Candid Platform announced the rollout of Live Marketing, a new artificial‑intelligence environment built expressly for the advertising and communications sector. The solution is positioned as a single, secure backbone that lets Candid’s in‑house agencies and external advertisers run strategy, research, campaign execution, and media buying without exposing proprietary data to third‑party services. According to the company, the system could automate up to 90 percent of routine marketing tasks in the near term.
A unified AI layer for a fragmented market
The Dutch advertising landscape has been grappling with a proliferation of point solutions. The 2026 CMO Barometer, released earlier this year, shows that 47 percent of Dutch chief marketing officers now list AI as a top priority, a steep rise from just 3 percent a year ago. Yet the same survey indicates that 83 percent of those CMOs use ChatGPT on a daily basis, suggesting that many marketers rely on a single, general‑purpose chatbot while juggling a host of specialised tools.
Candid’s Live Marketing aims to collapse that fragmentation. By aggregating access to “all leading LLMs and proprietary AI tools” under a single gateway, the platform promises to reduce the overhead associated with managing multiple vendor contracts, API keys, and data‑privacy policies. The company argues that the current “hardware‑centric” approach—where each AI model is treated as a separate appliance—creates inefficiencies that a consolidated infrastructure can eliminate.
Core components: Gateway, Cortex, and Studio
- Gateway – a unified access point that simultaneously connects users to a broad spectrum of large language models (LLMs) and specialised AI services. This layer is intended to simplify model selection and switch‑over without requiring developers to re‑engineer pipelines.
- Cortex – an automation and agent platform that enables the creation of bespoke AI‑driven workflows. According to Candid, Cortex can orchestrate tasks ranging from data enrichment and audience segmentation to real‑time budget optimisation.
- Studio – a production suite for high‑quality visual, audio, and video assets. The component is marketed as a “high‑standard” environment capable of generating creative deliverables at scale, reducing reliance on external production houses.
Together, the trio is designed to cover the entire marketing value chain, from insight generation to creative execution and media placement.
Security, compliance, and data sovereignty
A recurring concern among European advertisers is the handling of sensitive brand data when using cloud‑based AI services. Candid emphasizes that Live Marketing is “fully secure,” with ISO certification and GDPR compliance baked into the architecture. The company asserts that users will not need to share proprietary information with external AI providers, a claim that could resonate with agencies handling regulated industries such as finance, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals.
The platform’s security posture is reinforced by its “ISO certified, secure, and GDPR compliant” backbone. While the press release does not disclose specific certifications (e.g., ISO 27001), the mention of ISO standards suggests adherence to internationally recognised information‑security frameworks.
Executive insights
Gérard Ghazarian, founder of Candid, framed the launch as the realization of a long‑standing vision: “I founded Candid 18 years ago with one conviction: marketing requires a platform approach. At the time, AI did not exist, but we can now truly realise this vision, reducing marketing processes that previously took months down to days. McKinsey research shows that while 88 percent of organisations use AI, only 6 percent achieve measurable financial results. The issue is not adoption, but specialised infrastructure. Candid is now solving this for marketing and communication. What we are launching today is what we have always worked towards: a platform that makes marketing and communication more effective and efficient.”
Rudiger Wanck, Candid’s chief executive officer, highlighted the financial upside: “Live Marketing provides our agencies with a structural competitive advantage: the depth of specialist expertise (human ingenuity) combined with the speed of AI infrastructure (machine learning). Following a challenging 2023, we initiated the transition of our legacy agencies, resulting in strong operational profit in 2024. This profit doubled in 2025 and 2026 has started with great promise. This progress demonstrates that our offering is exactly what advertisers and their brands require right now.”
Both executives underscore a shift from experimental AI pilots to an “operational capability” that can be monetised across client engagements.
Market implications for Dutch agencies
Candid’s announcement arrives at a moment when Dutch ad agencies are seeking ways to differentiate themselves from global competitors while adhering to stringent data‑privacy regulations. The company notes that it can extend Live Marketing as a managed service through its network of over 300 specialists spread across its agencies, including Brand Potential and STROOM. This service model could appeal to mid‑size brands that lack the internal talent to build and maintain custom AI pipelines.
The platform’s ability to centralise AI model access may also reduce the latency and cost associated with moving data between on‑premise systems and multiple cloud providers. For agencies that already operate in a “multi‑vendor” environment, Live Marketing could serve as a cost‑control lever, consolidating licensing fees and simplifying governance.
Competitive landscape and industry context
While many technology vendors—ranging from Google Cloud to Adobe—offer AI‑enhanced marketing tools, few provide an end‑to‑end, agency‑focused infrastructure that bundles model access, workflow automation, and creative production under one roof. Candid’s positioning therefore aligns with a broader industry trend toward “AI‑first” platforms that aim to replace patchwork stacks with integrated solutions.
The company’s claim that “90 percent of all operational marketing tasks” could be automated in the near term mirrors forecasts from consultancy firms that predict a substantial shift of repetitive tasks to AI by 2027. However, the actual adoption curve will likely be moderated by the need for human oversight, especially in areas such as brand safety, compliance, and creative judgment.
Potential business impact
If Live Marketing delivers on its promise of speed and security, advertisers could see shorter campaign cycles, lower production costs, and more data‑driven decision‑making. The platform’s “Gateway” could enable rapid experimentation with emerging LLMs, allowing agencies to test new copy variations or audience insights without extensive engineering effort.
The “Cortex” automation layer may also facilitate real‑time optimisation of media spend, a capability that traditionally required dedicated data‑science teams. By democratizing these functions, Candid could level the playing field for smaller agencies that previously could not afford bespoke AI solutions.
Finally, the “Studio” component could reduce reliance on external production vendors, potentially shrinking creative budgets and accelerating time‑to‑market for video and audio assets—a critical factor in an environment where consumer attention spans are shrinking.
Outlook
Candid Platform’s Live Marketing represents a bold attempt to unify the fragmented AI tools that currently dominate the advertising technology stack in the Netherlands. Its emphasis on security, compliance, and a managed‑service model may make it attractive to agencies navigating both regulatory scrutiny and the pressure to demonstrate ROI from AI investments.
The real test will be how quickly advertisers adopt the platform, how effectively it integrates with existing martech ecosystems, and whether the promised automation translates into measurable financial gains. As the 2026 CMO Barometer indicates a sharp increase in AI prioritisation, solutions like Live Marketing could become a benchmark for operational efficiency in the sector.
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