As marketing and communications agencies navigate a rapidly evolving landscape shaped by artificial intelligence, industry consolidation, and growing client expectations, financial leadership is becoming increasingly critical to sustainable growth. Against this backdrop, Highwire has appointed veteran agency finance executive Kelly Losko as Chief Financial Officer, signaling the firm's commitment to scaling its operations following a period of significant expansion.

Highwire has named Kelly Losko as its new Chief Financial Officer, reinforcing the agency's executive leadership team as it enters a new phase of growth fueled by acquisitions, AI innovation, and sector expansion.

The appointment comes during one of the most transformative periods in Highwire's history. Over the past year, the agency has expanded its capabilities through strategic acquisitions, launched new vertical-focused practices, and invested heavily in artificial intelligence infrastructure aimed at modernizing marketing and communications workflows.

Losko brings more than two decades of financial leadership experience across some of the advertising and communications industry's most recognized organizations. Her background includes leadership roles at agencies operating within highly complex and rapidly evolving business environments, making her well-positioned to support Highwire's next stage of development.

Prior to joining Highwire, Losko served as Global CFO at Forsman & Bodenfors' New York operations and held the position of CFO, North America at OLIVER Agency. She also spent nearly a decade at mcgarrybowen, where she served in senior finance leadership positions, including Divisional Controller and Managing Director of Financial Planning and Analysis. Earlier in her career, she held financial leadership roles at GroupM.

The appointment highlights a broader trend across the agency sector, where firms are increasingly prioritizing operational efficiency, financial discipline, and scalable infrastructure as they adapt to evolving client demands. Marketing agencies today are managing more complex service portfolios that combine public relations, digital marketing, content strategy, analytics, performance marketing, and AI-powered solutions.

For Highwire, strengthening financial leadership is particularly important given the pace of its recent growth.

A major milestone came in early 2026 when Highwire acquired The Bliss Group, expanding its footprint across financial services, professional services, healthcare, and life sciences. The acquisition significantly broadened the firm's industry expertise while increasing its workforce to more than 250 professionals across North America.

The combined organization now operates across six primary practice areas: B2B Technology, Cybersecurity, Health, Financial Services, Professional Services, and Energy. These sectors represent some of the most complex and highly regulated industries, where organizations increasingly require strategic communications partners capable of combining deep subject matter expertise with sophisticated digital capabilities.

Beyond acquisitions, Highwire has also accelerated investment in healthcare communications. The launch of Highwire Health created a dedicated practice designed to serve organizations across life sciences, healthcare technology, medical innovation, and broader healthcare markets. The move reflects growing demand for specialized communications support as healthcare organizations navigate technological disruption, regulatory change, and increased competition.

Perhaps most notably, Highwire has positioned artificial intelligence as a central pillar of its growth strategy.

Earlier this year, the agency introduced AcroAI, a proprietary agentic AI platform developed to support marketing, communications, and media workflows. Unlike standalone AI tools that focus on individual tasks, AcroAI is designed to function as an integrated operating layer across the agency's processes, helping teams accelerate audience intelligence, content development, media strategy, performance analysis, and campaign execution.

The platform reflects a growing trend among agencies seeking to embed AI directly into operational infrastructure rather than treating it solely as a productivity tool. According to research from Gartner, generative AI and agentic AI technologies are expected to significantly reshape marketing operations, campaign management, and customer engagement strategies over the coming years.

Industry analysts at Forrester have similarly noted that agencies are increasingly investing in proprietary AI capabilities to differentiate their services and improve client outcomes.

Highwire's approach appears focused on enhancing strategic decision-making rather than replacing human expertise. The company positions AcroAI as a platform that supports senior-level judgment through faster access to insights, improved analytics, and streamlined workflows.

As agencies face mounting pressure to deliver measurable business impact while managing increasingly complex client requirements, investments in AI infrastructure and operational scalability are becoming key competitive differentiators.

The addition of Losko suggests Highwire is preparing for continued expansion. Her experience managing financial operations across large agency organizations will likely play an important role as the company integrates acquisitions, expands sector practices, and invests further in AI-powered capabilities.

For the broader marketing and communications industry, the appointment underscores a larger shift occurring across agencies of all sizes. Growth today is no longer driven solely by creative excellence or media relationships. Increasingly, success depends on the ability to combine industry expertise, advanced technology, operational efficiency, and financial discipline into a scalable business model.

As consolidation accelerates and AI continues reshaping agency operations, firms that successfully balance innovation with sustainable growth strategies are likely to emerge as leaders in the next generation of marketing and communications services.

Market Landscape

The marketing and communications industry is undergoing significant transformation driven by artificial intelligence, agency consolidation, evolving buyer expectations, and increased demand for specialized expertise. Agencies are increasingly investing in proprietary AI platforms, vertical-focused practices, and operational infrastructure to remain competitive.

At the same time, acquisitions continue to reshape the market as firms seek broader service capabilities and deeper industry expertise. Healthcare, cybersecurity, financial services, and B2B technology remain among the fastest-growing sectors for strategic communications and integrated marketing services.

