Chief marketing officers have never been asked to do more.

They're expected to drive revenue growth, shape customer perception, lead AI adoption, guide digital transformation, and prove marketing's business value—all while navigating increasingly complex organizations.

According to new research from Lippincott, many CMOs are trying to meet those expectations without the authority, autonomy, or organizational support needed to succeed.

The firm's newly released CMO Outlook 2026 study, which surveyed more than 500 marketing leaders globally, paints a picture of a profession caught in a growing leadership paradox. Marketing executives are being positioned as strategic growth drivers, yet many remain constrained by internal politics, bureaucratic processes, and pressure to prioritize short-term performance over long-term brand building.

The findings highlight what Lippincott calls the "CMO Trust Trade-Off"—a challenge that may define the next era of marketing leadership.

The Influence Gap Is Growing

One of the study's most striking findings is the disconnect between expectations and influence.

Only 28% of surveyed CMOs said they have a very high level of influence within their organizations. Even more surprisingly, 15% reported that they are not the most senior marketing decision-maker in their company.

Those numbers suggest that while organizations increasingly talk about marketing as a strategic business function, many marketing leaders still operate without a seat at the most critical decision-making tables.

That influence gap becomes even more problematic when viewed alongside the responsibilities modern CMOs are expected to shoulder.

Unlike previous generations of marketing leaders, today's CMOs are often accountable for customer experience, digital transformation, brand reputation, revenue growth, and increasingly, artificial intelligence initiatives.

Yet the authority required to execute those responsibilities doesn't always accompany the title.

Marketing Is Still Fighting for Alignment

If influence is one challenge, organizational alignment may be an even bigger one.

The research found that 84% of CMOs struggle to align leadership teams around a shared marketing vision. Nearly eight in ten respondents said bureaucracy regularly slows decision-making, while only 44% reported operating with a high degree of autonomy.

Taken together, the data suggests that marketing departments often spend as much time managing internal stakeholders as they do engaging customers.

This issue isn't unique to marketing.

Across large enterprises, decision-making has become increasingly distributed across finance, operations, product, technology, and executive leadership teams. Marketing leaders frequently find themselves balancing competing priorities from multiple departments while trying to maintain strategic consistency.

The result is slower execution, diluted initiatives, and difficulty maintaining long-term momentum.

For marketers operating in fast-moving digital environments, those delays can have significant consequences.

The Short-Term Performance Trap

The study's central theme revolves around what Lippincott describes as the "CMO Trust Trade-Off."

In simple terms, marketing leaders often feel pressured to prove immediate business impact in order to earn credibility with executive stakeholders.

That pressure pushes organizations toward measurable short-term tactics while reducing investment in longer-term brand-building efforts.

The irony is that most CMOs understand the importance of both.

Survey respondents identified long-term growth and improving customer perception among their highest priorities. Yet many admitted that most of their time is spent demonstrating near-term performance metrics and responding to immediate business demands.

This tension has become one of the defining debates in modern marketing.

For more than a decade, advances in digital advertising, attribution, and analytics have made performance marketing easier to measure than brand marketing. As a result, many organizations shifted budgets toward channels capable of delivering immediate, quantifiable results.

While that approach improved accountability, critics argue it also weakened long-term brand equity.

Research from firms including the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising and marketing effectiveness experts such as Les Binet and Peter Field has repeatedly shown that sustainable growth often requires balancing brand investment with short-term activation.

Lippincott's findings suggest many CMOs remain stuck in that balancing act.

AI Has Become a Leadership Issue, Not Just a Technology Issue

Perhaps unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence emerged as one of the biggest priorities among surveyed marketing leaders.

But while enthusiasm for AI continues to grow, organizational readiness appears far less advanced.

Only 12% of respondents rated their technology enablement as excellent. Even fewer—just 11%—said their organizations excel at adopting and innovating with new marketing technologies.

Those numbers highlight a challenge many enterprises are currently facing.

The conversation around AI has largely moved beyond experimentation. Boards and executive teams increasingly expect departments to identify practical AI use cases, improve productivity, and unlock new growth opportunities.

Marketing often becomes the testing ground for those initiatives because of its reliance on content creation, customer data, personalization, and analytics.

Yet deploying AI effectively requires more than software licenses.

Organizations need infrastructure, governance frameworks, skilled teams, data readiness, and leadership alignment. Without those foundations, AI projects can struggle to move beyond pilot programs.

The study suggests that many CMOs are being tasked with leading AI transformation before their organizations have fully developed the capabilities required to support it.

Culture-Driven Marketing Faces Execution Challenges

Another notable finding centers on culture-driven marketing.

Many respondents acknowledged the growing importance of creating campaigns that reflect cultural shifts, social conversations, and evolving consumer expectations.

This trend has accelerated as younger consumers increasingly gravitate toward brands that demonstrate relevance, authenticity, and cultural awareness.

However, recognizing cultural opportunities and acting on them are two different things.

According to the study, organizational complexity continues to slow execution. Even when marketing teams identify emerging trends or cultural moments worth engaging with, internal approval processes and stakeholder alignment challenges can prevent timely action.

In today's media environment, speed matters.

Brands that respond quickly to consumer conversations often gain outsized attention, while slower organizations risk missing opportunities altogether.

Why the Future CMO Looks Different

The report arrives at a time when the CMO role is undergoing significant transformation.

Historically, marketing leaders were primarily responsible for brand management, advertising, and communications.

Today's CMOs are expected to operate more like business strategists.

