FICO is pushing credit scoring into new territory. The analytics giant revealed a strategic partnership with Plaid to introduce the next generation of the cash flow–enhanced UltraFICO Score, designed to give lenders deeper, real-time insight into consumer financial health. Instead of relying solely on traditional credit metrics, lenders can now tap live transaction data to make faster, sharper, and more inclusive decisions.

The move builds on FICO’s earlier UltraFICO Score, but this version raises the stakes. Plaid’s infrastructure connects to more than 12,000 financial institutions and processes nearly one million secure financial connections every day. By merging that reach with the reliability of the FICO Score—still used by 90% of top U.S. lenders—the two companies aim to deliver a unified score that strengthens risk assessment without adding operational drag.

Cash Flow Intelligence Becomes a Core Credit Signal

The enhanced UltraFICO Score analyzes inflows and outflows across checking, savings, and money market accounts. This gives lenders real-time visibility into stability, spending behavior, and liquidity—critical factors for understanding credit readiness, especially among consumers who fall outside traditional scoring models.

FICO’s vice president and general manager of B2B Scores, Julie May, highlighted the market’s demand for broader credit perspectives. She said the partnership represents nearly a year of work focused on creating “the foundation for more comprehensive lending decisions.” The collaboration marks a shift toward more responsible and inclusive scoring at a time when lenders are eager to expand access without compromising precision.

Easier Integration, Faster Adoption

The updated UltraFICO Score will be distributed through Plaid’s Consumer Reporting Agency, Plaid Check, which streamlines onboarding for lenders. The companies say the model aligns with the flagship FICO Score, allowing institutions to adopt cash-flow-enhanced scoring without lengthy testing or risk-model overhauls.

Lenders also gain universal compatibility, so they can use the enhanced model alongside the traditional FICO Score in any channel. This flexibility reduces friction and clears the path for faster implementation across underwriting workflows.

A Step Toward Smarter, More Inclusive Lending

Plaid’s head of partnerships, Adam Yoxtheimer, emphasized the rising importance of real-time financial data. He noted that high-quality cash flow visibility is becoming essential for lenders looking to capture a fuller picture of consumer credit readiness. The combined score gives institutions stronger risk signals while offering borrowers more ways to demonstrate financial strength.

With banks under pressure to innovate, modernize underwriting, and reach underserved markets, this partnership positions FICO and Plaid at the center of a major shift. The next-generation UltraFICO Score aims to make lending both smarter and fairer—without complicating the systems lenders rely on.

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VERB Products, the salon-quality haircare brand known for one accessible price point across its lineup, has selected Listrak as its unified cross-channel marketing partner. The move aims to boost e-commerce performance and deepen customer engagement through a single AI-powered platform for email, SMS, and web personalization.

The partnership has already delivered early wins. VERB reports a 300% year-over-year increase in automations and a 30% lift in SMS conversions since integrating Listrak’s tools. The gains reflect a broader shift among beauty brands toward data-driven personalization, where seamless communication across channels is now table stakes for growth.

AI-Driven Personalization at Scale

Listrak’s platform brings data, identity resolution, and predictive intelligence under one roof. VERB now uses the system to power hyper-personalized experiences across email campaigns, SMS flows, and on-site interactions. That includes predictive product recommendations and dynamic content tailored to individual customer behavior.

The brand also collaborates closely with Listrak’s beauty industry specialists, using benchmarks and trend insights to sharpen campaign execution. This mix of platform automation and expert guidance helps VERB scale personalization without adding operational burden.

Nicole Johnson, VERB’s Digital Marketing Director, said the mission is simple: help customers feel confident while discovering products that fit their unique style. She emphasized the value of having both an integrated platform and a hands-on partner to deepen retention and CRM strategy.

A Collaborative Push Toward Loyalty

Listrak’s CRO, Jamie Elden, noted that VERB’s focus on individuality extends from its diverse product range to its online shopping experience. The company’s role is to elevate those journeys with smarter targeting and more cohesive messaging across touchpoints. As beauty e-commerce gets increasingly competitive, consistent personalization becomes a key differentiator for loyalty.