Top Insights

• Highwire has appointed Kelly Losko as Chief Financial Officer to support its next phase of growth and operational expansion.
• The appointment follows Highwire's acquisition of The Bliss Group, significantly expanding its industry expertise and workforce.
• Highwire has strengthened its healthcare capabilities through the launch of Highwire Health.
• The agency recently introduced AcroAI, a proprietary agentic AI platform designed to enhance marketing and communications workflows.
• Financial leadership is becoming increasingly important as agencies scale operations, integrate acquisitions, and invest in AI-driven infrastructure

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As generative AI platforms increasingly shape how business buyers discover, evaluate, and shortlist vendors, traditional search visibility is no longer the only factor influencing market presence. Organizations are now competing to become trusted sources within AI-generated responses, where credibility signals, earned media, and third-party validation often determine visibility. Responding to this shift, Plat4orm and Edge Marketing have announced a strategic partnership designed to help organizations strengthen authority across AI-powered search and discovery environments.

The rise of generative AI is transforming enterprise buying behavior, forcing marketing and communications leaders to rethink how organizations build visibility and trust. In response to this evolving landscape, Plat4orm and Edge Marketing have formed a strategic partnership aimed at helping organizations improve their presence within AI-driven search and discovery ecosystems.

At the center of the partnership is the launch of the Trusted Answer Growth System™, a framework designed to align strategic communications, earned media, content strategy, answer engine optimization (AEO), and demand generation into a unified market visibility strategy.

The initiative reflects a broader transformation underway in B2B marketing. Buyers are increasingly using AI-powered assistants and search platforms such as OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, and Google's Gemini to research solutions, compare vendors, and validate purchasing decisions before engaging with sales teams.

This shift is changing the mechanics of brand discovery. Rather than relying solely on traditional search rankings or paid advertising, organizations are finding that AI systems increasingly surface information based on authority indicators such as media coverage, expert commentary, analyst references, citations from trusted publications, and broader digital reputation signals.

The implications for marketers are significant. While search engine optimization remains important, visibility in AI-generated responses requires a broader strategy focused on trust, credibility, and authoritative content.

According to recent research cited by the firms, more than 95% of links surfaced in AI-generated answers originate from non-paid sources. This suggests that earned media, industry recognition, and third-party validation may play a larger role in influencing AI-driven visibility than traditional advertising channels.

The Trusted Answer Growth System™ seeks to address this challenge by helping organizations coordinate functions that have historically operated independently. Public relations, content marketing, demand generation, search optimization, analyst relations, and brand positioning efforts are brought together under a common objective: increasing the likelihood that an organization becomes the trusted answer buyers encounter during research.

The process begins with a Trust Signal Review™, which evaluates how a company currently appears across digital channels, media coverage, search results, and AI-assisted discovery environments. From there, organizations receive recommendations designed to strengthen visibility, improve message consistency, and enhance authority signals across multiple buyer touchpoints.

Industry analysts have increasingly highlighted the importance of this evolution. Research from Forrester has shown growing adoption of AI throughout enterprise purchasing journeys, while studies from Gartner continue to demonstrate the expanding role of digital self-service research in B2B decision-making.

For marketing leaders, this creates both opportunities and challenges. The traditional marketing funnel is becoming less linear as buyers consume information across multiple channels simultaneously. AI systems are further accelerating this trend by aggregating information from numerous sources and presenting synthesized recommendations to users.

As a result, organizations can no longer rely solely on owned channels such as websites, blogs, or product pages to establish market authority. Instead, credibility increasingly depends on how the broader ecosystem—including journalists, analysts, industry experts, and third-party publications—describes and references a brand.

The partnership between Plat4orm and Edge Marketing is particularly focused on organizations operating in regulated industries and complex B2B markets, where trust and reputation often play a decisive role in purchasing decisions. Industries such as financial services, healthcare, cybersecurity, legal services, and enterprise technology face growing pressure to establish authoritative digital footprints that extend beyond traditional marketing tactics.

The announcement also highlights the growing importance of Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), emerging disciplines focused on improving visibility within AI-generated responses rather than conventional search engine rankings alone. As AI assistants become more integrated into business workflows, marketers are increasingly investing in strategies designed to influence how these systems discover, interpret, and cite brand information.

For both firms, the partnership represents an effort to help organizations adapt to a future where market visibility is determined not only by what companies publish themselves, but also by how effectively they earn trust across the broader information ecosystem.

As AI-mediated discovery continues to reshape enterprise buying behavior, organizations that successfully combine authoritative content, earned media presence, strategic communications, and digital trust signals may gain a significant advantage in the increasingly competitive battle for buyer attention.

Market Landscape

AI-powered search and discovery platforms are rapidly changing how B2B buyers research vendors and make purchasing decisions. Traditional SEO remains important, but marketers are increasingly investing in Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), digital authority building, and earned media strategies to influence visibility within AI-generated responses.

Research from Gartner, Forrester, and industry analysts indicates that buyers are conducting more independent research than ever before, often consulting AI assistants before engaging with vendors directly. This shift is driving greater demand for integrated strategies that combine public relations, content marketing, search optimization, analyst relations, and demand generation into a unified trust-building framework.

Top Insights

• Plat4orm and Edge Marketing have partnered to help organizations improve visibility across AI-powered search and discovery environments.
• The Trusted Answer Growth System™ combines communications, earned media, content strategy, AEO, and demand generation into a unified visibility framework.
• AI platforms such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are increasingly influencing how B2B buyers research and evaluate vendors.
• Third-party validation, media coverage, analyst commentary, and authoritative content are becoming critical trust signals in AI-generated answers.
• Organizations in regulated and complex industries are increasingly investing in strategies that strengthen digital credibility and authority.

