Palantir, the controversial software company with ties to intelligence agencies, is turning to the agency world as part of its continued efforts to grow its commercial business.

The company, which was co-founded by venture capitalist Peter Thiel, has pitched advertising agencies on utilizing its year-old AI platform AIP, according to two executives from different agencies who attended pitches.

In a pitch deck shared with Marketing Brew, Palantir presents “wide-ranging use cases and applications” of AIP for tasks including “pricing and inventory planning,” “programmatic sales,” and “campaign optimization.”

Palantir, which received early funding from the CIA, describes itself in the pitch deck as a builder of “leading software platforms for data-driven operations and decision-making.” Over the years, it’s become known for—and faced criticism over—its work with intelligence agencies, including with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which human-rights organizations have raised concerns about.

That hasn’t stopped big-name brands from using Palantir’s software. In 2018, Palantir announced a “strategic relationship” with United Airlines centered around data organization, and Tyson Foods has used Palantir to help with trucking logistics. Other clients include Anheuser-Busch, Molson Coors, Hertz, ExxonMobil, and Phillips, per the pitch deck. When it comes to AIP in particular, Lowe’s, General Mills, and OpenAI are all using the technology, according to a press release from March.

Now the company is turning to the industry’s middlemen: media agencies, which are largely responsible for planning, organizing, and buying advertisements on behalf of major brands.

Continue reading here.—RB

No, it’s not Adam from IT. And it’s not even the office ping-pong table or the breakroom’s espresso machine.

We’re talkin’ about Slack, everybody’s fave AI-powered platform for work. Yep, you read that right: Slack’s got a cache of AI-powered features that can help you crush your meetings, projects, onboarding—you name it.

Say hi to huddles for quick check-ins, clips for recording and sharing video, and Slack Connect, which lets you work in channels with people outside of your company. Adios, long email threads.

Not to mention that Slack can automate routine tasks and integrate with all of your go-to apps and productivity tools.

Slack like a boss.

The creatives are getting even cleaner.

This Earth Day, the climate activist group Clean Creatives, which asks agencies to pledge not to work with fossil-fuel companies, announced it had reached 1,000 signatories—double the number of agencies that had signed the pledge as of last April.

Notable additions in the last year include Mother New York and Lucky Generals. Agencies around the world, and across disciplines like design, branding, and PR, have signed the pledge; the majority are headquartered in the US, followed by the UK and Canada, and 138 of the signatories are B-corp certified.

The milestone comes four years after the group’s founding in 2020, which it has followed with various campaigns, stunts, and targeted lists to draw attention to some of the biggest fossil-fuel agency partners and encourage them to change their practices. In the last year, the group has also asked creators to join the cause and pledge not to work with fossil-fuel companies or trade associations.

Chain reaction: To celebrate the 1,000th signature, the group released a video featuring a Rube Goldberg machine—which is intended to represent something outdated, like working with fossil-fuel companies, and emphasizes the cause-and-effect nature of taking action.

Non-signers beware: Clean Creatives will be hosting its annual F-List Awards on May 8, where creators, advertising creatives, and climate activists will “honor the best (worst) in fossil-fuel ads and PR,” according to the event page. The awards show will be hosted by Daily Show writer Nicole Conlan.—KH

Each week, we spotlight Marketing Brew readers in our Coworking series. If you’d like to be featured, introduce yourself here.

Josh Stinchcomb is global chief revenue officer of Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, where he oversees advertising and marketing solutions. Before Dow Jones, he worked in numerous roles at Condé Nast, including chief experience officer and SVP of sales strategy and partnerships.

Favorite project you’ve worked on? There are so many, it’s almost impossible to choose, but I’ll mention our recent and ongoing work with Hyundai Motors. Not only do we get to work with great partners like US CMO Angela Zepeda, but we also get to tell great stories about the future of mobility in video, text, and experiential. Another multiyear partnership I’m particularly proud of is Global X Charting Disruption. Each year, we transform a several-hundred-page PDF Outlook into a robust multimedia experience featuring custom data visualization, mini docu-style videos, and animation that brings to life the trends, technologies, and ideas transforming our world.

What’s your favorite ad campaign? The new Dunkin’ “The DunKings” ads are pretty amazing. Funny and a great example of making a campaign versus just an ad.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile: That I have two young daughters who keep me younger than my ever-advancing age.

What’s one marketing-related podcast/social account/series you’d recommend? In terms of podcasts, I find All-In to offer a very deep and sophisticated perspective on what’s happening in tech and media. For a series, I’ll give a nod to a classic: Mad Men. Not only is it fantastic TV, it also serves as a way for me to picture my father-in-law, whom I never got a chance to meet. He was a legit Mad Man in the advertising world of the ’60s and ’70s. A bit of a Roger Sterling, as I imagine him.

Read more here.

Mergers and acquisitions, company partnerships, and more.

• Nike is set to sign a deal with Caitlin Clark “worth up to $28 million,” per WSJ.
• AT&T partnered with several of the actors from The Office for a new B2B ad campaign.
• Ad agency The Shipyard acquired the PR agency Fahlgren Mortine.