While the industry celebrates “agentic AI” and “AI-powered solutions,” the real story is more nuanced: marketing teams are facing a fundamental shift in how work gets done, and the gap between vendor promises and practical implementation remains substantial.
Stagwell Launches Stagwell Search+: The Industry’s First Agentic Platform To Win AI Search
Stagwell (NASDAQ:STGW) announced the global launch of Stagwell Search+, the industry’s first agentic platform for AI Search experiences. Built by Assembly, Stagwell’s global omnichannel media agency, in partnership with Emberos, the operating system for AI visibility, Stagwell Search+ is a category-defining solution to master the transition from traditional search engines to AI search experiences. The solution combines an agentic platform with a differentiated framework that improves a brand’s discoverability, visibility, sentiment, and outcomes in AI Search. Assembly clients are already adopting Stagwell Search+’s early model and have proven impact in early deployments, including a +57% increase in visibility in AI Overviews for a software client, a +34% increase in revenue from AI-powered search transformation with a global technology client, and a +27% average incremental lift from Search+ system-based activation. Read the full press release
Kentico Unveils Major AI Leap Bringing Agentic AI Workflows to Marketing Teams
Kentico announced the launch of the AIRA Agentic Marketing Suite, extending its AI strategy within Xperience by Kentico. The new suite introduces specialized agents designed to execute defined marketing and content tasks. AIRA, launched in 2025, provides marketers with embedded tools that reduce repetitive work and simplify daily tasks, offering everything from automatic translation and content tagging to campaign ideation, customer journey insights, and instant product guidance. The AIRA Agentic Marketing Suite represents a major expansion of AIRA’s capabilities, evolving it from an assistive tool into an orchestrated system of specialized AI agents that support the full marketing lifecycle, from strategy and content creation to optimization and campaign execution. The first available agent is the Content Strategist, which helps shape and refine content strategies through intelligent analysis and recommendations. Read the full press release
Criteo Joins OpenAI Advertising Pilot in ChatGPT
Criteo (NASDAQ: CRTO), the global platform connecting the commerce ecosystem, announced it is the first advertising technology partner integrating with OpenAI’s advertising pilot in ChatGPT Free and Go versions in the United States. The integration enables brands to leverage Criteo’s digital advertising platform as part of OpenAI’s ad pilot. Aggregated insights observed across Criteo’s U.S. clients show that users referred from LLM platforms like ChatGPT convert at approximately one and half times the rate of other referral channels, reinforcing the high-intent nature of these AI experiences. Criteo activates more than $4 billion in annual media spend and works with 17,000 advertisers globally. The integration will begin rolling out in the coming weeks as part of the ongoing advertising pilot in ChatGPT. Read the full press release
TapClicks Introduces SmartStory: Turning Campaign Data into Stakeholder-Ready Presentations in Minutes
TapClicks, the leader in Smart Marketing solutions, announced the launch of SmartStory, a new AI-powered solution that enables small agencies, marketing teams, and growing businesses to transform performance data into clear, stakeholder-ready presentations in minutes. Built on the TapClicks AI-first infrastructure, SmartStory is powered by an integrated enterprise-grade data management and connectivity foundation. SmartStory eliminates the burden of wrestling with spreadsheets, formatting slides, and writing summaries by hand by automatically producing beautiful PowerPoint and PDF presentations, complete with integrated visuals and AI-generated insights, directly from live marketing data. In beta tests, users reported reducing slide creation time from hours, or even days, down to minutes. SmartStory is available immediately, with pricing starting at $199 per month. Read the full press release
Zakeke Launches AI Agent Studio to Transform E-Commerce Content Production
Zakeke announced the launch of AI Agent Studio, a new AI-driven solution designed to help e-commerce brands scale product visuals without expanding production infrastructure. AI Agent Studio is structured as a collection of prompt-based AI agents, each developed to resolve a specific friction point in the e-commerce workflow. The suite includes the Product Staging Agent (generates lifestyle or contextual scenes on demand), Virtual Model Agent (renders embroidery, stitching, prints on real people), Ad Builder Agent (converts product visuals into ad-ready creative assets), Product Transformer Agent (resolves variant explosion through dynamic changes), Multi-Product Scene Agent (combines multiple products into a single frame), Video Agent (transforms static product images into short motion clips), and Upscale Agent (enhances product imagery). This structure represents a shift in operating model where visuals can now be produced when needed rather than scheduled weeks in advance. The rollout began in February 2026. Read the full press release