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The race to build AI infrastructure is increasingly becoming a global competition for power, data center capacity, and strategic geographic positioning. As demand for AI training and inference workloads continues to surge, infrastructure providers are expanding beyond domestic markets to secure energy resources and accelerate deployment timelines. In its latest move, IREN has entered Europe through the acquisition of Spain-based Nostrum Group, significantly expanding its AI cloud and data center development platform.

IREN Limited has completed its acquisition of Ingenostrum S.L., known as Nostrum Group, marking the company's first major expansion into the European AI infrastructure market.

The deal adds approximately 490 megawatts (MW) of secured, grid-connected power capacity across Spain, alongside an additional development pipeline and a specialized workforce of more than 50 employees spanning engineering, construction, development, and operations.

The acquisition comes at a pivotal moment for the artificial intelligence industry. Rapid growth in large language models, generative AI applications, enterprise AI adoption, and inference workloads has intensified demand for high-performance computing infrastructure. Data center operators worldwide are competing to secure power capacity and suitable locations capable of supporting next-generation GPU clusters and AI cloud services.

For IREN, the acquisition provides immediate access to one of Europe's emerging AI infrastructure hubs. Spain has become increasingly attractive to data center developers due to its growing renewable energy generation capacity, expanding fiber connectivity, and favorable geographic position for serving European markets.

The move reflects a broader industry trend in which infrastructure providers are prioritizing access to energy as a strategic competitive advantage. AI workloads require significantly more computational power than traditional enterprise applications, creating unprecedented demand for electricity and data center resources.

According to research from International Energy Agency, electricity consumption from data centers is expected to rise substantially as artificial intelligence adoption accelerates. Industry analysts at Gartner and IDC have similarly identified AI infrastructure as one of the fastest-growing segments within enterprise technology spending.

Nostrum's existing portfolio gives IREN a significant foothold in Europe without requiring the lengthy development timelines typically associated with greenfield infrastructure projects. By acquiring an established developer with secured power agreements and local expertise, IREN can accelerate deployment while reducing some of the regulatory and operational complexities often associated with entering new markets.

The acquisition also highlights the increasing importance of regional AI cloud providers. While hyperscale cloud vendors such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and Google continue to dominate the global cloud market, demand for specialized AI infrastructure has created opportunities for independent providers focused specifically on GPU-intensive workloads.

IREN has positioned itself as a vertically integrated AI cloud provider, combining data center development, power infrastructure, and AI computing resources within a unified operating model. This approach allows the company to control critical infrastructure components while addressing growing enterprise demand for AI training and inference services.

The strategic value of Nostrum extends beyond its existing assets. The company has spent years developing relationships with local stakeholders, securing power resources, and building a pipeline of future projects. These capabilities may prove increasingly valuable as competition for energy access intensifies across Europe.

The acquisition also reflects broader investment activity across the AI infrastructure ecosystem. Over the past two years, technology companies, cloud providers, private equity firms, and infrastructure investors have committed billions of dollars toward data centers, GPU deployments, and energy projects designed to support artificial intelligence growth.

Research from McKinsey & Company estimates that AI infrastructure investment requirements could reach hundreds of billions of dollars over the coming decade as organizations scale generative AI deployments and advanced computing environments.

Europe represents a particularly important market in this landscape. Enterprises across the region are accelerating AI adoption while policymakers seek to strengthen digital sovereignty and expand domestic technology infrastructure. As a result, demand for locally hosted AI computing capacity continues to increase.

For Nostrum, joining a larger infrastructure platform may provide the capital and operational scale required to accelerate project development. For IREN, the acquisition delivers immediate market access, a substantial power portfolio, and a foundation for future European expansion.

As AI infrastructure becomes one of the most strategically important technology sectors globally, acquisitions like this underscore a critical reality: access to power, land, connectivity, and engineering expertise is becoming just as important as access to advanced AI models themselves. The companies that can secure and scale these resources are likely to play a central role in the next phase of AI-driven digital transformation.

Market Landscape

The AI infrastructure market is experiencing unprecedented growth as enterprises deploy generative AI, machine learning, and large-scale inference workloads. Data center operators are racing to secure power capacity, renewable energy resources, and high-speed network connectivity to support GPU-intensive computing environments.

Major technology companies including Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and emerging AI cloud providers are investing heavily in data center expansion. Europe has become a strategic growth region due to rising enterprise AI adoption, government support for digital infrastructure, and growing demand for localized cloud services.

Power availability has emerged as one of the industry's most important competitive differentiators, driving acquisitions, partnerships, and infrastructure investments across global markets.

Top Insights

• IREN has completed the acquisition of Spain-based Nostrum Group, gaining approximately 490MW of secured grid-connected power capacity for AI infrastructure development.
• The transaction marks IREN's entry into the European market and strengthens its ability to serve growing demand for AI training and inference workloads.
• Spain's renewable energy resources and connectivity infrastructure are making the country an increasingly attractive location for AI data center expansion.
• The acquisition highlights how access to power infrastructure is becoming a critical strategic asset in the global AI cloud market.
• Demand for AI computing capacity continues to drive investment across data centers, cloud infrastructure, and high-performance computing ecosystems.

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As intellectual property disputes, class action lawsuits, and consumer protection cases increasingly rely on data-driven evidence, the role of consumer behavior research in litigation continues to grow. Against this backdrop, Applied Marketing Science (AMS) has expanded its litigation support capabilities by adding consumer behavior and conjoint analysis specialist Dr. Suneal Bedi to its network of affiliated expert witnesses.