They're increasingly measured on revenue contribution, customer lifetime value, digital innovation, operational efficiency, and AI adoption. In many organizations, they are expected to serve as growth architects rather than traditional marketers.

That evolution creates opportunity—but also risk.

Without greater influence, stronger cross-functional alignment, and increased organizational autonomy, CMOs may struggle to meet expanding expectations.

As Michael D'Esopo, CEO of Lippincott, argues, the industry's long-standing focus on satisfying immediate executive demands may have contributed to an environment where short-term metrics often overshadow long-term brand health.

The next generation of marketing leadership may require a different approach—one that restores balance between performance and brand building while giving CMOs the authority necessary to lead transformation.

The Bigger Picture

Lippincott's research highlights a reality many marketing leaders already recognize: expectations for CMOs are rising faster than their organizational influence.

Companies want marketing leaders who can accelerate growth, guide AI adoption, strengthen customer relationships, and navigate market disruption.

Yet many of those same leaders remain constrained by bureaucracy, fragmented decision-making, and relentless pressure for immediate results.

The organizations that successfully bridge that gap may gain a significant competitive advantage.

Those that don't risk creating a leadership role with growing responsibility but shrinking ability to drive meaningful change.

For CMOs entering 2026, the challenge may not be proving marketing's value.

It may be earning the trust, authority, and organizational support required to deliver on it.

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As institutional interest in digital assets accelerates across Asia-Pacific, BitGo is strengthening its regional leadership with a hire that reflects a broader industry trend: regulated crypto firms are increasingly turning to former policymakers and regulators to drive growth.

The digital asset infrastructure company has appointed Angela Ang as Managing Director of APAC and President of BitGo Singapore, placing a veteran of Singapore's financial regulatory ecosystem at the helm of its regional operations.

The move comes at a pivotal moment for the crypto industry. While retail speculation once dominated digital asset adoption, the current phase of market development is increasingly being driven by banks, asset managers, payment providers, and other institutional investors seeking regulated access to blockchain-based financial services.

For BitGo, one of the largest providers of institutional crypto infrastructure, the appointment signals a deeper commitment to Asia-Pacific and, in particular, Singapore's rapidly evolving digital asset market.

A Regulatory Veteran Takes the Helm

Ang brings a rare combination of regulatory, policy, and commercial experience to the role.

Most recently, she served as Head of APAC Public Policy and Strategic Partnerships at TRM Labs, where she helped guide the blockchain intelligence firm's expansion across the region as part of its founding APAC team.

Before entering the private sector, Ang spent more than a decade at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), where she played a key role in developing and implementing Singapore's cryptocurrency and digital payments licensing framework.

That experience is particularly relevant as regulators worldwide move from experimentation toward comprehensive oversight of digital asset markets.

According to BitGo Chief Operating Officer Jody Mettler, Ang's background in regulation, market infrastructure, and institutional growth makes her well-positioned to support the company's next phase of expansion across Asia-Pacific.

Her appointment follows the successful completion of all regulatory and fit-and-proper approval requirements associated with the role.

Why Singapore Remains a Strategic Crypto Hub

BitGo's decision to place a regulatory heavyweight in charge of its APAC operations underscores Singapore's growing importance in the global digital asset ecosystem.

While several jurisdictions continue to debate crypto regulation, Singapore has spent years building one of the industry's most comprehensive regulatory frameworks.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has adopted a measured approach that balances innovation with investor protection and financial stability.

That regulatory clarity has helped attract exchanges, custody providers, blockchain infrastructure firms, venture capital investors, and institutional market participants to the city-state.

Unlike markets where regulatory uncertainty continues to create challenges for digital asset firms, Singapore has emerged as one of the few jurisdictions offering a relatively predictable path to compliance.

BitGo Singapore operates under a Major Payment Institution license issued by MAS, allowing the company to provide regulated digital asset services within the country.

For institutional investors, regulatory certainty is increasingly becoming as important as technology itself.

The Institutional Crypto Race Is Accelerating

Ang's appointment reflects a larger shift occurring throughout the digital asset industry.

The crypto sector is moving beyond its early-stage retail roots and increasingly positioning itself as part of mainstream financial infrastructure.

Institutional demand has expanded significantly in recent years as asset managers, banks, hedge funds, and corporations seek exposure to digital assets and blockchain-based financial services.

This evolution has fueled demand for enterprise-grade solutions covering:

• Digital asset custody
• Trading infrastructure
• Settlement services
• Wallet management
• Staking solutions
• Tokenization support
• Stablecoin infrastructure
• Compliance and risk management

Companies that can provide these services within regulated frameworks are emerging as critical infrastructure providers for the next phase of market growth.

BitGo has spent much of the past decade building its reputation in precisely that segment.

Why Regulatory Expertise Has Become a Competitive Advantage

One of the most notable developments in the digital asset industry is the increasing migration of talent from regulators into private-sector crypto companies.

Firms once focused primarily on engineering and product development are now investing heavily in compliance, public policy, and regulatory affairs.

The reason is simple.

Institutional adoption depends on trust.

Large financial institutions are unlikely to deploy significant capital into digital asset markets without confidence in custody standards, operational resilience, regulatory compliance, and governance frameworks.

As a result, crypto firms increasingly view regulatory expertise as a growth enabler rather than merely a compliance requirement.

Ang's career trajectory—from regulator to blockchain intelligence executive to institutional crypto leader—mirrors a broader industry pattern in which regulatory knowledge is becoming a strategic asset.

