AI Prepared Daily — June 24, 2026

▸ AI/LLM · Forrester

Forrester: 9 in 10 US agencies use genAI, creativity suffering

Forrester's State of AI Inside US Marketing Agencies 2026 report, released with the 4As at Cannes, finds nine in ten agencies use generative AI and half now use agentic AI in execution. The catch: 81 percent aim AI at staff productivity and cost cutting, and Forrester warns the industry is mistaking efficiency for effectiveness at the expense of creative quality.

The bottom line: If your agency partners are optimizing for AI-driven cost savings, ask them directly what share of your fees now funds automated work and how creative performance is being measured.

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▸ MarTech/AdTech · Digiday

Amazon debuts Alexa+ Agentic Ads with in-conversation checkout

Amazon announced Alexa+ Agentic Ads at Cannes, a format where a customer sees an ad on an Echo Show, talks through options with Alexa in natural language, and completes the purchase without ever leaving the ad. Beta partners include Papa Johns for food ordering and The Orchard for concert tickets.

The bottom line: Conversational ads collapse the funnel into a single interaction, which breaks click-based attribution entirely, so watch what success metrics Amazon exposes to buyers.

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▸ Data Engineering · MarTech Cube

Zeta rebuilds its Data Cloud on Palantir Foundry, targets $100M

Zeta Global and Palantir announced a seven-year strategic partnership under which Zeta rearchitects its Data Cloud on Palantir Foundry, letting the Athena AI engine tap governed operational data for real-time marketing decisioning. Zeta says the joint go-to-market into Foundry's enterprise base could drive more than $100 million in annual revenue.

The bottom line: Marketing decisioning moving onto the same governed data infrastructure as operations is the clearest signal yet that CDP-style silos are being replaced by enterprise data platforms.

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▸ Emerging Tools · Digital Commerce 360

Salesforce ships Agentforce Commerce with Shopper, Buyer, Merchant agents

Salesforce announced its biggest Agentforce Commerce release, with a Shopper Agent that handles storefront conversations through checkout, a Buyer Agent that takes B2B orders over WhatsApp and SMS, and a Merchant Agent for catalog and promotion operations. ChatGPT integration hits general availability in July, with Google AI Mode and Gemini following this summer.

The bottom line: Salesforce claims AI influenced 20 percent of global online sales last holiday season, so commerce teams should pressure-test agent-driven journeys before peak season planning locks.

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In Other News

Albertsons and Criteo put sponsored products inside conversational grocery search — Retail media is the first place ads are actually running inside conversational AI at scale, making it the best available lab for learning how exploratory-intent targeting differs from keyword bidding.Marketing Dive →