The news: Citi Wealth is collaborating with BlackRock to create a customized portfolio offering for its clients, per a press release. The new offering is scheduled to launch in Q4 2025 pending regulatory approval. Our take: Citi is leveraging BlackRock's scale and expertise to focus on its core strength: personalized, high-level advisory services. This is part of CEO Jane Fraser’s broader strategy to streamline operations and boost profitability in Citi's wealth management division. In addition, this move highlights the opportunities that partnerships create. In this case it allows Citi to offer more personalized services through a new platform as well as through the more efficient personalized guidance of experts. This follows the bank’s recent deployment of two new AI solutions that will supercharge client communications.

The news: The Financial Brand recently featured Citizens Bank’s comprehensive strategy for improving the customer experience. What stood out to us were Citizen Bank’s people-first approach, hyper-local strategy, and data-driven decisions. Our take: While no single strategy—be it a people-first approach, hyperlocal focus, or digital innovation—would alone future-proof a bank's business. But Citizens' integrated pursuit of all three forms a truly comprehensive, powerful, and competitive strategy, positioning the bank effectively against traditional rivals and agile fintechs.

There are now more than 80 retail media networks (RMNs) in the US. The volume of RMNs, combined with the dominance of Amazon and other established competitors, makes it challenging for new and niche RMNs to capture share.

Etsy fights against Amazonification with new seller policies: The marketplace is overhauling its product designations to ensure all items have a human touch.

Google’s I/O showcases bold AI integration across products: The announcements show its marketplace strength but it’ll need an effective monetization strategy to beat the competition.

The Hershey Co. found a way to apply retail media data from Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups to other consumer packaged goods ads. The company learned that shoppers were buying shapes of Reese’s Cups based on their chocolate to peanut butter ratio, so it made two new products—one for peanut butter lovers and one for chocolate lovers, said Vinny Rinaldi, US head of media at The Hershey Co.

Macy’s looks to private labels to boost its bottom line: As consumers pull back on discretionary spending, retailers are turning to private labels to differentiate their merchandise and improve margins.

This report breaks down the essentials of B2B branding and provides best practices and case studies for B2B companies of any size, young and old, across sectors.