Her experience building Singapore's crypto licensing regime provides firsthand insight into the expectations regulators place on market participants.

That perspective could prove valuable as BitGo expands relationships with financial institutions across APAC.

BitGo's Broader Global Ambitions

The leadership appointment also aligns with BitGo's broader expansion strategy.

The company has evolved far beyond its origins as a crypto custody provider.

Today, BitGo offers a comprehensive suite of institutional digital asset services, including custody, wallets, trading, financing, settlement, staking, and stablecoin infrastructure.

As digital asset markets mature, providers increasingly compete on the breadth of their infrastructure offerings rather than on custody alone.

The company also benefits from operating within a more regulated framework than many earlier-generation crypto businesses.

That positioning has become increasingly important as governments worldwide introduce stricter licensing, reporting, and compliance requirements.

Institutional clients are showing growing preference for providers that can demonstrate operational resilience and regulatory alignment.

What This Means for APAC Markets

Asia-Pacific remains one of the most dynamic regions for digital asset innovation and adoption.

Major financial centers including Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Australia are actively developing frameworks to support institutional participation in digital asset markets.

At the same time, governments are exploring tokenized assets, central bank digital currencies, stablecoins, and blockchain-based financial infrastructure.

The result is a rapidly evolving competitive landscape where infrastructure providers are racing to establish trusted regional platforms.

BitGo's appointment of Angela Ang signals that the company expects APAC to play a central role in that growth story.

More broadly, it highlights how the future of digital assets is increasingly being shaped not by speculative trading activity but by regulated infrastructure, institutional participation, and collaboration between financial innovators and policymakers.

As the industry matures, leaders with experience navigating both worlds may become some of its most valuable assets.

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The lines between connectivity providers and media platforms continue to blur.

FreeCast has announced a reseller agreement for Starlink Business services, giving the streaming technology company a new way to bundle broadband connectivity with its growing portfolio of media, advertising, and digital engagement solutions.

On the surface, the deal appears to be a straightforward broadband partnership. But the bigger story is how companies are increasingly treating internet access as the foundation for a broader digital services ecosystem rather than a standalone utility.

By adding Starlink Business to its offerings, FreeCast is positioning itself to serve organizations that need both reliable connectivity and tools to engage audiences through content, communications, advertising, and commerce.

The strategy reflects a growing industry trend where connectivity, media distribution, and customer engagement are becoming part of the same technology stack.

From Streaming Platform to Connectivity Provider

FreeCast is best known for its streaming aggregation and platform services, helping organizations manage content distribution, television experiences, and digital engagement.

The addition of Starlink Business significantly expands that role.

Rather than simply providing content once users are online, FreeCast can now participate in the connectivity layer itself through enterprise-grade satellite internet services powered by Starlink.

According to CEO William Mobley, the agreement creates an opportunity to combine broadband access with streaming television, local content, advertising, community engagement, and digital commerce services within a single offering.

That approach could appeal to organizations looking to simplify vendor relationships while creating more integrated digital experiences for residents, customers, guests, or community members.

Why Starlink Continues Expanding Beyond Consumer Internet

The partnership highlights the growing role of Starlink in enterprise and institutional connectivity.

Operated by SpaceX, Starlink initially gained attention for bringing broadband access to remote and underserved locations where traditional fiber and cable deployments were impractical.

Over time, however, the service has expanded into commercial markets including hospitality, maritime operations, healthcare, education, government, and large-scale residential developments.

For organizations operating in areas where connectivity remains inconsistent, low-earth orbit satellite broadband offers a compelling alternative to traditional infrastructure investments.

That makes Starlink particularly attractive in sectors where reliable internet access directly affects customer experience, operational efficiency, or revenue generation.

FreeCast appears to be targeting exactly those markets.

A Broad Push Into Connected Communities

The company says the combined offering will focus on a wide range of vertical industries, including:

• Multifamily housing communities
• Student housing and university residences
• Hotels and hospitality operators
• Healthcare systems and hospitals
• Senior living communities
• Homeowner associations
• Municipal deployments
• Tribal broadband initiatives
• Rural communities
• RV resorts and campgrounds
• Maritime facilities
• Remote commercial locations

While these markets may seem diverse, they share a common challenge: delivering reliable connectivity while also managing communication and engagement with large groups of people.

For many organizations, internet access is no longer the end product.

It's the infrastructure layer supporting everything else.

Broadband Is Becoming a Digital Engagement Platform

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of FreeCast's strategy is its effort to transform connectivity into a platform for additional services.

Historically, internet providers generated revenue primarily through access fees. Media providers generated revenue through subscriptions and advertising.

The new model combines both.

Through its platform, FreeCast aims to layer multiple services on top of broadband connectivity, including:

• White-label streaming television platforms
• Local content aggregation
• Community information channels
• Regional news and weather portals
• Advertising networks
• Subscription management systems
• Hospitality entertainment solutions
• Resident communication platforms
• Digital commerce services

The result is a more comprehensive offering that extends far beyond internet access.

For property owners, hospitality operators, and municipalities, that could mean delivering entertainment, information, and services through a single integrated ecosystem.

The Search for New Revenue Streams

The economics behind the partnership may be just as important as the technology.

Broadband has increasingly become a competitive and margin-sensitive business. Service providers are looking for ways to generate additional revenue beyond connectivity subscriptions alone.

FreeCast believes organizations can monetize their deployments through several channels simultaneously.

