AMPR strengthens its architecture, design, and placemaking portfolio

Burson has acquired Limbik Inc., the cognitive AI company behind Decipher, Burson’s intelligence platform that predicts how communications resonate with audiences in more than 60 markets globally.

Limbik and Burson co-developed Decipher’s proprietary IP over the past two years. The acquisition gives Burson a position in AI-native audience intelligence within a broader product suite that also includes Sonar, Reputation Capital and The Fount.

The acquisition brings Limbik’s proprietary cognitive AI capabilities, engineering team and AI research team fully in-house. Burson said this will allow it to accelerate product integration and development across its suite, and capture the full value of the Decipher platform across the WPP network via WPP Open.

"Decipher has become foundational to how we help clients build, protect and prove the value of their reputation in real time," said Corey duBrowa, CEO of Burson. "Bringing Limbik's team and technology on board at Burson lets us build solutions faster for our clients and own our future technology roadmap. This work isn’t a separate service line item anymore. It's foundational to every piece of client work we do, and it's how we help clients lead, not just adapt, in the intelligence era. This move ensures faster answers, sharper judgment and a predictive, ‘see around corners’ edge we can put directly in our clients' hands, no matter where in the world we're working or what problem we're helping them solve."

Decipher forecasts how communications resonate with audiences. It predicts the virality and believability of messaging to determine impact before it reaches the market.

The technology serves as the predictive engine behind Burson’s AI-enabled ecosystem, powering the agency’s work across GEO, Reputation Capital, Culture Up and influencer strategy.

Limbik co-founders Zach Schwitzky and Josh Levin will join Burson as Global Head of Innovation, AI Platforms and Products, and Global Head of Innovation, Clients and Growth, respectively. Both will report to Burson’s Global Chief Innovation Officer, Chad Latz. The broader Limbik team will also join Burson’s Innovation team to build and expand AI advisory and product capability across the company.

"Every firm in the industry is guessing how audiences will react. We built the cognitive framework that knows," said Zach Schwitzky, Co-founder and CEO of Limbik. "With Decipher, Burson didn’t just add a tool. It activated a model for how real audiences around the world respond to information. At Limbik, we set out to build the AI infrastructure that the world's most influential agency runs on and the intelligence behind how it shapes and protects reputation at scale. Burson understood that before anyone else, and this is what setting the standard looks like.”

Journalists receive hundreds of pitches every week. Most never make it beyond the inbox. So what makes one worth opening, and (more importantly) worth turning into a story? 

Join Telum Media for the next webinar in our Practitioner Series, as Reuben Aitchison takes a practical look at what journalists actually want from PR pitches in 2026, what makes a story stand out, and how communications teams can improve their chances of earning meaningful coverage. 

Drawing on Telum Media's insights from more than 10,000 journalists across APAC and the Middle East, alongside current thinking from journalists, editors and leading PR practitioners, this exclusive event for Telum Media clients will explore why successful pitching starts long before the email is written. 

 25 August 2026, Online via Zoom
⏰ 9.00am - 10.00pm GST
⏰ 1.00pm - 2.00pm SGT / HKT
⏰ 3.00pm - 4.00pm AEST
⏰ 5.00pm - 6.00pm NZST 

In this session, we’ll cover: 

• What journalists actually want: Key insights from Telum Media’s Journalist Interest Survey and what they tell us about relevance, newsworthiness, evidence and good pitching etiquette.

• Finding the story before writing the pitch: How to move beyond an announcement, identify a meaningful “so what?” and build an angle around audience relevance.

• Understanding an outlet’s “content DNA”: Why knowing a journalist’s beat is no longer enough - and how to match your story to the person, publication, audience, format and moment.

• Building the story before pressing send: The evidence, data, human stories, spokespeople, access and assets journalists need to turn an idea into coverage.

• Getting to the point: What makes a subject line and opening compelling, how much information to include and how to make a pitch easy to assess quickly.

• Pitching beyond traditional media: How to adapt your approach for news creator-led formats, including the different expectations.

• AI and the rise of the generic pitch: Where AI can genuinely help with research and preparation - and where it risks making outreach less distinctive, less credible and easier to ignore. 

Register for Telum Media Practitioner Series: Perfecting the pitch

Thrive PR has appointed Sophie Maguire to head its Melbourne operations, while Kyra Shakspeare and Lwindi Ellis have been elevated to lead the Brisbane and Auckland offices respectively.

The moves follow the recent launch of Acuity, Thrive’s corporate communications sister agency.

"I truly never imagined I'd be in this position when I walked through the doors as a 21-year-old in 2008,” Sophie said.

“I've had the opportunity to work with incredible people and brands, both internationally and here in Australia, but I've always found my way back to Thrive. It really does feel like a full-circle moment, and I'm genuinely excited to help shape the next chapter of our Melbourne office while building on the strong foundations already in place. Melbourne is Australia's cultural and sporting capital, and I see a huge opportunity for brands who want to be part of the conversations shaping culture."

In Queensland, Kyra added: "We are building a sharp, infectious energy, zero fluff, and utterly indispensable team. I want our clients to view us less like a hired agency and more like their sharpest internal comms experts.

“There's an unapologetic momentum up here in Queensland. We have shed the reputation of being a secondary market. We stand on its own two feet, and brands want an authentic presence here. Brisbane 2032 isn't just a distant sporting event on the calendar, it's an active, six-year golden runway that is fundamentally transforming how businesses talk about legacy, impact and global relevance today. Our role is to be the ultimate cheat code for clients on that journey, helping local brands scale onto the world stage and ensuring global brands show up with real local cred."

Lwindi’s vision for Thrive New Zealand is clear: she wants to grow the Auckland-based team, building on current momentum to provide NZ expertise to Trans-Tasman brands and locally based organisations.

"I was fortunate to have already worked with Thrive for six months before stepping into this role, which gave me a proper runway to understand the agency culture and get to know our global clients like BYD and Afterpay, so when the chance came to take the reins of the NZ business, I jumped at it. Thrive's an ambitious, creative and forward-thinking agency and I'm delighted to be driving its business here in Aotearoa,” she said.

(Pictured L-R: Sophie Maguire, Kyra Shakspeare and Lwindi Ellis)