Artificial intelligence isn’t just rewriting the rules of retail—it’s rewriting shopping lists. According to a new Acosta Group shopper study, 70% of U.S. consumers have already used AI tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, or Google Gemini to browse, compare, or even buy products. Grocery is leading the way, but the message is clear: the AI revolution has officially left the novelty stage.

“Generative AI tools are becoming the new gatekeepers of the shopper journey,” said John Carroll, President of Connected Commerce at Acosta Group. “Retailers and brands have to rethink how they show up in AI-powered environments.”

From Novelty to Norm

Of the 1,074 shoppers surveyed, nearly every respondent (99%) was aware of AI, and 70% had already used it for shopping-related tasks. Saving money and time ranked as the top benefits. Interestingly, while retailer-specific tools like Walmart’s Sparky and Amazon’s Rufus are live, fewer than 15% of consumers have tried them—suggesting traditional retail AI assistants are lagging far behind open platforms.

Gen Z is setting the pace: over half (53%) of young shoppers say they trust generative AI more than traditional sources, signaling a sharp generational shift in trust dynamics.

Grocery Takes the Lead

No sector is feeling this shift faster than grocery. Thirty-six percent of shoppers say they’ve used AI tools to guide their grocery purchases, from recipe recommendations to in-cart substitutions. Other categories are catching up—health and wellness (28%), electronics (27%), and beauty (25%)—but grocery is the frontline battleground for AI adoption.

Kathy Risch, SVP of Shopper Insights at Acosta Group, puts it bluntly: “AI is transforming the way consumers shop, and grocery is where it’s happening first.”

The AI Shelf Is Shorter

One of the starkest changes: AI isn’t showing shoppers 25 options on a digital shelf or 100 items in a physical aisle. It’s surfacing two or three choices, often based on trust signals and contextual fit. That means if your brand isn’t ranking in an AI model’s shortlist, you may as well not exist.

Brands and retailers need to crack the new “AI shelf algorithm” by optimizing content for conversational queries, ensuring product detail pages are rich and trustworthy, and embracing agent-friendly ad strategies that prioritize substance over spend.

Trust Is Still the Hurdle

Despite heavy adoption, AI still faces a trust gap. While 58% of shoppers trust AI to find the best deals and 50% trust it for product reviews, only 12% are ready to let AI purchase autonomously. Privacy, fraud, and lack of approval remain top concerns. Still, nearly a third of shoppers said they’re open to letting an AI agent buy groceries on their behalf—suggesting the shift from assistive to autonomous is closer than many expect.

Key Opportunities for Brands

Acosta highlights several strategies for surviving—and thriving—in AI-powered commerce:

• Shift from keywords to conversations – Optimize for natural-language queries, not just search terms.

• Treat product detail pages as currency – Rich attributes, shopper context, and quality visuals now matter more than ad spend.

• Design agent-friendly ad strategies – Because tomorrow’s customer may not be human—it’ll be a bot shopping on their behalf.

• Audit your AI presence – Prompt ChatGPT, Gemini, or others to see if your brand even shows up in recommendations.

• Strengthen retailer collaboration – Share AI-driven demand signals to fine-tune joint forecasting.

The Bigger Picture

If AI really does become the “new gatekeeper” of shopping, then the next decade of retail won’t be defined by shelf space or SEO, but by AI discoverability. Brands that can’t secure a slot on the algorithm’s shortlist risk becoming invisible, regardless of how many endcaps or digital banners they buy.

Carroll summed it up best: “In the near future, AI agents will be making at least some of our purchase decisions. The winners will be those who build trust, show up in AI-powered environments, and make it easy for shoppers to say ‘yes.’”

For retailers and brands, the clock isn’t just ticking—it’s already in overtime.

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For the third year running, Reshift Media has secured a coveted spot on Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top Franchise Suppliers list—an honor that underscores its staying power in a highly competitive field.

The list, compiled from surveys of more than 1,100 franchisors across industries, ranks suppliers on value, cost, and quality. To put it simply: this is the list franchisors check when they want to know which partners actually deliver.

“Behind every great franchise system is a network of exceptional suppliers,” noted Entrepreneur editor-in-chief Jason Feifer. And Reshift, it seems, has become one of those indispensable players.