Potential revenue opportunities include:

• Broadband subscription fees
• Managed technology services
• Streaming television subscriptions
• Premium content packages
• Advertising sales
• Community sponsorship programs
• Local business promotions
• Sports and event distribution
• Hospitality entertainment services
• E-commerce partnerships
• White-label platform licensing

This diversification strategy mirrors broader trends across telecommunications and media industries, where providers increasingly seek recurring revenue from digital services layered on top of connectivity infrastructure.

In many cases, the internet connection itself is becoming the gateway to a much larger customer relationship.

Why Connected Communities Are a Growing Opportunity

The concept of the "connected community" has gained significant momentum over the past decade.

Residential developments, universities, healthcare campuses, hospitality properties, and municipalities are investing heavily in digital infrastructure designed to improve communication, access to services, and overall user experiences.

Consumers increasingly expect seamless access to information, entertainment, local updates, and digital services regardless of where they live, work, study, or travel.

Organizations that can provide those experiences through unified platforms may gain a competitive advantage in attracting residents, guests, students, or customers.

FreeCast's strategy aligns closely with that shift.

Rather than treating streaming, advertising, communications, and connectivity as separate products, the company is positioning them as interconnected components of a broader engagement ecosystem.

The Bigger Picture

The FreeCast-Starlink partnership represents more than a reseller agreement.

It reflects a larger industry evolution where broadband connectivity is increasingly viewed as the foundation for digital experiences, community engagement, and commerce.

As streaming consumption grows, local digital services expand, and organizations seek new ways to connect with audiences, the distinction between internet provider, media platform, and engagement technology vendor continues to fade.

For FreeCast, the opportunity lies in sitting at the center of that convergence.

For enterprises, municipalities, hospitality operators, and residential communities, the appeal may be the ability to deploy connectivity, content, communications, and monetization tools through a single ecosystem.

In the next phase of digital infrastructure, the most valuable connection may not simply be internet access—it may be everything built on top of it.

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Trade associations rarely generate the same buzz as consumer brands when they unveil a new logo. But when an organization represents an entire industry, a rebrand can signal something much larger than a design update.

That's the case with the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA), which has introduced a refreshed brand identity ahead of its 60th anniversary celebrations. Inspired by the modernist design movement of 1967—the year the association was founded—the new visual system aims to reflect both the CMA's heritage and its evolving role in Canada's marketing ecosystem.

More than a cosmetic refresh, the rebrand represents an effort to position the organization for a future shaped by AI, digital transformation, shifting consumer expectations, and a rapidly changing marketing profession.

Why the CMA Is Rebranding Now

Anniversaries often serve as natural moments for organizations to reassess how they present themselves.

For the CMA, the timing is particularly symbolic.

Founded in 1967, the association has spent nearly six decades serving as the voice of Canada's marketing industry, supporting professional standards, advocacy efforts, education, and industry development.

But marketing itself has changed dramatically since then.

The profession has evolved from a discipline largely centered on advertising and communications into a complex ecosystem encompassing data analytics, customer experience, commerce media, artificial intelligence, privacy regulation, brand strategy, and digital technology.

The CMA's leadership says the new identity reflects that evolution.

According to Barry Alexander, the organization's Chief Marketing and Diversity Officer, the refreshed brand is designed to better represent the association's role in bringing together Canada's marketing community while positioning it for the future.

His observation carries a touch of self-awareness: after years of operating within a literal box-shaped logo, the CMA is now stepping outside it.

A Design Language Rooted in Canadian History

Rather than chasing contemporary design trends, the CMA looked backward for inspiration.

The new identity draws heavily from the spirit of 1967, a landmark year in Canadian history marked by optimism, modernization, and national transformation. It was the year of Canada's Centennial celebrations and a period often associated with bold architecture, modernist design, and a growing sense of national identity.

That historical reference point plays a central role in the rebrand.

The refreshed visual system embraces a distinctly Canadian aesthetic while avoiding overly nostalgic cues. Instead, it seeks to capture the confidence and forward-looking mindset associated with the era.

The result is a design language intended to connect the association's legacy with its ambitions for the decades ahead.

A New Logo Built Around Community, Influence, and Standards

At the heart of the rebrand is a redesigned logo that carries both symbolic and strategic meaning.

The new mark is built using three chevrons, each representing one of the organization's core pillars:

• Community
• Influence
• Standards

Together, the elements form a stylized maple leaf, one of Canada's most recognizable national symbols.

At the center sits an "M," reinforcing marketing as the association's core focus while positioning the CMA as a meeting point for professionals across the industry.

The design reflects a growing trend among associations and professional organizations that are increasingly using branding to communicate purpose rather than simply identify themselves.

In this case, the logo serves as a visual representation of the CMA's role as a connector, advocate, and standards-setting body for marketers nationwide.

Brand Refreshes Are Becoming Strategic Business Tools

The CMA's rebrand arrives during a period when organizations across sectors are reassessing how their identities align with changing business realities.

In recent years, companies, industry groups, and institutions have increasingly treated branding as a strategic exercise rather than a design project.

The most successful rebrands are often less about aesthetics and more about signaling organizational transformation.

That's particularly relevant for marketing associations.

As the industry navigates AI adoption, evolving privacy regulations, first-party data strategies, and shifting media consumption habits, professional organizations are under pressure to remain relevant to new generations of marketers.

A refreshed identity can help communicate that relevance.

