About Intentful: Powering Intelligent Brands

Intentful builds technology where AI meets brand communication — Intelligent Brand Infrastructure, from AI-readable pages to interactive ads.

Commercially deployed since 2021 · Best AdTech Startup 2026 — M&A Tech Connect

About Intentful: Enabling Intelligent Brands

Intentful operates at the point where AI and brand communication come together. The company helps enterprise B2C brands and destination organizations function as interactive, intelligent entities in the AI era through proprietary products and direct advisory support.

Interactive Ad

Client: Visit Visalia

What this shows

This is a standard display ad unit, transformed so the consumer can speak with the brand in an actual conversation. AI replies live, stays aligned with the brand, and works inside the ad placement.

• Real-time
• On-brand
• Within ad space

Company Snapshot

Who we are

A technology company focused on the intersection of AI and brand communication.

Core technology

Infrastructure that helps brands become interactive, intelligent entities across ads, commerce, and content.

Beyond the product

Practical advisory for organizations adopting AI, covering readiness through upskilling.

Customers

Enterprise B2C brands & Tourism Boards

Geography

Global

Commercially active

Since 2021

Recognition

Best AdTech Startup 2026

Patent

Generative Response Ads — global patent pending

What Makes a Brand Interactive

Three connected capabilities work together.

Brand equity & AI representation

This concerns the way AI systems interpret and present the brand in different environments. When any AI system refers to a brand, the key question is whether that reference matches the positioning the brand intends.

Real-time engagement

This is about giving customers immediate, governed, on-brand answers at the point of intent across touchpoints. One example is advertising that can respond live inside ad placements for the brand.

Continuous brand intelligence

Customer conversations become a source of ongoing brand learning and insight. The result is a living intelligence guided by the organization, with governance over both its engagement and its representation.

People

The team behind Intentful.

Co-Founders

MP — Marina Petrova

CEO & Co-Founder

Technology strategist with 30 years spanning technology and marketing communications, including Publicis and WPP. Work with organizations across 50+ countries. Speaker at WFA, Oxford, Singularity University, Columbia, and Mobile World Congress. Led the creation of patent-pending Generative Response Ads and Intelligent Brand Infrastructure.

BA — Bruce Amick

COO & Co-Founder

Background across media, technology, and finance. Named the company Intentful years before the market centered on intent-driven AI. Previously held leadership roles at Broadway.com, The Shubert Organization, and BBVA, scaling platforms and overseeing complex operational ecosystems.

AS — Alex Scherban

CTO & Co-Founder

30+ years in software development. Created solutions for GM, HP, Disney, Coca-Cola, Air France-KLM, Unilever, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Architect of the Intentful Knowledge Engine that powers every product.

Leadership

SM — Stefan Merkl

DMO & Tourism Industry Advisor

20 years working with DMOs, attractions, and sightseeing companies in U.S. and international markets. Primary contact for destinations considering Intentful. MBA. Originally from Germany and based in Sonoma County.

WK — Wanda Kalbach

EVP, Operations & Delivery

Oversees client delivery and operational infrastructure. Makes sure brand content systems are launched accurately and on time across engagements.

Intentful is intentionally lean: strategic thinkers, developers, and operators using AI to remove unnecessary complexity. The team is proudly global, with members across the United States, Europe, and Ukraine.

Built With AI

Intentful does more than create AI products. The company runs with AI at its core.

Intentful's proprietary technology is model-agnostic. Its patent-pending infrastructure connects with any foundation model, while the team applies AI across the way it works.

Patent-pending, model-agnostic technology

Intentful's patent-pending infrastructure is its own proprietary technology layer, rather than a wrapper around another company's AI. It works with any foundation model, including OpenAI, Anthropic, and Gemini, and can switch between or combine models depending on performance, cost, or client requirements. There is no lock-in.

AI agents unlock value faster

As one example, an AI agent supports the creation of Intentful's Generative Response Ads, helping brands reach the value of interactivity sooner while avoiding production bottlenecks and maintaining brand governance.

AI-augmented engineering

AI advances help the development team ship more innovation and identify new possibilities. This website, for instance, was built entirely by Claude — Anthropic's AI — in collaboration with the Intentful team.

Commercial Deployments

In-market since 2021.

Intentful has dozens of live deployments with early adopters across travel and tourism, performing arts, telecommunications, and consumer brands.

Visit Florida Keys

Interactive Ad

The source page includes a quote from Kara Franker, CEO, Visit Florida Keys & Key West, describing the organization’s deliberate choice to adopt early, understand how AI is changing traveler discovery, and help shape that experience instead of reacting later.

Visit Visalia

Interactive Ad

A 300×250 display unit lets consumers ask questions and receive live destination responses inside the ad placement.

Tourism & destinations — early adopters

Tourism and destination brands were among the earliest organizations to use Intentful's technology. These organizations combine high visitor intent, complex offerings, and the need for governed brand interaction in real time, and they validated the model.

Deployments later grew into performing arts and consumer brands. Other enterprise partners are not named because of contractual terms.

Featured & Recognized

Intentful advances practical AI use in marketing communications.

The company regularly participates in executive forums, industry working sessions, and academic programs that focus on taking AI from experimentation into operational reality.

• Oxford University — Oxford, UK
• WFA — World Federation of Advertisers
• Singularity University — Silicon Valley, CA
• Columbia University — Startup Lab · New York, NY
• MWC — Mobile World Congress · Barcelona
• ProcureCon — Marketing Procurement Leaders
• eTourism Summit — Digital Travel Leaders
• World Travel Market — London, UK
• MMA London — Mobile Marketing Association
• EACA — European Association of Communication Agencies
• CMO Summit — Executive Marketing Leaders
• And more — Ongoing

Ongoing Conversations

Intentful remains open to conversations with brands, destinations, agencies, publishers, and press.

About Intentful

Intentful is a technology company helping enterprise B2C brands and destination organizations operate as interactive, intelligent entities in the AI era. Founded in 2021, it supplies the infrastructure brands use to govern real-time engagement across touchpoints, influence how AI interprets and represents the brand, and convert customer interactions into continuous brand intelligence. Intentful's patent-pending Generative Response Ads convert standard ad units into live brand conversations.

Products include Generative Response Ads, As Seen by AI, Content Space, AI Readability Report, Local Business AI Discoverability, and Intelligent Brand Enablement. Advisory programs include AI Readiness Advisory, AI Immersion Workshop, AI 101: Travel & Tourism, and AI Today Upskilling. Clients include Travel Oregon, Visit Sacramento, Broadway Inbound, Rakuten Viber, HotelPlanner, and destination organizations across the United States. Named Best AdTech Startup at M&A Tech Connect 2026.