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Burson is integrating strategic market research consultancy and fellow WPP company BSG (formerly Benenson Strategy Group) into its U.S. Insights, Data & Intelligence group, effective January 1, 2025. “BSG’s talent, expertise and commitment to excellence across qualitative and quantitative market research will be the perfect complement to the infrastructure and tech stack we currently have within Burson’s Data & Intelligence group and through the Burson Innovation Portfolio,” said Burson Americas chair, insights, data & intelligence Kari Butcher. BSG co-founder Carl Rossow made the decision earlier this year to retire from BSG, effective December 31. “Carl played an outsized role in building BSG into the renowned consultancy it is today,” Butcher continued.
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French/West/Vaughan announces a strategic alliance with Dallas-based Baker & Bonner Creative Emporium, forming a marketing services partnership that has worked with some of the biggest brands in the Western lifestyle industry. During their 24-year partnership, Baker & Bonner co-founders Rob Baker and Jimmy Bonner have also developed campaigns for Spalding, PGA TOUR Superstore, Jeep, Home Depot, Biltmore and Pegasus Bank. “There is no substitute for the credibility and consumer understanding acquired over 30 years of immersion in the culture of the American West, and with the added horsepower of Baker & Bonner, we’ve taken it to the next level,” said FWV president David Gwyn. FWV will introduce the new alliance at its hospitality and gifting suite for media, brands, influencers and VIPs at Resorts World in Las Vegas during the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, Dec. 5-14. The partnership has established a digital outpost at WaysoftheWest.com.
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Stagwell adds Blue Horse Digital Marketing (Malaysia) and Dash Digital (South Africa) to its Global Affiliate Network. Blue Horse provides specialized solutions that focus on maximizing sustainable profitability while automating day-to-day operations for consumer industries, including wellness services, consumer goods, and e-commerce centered activities on marketplace platforms. DashDigital, a specialized design studio, serves a global client base, helping brands connect with their audience via in-depth research, rigorous strategy, well-built technology and responsive design. “We can’t wait to harness the immense resources and possibilities the partnership will afford us,” said Dash Digital co-founder and creative director Rogan Jansen.
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Sprout Social, a provider of cloud-based social media management software, launches several additions to its product suite intended to help marketers work faster and smarter in the face of tightening budgets and heightened customer expectations. Those additions include Generate Posts, which provides AI-generated post text options (written in a brand’s voice) based on top-performing content. Generate Subtitles and Generate Translations by AI Assist will automate publishing tasks essential to inclusivity and accessibility, while Smart Categories enables marketers to understand the key subjects driving conversations around their brand. Also part of Sprout’s new developments are such new features as PII (personally identifiable information) Masking and Stop Words, which lets brands set triggers to hide PII from agents and enabling admins to define a list of words or phrases that will be automatically blocked. “Our latest enhancements in AI empower marketers to scale their social operations while staying true to their brands and meeting the rising expectations of today’s consumers,” said Sprout Social chief product officer Erika Trautman.
Precision Strategies, an integrated strategy and marketing agency with offices in Washington and New York, acquires Firehouse Strategies, a DC-based public affairs firm... AVENIR GLOBAL acquires London-based Thinks Insight & Strategy... Good Company, which bills itself as a “cultural engineering firm,” is launched by DJ Hardy, a veteran of Johannesburg-based communications consultancy arxna and M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment and Casey Stickles, who has worked at 5WPR, Rubenstein and MWW.
PSC (Princeton Strategic Communications) acquires Nonprofit Partners... CG Life launches 24/364, a cultural brand platform intended to drive awareness, connection and action aimed at keeping rare disease at the forefront of the health and social conversation... Interluxe Group, which focuses on brand experiences and in-person activations; Quinn, a strategic communications agency; and media and digital agency North & Warren are uniting under the Interluxe Group banner.
KITH, which provides corporate reputation and crisis preparation services, is now owned by CEO Stephanie Craig, who has been with the firm since 2021... The Marketing Cloud, a part of Stagwell, introduces several expansions to Agent Cloud, the platform it launched in October 2025 to simplify access to its AI tools and marketing assistants.... Notified launches its AI Press Release Optimizer.
V2 Communications launches its AI Visibility Solution and Earned Media at Scale, two service offerings designed to help companies increase visibility and credibility in generative search... The Public Relations Global Network brings on Greenough Communications as its Boston member agency... DBC is relaunching The DBC Industry Calendar as a free site to help communicators more easily discover relevant events and awards in the cluttered event landscape driven by the growth of webinars and online events. 
PAN releases new original research showing that a significant share of B2B citations surfaced by ChatGPT are inaccurate, misattributed or entirely fabricated, introducing a new credibility risk for brands... REQ, which has offices in DC and San Diego, opens in Phoenix... Notified introduces Market Intelligence, an addition to its all-in-one IR Hub, which gives IR teams a more streamlined way to prepare for earnings calls.
