Smartly

Smartly ADVANCE Returns to New York Sept. 29

Smartly announced that its flagship conference ADVANCE will return to New York City on September 29, 2026, at Spring Studios, convening more than 750 senior marketing, agency and technology leaders. The agenda will include speakers from across the marketing ecosystem — including Accenture Song, DoorDash, Google, Meta, NBCUniversal, The New York Times, Pinterest, Reddit, TikTok, WPP and YouTube — and opening remarks from Smartly CEO Laura Desmond. The event features two tracks, Creative AI and Commerce AI, and partners such as Google, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Roku, Snapchat and TikTok. NBA Champion Josh Hart and Matthew Hillman (CEO, PATH Talent) will appear in a closing conversation. Registration is open and qualified attendees may be eligible for complimentary admission.

Horizon Media and Smartly Integrate Blu Audiences for Performance

Horizon Media Holdings and Smartly announced an expanded partnership that integrates HorizonOS’ Blu audience segments directly into Smartly’s creative and campaign workflows via the Blu Audience API. Smartly is described as the first SaaS activation partner to bring Blu audiences into social, commerce, and connected TV (CTV) campaign workflows and Google. The integration connects audience intelligence to Smartly’s campaign optimization and creative capabilities, creating a feedback loop between audience signals, creative performance, and outcomes. Early campaigns reportedly showed nearly double the creative engagement versus standard audience approaches and a 35% reduction in cost per order. The announcement emphasizes cross-channel activation and tighter alignment between audience insight, creative, and media buying.

Smartly Introduces Smartly Synapse AI Orchestration Layer

Smartly announced Smartly Synapse, an AI orchestration and memory layer that powers its Smartly AI Agents to unify campaign data, business context and user input into coordinated actions. The product is intended to synthesize company context, user behaviour, market trends, pre-launch intelligence and performance data to create a continuous performance loop that informs planning, execution and optimisation across channels. Smartly positions Synapse as a way for brands and agencies managing complex media budgets to reduce manual handoffs, speed decisions and improve campaign outcomes. The release reiterates Smartly’s scale claims—supporting 800+ brands and managing over $7 billion in ad spend—and lists strategic partnerships with major media platforms including Amazon, Google, Meta, Pinterest, Reddit, Snap, Spotify and TikTok.