Speaking with EMARKETER at Web Summit, Vast chief astronaut and former NASA commander Drew Feustel described how the company’s Haven 1 station is designed to shift low Earth orbit from a research environment to a commercial manufacturing platform. Building on decades of ISS science, Vast aims to serve industries like biotech, pharmaceuticals, and advanced materials that benefit from microgravity’s unique conditions. With the space economy expected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035, Feustel says the next leap is scaling production—from artificial retinas to specialty crystals—into repeatable, revenue-generating processes. For brands and investors, orbit is becoming a legitimate industrial supply chain.

The strategy: Agentic AI could redefine how banks detect and prevent financial crime, according to a recent McKinsey report. Our take: Banks are just beginning to pilot agentic AI and explore use cases, but they should prioritize using it in financial crime prevention. This technology will become essential as traditional methods struggle to keep up with increasingly sophisticated criminal tactics: Despite allocating significant resources to KYC and AML efforts, the financial industry only detects about 2% of global financial crime, per Interpol data.

The news: Merck is teaming with McKinsey for a generative AI (genAI) program that streamlines clinical study reports (CSRs). The takeaway: GenAI is ideal for time-intensive precise medical writing and frees content creators for oversight and strategic tasks. While Merck and some others are already using it for regulatory filings, those who stall or keep their pilots in the experimentation phase risk losing valuable time-to-market advantages.

The news: Demand for AI-skilled workers is exploding as workplace adoption of generative AI (genAI) accelerates, creating a make-or-break moment for B2B companies trying to compete in a tech-driven landscape. The number of job postings for employees with agentic AI skills spiked 985% between 2023 and 2024, per McKinsey’s 2025 Technology Trends Outlook report. Postings for workers with general AI skills also rose, but at a much smaller 35% rate. Our take: CMOs should work closely with HR to identify high-potential marketing team members for upskilling programs to tackle tasks like generating and reviewing AI copy and pulling insights out of AI-powered campaign analytics.

How the FDA’s approval of non-opioid pain pill could benefit pharma players: Pharmacies and drugmakers hope that the new treatment will help them avoid opioid-related legal issues in the future.

We explore key takeaways that can help banks stay competitive despite rising costs.

GenAI gives banks unprecedented tools to create a more personalized experience for their customers, but some use cases are easier to implement than others.

For several years in a row, the four largest US P&C insurers have cut ad spending, leading to a steady decline in TV ad impressions.

An aversion to risk and debt has narrowed down their choice of banking products and led them to adopt unconventional money-management tactics.

A McKinsey report argues that the financial services industry is undergoing an epic transformation, with each bank’s success heavily dependent on its integration of AI.

A new Frontier for startups: A handful of startups just got funding to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Using carbon as a raw material could help them reach market viability.

Identity resolution is in a state of flux in the US advertising industry, with third-party browser cookies and mobile IDs being ushered out in the name of consumer privacy.

Evolving client expectations for more personalized services threaten wealth managers’ ability to retain existing clients and snap up new ones. But incumbents can face these changes head on by tapping AI to hyper-personalize offerings across the customers journey.

McKinsey warns that banks have just 18 to 24 months to revamp their post-recovery business models so they don’t lag in shareholder returns. Partnerships or mergers may offer less costly alternatives.

For years, delivering strong customer experience (CX) has been critical to an organization’s success—yet it’s still difficult to deliver on. Here’s how marketers need to think about CX success in 2021.

As Thanksgiving rapidly approaches, the holiday shopping season is kicking into overdrive. Retailers are ready for the surge in consumer spending on Black Friday, but what shopper behaviors should they expect? We break down three key trends for the holiday weekend.

Rewards-based programs are not just for consumer-facing companies anymore. McKinsey & Company's Jennifer Stanley believes B2B organizations can greatly benefit from adopting these programs to retain customer loyalty.

Consumers in China spent $118.39 billion on luxury goods in 2017, far more than consumers in the US, Europe, Japan or the rest of the world.

Jennifer Stanley, partner at McKinsey & Company, discusses why some B2B brands have trouble progressing their data management strategy to do more data-driven marketing.