Fueling Growth With Creative Digital Campaigns

VERB’s momentum also stems from inventive digital campaigns that reinforce brand identity. One example is Ghost Month, an October-long interactive experience celebrating the brand’s cult-favorite Ghost Oil and the wider Ghost collection. The series blends storytelling, product education, and playful digital engagement—an approach Listrak’s tech now helps amplify.

As the holidays approach, VERB plans to roll out high-intent campaigns including Black Friday promotions and its annual December Mystery Box event. With Listrak’s automation and predictive targeting in place, the brand is positioned to drive stronger conversions during peak shopping season.

VERB’s partnership with Listrak signals a broader trend: beauty brands leaning into unified automation platforms that merge intelligence, creativity, and cross-channel execution. With early results already hitting triple-digit lifts, VERB appears set to scale faster while keeping personalization at the center of every customer interaction.

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MarketFully, the company positioning itself as the global leader in In Content Marketing, is launching its first-ever InContent Marketing Summit—InContent 2025—a virtual event designed to examine how AI-driven disruption is reshaping multilingual SEO, global discoverability, and the role of cultural intelligence in content performance.

Scheduled for December 4 at 11:00 a.m. ET, the free, executive-level session will bring together senior marketing leaders across industries seeking to improve localization outcomes, strengthen search visibility in global markets, and build scalable, culturally aligned content operations that still protect brand integrity.

A New Framework: InContent Marketing

The discussion, moderated by MarketFully CEO Evan Kramer, will introduce InContent Marketing, an inbound-driven multilingual content strategy that blends in-market expertise, linguistic accuracy, and cultural relevancy. The approach is designed to address long-standing friction in global content programs—particularly the gap between localization practices and marketing KPIs.

Kramer will be joined by multilingual marketing and content strategy experts who specialize in crafting culturally resonant content that drives measurable outcomes. Together, the panel aims to break down how AI, content workflows, and cultural intelligence intersect to deliver sustainable performance across regions.

Key Challenges CMOs Are Facing

The session will explore the pain points leaders are grappling with today, including:

• Weak visibility in multilingual SEO and AI-powered search

• Localization processes disconnected from core marketing metrics

• A shortage of authentic, reliable local content creators

• Misalignment between global headquarters and regional teams

• The ongoing struggle to convert localization spend into revenue impact

Panelists will also outline strategies for operationalizing brand governance in every market, implementing scalable workflows, and transforming localization into an ROI-positive function rather than a cost center.

High Stakes for Global Brands

"CMOs and marketers today face a tall order: They must scale content efficiently across markets without losing relevance or performance," said Kajetan Malinowski, VP of Product Management at MarketFully. He added that proving the ROI of multilingual content has become increasingly difficult, especially as brands face rising pressure to engage multicultural audiences both in the U.S. and globally. InContent 2025 aims to surface practical solutions and frameworks for teams navigating these complexities.

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NIQ just earned its certification as a Google Meridian partner—an endorsement that places the consumer intelligence giant inside a small, select circle of measurement specialists trusted to advance Google’s open-source Marketing Mix Model (MMM) ecosystem. For marketers, this move signals a meaningful shift toward more transparent, accessible, and scalable measurement options at a time when reliable attribution is harder to secure than ever.

Google’s Meridian framework is designed to help advertisers analyze the real impact of their marketing investments using open-source MMM technology. While traditional attribution models continue to buckle under privacy restrictions and signal loss, Meridian aims to fill the gap with reproducible, privacy-resilient modeling that spans channels. NIQ’s certification strengthens that mission by layering its own long-standing MMM expertise on top of Google’s modernized methodology.

Meridian’s latest upgrades also bring forward improved search measurement—now accounting for organic search volume—and a refined approach to video Reach & Frequency modeling. For brands still wrestling with how to value upper-funnel channels or understand the influence of search behavior on conversions, these enhancements expand the model’s real-world fidelity.

“This certification marks a major milestone in our mission to empower advertisers and media owners with best-in-class tools for measuring media impact faster, deeper, and more efficiently,” said Jason Tate, General Manager of Marketing Effectiveness at NIQ. He noted that blending open-source advancements with NIQ’s proprietary modeling gives marketers more dependable and flexible measurement options across global markets.