Why It Matters

Franchising is more than selling burgers or gym memberships—it’s a brand consistency game. Whether it’s a single-location startup or a global chain, franchisors increasingly lean on digital marketing firms to maintain unified messaging while scaling fast.

Reshift Media has carved out its niche by pairing traditional digital marketing with proprietary tech designed specifically for franchise systems. That means more than just ads and SEO; it’s a framework for keeping hundreds of local operators aligned without diluting the brand.

Expanding Its Global Footprint

The Toronto-based agency isn’t just working with one vertical. Its client list stretches across retail, restaurants, home services, fitness, and even pet care—industries where customer experience can make or break franchise reputation.

CEO Steve Buors puts the recognition down to results:

“Our mission has always been to empower franchisors with the tools, strategies, and insights they need to compete in a digital-first world,” Buors said.

And that digital-first world has only gotten more cutthroat as franchisors grapple with rising ad costs, shifting consumer habits, and AI-powered rivals promising cheaper customer acquisition.

More Than Just a Vendor

Reshift isn’t content to just run campaigns. The agency actively positions itself as a thought leader—publishing franchise-focused research, insights, and even launching World Franchise Day. It also redesigned the official site for the World Franchise Council, a signal that it’s as invested in the industry’s infrastructure as it is in its client roster.

Stacking Up Awards

The Entrepreneur recognition isn’t a one-off. Earlier this year, Reshift nabbed two Stevie Awards, including gold for Marketing Disruptor of the Year. Taken together, these nods suggest the company isn’t merely riding a wave—it’s shaping where franchise marketing goes next.

The Takeaway

While plenty of agencies pitch themselves as franchise experts, Reshift Media has something harder to earn: validation directly from franchisors. Being on Entrepreneur’s list three years straight puts them in rare air, especially in a landscape where digital partners can be as transient as social media trends.

For franchisors weighing marketing partnerships in 2025, Reshift’s consistent recognition makes it harder to ignore.

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TV and video campaigns have long been considered the “big reach” medium—great for awareness, but notoriously difficult to quantify in terms of revenue. Invoca, a leader in revenue execution platforms, is changing that with a new AI-powered solution designed for agencies and marketing teams to measure the impact of CTV, linear TV, and online video on appointments, sales, and revenue.

“By making TV and video as measurable as paid search, Invoca enables advertisers to maximize the value of every incremental dollar of media spend,” said Gregg Johnson, CEO of Invoca.

The Measurement Gap

Marketers in industries like automotive, healthcare, financial services, and home services often face a common problem: consumers research online but convert offline—via phone calls or in-person visits. Traditional TV and video campaigns can drive awareness, but proving their direct revenue impact has been a persistent challenge.

With Invoca, agencies can now connect the dots across the buyer journey—from the TV or video ad a consumer saw, to the digital interactions they had, to website visits and phone calls—capturing intent and outcome data that quantify real ROI.

Why It Matters Now

The shift to streaming and digital video has transformed media consumption. Americans now spend 5 hours on digital video and 3 hours watching TV daily, driving TV and video ad spend to over $124 billion in 2025. This surge, combined with more authenticated, logged-in viewers, presents an opportunity for advertisers to prove ROAS beyond traditional reach and impression metrics.

“CTV and online video are no longer just brand channels—they can now drive measurable revenue,” Johnson added.

How Invoca Delivers Results

The platform brings digital advertising’s performance rigor to TV and video campaigns:

• AI-Powered Conversion Attribution – Connects ad views to leads, appointments, and revenue.

• Real-Time Integrations – Syncs data with platforms like Google DV360, StackAdapt, and tvScientific.

• Cross-Channel Influence Tracking – Measures how TV/video ads boost conversion rates across search, social, display, and SEO.

• Performance-Driven Optimization – Allows in-flight adjustments based on what’s driving revenue.

Partners like StackAdapt and tvScientific are already leveraging Invoca data to tie phone conversions and revenue back to CTV campaigns, helping marketers optimize and build smarter audiences.

“By partnering with Invoca, we give marketers unprecedented data to measure phone leads, conversions, and true ROI of CTV campaigns,” said Jason Fairchild, CEO of tvScientific.