The intersection of marketing science, consumer behavior, and legal strategy is becoming increasingly important as courts and regulatory bodies place greater emphasis on empirical evidence in complex litigation. Recognizing this trend, Applied Marketing Science (AMS) has announced the addition of Dr. Suneal Bedi to its expanding network of litigation survey experts.

The appointment strengthens AMS's capabilities in areas where consumer research and legal proceedings increasingly overlap, particularly in intellectual property disputes, class action litigation, marketing law, and business ethics cases.

Dr. Bedi currently serves as an Associate Professor of Business Law and Ethics and Jerome Bess Faculty Fellow at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business. His academic work spans intellectual property law, consumer behavior, litigation finance, business ethics, and marketing regulation, disciplines that have become increasingly interconnected as businesses navigate evolving legal and consumer environments.

The move comes as organizations face growing scrutiny over branding practices, product claims, consumer communications, and intellectual property rights. In many of these disputes, courts rely on survey-based evidence and consumer perception research to assess issues such as trademark confusion, brand recognition, advertising impact, and consumer decision-making.

One of Dr. Bedi's key areas of specialization is conjoint analysis, a quantitative research methodology widely used to evaluate how consumers value specific product attributes. Originally developed for marketing research, conjoint analysis has become a valuable tool in litigation, particularly in cases involving damages estimation, intellectual property valuation, product differentiation, and consumer preference measurement.

For legal teams, the methodology offers a structured way to quantify how specific product features, brand elements, or market factors influence purchasing decisions. As courts increasingly seek evidence grounded in behavioral science and statistical rigor, experts capable of designing and defending these studies have become highly sought after.

Beyond his litigation work, Dr. Bedi's academic research examines the broader relationship between law, business, and public policy. His studies combine experimental methods, quantitative analysis, and philosophical frameworks to explore how legal systems interact with marketplace behavior. This multidisciplinary approach reflects a broader trend within legal and business research, where complex disputes often require expertise that extends beyond traditional legal interpretation.

The addition also reflects AMS's continued investment in litigation support services. The firm has built a reputation for applying market research methodologies to legal proceedings, helping law firms, corporations, and courts evaluate consumer perception and marketplace evidence. Survey research, consumer confusion studies, and behavioral analysis have become increasingly important in intellectual property and consumer protection litigation, particularly as digital commerce and online branding create new legal challenges.

Industry experts note that litigation involving trademarks, patents, advertising claims, and class action disputes has become more data-intensive over the past decade. As organizations generate larger volumes of customer and market data, attorneys increasingly rely on expert testimony supported by advanced analytics, survey methodologies, and behavioral science.

The growing use of expert witnesses in these areas mirrors broader developments across industries where data-driven decision-making is becoming a standard requirement. Research from organizations such as Gartner and McKinsey & Company has consistently highlighted the importance of analytics and evidence-based strategies in business decision-making, a trend that is extending into legal and regulatory environments.

Dr. Bedi brings an unusually interdisciplinary background to this work. He earned a Ph.D. and M.S. in Marketing from the The Wharton School, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and a bachelor's degree in economics from Swarthmore College. This combination of legal, economic, and marketing expertise positions him to address disputes that require both scientific analysis and legal interpretation.

His research has appeared in leading academic publications, including the New York University Law Review, Cornell Law Review, Vanderbilt Law Review, the Harvard Journal of Law & Technology, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the Journal of Marketing Research. He has also contributed commentary and analysis to mainstream publications including The New York Times, Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

For AMS, the addition represents more than an expansion of its expert witness network. It reflects a growing demand for professionals who can bridge the gap between consumer psychology, marketing science, and legal strategy. As litigation increasingly incorporates behavioral evidence, survey analytics, and quantitative modeling, firms capable of providing scientifically defensible expertise are likely to play a larger role in complex legal proceedings.

The appointment underscores a broader shift occurring across legal and business disciplines: the growing importance of consumer insight and data science as critical components of modern litigation support.

Market Landscape

The litigation consulting market is increasingly incorporating advanced market research methodologies, behavioral science, and data analytics into legal proceedings. Intellectual property disputes, consumer protection cases, advertising litigation, and class action lawsuits frequently depend on empirical evidence to establish consumer perception, damages, and marketplace impact.

Conjoint analysis, survey research, and consumer behavior modeling have become important tools in legal strategy, particularly as courts seek objective, statistically valid evidence. As businesses continue to operate in highly competitive and digitally driven environments, demand for expert witnesses with expertise spanning law, marketing, and analytics is expected to grow.

Top Insights

• AMS has expanded its litigation support practice by adding consumer behavior and conjoint analysis expert Dr. Suneal Bedi to its affiliated expert network.
• Dr. Bedi specializes in intellectual property disputes, class action litigation, business ethics, and consumer behavior research supported by quantitative methodologies.
• Conjoint analysis is becoming increasingly important in litigation as courts seek measurable evidence regarding consumer preferences, damages, and product valuation.
• The appointment reflects rising demand for expert witnesses who can combine legal expertise with marketing science and behavioral analytics.
• Organizations facing trademark, advertising, and consumer protection disputes are increasingly relying on survey-based evidence and consumer research methodologies.

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Artificial intelligence has become a boardroom priority, and few business functions are feeling the pressure more intensely than marketing. While most chief marketing officers believe AI is fundamentally reshaping how brands engage customers, a new report from Boston Consulting Group suggests many marketing organizations remain in the early stages of transformation. The findings highlight a growing disconnect between AI ambitions and operational reality as enterprises race to build agentic marketing capabilities.