The partnership also positions NIQ as a bridge between standardized open-source guidelines and the more sophisticated models used by complex enterprises. Marketers can tap into an expanded range of outcome-based solutions without sacrificing transparency or control, and with enough flexibility to adjust for market conditions, strategy shifts, and diverse media portfolios.

As measurement evolves away from point-solution attribution, collaborations like this may become the industry’s blueprint—pairing standardized frameworks with proprietary intelligence to balance consistency and competitive advantage. For now, NIQ’s certification reinforces its place among the leading voices shaping the future of MMM, ensuring advertisers have credible tools to evaluate performance and optimize investments with more confidence.

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SAP transformation projects don’t have a reputation for speed—or simplicity. BearingPoint’s new AI-driven delivery platform, BeMind by BearingPoint, is designed to change that narrative. After 18 months of development and real-world testing across more than 20 SAP programs, the consultancy is rolling out the platform at scale with a bold promise: shave 20–30 percent off effort and timelines while boosting quality across every phase of an SAP transformation.

The platform blends advanced AI automation with BearingPoint’s deep delivery and technical expertise, creating what the firm positions as an end-to-end production engine for SAP programs. In an industry where schedules often slip and documentation demands explode, the pitch is straightforward—faster execution, fewer bottlenecks, and higher-quality output without sidelining human judgment.

“BeMind by BearingPoint marks a fundamental shift in how we deliver value to our clients,” said Kay Manke, Global Leader Consulting Portfolio and Innovation at BearingPoint. He emphasized that AI is integrated across the full project lifecycle, but human expertise remains central. The combination is intended to help project teams work with more precision and less manual fatigue.

An AI Layer Across the Entire SAP Lifecycle

BeMind supports more than 25 use cases and embeds automation from the earliest planning stages to go-live. That includes analyzing large datasets, generating documentation, producing test cases, and even auto-creating SAP code from approved inputs.

This isn’t a collection of disconnected features; it’s a structured platform that governs processes with enterprise-grade security and a consistent quality framework. In large S/4HANA programs—often burdened by sprawling workflows and large cross-functional teams—these capabilities translate to measurable efficiency and reduced risk.

Less Effort, Shorter Timelines, Better Quality

BearingPoint positions BeMind’s value across three measurable dimensions:

• Effort reduction: Tasks like user-story writing, documentation, configuration support, and test development are automated. Work that once required days can now close out in minutes, giving teams more time for validation and solution design.

• Time compression: By reducing project effort by up to 30 percent, organizations can accelerate each phase of their SAP program. Faster delivery lowers operational risk and moves enterprises to value realization sooner.

• Quality improvement: Built-in quality checks ensure consistency across code, functional specs, and documentation. Fewer errors mean fewer rounds of rework—a major drag in typical SAP deployments.

“BeMind by BearingPoint is built on a robust, enterprise-grade architecture,” said Matthias Roeser, Global Leader Technology at BearingPoint. He highlighted the platform’s ability to tailor automation to specific client landscapes while maintaining security and scalability—two critical factors for global SAP environments.

Redefining SAP Transformation Standards

SAP transformations traditionally hinge on manual coordination, complex process mapping, and lengthy development cycles. BeMind reflects a broader industry trend: AI is beginning to take on the repetitive, documentation-heavy workload that slows major IT programs.

What differentiates BearingPoint’s approach is the unification of these AI capabilities into a single delivery platform supported by consultants already familiar with the complexity of SAP environments. The result is a scalable model that can be replicated across global clients—a key advantage as organizations race to modernize legacy systems and move to S/4HANA before SAP’s upcoming deadlines.

With proven gains already demonstrated, BeMind signals a decisive turn in how enterprise technology programs may be executed going forward. Faster, more precise delivery—supported by AI and governed by human expertise—may soon become the baseline expectation.

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Crafty Apes, the visual effects studio behind some of Hollywood’s biggest productions, is heading Down Under. The company has officially opened new offices in Australia, extending its global footprint across North America, Europe, and now Oceania. With supervisors and leadership already on the ground, the move positions Crafty Apes to capture surging production demand in two of the world’s fastest-growing VFX hubs: Sydney and Adelaide.