The Bigger Picture

As advertisers grapple with rising TV/video budgets and growing expectations for measurable outcomes, Invoca provides a revenue-first lens that links offline and online activity. In doing so, it turns traditional brand campaigns into performance-driven investments, bridging the gap between awareness and action in today’s complex media landscape.

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Generative AI promises to revolutionize enterprise marketing—but adoption has been slow. Fragmented tools, inconsistent brand voice, and governance headaches have kept many companies in pilot mode. Jasper, the leading agentic marketing platform, is tackling these obstacles with the launch of its MCP Server, an open-standard solution designed to scale AI content generation while maintaining control and compliance across the enterprise.

“AI has been stuck in pilot for too long because enterprises lacked the structure to scale it responsibly,” said Timothy Young, CEO of Jasper. “MCP connects AI models, brand standards, and governance into one system, enabling organizations to move beyond pilots to genuine, scalable transformation.”

Why MCP Server Matters

Enterprises have invested billions in AI, yet risk management and governance remain major barriers. According to a Deloitte survey, 30% of organizations struggle to manage risks, and 29% lack a governance model, causing campaign delays or abandonment of AI projects—especially in regulated industries.

Jasper’s MCP Server embeds Jasper IQ’s marketing context, brand guardrails, institutional knowledge, and best practices into every AI input, regardless of the tool or model used. This includes ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft Copilot, and more, ensuring that outputs are consistent, high-quality, and brand-safe.

Key Capabilities

MCP Server delivers centralized control with decentralized flexibility:

• Unified AI outputs – Connect multiple tools and LLMs via a shared protocol so all content aligns with brand and regulatory standards.

• Brand and compliance enforcement – Set tone, voice, and industry regulations once, then apply across all departments and channels.

• Faster market readiness – Teams can generate usable, on-brand content quickly, reducing bottlenecks and manual checks.

• Scalable adoption – Expand AI use cases safely across marketing, sales, product, and support teams.

• Future-proof interoperability – Open protocols ensure compatibility with new models and AI platforms as they emerge.

“Every team wants to experiment with AI, but without shared context, results quickly become fragmented and risky,” said Bryan Tsao, Chief Product Officer at Jasper. “MCP ensures content reflects organizational standards wherever it’s created, creating a sustainable path for AI adoption.”

The Bigger Picture

MCP Server positions Jasper as a bridge between the rapidly expanding AI ecosystem and enterprise demands for governance, quality, and brand consistency. In an era where AI initiatives can falter due to misaligned outputs or compliance risks, a system like MCP offers a framework to scale innovation responsibly—helping companies transform pilots into enterprise-wide solutions.

With MCP, Jasper is not just offering a tool; it’s offering a standardized approach for enterprises to fully embrace AI marketing without sacrificing control.

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AI writing tools are everywhere, but quality, accuracy, and workflow integration remain major pain points for marketing teams. Clearly Blue Digital, a Bangalore-based content and knowledge services firm, is aiming to solve these challenges with its new Clear Owl platform—a Human-AI collaboration environment that merges automated content generation with professional human oversight.

“Marketing teams are struggling to balance the efficiency of AI tools against quality concerns,” said Linda Jacob, CEO of Clearly Blue Digital. “Clear Owl addresses these challenges and provides a single-stop solution for content needs.”

Tackling Marketing Headaches

Clear Owl targets several critical issues that plague AI content workflows:

• Quality Assurance – Fact-checking and plagiarism detection are handled by expert human content specialists.

• AI Hallucinations – Plausible but false content is minimized through human review.

• Subscription Fatigue – Combines AI, SEO, plagiarism, and grammar tools into one platform.

• Cost vs. Quality – Delivers high-quality content without the price tag of traditional agencies.

The result is a simplified workflow: Generate → Review → Publish, enabling teams to produce reliable content in hours rather than weeks.

Industry-First Features

Clear Owl introduces several innovative capabilities:

• No-Prompt Simplicity – Marketers select topics from AI-driven suggestions without needing expertise in prompting.

• Integrated Human QA – Expert content specialists review AI outputs to ensure accuracy and adherence to brand voice.

• All-in-One Marketing Toolkit – Roadmap includes integrated AI generation, human review, and brand tools in a single subscription.

• Custom Brand Voice Generator – Tailors content style and tone for each client.

This blend of AI efficiency and human insight is designed to help businesses scale content marketing while preserving authenticity.

