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APCO is launching the Global Africa Investment Summit, a platform designed to accelerate investment across Africa and help transform the continent’s economic future. Countries that subscribe to the GAIS platform will work with APCO staff, alongside a dedicated GAIS team, to identify their top sovereign assets for investment. Companies will also be invited to join the platform as members. The goal of GAIS is to connect countries with the companies that can help them unlock and monetize their opportunities. These partnerships will culminate in an annual forum. APCO founder and executive chair Margery Kraus is a co-founder of GAIS, along with Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, president emeritus of the African Development Bank Group. Former U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas Greenfield will also be part of GAIS. “The early interest from leaders and partners has already been extraordinary, which only reinforces how much potential GAIS has to make a real impact,” said Kraus.
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| Ian Hiscock |
LV8, which specializes in social media strategies and digital marketing, launches a paid media practice, expanding the agency’s capabilities across performance marketing, growth strategy and audience acquisition. The new practice will be led by Ian Hiscock, who joins the firm as head of paid media strategy. Hiscock founded boutique advertising agency Noteworthy HQ. The paid media practice’s offerings include paid social, programmatic media, creator amplification, new customer funnel strategy, and full-funnel performance measurement. “Paid media has always been part of how we help brands convert audiences to customer,” said Griffin Haddrill, who co-founded LV8 with Gabby Gamad. “This launch is about formalizing that practice, investing in specialized leadership, and scaling what’s already working.”
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Moxie Strategies introduces Aimi by Moxie, an AI-powered qualitative research product. Short for AI-moderated interviews, Aimi replaces the traditional focus group with one-on-one, adaptive conversations that the agency says capture authentic language and emotional nuance at scale, enabling public affairs, corporate communications and policy teams to sharpen messages, avoid missteps and deploy resources with greater precision. By delivering actionable insights in as little as 10 days, Aimi promises to help teams move faster, test ideas earlier and make confident decisions without the delays, costs or group dynamics that limit traditional focus groups. “Aimi helps our clients cut through the clutter by understanding the language that resonates, the concerns that actually matter, and the narratives that move people,” said Moxie Strategies CEO Maggie Moran. “That leads to better outcomes—and far more efficient use of client resources.”
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.