For the CMA, the challenge isn't simply attracting attention. It's demonstrating that the organization continues to play a meaningful role in an industry that looks dramatically different from the one it represented in 1967.

Extending Beyond the Logo

The rebrand extends far beyond the organization's primary visual mark.

Developed in partnership with Canadian creative agency LG2, the initiative includes a comprehensive redesign of the CMA's visual ecosystem.

The project encompasses:

• A new visual identity platform
• Updated corporate branding assets
• Redesigned social media presence
• Event and conference materials
• Email marketing templates
• Digital design systems
• A refreshed CMA Awards identity
• New CMA Awards trophies

The redesign of the awards program is particularly significant.

Industry awards often serve as highly visible expressions of an organization's brand, and the CMA Awards remain one of Canada's most recognized marketing honors. Updating that experience helps ensure consistency across all touchpoints where marketers interact with the association.

What the Rebrand Says About the Future of Marketing

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the CMA's new identity is what it reveals about the state of marketing itself.

The profession is undergoing one of the most significant transformations in its history.

Artificial intelligence is changing content creation and campaign execution. Privacy regulations are reshaping customer data strategies. Retail media networks are altering advertising budgets. Consumer expectations continue to evolve across every channel.

In that environment, professional associations face an increasingly important role.

Beyond advocacy and networking, organizations like the CMA are becoming forums for navigating industry-wide challenges and helping marketers adapt to technological and cultural change.

The new identity appears designed to reflect that responsibility.

By drawing inspiration from a period of national transformation while emphasizing community, influence, and standards, the CMA is positioning itself not simply as an observer of change but as a participant in shaping what's next.

The Bigger Picture

The Canadian Marketing Association's rebrand is ultimately about more than logos, typography, or color palettes.

It represents an effort to align the organization's public identity with the role it believes it plays in the future of Canadian marketing.

As the association approaches its 60th anniversary, the challenge is balancing heritage with innovation—a tension many brands face as they evolve.

The CMA's solution was to revisit the optimism and ambition of its founding era while building a visual identity designed for the industry's next chapter.

Whether marketers embrace the new look remains to be seen, but the message behind it is clear: the organization wants to be seen not as a reflection of marketing's past, but as a platform for its future.

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The advertising industry's dashboard problem may finally be getting its own AI solution.

Perion has unveiled Ask Perion, a new agentic AI interface embedded within its Perion One platform, designed to help marketers analyze campaign performance and build media plans simply by asking questions in plain language. The company also launched the Ask Perion Mobile App, bringing the same capabilities to smartphones and tablets.

Introduced during Cannes Lions 2026, the launch reflects a broader industry shift away from traditional software interfaces and toward AI-powered agents capable of translating complex marketing workflows into conversational experiences.

For marketers overwhelmed by fragmented dashboards, spreadsheets, reporting tools, and planning platforms, Perion is betting that the future of campaign management looks a lot more like chatting with an AI assistant than navigating dozens of menus and filters.

Advertising Has a Dashboard Overload Problem

Modern digital advertising has become a data-rich but workflow-heavy environment.

Marketers today manage campaigns across search, social, connected TV, retail media, display, mobile, and emerging AI-driven channels. Each platform generates its own reporting framework, optimization tools, attribution models, and performance metrics.

The result is often a fragmented ecosystem where insights exist but remain difficult to access quickly.

Many marketing teams spend significant time collecting reports, reconciling data sources, creating presentations, and manually building campaign plans before meaningful decisions can even be made.

The industry's growing fascination with agentic AI stems from a simple promise: reducing the distance between insight and action.

Rather than requiring users to search for information themselves, AI agents can interpret questions, surface relevant data, and recommend next steps automatically.

That's the opportunity Perion is targeting with Ask Perion.

Two AI Agents, One Goal: Faster Decisions

At the core of the launch are two distinct AI-powered agents designed to address different stages of the campaign lifecycle.

The first is an Insights Agent, which allows marketers to ask performance-related questions using natural language.

Instead of manually digging through reports, users can query campaign performance across areas such as:

• Media spend
• Budget pacing
• Delivery metrics
• Creative performance
• Channel effectiveness
• Campaign optimization opportunities

The system then generates clear answers and actionable conclusions rather than forcing users to interpret raw datasets.

The second component is a Planning Agent focused on campaign creation.

Using a marketing brief as input, the agent automatically generates structured cross-channel media plans aligned with campaign objectives.

The output is designed to be presentation-ready, potentially reducing the time required to move from strategy discussions to executable plans.

Together, the two agents create a workflow where marketers can both understand campaign performance and plan future activity through a single conversational interface.

Why Agentic AI Is Becoming the Next MarTech Battleground

The launch arrives as software vendors across marketing, sales, customer service, and analytics race to integrate agentic AI capabilities into their platforms.

Unlike traditional AI assistants that primarily answer questions, agentic systems are designed to complete tasks, make recommendations, and automate decision-making workflows.

In marketing technology, this evolution is becoming increasingly important.

Over the past decade, organizations accumulated dozens of specialized tools covering analytics, customer data, media buying, attribution, creative production, audience targeting, and reporting.

While these platforms generated valuable insights, they also introduced complexity.

The next phase of MarTech innovation is increasingly focused on simplifying user experiences rather than adding more features.

Companies including Salesforce, Adobe, HubSpot, and numerous ad-tech vendors have all embraced AI assistants and agent-based workflows as a way to reduce operational friction.

Perion's launch places it squarely within that competitive movement.

