preparing students for cross-functional roles in real-world settings.
UI/UX is a Top Emerging Field: LinkedIn and Glassdoor consistently list UX roles among the most in-demand tech jobs.
Companies Seek Cross-Disciplinary Designers: As design becomes more integral to marketing, business strategy, and customer experience, professionals with both creative and analytical skills are highly valued.
Colleges Are Under Pressure to Modernize: This resource provides a timely and robust way to keep curriculum current, competitive, and career-aligned.
Mujo Learning Systems' “User Interface & User Experience Design” textbook represents a strategic step forward in aligning academic training with digital industry needs. By combining hands-on learning, modern design theory, and turnkey instructor support, this resource ensures that students are not only learning about UI/UX—they’re preparing to lead in it.
As digital experiences become the battleground for consumer attention, Mujo is equipping the next generation of designers, marketers, and innovators with the tools they need to thrive.
digital experience 15 May 2025
In an era where passive advertising no longer captures consumer attention, Flam is pioneering a new frontier in marketing: transforming static ads into interactive, app-free digital and 3D experiences. The company recently secured $14 million in Series A funding, led by RTP Global with participation from Dovetail and existing investors, bringing total funding to $22 million. This capital injection will scale Flam’s cutting-edge AI infrastructure to empower brands to create immersive experiences that drive engagement and measurable impact.
Most marketing today remains a one-way street—consumers passively consume ads, leaving brands struggling to break through the noise. In a landscape where consumer attention is scarce and fleeting, marketers need innovative solutions that turn simple touchpoints into dynamic, personalized interactions.
Flam’s technology revolutionizes advertising by turning traditional ads into interactive mixed reality (MR) experiences accessible via a simple QR code scan or link click. No app downloads required. This means consumers can instantly:
Immerse themselves in 3D product demos
Engage with brand stories and exclusive content
Unlock deeper layers of brand interaction
This frictionless engagement happens on any device, any platform—whether digital ads, broadcast TV, retail packaging, out-of-home (OOH) displays, or even messaging apps like WhatsApp.
At the core of Flam’s offering is its app-less GenAI infrastructure, engineered to deliver high-fidelity MR and 3D digital experiences in under 300 milliseconds on any smartphone. This ensures:
Lightning-fast content loading
Real-time personalization and interactivity
Seamless integration across channels and devices
Currently, this infrastructure supports campaigns for industry giants such as Google, Samsung, Emirates, and hundreds of other global brands.
With over 100 global brands leveraging Flam’s platform, the company’s real-time MR campaigns have reached more than 380 million users worldwide. Use cases include:
Transforming product packaging into shareable brand stories
Activating interactive 3D demos on TV ads and billboards
Delivering fan engagement experiences at stadiums and live events
These initiatives help brands deliver native, engaging experiences that resonate with today’s media consumption habits.
With Series A funding secured, Flam is accelerating development on multiple fronts, including:
GenAI-driven 3D asset generation for rapid content creation
Democratizing MR deployment at scale via an Enterprise Suite
Expanding infrastructure for broadcasters and fan engagement platforms
Growing the partner program for creative studios and global platforms to enable Fortune 500 brands’ rapid global rollouts
Co-founder and CEO Shourya Agarwal emphasizes, “We are laser-focused on delivering the GenAI tools brands have been yearning for, transforming every touchpoint into an engaging, measurable experience.”
RTP Global’s Nishit Garg praises Flam’s vision and execution:
“The time for MR is now — and Flam is uniquely positioned to lead this wave.”
Dovetail’s Amal Parikh adds,
“With limitless applications and strong execution, Flam is set to redefine how brands connect with consumers.”
Currently employing 120+ people across engineering, AI, creative tech, and go-to-market teams, Flam plans to grow to 180+ employees by the end of 2025. Expansion efforts are underway across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, positioning Flam as a global leader in immersive marketing technology.
Flam’s Series A funding milestone marks a pivotal moment in marketing innovation. By harnessing AI-powered mixed reality to convert passive touchpoints into active, personalized experiences—without the friction of app downloads—Flam is redefining how brands engage consumers in a digitally fragmented world. As it scales rapidly and expands its enterprise offerings, Flam stands poised to lead the future of interactive marketing.
marketing 15 May 2025
Highwire, a strategic marketing communications agency renowned for partnering with brands at the intersection of innovation and industry, has announced the appointment of Michael O’Brien as its new Chief Executive Officer. This leadership change aims to accelerate the agency’s growth and drive its evolution toward integrated services and impactful client programs.
Michael O’Brien brings over 30 years of experience delivering growth and excellence for some of the world’s most iconic brands. His extensive career includes 23 years at Ketchum, where he served as Chief Client Officer for over a decade. During that tenure, he led efforts to:
Transform client service models
Focus on sustainable growth
Reduce revenue attrition
Implement purposeful client management strategies
O’Brien also spearheaded global business development and strategic planning initiatives.
O’Brien succeeds Carol Carrubba, who served as interim CEO and will remain a key part of Highwire’s executive leadership team. Carrubba commented on the transition:
"Michael stood out in every way as a leader who shares our values and brings the scale, relationships, and experience to realize our vision. I am confident he will propel us into a new era while honoring our deep roots."
O’Brien joins Highwire following a year of double-digit growth in 2024, showcasing the agency’s effectiveness in delivering integrated, insight-driven marketing programs. Highwire’s client base spans industries such as:
B2B technology
Cybersecurity
Healthcare
Financial services
Energy and sustainability
The agency is also investing heavily in AI-backed tools and data expertise to enhance tailored communications and marketing strategies.
Michael O’Brien expressed enthusiasm for leading Highwire into its next phase:
"Highwire has an outstanding reputation as a strategic partner for influential brands and has emerged as an indispensable partner for companies prioritizing innovation. I’m honored to lead the organization and build on its entrepreneurial, inclusive, and bold spirit."
Mike Wilkins, Highwire board member and Shamrock Capital partner, highlighted O’Brien’s fit for the role:
"Michael’s client-first philosophy and strategic insight align perfectly with Highwire’s ambitions as we scale. His reputation as a trusted advisor ensures we stay ahead of client needs and deliver greater value amid growing market challenges."
Michael O’Brien’s appointment signals a new chapter for Highwire, with a leadership team poised to deepen client partnerships and expand the agency’s impact. As Highwire continues to innovate in strategic communications and embrace advanced technologies, its clients stand to benefit from heightened agility and effectiveness in a complex business landscape.
Page 208 of 1374