Dive Brief:
- Agency holding company Stagwell is readying the next stage of a new marketing platform powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that combines its marketing and data strengths with the expertise of data analytics company Palantir Technologies, per a joint news release.
- The partnership between the two companies was first reported earlier this year, with the platform already available to select Stagwell clients through its Assembly media arm. A broader rollout to its network and clients on an opt-in basis will now take place over the next few months.
- Stagwell, which reported a 6% revenue increase in Q3, has high expectations for the platform. The goal is to enable large, complex teams to create marketing programs at scale.
Dive Insight:
Stagwell CEO Mark Penn said he expects the new AI marketing platform will become a “significant business” for the company in the coming years. There’s no shortage of other large agency groups developing their own AI marketing platforms, including WPP and Publicis. A key selling point for Stagwell could be Palantir, which promises to combine an organization’s data, analytics and operational teams at a foundation level. It has been the focus of a number of partnerships across large sectors this year, including business consulting and the U.S. government.
At its foundation, the platform is designed to enable clients to manage and optimize campaigns themselves using their marketing data by enabling large enterprises to sift through tens of millions of records to identify, segment and understand audiences for improved brand strategies and optimized ROI. One key feature Stagwell thinks could set it apart from the competition is the use of differential privacy technology to protect data.
The platform, which reportedly is called the Audience Creative and Optimization System, will be sold as a standalone offering, which Penn said could generate “potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.” The company also hinted that the platform could be applied to other business areas, including supply chain analysis and to solve regionalization problems for large networks.
The partnership’s official announcement of its broader roll out came on the heels of Stagwell reporting that its net revenue for the third quarter of 2025 was $615 million, an increase of 6% over the previous year. The company reported $122 million of net new business for the third quarter and $472 million of net new business over the last 12 months.