The marketing industry has spent the past two years embracing generative AI, experimenting with content automation, predictive analytics, and customer engagement tools. Yet according to Boston Consulting Group's latest report, How CMOs Are Moving Agentic Marketing from Illusion to Reality, most organizations have yet to move beyond isolated AI deployments into fully integrated marketing operations.

The study, based on a survey of 300 CMOs across B2B and B2C organizations alongside interviews with 50 marketing leaders, found that while AI enthusiasm is widespread, enterprise-wide transformation remains limited. Only 8% of CMOs report running campaigns where multiple AI agents operate autonomously across workflows. Less than one-third say they have transformed significant portions of their marketing function using agent-based systems.

Instead, many organizations continue to use generative AI primarily as a productivity tool. Approximately 42% of respondents said AI is currently deployed as an assistant for individual tasks within a limited number of workflows rather than as part of a coordinated operational framework.

The findings arrive as marketing leaders face growing expectations from executive teams. Nearly all CMOs surveyed—94%—said CEO expectations of marketing have increased significantly over the past two years. At the same time, marketing leaders are taking greater ownership of AI investment decisions within their organizations, with roughly half reporting that marketing now leads AI spending and deployment strategies.

This shift signals a broader evolution in the role of the CMO. Historically responsible for brand strategy, demand generation, and customer engagement, marketing leaders are increasingly becoming architects of enterprise AI transformation. However, the report suggests many organizations are still struggling to build the infrastructure required to support that responsibility.

A key challenge is the transition from generative AI tools to agentic marketing systems. While generative AI can create content, summarize information, or assist with campaign execution, agentic AI introduces a higher level of automation by enabling multiple AI agents to coordinate activities, make decisions, and execute workflows with limited human intervention.

According to BCG, this evolution requires far more than deploying standalone AI applications. Successful organizations are building connected operating environments that combine customer data, marketing technology platforms, orchestration layers, governance frameworks, and specialized AI models into unified systems capable of supporting end-to-end marketing execution.

The report points to a growing realization among marketing executives that data infrastructure and martech modernization are becoming foundational investments. Martech and data platforms emerged as the top AI investment priority among surveyed CMOs, rising significantly compared with 2025 spending patterns.

This trend reflects a broader shift occurring across enterprise technology markets. Organizations increasingly recognize that AI performance depends on the quality and accessibility of underlying data. Customer data platforms, marketing automation systems, CRM environments, and analytics platforms are becoming critical enablers of agentic workflows.

The financial commitment is also accelerating. Nearly 43% of surveyed CMOs reported annual AI investments exceeding $15 million, compared with just 28% a year earlier. Among the highest-spending organizations, more than four in ten are substantially increasing investment in workflow orchestration technologies designed to connect multiple AI systems across marketing operations.

Early adopters are beginning to see measurable business outcomes. Approximately 31% of B2C marketing leaders and 20% of B2B CMOs reported significant revenue impact from their agentic marketing initiatives. Benefits cited include improved campaign speed, greater operational efficiency, faster content production cycles, and stronger customer engagement outcomes.

Yet technology alone is not proving to be the most difficult hurdle.

The report identifies talent development as the largest barrier to successful AI transformation. As marketing organizations introduce AI-driven operating models, many are discovering that traditional marketing skill sets are insufficient for managing increasingly autonomous systems.

Around 80% of surveyed CMOs said they are making substantial investments in AI-focused workforce development programs. Similar numbers are expanding responsible AI and ethics training initiatives, reflecting growing concerns around governance, compliance, transparency, and brand protection.

The emergence of agentic marketing is also reshaping organizational design. Leading enterprises are creating new roles focused on AI operations, automation strategy, data governance, and workflow orchestration. Teams are being restructured around AI-enabled processes rather than traditional channel-based functions.

The broader significance of the report extends beyond marketing departments. As organizations adopt AI across sales, customer service, operations, and finance, marketing increasingly serves as a testing ground for autonomous workflows. The lessons learned from agentic marketing deployments could influence how AI operating models evolve across the wider enterprise.

Technology providers including Salesforce, Adobe, Microsoft, and Google are rapidly expanding agentic AI capabilities across their platforms, signaling that enterprise software is moving toward increasingly autonomous operational models.

For CMOs, the message from BCG's findings is clear. While generative AI experimentation is widespread, competitive differentiation may increasingly depend on an organization's ability to build connected agentic ecosystems capable of executing marketing activities at scale. The gap between AI adoption and AI transformation remains substantial, but it is narrowing as marketing leaders move from pilots to enterprise-wide operational redesign.

Market Landscape

The emergence of agentic marketing represents the next stage of AI maturity within the MarTech ecosystem. After an initial wave focused on generative AI content creation, organizations are now exploring autonomous workflows that connect customer data, campaign management, analytics, experimentation, and personalization into coordinated systems.

According to industry research from Gartner, AI remains among the highest-priority investment areas for marketing leaders. Meanwhile, IDC forecasts continued growth in enterprise AI spending as organizations seek operational efficiency and competitive advantage. The convergence of AI agents, customer data platforms, marketing automation, and workflow orchestration technologies is creating a new category of intelligent marketing infrastructure designed to support end-to-end decision-making and execution.

Top Insights

• BCG found that only 8% of CMOs currently operate campaigns using multiple autonomous AI agents despite widespread belief that AI is transforming marketing.
• Nearly half of surveyed CMOs now lead AI investment decisions within marketing, reflecting the growing strategic importance of AI-driven customer engagement.
• Martech and data infrastructure have become the top AI investment priority as organizations build foundations for scalable agentic marketing operations.
• Early adopters report measurable revenue gains, faster campaign execution, and improved operational efficiency from AI-powered workflow orchestration.
• Talent development remains the largest challenge, with most organizations investing heavily in AI upskilling, governance programs, and organizational redesign.