A Shift Toward Self-Serve Advertising Infrastructure

Beyond improving usability, Ask Perion serves another strategic purpose.

According to the company, the launch represents the first phase of a broader self-serve execution model within the Perion One ecosystem.

This is significant because self-service platforms have historically been among the most scalable business models in digital advertising.

By enabling marketers to generate insights and campaign plans independently, companies can reduce operational support requirements while increasing platform adoption.

Perion explicitly highlighted several business benefits tied to the initiative:

• Reduced cost-to-serve
• Improved operational efficiency
• Faster campaign turnaround times
• Increased scalability
• Potential market share expansion

In other words, Ask Perion isn't just a product enhancement—it's part of a larger strategy to automate portions of campaign management that previously required human intervention.

For software vendors, that translates into stronger margins and more scalable growth.

For customers, it could mean faster access to insights and execution.

Mobile-First Marketing Continues to Gain Momentum

Alongside the desktop experience, Perion also introduced the Ask Perion Mobile App.

The mobile component reflects changing work habits across marketing organizations, where decision-makers increasingly expect access to campaign intelligence regardless of location.

The app extends both the Insights Agent and Planning Agent to mobile devices, allowing marketers to:

• Review campaign performance
• Generate reports
• Build media plans
• Monitor pacing
• Access optimization recommendations

While mobile marketing management has existed for years, AI-powered conversational interfaces make the experience considerably more practical on smaller screens.

Typing a question is often easier than navigating a complex dashboard on a smartphone.

That dynamic could accelerate adoption among busy executives and agency teams that frequently work remotely or travel between client meetings.

The Cannes Lions AI Arms Race

It's no coincidence that Ask Perion debuted at Cannes Lions.

The annual advertising festival has increasingly become a showcase for AI innovation, with technology vendors using the event to unveil new tools aimed at reshaping how marketers work.

Over the past two years, generative AI dominated conversations around content creation.

This year, attention is rapidly shifting toward AI agents and workflow automation.

The difference is subtle but important.

Content-generation tools help marketers create assets faster.

Agentic systems aim to help marketers operate faster.

That evolution could have a much larger impact on productivity because it affects planning, analysis, optimization, reporting, and decision-making rather than a single creative task.

What It Means for Marketers

The introduction of Ask Perion highlights a broader reality facing the marketing industry.

The challenge is no longer a lack of data.

It's an inability to process, interpret, and act on that data quickly enough.

As advertising ecosystems become more fragmented and omnichannel campaigns grow increasingly complex, marketers need tools that reduce cognitive load rather than add to it.

Conversational AI agents offer one potential solution.

By transforming dashboards into dialogue and reports into recommendations, platforms like Ask Perion are attempting to make sophisticated advertising technology more accessible to a wider range of users.

Whether agentic interfaces ultimately replace traditional dashboards remains to be seen.

But one thing is becoming clear: the future of marketing software may be less about where users click and more about what they ask.

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Deploying AI agents is quickly becoming the easy part.

Managing them, auditing their decisions, measuring their performance, and ensuring they comply with business policies is proving far more difficult.

That's the problem Relanto is targeting with the launch of R-LiveMeasure, a new enterprise governance platform designed to help organizations monitor, evaluate, and continuously improve AI agents operating across critical business functions.

As enterprises move beyond AI pilots and begin deploying autonomous agents in production environments, governance has emerged as one of the biggest barriers to large-scale adoption. While companies have spent decades building systems to manage human employees, many are discovering they lack equivalent frameworks for supervising digital workers.

Relanto believes R-LiveMeasure can fill that gap.

Developed by the company's AI-First Lab, the platform aims to provide the visibility, accountability, and operational oversight enterprises need as AI agents increasingly take on business-critical responsibilities.

The Enterprise AI Problem Nobody Talks About

The AI industry has spent the past two years focused on what agents can do.

From customer service and software development to marketing, operations, finance, and HR, organizations are experimenting with autonomous systems capable of completing tasks with minimal human intervention.

But as deployments grow, a more practical challenge is emerging.

How do you govern thousands of AI-driven decisions occurring across multiple departments, systems, and workflows?

Unlike traditional software, AI agents are dynamic. They make decisions, invoke tools, interact with other agents, access external systems, and often operate with varying levels of autonomy.

That complexity creates significant governance concerns around:

• Accountability
• Compliance
• Transparency
• Risk management
• Auditability
• Performance measurement
• Continuous improvement

Many enterprises now realize that deploying agents without governance infrastructure creates operational and regulatory risks that could undermine AI initiatives altogether.

The next phase of enterprise AI adoption may depend less on building smarter agents and more on managing them effectively.

From AI Experiments to Digital Workforces

Relanto's launch reflects a growing shift in how organizations view AI.

The conversation is moving away from isolated use cases and toward what some analysts describe as "digital workforces"—networks of AI agents operating across business functions.

Just as enterprises rely on management systems to oversee employees, AI agents require mechanisms for monitoring performance, reviewing outcomes, and maintaining accountability.

R-LiveMeasure is designed to act as a system of record for those operations.

Rather than simply tracking outputs, the platform captures every significant event generated by AI agents, including interactions, decisions, workflow executions, tool usage, handoffs between agents, and human interventions.

The goal is to create a complete operational history that organizations can review, audit, and analyze over time.

In effect, the platform seeks to provide enterprises with something they currently lack: observability into how AI agents actually operate.

Five Core Capabilities for AI Governance

At the heart of R-LiveMeasure are five governance functions designed to support enterprise-scale AI deployments.