Early Success and Launch Offer

Following a successful beta, ClearOwl.ai is now publicly available. Early adopters receive a one-month free trial, with the ability to generate up to five blog posts and access priority support.

Marketing leaders are already seeing tangible results. Michail Chopra, CEO of Mayfair We Care, a global health benefits provider, noted: “Clear Owl reduces my team’s content workload from weeks to just hours, freeing them to engage with prospects and convert leads.” Chopra also highlighted the platform’s roadmap for insurance-focused marketing support, a niche not currently addressed by other AI tools.

Why It Matters

As businesses adopt AI for content creation, maintaining quality, credibility, and brand voice is critical. Clear Owl’s hybrid approach reflects a growing trend: blending AI speed with human oversight to ensure consistency and trustworthiness. For companies facing tight marketing timelines, subscription fatigue, and cost pressures, this could be a game-changer.

Clear Owl positions Clearly Blue Digital as a leader in human-AI content collaboration, helping brands navigate the delicate balance between automation and authenticity in modern marketing.

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AI is no longer a buzzword—it’s becoming the backbone of small business marketing. FullFlex.Agency, a Salt Lake City–based hybrid marketing shop, is rolling out expanded AI-powered services alongside its flat-rate “All You Can Market” packages, positioning itself as a growth partner for startups, SMBs, and national brands.

The agency, which calls itself one of Utah’s fastest-growing, blends traditional marketing with digital expertise and AI-first innovation. The pitch is simple: businesses shouldn’t have to choose between cost transparency and cutting-edge tools.

AI Meets Marketing Fundamentals

FullFlex’s new AI offerings read like a buffet for businesses looking to scale:

• Generative AI Engines for content, SEO, and campaign scaling

• Agentic AI Systems for casinos and hospitality, driving personalized guest experiences

• AI Employees for contractors in HVAC, plumbing, and painting, handling lead follow-up, scheduling, and retention

“AI isn’t a trend—it’s a turning point,” said Justin Lizama, Founder & CEO of FullFlex.Agency. “From HVAC in California to casinos in the Pacific Northwest, logistics in Las Vegas, and e-commerce on the East Coast, we help businesses use AI to scale faster and smarter.”

“All You Can Market” Pricing

The agency’s flat-rate marketing packages are tiered by business revenue—a model designed to remove guesswork from scaling budgets:

• <$2,500/month revenue → $497/month

• $2,500–$10,000/month → $997/month

• $10,000–$49,999/month → $2,097/month

• $50,000+/month → 10% of monthly net revenue

Each tier covers the full stack: web design, branding, SEO and GEO optimization, paid ads across Google, Meta, and TikTok, social media, email and SMS marketing, plus analytics and growth strategy.

For SMBs wary of ballooning agency retainers, the Netflix-style pricing could prove a differentiator.

Case Studies in AI at Work

The agency points to early client use cases to prove its model:

• HVAC contractors in California using AI “employees” to boost lead retention

• Casinos in the Pacific Northwest deploying agentic AI for guest personalization

• 3PL providers in Las Vegas leveraging automation for logistics

• Skin care brands in Salt Lake City and Seattle scaling content and social reach

• E-commerce brands on the East Coast automating campaigns with generative AI

The throughline is AI doing the heavy lifting while business owners focus on growth.

The Bigger Picture

FullFlex joins a growing list of agencies rebranding themselves as AI-native marketing partners, part of a wave reshaping the $475 billion global digital ad market. Competitors from boutique firms to giants like Accenture Song are pushing AI-driven campaign management, but FullFlex’s flat-rate transparency may hit a nerve with SMBs tired of murky billing.

The takeaway: in a crowded agency landscape, offering both AI innovation and budget clarity might just be the winning formula.

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Healthcare access in the U.S. remains uneven, particularly in underserved and rural communities. Montage Marketing Group believes the answer lies on wheels. At the 21st Annual Mobile Health Clinics Conference, the company spotlighted its full-service mobile health and education tour programs—comprehensive initiatives that blend strategy, logistics, staffing, and community engagement to bring services directly to the people who need them most.

“Mobile units offer the flexibility to meet communities where they are, fostering trust and transparency,” said Tom Bever, Director at Montage. “They serve as community connectors, delivering vital information, services, and support directly to neighborhoods.”