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For years, one-to-one personalization has been one of digital marketing's most ambitious promises. While brands have invested heavily in customer data platforms, marketing automation tools, and account-based marketing programs, most personalization efforts have remained limited to audience segments rather than true individual experiences. Optimizely is aiming to change that equation with a new AI-powered capability designed to help enterprises create and maintain personalized content experiences at scale.

As marketers face increasing pressure to deliver more relevant digital experiences across expanding customer journeys, Optimizely has announced a new capability called Limitless 1:1 Personalization. Introduced as part of the company's Optimizely Opal AI platform, the technology is designed to help marketing teams create individualized digital experiences for customers, prospects, and buying committees without dramatically increasing content production workloads.

The launch addresses a longstanding challenge within digital marketing. Despite years of investment in personalization technologies, most organizations still rely on segmentation models that group users based on shared characteristics. While effective for broad targeting, these approaches often fail to reflect the unique context, interests, and intent signals of individual buyers.

According to Optimizely, its new capability moves beyond traditional segmentation by combining audience intelligence, content automation, and AI-driven orchestration to dynamically generate tailored digital experiences. The platform analyzes existing content libraries, customer relationship management (CRM) data, product information, audience segments, and external research sources before assembling personalized content experiences aligned to specific user profiles.

The announcement comes at a time when enterprises are rapidly increasing investments in artificial intelligence and customer experience technologies. Research from Gartner suggests that personalization remains one of the highest-priority initiatives for digital marketing leaders, while studies from McKinsey & Company have found that organizations excelling at personalization can generate significantly higher revenue growth compared with peers.

A major focus of the new offering is the middle of the customer journey, where prospects are actively evaluating products and vendors. In many B2B buying environments, multiple stakeholders participate in purchasing decisions, each with different priorities and information requirements. A chief financial officer evaluating budget impact, for example, often requires different content than an IT leader assessing implementation complexity.

Optimizely's platform seeks to address this challenge through flexible audience modeling. Marketing teams can create content experiences tailored to specific members of a buying committee, including economic buyers, technical evaluators, business champions, and operational stakeholders. Rather than building each experience manually, AI agents generate and maintain personalized content assets using existing brand-approved materials.

The capability extends beyond B2B use cases. Consumer-facing organizations in retail, travel, financial services, and e-commerce can create personalized landing pages, product experiences, and customer journeys based on factors such as geographic location, behavioral intent, product interests, and demographic attributes.

One of the more significant aspects of the launch is its focus on operational scalability. Personalization has traditionally struggled because creating thousands of individualized experiences requires substantial content resources and ongoing maintenance. Optimizely's approach leverages autonomous agents to continuously monitor data sources, update content, and optimize experiences as customer information changes.

The platform includes content auditing capabilities that identify outdated assets, messaging gaps, and inconsistencies before new experiences are created. Audience intelligence models then aggregate information from customer databases, product catalogs, behavioral signals, and external research sources to construct detailed audience profiles.

Another notable feature is governance management. Enterprise marketing teams often hesitate to automate content creation due to concerns around brand consistency, compliance, and accuracy. Optimizely addresses this challenge through a progressive trust model that allows organizations to maintain human review processes before gradually increasing AI autonomy as confidence grows.

The company also integrates the capability directly into its content management ecosystem, enabling personalized experiences to be published as searchable, crawlable pages within brand-owned domains. This approach aligns with emerging Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) strategies, which seek to improve visibility across AI-powered discovery platforms, including conversational search environments.

The launch further strengthens Optimizely One, the company's unified digital experience platform that combines content management, customer data, experimentation, and campaign operations into a connected ecosystem. By integrating AI-driven personalization directly into these workflows, Optimizely is positioning itself against broader enterprise experience providers such as Adobe, Salesforce, Microsoft, and Google.

The broader significance of the announcement extends beyond content generation. As generative AI matures, the competitive advantage is shifting from creating content at scale to delivering relevant, context-aware experiences that adapt continuously to customer behavior and intent.

For enterprise marketing teams, the next phase of personalization may no longer be defined by audience segments. Instead, it could be measured by an organization's ability to create individualized experiences that remain accurate, relevant, and optimized throughout the customer lifecycle. Optimizely's latest launch reflects how quickly that vision is moving from aspiration to operational reality.

Market Landscape

The personalization technology market is undergoing rapid transformation as generative AI reshapes how brands engage customers. Traditional segmentation-based marketing is increasingly giving way to dynamic audience intelligence models powered by customer data platforms (CDPs), AI agents, and predictive analytics.

Industry leaders including Adobe, Salesforce, Microsoft, and Google continue to invest heavily in AI-powered customer experience platforms. At the same time, marketers are seeking solutions that unify content management, experimentation, audience intelligence, and marketing automation into a single operational framework.

As enterprise organizations pursue account-based marketing, omnichannel engagement, and AI-driven customer journeys, scalable one-to-one personalization is emerging as a key battleground in the digital experience platform market.