End-to-End Observability

The platform tracks agent behavior across workflows, creating a comprehensive record of interactions, decisions, and tool executions.

This level of visibility is becoming increasingly important as organizations deploy multiple agents that interact with one another and external systems.

Without observability, diagnosing errors or understanding decision pathways becomes difficult.

Context-Aware Evaluation

Generic AI metrics rarely capture what matters most to businesses.

R-LiveMeasure evaluates agent performance against organization-specific policies, operational rules, and business objectives.

This allows enterprises to measure effectiveness within their own governance frameworks rather than relying solely on model-level benchmarks.

Human-in-the-Loop Oversight

Despite advances in autonomous AI, most organizations remain reluctant to remove humans entirely from high-risk processes.

The platform enables structured expert reviews for sensitive decisions while capturing feedback that can be used to improve future agent performance.

This capability aligns with emerging best practices for responsible AI deployment.

Business KPI Alignment

One of the biggest challenges facing AI initiatives is demonstrating measurable business value.

R-LiveMeasure links agent performance directly to operational goals, risk indicators, and business outcomes, helping organizations understand whether AI systems are delivering meaningful impact.

Lifecycle Governance

Rather than treating governance as an afterthought, the platform integrates oversight into the broader agent development lifecycle.

This allows organizations to continuously evaluate, refine, and improve AI systems as they evolve.

Why AI Governance Is Becoming a Boardroom Issue

The timing of Relanto's launch is notable.

Across industries, AI governance is rapidly evolving from a technical concern into an executive-level priority.

Regulators worldwide are introducing new requirements for transparency, accountability, risk management, and explainability in AI systems.

Meanwhile, boards and leadership teams are increasingly demanding visibility into how AI technologies influence business decisions.

This shift is creating a new category of enterprise software focused on AI governance, monitoring, and compliance.

Companies including Microsoft, IBM, Salesforce, and numerous AI infrastructure startups have introduced governance frameworks designed to address similar concerns.

The emergence of these platforms reflects a growing consensus: AI adoption cannot scale sustainably without corresponding governance capabilities.

Keeping Control Inside the Enterprise

One aspect of R-LiveMeasure that may appeal to large organizations is its deployment model.

Rather than operating as a fully managed external service, the platform is designed to run within an organization's own environment.

That approach allows enterprises to retain ownership of:

• Agent interaction data
• Governance policies
• Evaluation frameworks
• Audit records
• Compliance controls

For highly regulated industries such as healthcare, financial services, government, and telecommunications, maintaining control over sensitive operational data is often a non-negotiable requirement.

As enterprises become more cautious about AI-related security and compliance risks, on-premises and private-cloud governance solutions are attracting increased interest.

The Next Battle in Enterprise AI

For much of the generative AI boom, competitive advantage centered on access to powerful models.

Today, that dynamic is changing.

As foundational AI capabilities become increasingly commoditized, differentiation is shifting toward infrastructure, governance, orchestration, and operational management.

In other words, the challenge is no longer whether enterprises can build AI agents.

It's whether they can manage them responsibly at scale.

Relanto's R-LiveMeasure launch reflects that reality.

The company is betting that the future of enterprise AI won't be defined by the number of agents organizations deploy, but by their ability to monitor performance, maintain accountability, enforce governance policies, and continuously improve outcomes.

As AI agents move deeper into business operations, platforms that provide that operational backbone may become just as important as the agents themselves.

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Market Landscape

The B2B buyer intent data market is evolving rapidly as AI-powered research changes software discovery behavior. Traditional platforms such as Salesforce, Adobe, HubSpot, and Microsoft continue investing in AI-driven customer intelligence, while specialized providers are racing to deliver actionable buyer signals directly inside revenue workflows.

G2's latest announcement positions the company at the intersection of buyer intent intelligence, customer reviews, AI search visibility, and revenue operations. As enterprises adopt AI assistants and agentic workflows, trusted first-party data is becoming increasingly valuable for both marketing attribution and pipeline generation.

According to Gartner, over 80% of B2B sales interactions are expected to occur through digital channels, while IDC forecasts continued growth in AI-enabled enterprise software investments. These trends are accelerating demand for platforms capable of connecting customer intent, AI insights, and revenue execution.

Top Insights

• G2 expanded MCP integrations across ChatGPT, Claude, HubSpot, Gong, Profound, and AirOps, bringing buyer intent intelligence directly into AI and revenue workflows.
• New Buyer Intent capabilities incorporate signals from Capterra, Software Advice, and GetApp, potentially doubling available buyer activity data for sales and marketing teams.
• Intent Studio and Activity Feed provide deeper visibility into software research behavior, helping revenue teams personalize outreach using real-time buyer engagement signals.
• Snowflake, BigQuery, and Databricks integrations support enterprise analytics initiatives by combining buyer intent data with CRM and first-party customer datasets.
• AI Blueprints introduces more than 500 peer-contributed AI workflows, helping organizations move from AI experimentation toward operational deployment

Freecash, the consumer rewards platform operated by advertising technology company Almedia, has returned to Apple's App Store following a temporary removal earlier this year. The reinstatement restores the app's availability across both major mobile ecosystems and comes at a time when rewarded user acquisition strategies continue to gain traction among mobile advertisers, game publishers, and performance marketing teams seeking alternative growth channels.

