Akkio Accelerates Growth for Horizon Media

Founded in 1989, Horizon Media is the largest U.S. media agency and the largest independent globally, serving clients across all industry sectors. Recognizing that continued success depended on staying ahead of industry disruption, Horizon proactively sought AI solutions to maintain their competitive edge. Their independence and willingness to build innovative solutions and forge strategic partnerships — especially with companies like Akkio — have accelerated their development and enabled them to outpace competitors. 

Key Challenges:

• How to leverage AI technology to anticipate client needs in an increasingly complicated landscape
• Maintaining the personalized service synonymous with Horizon while scaling operations for growth
• Transforming vast amounts of historical campaign data into actionable, forward-looking insights 

"Our 35-year legacy isn’t just about what we’ve accomplished – it’s about consistently reinventing how we deliver value while staying true to the relationships we’ve built. AI isn’t replacing our expertise; it’s amplifying our ability to act on it."

Domenic Venuto EVP, Chief Product & Data Officer

The Solution: An Industry-Transforming Partnership  

Horizon Media entered into a multi-year, strategic partnership with AI analytics platform Akkio, creating a first-of-its-kind integration in the marketing industry. This collaboration centered on co-developing a custom, intuitive AI-powered platform for Horizon that leverages the agency’s existing robust data ecosystem, including their many enrichment partners and proprietary technical capabilities.  

Key features of this innovative platform include:

• LLM-native infrastructure enabling natural language interactions to synthesize insights across complex data sets
• End-to-end workflow enhancement – data ingestion; trend reporting; audience modeling; media execution; campaign reporting; performance analytics
• Development of a custom and proprietary LLM, uniquely designed to support the agency’s growth in the AI- driven future of media
• Observability and data security are built natively into the product experience to ensure accurate and trustworthy outputs

“Together, we've co-built an AI platform that fundamentally reimagines marketing. The platform's ability to integrate seamlessly with client operations while delivering actionable insights has been instrumental in winning new business and strengthening existing relationships. We're not just adapting to the future of marketing — we're creating it alongside our partners.”

- John Koenigsberg, Executive Vice President Blu Plus, Horizon Media

The Results: Supercharged Capabilities and Competitive Edge 

The partnership with Akkio has delivered transformative results that extend far beyond operational efficiencies: 

• Dramatic Time-Savings: Audience targeting that previously took hours per campaign is now completed in minutes, representing a 150x increase in speed and replicable across Horizon Media’s client portfolio
• Enhanced Data Utilization: Horizon Media has successfully expanded its sophisticated data analysis capabilities while maintaining complete control of their proprietary data and business logic through observable and transparent AI 
• Competitive Differentiation: The technology partnership has strengthened Horizon's position in new business pitches, particularly in technology- focused evaluations, as evidenced by their recent $800M deal closure linked to the competitive differentiation Akkio enabled 
• Democratized Insights: Data analysis previously only available to specialized teams is now available across the agency, empowering more strategic decision-making for all roles 

“This partnership has supercharged our existing capabilities while maintaining control of our data and business logic. What once took hours is now accomplished in minutes, freeing our teams to focus on the strategic thinking and creative problem-solving that truly drives client success.”

Elizabeth Twersky, Vice-President, Group Director, Data Solutions, Horizon Media  

The Strategic Advantage: Redefining Industry Standard 

The Akkio partnership has positioned Horizon Media as the blueprint of AI adoption in the agency landscape, creating several distinct advantages: 

• Client Stickiness
• Eliminates Siloes 
• Agility at Scale 

Looking Forward

With a foundation of success already built, Horizon Media and Akkio will continue to explore innovative ways their partnership can further enhance platform capabilities, deepen client integration, and push the boundaries of what’s possible for data-driven marketing. This ongoing commitment to evolution ensures Horizon Media is at the forefront of industry innovation, continually redefining what clients can expect from their agency partners. 

To learn more about how your agency can achieve similar results with Akkio, schedule a call with our team today. ‍