Top Insights

• Optimizely introduced Limitless 1:1 Personalization, enabling enterprises to generate individualized customer experiences using AI-driven audience intelligence and content orchestration.
• The platform automates the creation and maintenance of account-specific microsites, personalized landing pages, and tailored customer journeys across B2B and B2C environments.
• AI agents continuously monitor customer data, engagement signals, and content performance to keep experiences relevant without extensive manual intervention.
• Governance controls allow organizations to balance automation with compliance, brand consistency, and human oversight as AI adoption expands.
• The launch strengthens Optimizely's position in the growing digital experience platform market where AI-driven personalization is becoming a competitive differentiator.

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The race to modernize multifamily housing operations is accelerating as property technology providers increasingly embed artificial intelligence into marketing, leasing, and resident engagement workflows. Ahead of the Apartmentalize 2026 conference in New Orleans, 365 Connect announced new advancements to its autonomous marketing and leasing platform, positioning AI-driven automation as a central component of the next generation of apartment operations.

The multifamily housing industry is entering a new phase of digital transformation, driven by rising operational costs, evolving renter expectations, and growing pressure to improve leasing efficiency. Against this backdrop, 365 Connect revealed plans to showcase its latest AI-powered platform innovations during the upcoming Apartmentalize conference, one of the industry's largest gatherings focused on apartment housing technology and operations.

At the center of the announcement is the company's Search-to-Sofa® platform, a technology ecosystem designed to unify marketing automation, renter discovery, leasing workflows, and resident engagement into a single operational environment. The platform aims to automate tasks that traditionally require extensive manual effort from property management teams, ranging from digital marketing execution to lease generation and move-in documentation.

The announcement reflects a broader trend unfolding across the property technology (PropTech) sector. Organizations are increasingly exploring how artificial intelligence can reduce administrative overhead while improving customer experiences. Similar to how companies such as Salesforce, Adobe, Microsoft, and Google are embedding generative AI into enterprise workflows, multifamily technology vendors are applying automation to leasing, marketing, and resident communications.

According to 365 Connect, its latest platform capabilities continuously generate and distribute marketing content across search and social media channels while optimizing content for AI-driven discovery environments. As search behavior evolves beyond traditional search engines toward AI-powered assistants and conversational discovery platforms, property operators are increasingly looking for technologies that improve visibility across both conventional and emerging digital channels.

One of the more notable aspects of the company's announcement is its emphasis on AI-discovery-optimized content. This reflects a growing industry focus on Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), where content is structured to improve visibility within AI-generated responses from platforms such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and other conversational search environments. For multifamily operators competing in crowded rental markets, discoverability has become an increasingly important factor in lead generation.

Beyond marketing automation, 365 Connect is also highlighting advancements in autonomous lease execution. The platform can automatically generate lease agreements, addendums, and move-in documentation immediately following renter screening approvals. By reducing document preparation time from hours to seconds, the company aims to address one of the most labor-intensive components of the leasing process.

The move aligns with broader industry efforts to automate transaction-heavy workflows. Enterprise software vendors across sectors are increasingly using AI agents and workflow automation to accelerate business processes, reduce manual intervention, and improve operational consistency. In multifamily housing, where staffing shortages and operational efficiency remain ongoing concerns, these capabilities could offer measurable productivity gains.

Industry analysts continue to highlight automation as a key investment area. According to research from Gartner, organizations are accelerating AI adoption to improve operational efficiency and employee productivity. Meanwhile, McKinsey & Company estimates that generative AI could contribute trillions of dollars in annual economic value across industries through workflow automation and knowledge-based task optimization.

For apartment operators, the business case is becoming increasingly clear. Leasing teams often juggle marketing management, prospect engagement, application processing, lease preparation, and resident communications simultaneously. Platforms capable of autonomously handling portions of these workflows could allow staff to focus on higher-value interactions while maintaining faster response times and improved service levels.

Competition in the multifamily technology market is also intensifying. Vendors are moving beyond standalone leasing software and resident portals toward integrated platforms that combine marketing technology, customer engagement, analytics, and operational automation. The industry's direction increasingly mirrors developments seen in enterprise MarTech and SaaS ecosystems, where unified platforms are replacing fragmented point solutions.

Apartmentalize 2026 is expected to provide a significant stage for these conversations. As property operators evaluate how AI can be deployed responsibly and effectively, technology providers are racing to demonstrate practical applications that deliver measurable business outcomes rather than experimental capabilities.

For 365 Connect, the announcement signals a strategic focus on autonomous operations as the next frontier of multifamily innovation. Whether the broader industry embraces fully autonomous marketing and leasing workflows at scale remains to be seen, but the company's latest platform enhancements underscore a growing belief that AI-powered execution will play an increasingly prominent role in the future of apartment management.

Market Landscape

The multifamily housing technology sector is rapidly converging with broader enterprise MarTech, SaaS, and AI automation trends. Property operators are seeking platforms that unify lead generation, digital marketing, resident engagement, leasing automation, and analytics into a single ecosystem. As generative AI reshapes customer acquisition and operational workflows, vendors are increasingly building autonomous capabilities that can execute tasks with minimal human intervention.

The emergence of AI-driven leasing platforms mirrors similar transformations occurring across CRM, marketing automation, and customer experience platforms from industry leaders such as Salesforce, Adobe, Microsoft, and Google. The next phase of PropTech innovation is likely to focus on intelligent automation, predictive engagement, and AI-powered operational orchestration.