The mobile advertising industry has become increasingly competitive as rising acquisition costs, privacy changes, and platform restrictions reshape how companies attract and retain users. Against this backdrop, Almedia has announced that its flagship rewards platform, Freecash, is once again available on Apple's App Store, marking the latest development for one of the fastest-growing players in the rewarded user acquisition market.

The announcement follows Freecash's return to Google Play in May and restores the platform's presence across both major mobile app marketplaces. New iOS users can now access the app, while existing users regain access through Apple's ecosystem after a period of uncertainty surrounding the platform's temporary removal.

Founded in Berlin, Almedia has emerged as a notable force in the advertising technology sector. The company has built its business around rewarded user acquisition, a model that incentivizes consumers to engage with apps, games, surveys, and promotional activities in exchange for rewards. The approach has gained popularity as marketers search for more measurable and engagement-driven alternatives to traditional mobile advertising campaigns.

According to the company, Freecash has surpassed 80 million users globally and distributed more than $300 million in rewards. Earlier in 2026, the platform climbed to the No. 2 position in the U.S. App Store rankings and reportedly added 19 million new users before its removal from Apple's marketplace in April.

The return to the App Store represents more than a simple distribution milestone. It underscores the growing importance of reward-based engagement models within the broader mobile advertising ecosystem.

Rewarded acquisition strategies have become increasingly attractive to marketers navigating an industry transformed by privacy regulations and platform-level tracking restrictions. Since Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework altered user-level data access, advertisers have faced challenges in targeting, attribution, and campaign optimization. As a result, many brands and app developers have explored performance-driven channels that rely on direct user engagement rather than extensive behavioral tracking.

Freecash operates within this environment by creating a value exchange between consumers and advertisers. Users complete activities such as testing applications, participating in offers, or engaging with digital experiences, while advertisers gain access to audiences demonstrating measurable intent and engagement.

The model aligns with broader shifts occurring across the mobile growth landscape. Major advertising platforms, including those operated by Google, Meta, and Apple, continue evolving their privacy frameworks, forcing marketers to rethink acquisition strategies. At the same time, mobile gaming publishers are increasingly investing in rewarded experiences as a method for acquiring users while maintaining return-on-ad-spend efficiency.

Industry analysts have identified rewarded advertising as one of the more resilient segments within mobile marketing. According to Statista, global mobile advertising spending continues to rise despite economic uncertainty, while gaming and app publishers increasingly prioritize engagement-based monetization models. Meanwhile, research from AppsFlyer and other mobile measurement providers has highlighted growing adoption of rewarded user acquisition campaigns among app marketers seeking higher-quality installs and improved retention metrics.

Almedia's latest announcement also arrives as competition intensifies across the user acquisition technology market. Companies focused on performance marketing, affiliate-driven growth, and rewarded engagement are racing to capture budgets previously directed toward traditional paid social and display advertising channels.

The company appears intent on strengthening its position within that market. Alongside the app's reinstatement, Almedia revealed plans for its inaugural industry event, the Almedia Summit, scheduled to take place in Berlin on July 2–3. The gathering is expected to bring together mobile game publishers, advertising platforms, and user acquisition professionals to discuss emerging trends in rewarded advertising and mobile growth strategies.

The summit reflects a broader trend toward collaboration between advertising technology vendors and mobile publishers as the industry adapts to AI-driven optimization, evolving privacy standards, and shifting consumer behavior. Increasingly, user acquisition teams are evaluating not only scale but also engagement quality, lifetime value, and retention performance when selecting growth partners.

For marketers, Freecash's return may signal continued confidence in rewarded user acquisition as a viable channel for audience growth. For app developers and game publishers, it expands access to a platform that has demonstrated significant consumer adoption and engagement.

The broader significance lies in how mobile advertising continues to evolve beyond traditional impressions and clicks. As advertisers seek more transparent and measurable outcomes, platforms that directly connect consumer engagement with acquisition performance are likely to play a larger role in future growth strategies.

Whether rewarded user acquisition becomes a dominant pillar of mobile advertising remains to be seen. However, Freecash's rapid growth and re-entry into Apple's ecosystem suggest that demand for alternative acquisition models remains strong among both advertisers and consumers.

Market Landscape

The rewarded user acquisition market is becoming an increasingly important segment of the broader AdTech ecosystem. As privacy-first policies from Apple and Google reshape mobile advertising, brands are looking for channels that deliver measurable engagement and higher-quality users.

Companies across the mobile marketing landscape are investing in performance-based advertising models that emphasize user actions rather than traditional impressions. This trend has accelerated alongside the adoption of AI-powered campaign optimization, first-party data strategies, and engagement-driven monetization.

For mobile game publishers and app developers, rewarded acquisition platforms provide an alternative to rising costs on traditional advertising networks. As competition for user attention intensifies, platforms capable of delivering verified engagement and stronger retention metrics are expected to attract growing advertiser interest.

Top Insights

•  Freecash has returned to Apple's App Store, restoring availability across both iOS and Android ecosystems and expanding access for millions of potential new users.
• The platform reports more than 80 million users globally and over $300 million in rewards distributed, highlighting significant growth in rewarded user acquisition.
• Rewarded advertising models are gaining relevance as marketers adapt to privacy-driven changes affecting targeting, attribution, and campaign optimization.
• Mobile publishers increasingly view engagement-based acquisition channels as alternatives to traditional paid social and display advertising campaigns.
• Almedia plans to strengthen its position in the AdTech market through industry collaboration initiatives, including its inaugural Almedia Summit in Berlin.

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