The expansion reflects both strategic timing and market opportunity. Australia’s VFX ecosystem has exploded in recent years thanks to strong government-backed incentives, consistent international production pipelines, and a formidable pool of artists. For Crafty Apes—now marking 14 years in business—the region offers the ideal mix of talent, flexibility, and cost-efficiency.

A Strategic Bet on Australia’s VFX Boom

CEO Alana Newell emphasized a personal and professional connection to the region. “Having spent a decade of my career in Australia, I am excited to open our doors here and continue our mission to deliver world-class visual effects for our clients worldwide,” she said. According to Newell, the combination of world-class artists, modern facilities, and competitive tax credits makes Australia a natural next step in the company’s growth plan.

Australia’s New South Wales and South Australia territories offer some of the world’s most generous VFX tax credit programs. These incentives are designed to attract premium international productions and support long-term investments in local post-production infrastructure. For studios like Crafty Apes, these programs aren’t just a bonus—they reshape cost models, expand hiring pipelines, and accelerate global scalability.

Leadership With Local Roots

The Sydney office will be led by Dave Morley, who also steps into the role of Executive Creative Director for Crafty Apes. Morley’s return to Australia marks a full-circle moment in a career that has included supervising Vancouver (the company’s largest facility) and working show-side with director Paul Feig on projects including A Simple Favor 2 and The Housemaid.

“It’s incredibly exciting to be part of establishing our presence in Australia,” Morley said. “Returning home to work alongside old friends and colleagues and injecting fresh energy into the vibrant Australian VFX scene fills me with immense pride.”

Morley’s new role includes creative look development for premium projects and mentoring Crafty Apes’ global network of VFX supervisors. His leadership is already paying dividends: the Sydney facility has secured several feature awards for titles currently shooting in Australia and abroad, with VFX work slated to begin in Q2 2025.

A Global Studio With Local Impact

Crafty Apes’ arrival is expected to create new opportunities within Australia’s rapidly maturing VFX industry. As global streamers and studios continue to shift productions to regions offering both quality and cost advantages, Australia is increasingly becoming a destination of choice. Crafty Apes’ presence adds another heavyweight to the competitive landscape, signaling strong long-term demand for talent and infrastructure across the region.

The company’s expansion underscores a broader industry trend: global VFX work is becoming more distributed, and regional ecosystems with strong incentives and deep skill pools are emerging as critical nodes in the production pipeline.

For Crafty Apes, the move is more than geographic. It’s a strategic investment in a fast-growing market—and a signal that the global race for VFX capacity is set to intensify.

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Sprinklr is strengthening its position in the customer experience stack with a major expansion of its strategic partnership with SAMY, the 1,000-person social-first agency known for blending intelligence, creativity, and technology. The enhanced alliance brings Sprinklr’s AI-native Unified-CXM platform together with SAMY’s hands-on marketing expertise, forming a unified model designed to close the gap between insights and execution for global brands.

The announcement builds on years of collaboration, but this iteration goes far beyond vendor support. It positions Sprinklr and SAMY as an integrated force capable of helping brands navigate cultural shifts, unify fragmented data, and deliver consistent customer experiences across every touchpoint.

From Tactical Assistance to Strategic Integration

“What began as project-based support has grown into a truly integrated partnership,” said Nathan Townsend, Chief Partnership Officer at SAMY. By combining Sprinklr’s AI-native platform with SAMY’s end-to-end marketing capabilities, the duo aims to deliver what Townsend calls “human-first experiences that drive real business impact.”

The shift reflects a broader trend in enterprise CX: brands want not just tools, but teams and platforms that work together. SAMY contributes a platform-certified workforce deeply embedded in Sprinklr’s ecosystem, ensuring that clients receive both technical expertise and strategic CX leadership.

Joint go-to-market motions, coordinated delivery, and a pipeline of co-developed innovations make this partnership more operationally connected than in previous phases. The goal is simple: accelerate growth and improve customer outcomes in a marketplace where unified data and rapid insight execution have become non-negotiable.

A Unified Model Tested at Global Scale

The partnership’s value has already been proven with Diageo, one of the world’s biggest beverage companies. Tasked with navigating fast-moving cultural and consumption trends, Diageo turned to Sprinklr and SAMY to build a real-time Foresight System that identifies emerging conversations and converts them into actionable intelligence.