Top Insights

•  365 Connect is expanding its AI-powered Search-to-Sofa platform to automate multifamily marketing, renter engagement, and lease execution within a unified operational environment.
• The company is emphasizing AI-discovery optimization, helping apartment communities improve visibility across emerging conversational search and generative AI ecosystems.
• Autonomous lease generation capabilities aim to reduce administrative workloads by instantly creating leasing documents following applicant approval.
• The announcement reflects a broader PropTech trend toward intelligent automation as property operators seek efficiency gains and improved resident experiences.
• Multifamily technology platforms are increasingly adopting enterprise-grade AI strategies similar to those being implemented across CRM, marketing automation, and SaaS ecosystems.

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The no-code and AI development market is rapidly evolving beyond website creation into full-scale application development. DreamHost has announced a major expansion of Remixer, its conversational AI builder, enabling users to create not only websites but also complete full-stack applications through simple natural language prompts. The move reflects a broader industry shift toward AI-powered software development platforms designed to reduce technical barriers for entrepreneurs, creators, and small businesses.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping how software is built, making application development increasingly accessible to users without formal programming experience.

DreamHost has unveiled a significant upgrade to Remixer, its AI-powered conversational builder, expanding the platform from website creation into full-stack application development. The enhanced platform enables users to generate websites, customer portals, booking systems, membership platforms, internal business tools, and other applications simply by describing what they need in plain language.

The announcement underscores a growing trend within the technology industry: the democratization of software development through generative AI.

For decades, creating custom applications required teams of developers, designers, database administrators, and infrastructure specialists. Even relatively simple business tools often involved weeks or months of development work, along with significant financial investment.

AI-powered development platforms are beginning to change that equation.

According to DreamHost, Remixer now automatically generates the frontend interface, backend logic, database infrastructure, and user authentication systems required to support a fully functional application. Instead of manually configuring servers, managing databases, or writing code, users interact with the platform through a conversational interface embedded directly within the editor.

The approach aligns with the rapid emergence of what many analysts describe as "vibe coding" or conversational software development, where natural language increasingly replaces traditional programming workflows.

For small businesses, the implications could be substantial.

Many organizations operate with limited technical resources and often rely on third-party agencies or freelance developers to build customer-facing portals, booking systems, lead management applications, and operational tools. These projects frequently represent significant investments, particularly for startups and local businesses.

DreamHost is positioning Remixer as a solution that enables business owners to create these applications independently.

Examples highlighted by the company include membership platforms with gated content, appointment booking systems with customer accounts, internal scheduling tools, lead generation workflows, and online learning environments. In one use case, a fitness studio owner could create a complete class reservation system with member authentication and payment functionality through a simple conversational workflow.

The launch comes amid increasing competition in the AI-assisted development market.

Over the past year, a growing number of technology providers have introduced platforms that leverage large language models to generate software. Companies such as GitHub, Replit, Bolt.new, Lovable, Vercel, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, and others are investing heavily in AI-powered development experiences designed to accelerate application creation.

However, much of the market remains focused on frontend development, code generation, or website creation. DreamHost's expansion into full-stack functionality highlights a broader evolution toward comprehensive application-building environments.

This shift is particularly important because many business use cases require more than visual design. Modern applications often depend on user authentication, data storage, business logic, workflow automation, and integrations with external systems. Historically, these backend components represented the most technically challenging aspects of software development.

By automating those layers, AI-powered builders are lowering the barriers to digital innovation for organizations of all sizes.

The trend also reflects the growing maturity of generative AI technologies. Early AI development tools primarily assisted professional developers by generating code snippets or suggesting solutions. Newer platforms increasingly function as autonomous development assistants capable of orchestrating multiple layers of application architecture simultaneously.

Industry analysts view this evolution as one of the most transformative impacts of generative AI.

According to Gartner, AI-assisted software engineering is expected to become a mainstream development methodology over the coming years, helping organizations accelerate delivery cycles while addressing talent shortages and rising software demand.

The rise of low-code and no-code platforms has already expanded access to digital development. AI is accelerating this trend further by reducing the learning curve associated with application creation and infrastructure management.

For hosting providers such as DreamHost, the opportunity extends beyond website hosting into broader business enablement. By integrating AI-driven development capabilities directly into their ecosystems, providers can offer customers an end-to-end environment for building, launching, and scaling digital experiences.

As AI continues to redefine software creation, the distinction between website builders, app builders, and development platforms is becoming increasingly blurred.

The future of application development may not depend on coding expertise alone but on the ability to clearly describe business requirements and allow intelligent systems to translate those ideas into working software.

For entrepreneurs, creators, and small businesses, that shift could fundamentally change how digital products are built and deployed.

Market Landscape

The AI-powered software development market is experiencing rapid growth as businesses seek faster and more accessible ways to build digital products. Generative AI is transforming traditional software engineering by enabling natural-language application creation, automated code generation, and intelligent workflow development.

Industry leaders including Microsoft, GitHub, Google, Replit, Vercel, Wix, Shopify, Squarespace, and emerging AI-native startups are investing heavily in conversational development experiences. Gartner projects continued growth in AI-assisted software engineering as organizations look to reduce development complexity and accelerate innovation.

The convergence of no-code, low-code, and generative AI technologies is creating a new category of platforms that allow users to build sophisticated applications without extensive programming expertise.

Top Insights

• DreamHost has expanded Remixer from an AI website builder into a full-stack application development platform.
• Users can create websites, customer portals, booking systems, membership applications, and internal business tools through natural language prompts.
• The platform automatically generates frontend interfaces, backend systems, databases, and authentication workflows.
• Remixer targets both small business owners and developers seeking faster application development processes.
• The launch reflects growing demand for AI-powered no-code and conversational software development platforms.

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