Beyond the Van: Strategy Meets Scale

Montage isn’t just rolling out vehicles—it’s creating turnkey ecosystems. Programs cover everything from branding and experiential marketing to planning, compliance, and data optimization. Each mobile unit can be customized with exam rooms, refrigeration, ADA accessibility, and multilingual staff. A nationwide network of more than 10,000 community partners helps ensure culturally responsive outreach.

The company has even introduced an ROI calculator, showing partners how mobile initiatives can lower hospital visits and reduce long-term healthcare costs—an angle sure to resonate with cash-strapped public agencies and providers.

Proof in the Field

Montage has already designed and managed a federal health agency’s mobile exhibit fleet, which promotes precision-medicine research. That program has hit 250+ markets, sparked 100,000+ community conversations, and enabled 17,500+ account creations. For an outreach model often dismissed as niche or temporary, the scale is notable—it demonstrates mobile clinics can move beyond “pop-up” status to become lasting community infrastructure.

Health and Education on the Move

Montage’s mobile offerings span a wide range of services, including:

• Dental care: cleanings, screenings, sealants

• Preventive health: immunizations, chronic disease screenings

• Vision services: exams, prescription glasses, referrals

• Maternal health: prenatal and postpartum support

• Cancer screenings

• Behavioral health: counseling, mental health checks, substance use support

• Education and workforce development: mobile labs and exhibits for career pathways

By bringing medical and educational services directly to communities, Montage is betting on a hybrid model that combines healthcare equity with brand and partner visibility—a blend that might appeal as much to policymakers as it does to marketing strategists.

The Bigger Picture

Mobile health isn’t new, but momentum is growing. From Kaiser Permanente’s mobile clinics to city-funded outreach vans, the sector is expanding as healthcare systems wrestle with rising costs and accessibility gaps. Montage’s approach—integrating marketing, operations, and measurable outcomes—positions it as both a service provider and strategic partner for agencies and nonprofits looking to prove impact.

With equity, engagement, and efficiency increasingly driving healthcare strategy, mobile programs may soon be less of a novelty and more of a norm.

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When it comes to digital experience, fragmentation is the enemy. AB Tasty thinks it has the cure. The company today launched One Platform, a unified experimentation and personalization suite that brings client-side and server-side testing under one roof.

For years, product managers, marketers, and developers have been juggling multiple tools just to validate features, optimize customer journeys, and avoid botched rollouts. AB Tasty’s pitch: a single workflow that handles everything from progressive rollouts to cross-stack experimentation, complete with no-code tools for non-technical teams and robust APIs for developers.

Why It Matters

Experimentation has become a core pillar of digital product strategy, but siloed solutions have slowed teams down. AB Tasty is positioning One Platform as the bridge—connecting marketing’s need for quick tests with engineering’s need for safe deployments.

Key capabilities include:

• Safe, progressive rollouts – Control deployments to minimize risk.

• Cross-stack testing – Measure features across backend, web, and mobile.

• Unified customer journeys – Ensure consistent personalization everywhere.

• AI-driven insights – Optimize based on real sentiment and intent.

• Developer control – APIs, monitoring, and rollback baked in.

“Fragmented tools have forced teams into silos, leading to disruption, tests without impact, and potential mistakes,” said Rémi Aubert, AB Tasty Co-Founder and CEO. “One Platform closes that gap by giving product, marketing, and developer teams one place for experimentation, personalization, and feature management.”

The Bigger Picture

AB Tasty has been steadily bulking up its digital experience stack. In 2023, it acquired EmotionsAI to bring sentiment analysis into the fold. In 2024, it pushed into recommendation and merchandising tech. With One Platform, the company is signaling it’s no longer just another optimization vendor—it’s angling for a seat at the table alongside the likes of Optimizely, LaunchDarkly, and Adobe Target.

Co-founder Alix de Sagazan framed the move as part of a larger mission: “By bringing client-side and server-side experimentation into one platform, we’re empowering digital teams to align on outcomes, de-risk deployments, and deliver customer value faster than ever.”

What’s Next

With AI-powered insights and the promise of unified workflows, AB Tasty is betting that experimentation will shift from a niche activity to the cultural norm inside digital teams. If One Platform delivers, it could help companies move faster without breaking things—a balance many have yet to achieve.

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