By tapping into Sprinklr’s social listening and AI capabilities, Diageo gained visibility into cultural shifts, category whitespace, and early-market signals—insights that now inform product development, marketing strategy, and global innovation planning. The system ultimately enables the company to anticipate customer needs before competitors catch up.

Sprinklr’s Senior Vice President for EMEA, Nunzio Mirtillo, summed up the partnership’s mission: “Customers today demand that brands be everything, everywhere, all at once.” The unified Sprinklr-SAMY model is designed to meet that expectation with AI-driven insights, creative execution, and scalable managed services.

Building the Future of AI-Native CX

For Sprinklr, the partnership underscores its strategy to move deeper into AI-powered enterprise transformation. For SAMY, it cements its role as a major player in bridging cultural intelligence with modern CX technology. Together, they are building a blueprint for how advanced platforms and creative strategy can co-exist—and co-deliver—against aggressive market demands.

“Two powerhouses with a shared goal,” said George Collins, Global Partnership Director at Sprinklr. “With Sprinklr’s AI-native platform and SAMY’s creative and strategic expertise, we’re delivering measurable impact, faster.”

As brands continue to grapple with fragmented channels, shifting consumer behavior, and pressure to innovate at speed, the strengthened Sprinklr-SAMY partnership arrives at a critical time—and signals where the future of customer experience is headed: unified, AI-driven, and culturally fluent.

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Meyocks, a long-established branding and marketing agency, is expanding its footprint with the launch of Meyocks Research + Insights, a dedicated market research firm built to deliver fast, accessible, and highly actionable intelligence for businesses of every size. The move signals Meyocks’ deeper push into data-driven strategy at a moment when organizations across industries are racing to make smarter decisions with fewer resources.

For more than four decades, Meyocks has supported clients with creative strategy and marketplace execution. Now, with Research + Insights, the agency is amplifying that foundation. According to Kelly Ferguson, president and CEO, the new firm builds on years of strategic expertise to offer research that stays rooted in real-world application. She emphasized that the goal is simple: uncover reliable insights that brands can use to drive measurable growth.

While many research agencies lean into complexity, Meyocks Research + Insights focuses on clarity. The team aims to translate data into strategic direction without the usual layers of confusing terminology or dense reporting. This emphasis on accessibility comes at a time when marketers increasingly expect research partners to deliver quick, digestible insights rather than lengthy academic-style analysis.

Beth Ann Boyd, vice president of digital delivery, noted that the firm’s method for working with brands sets it apart. Rather than positioning research as a standalone exercise, the team integrates findings with brand strategy from the outset. The result is a more intuitive, faster path to the insights that matter most. She added that the team’s marketing background strengthens their ability to highlight insights that can truly shape decisions.

Meyocks Research + Insights is jointly led by Boyd and senior market research strategist Whitney Hayes, Ph.D. Backed by researchers, analysts, and data scientists, the group supports organizations through a range of services built to match varying needs—from quick-turn studies to fully customized research.

One highlight of the new firm is its Rapid Research suite. These pre-packaged surveys deliver insights in two to three weeks at a starting cost of $6,000, making them more attainable for brands with limited budgets. The catalog includes Brand Category + Health Studies, Customer Studies, Creative Testing, and Package Design evaluations. This off-the-shelf approach aligns with a broader industry trend toward modular research solutions that cut both time and cost without sacrificing quality.

For companies with more specialized questions, the Custom Research offering provides tailored studies in areas such as consumer behavior, brand health, marketing effectiveness, product and package development, and employer branding. Each engagement integrates strategic interpretation, ensuring that findings move beyond data into clear direction.

This launch also aligns with Meyocks’ purpose-driven ethos, summarized by the agency’s guiding belief that “giving a damn changes everything.” Research + Insights keeps that philosophy at the center, positioning insight as a catalyst for meaningful opportunity.

As data continues to shape every corner of marketing, Meyocks’ move reflects a broader shift in the industry. Brands want research that’s faster, cleaner, and more grounded in strategy. Meyocks Research + Insights enters the market ready to meet that demand with offerings that aim to simplify complexity without dulling the impact.

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