What we're talking about this month — why the AI shift is about more than just models, the newest Braze feature releases, the Stitch x Databricks partnership, our top resources, and more! ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏    ͏      Welcome to the May edition of Cutting Edge: the monthly newsletter for marketers who use Braze! May in Indianapolis (Stitch's hometown) means one thing: race day is coming. And if the Indianapolis 500 teaches us anything, it's that winning isn't just about raw speed. It's about the team around the driver: the pit crew, the data, the systems running in the background, all the things it takes to make every second count. That's exactly where the AI conversation is right now. The teams pulling ahead aren't the ones with the flashiest models — they're the ones who've built the operational stack to put AI to work inside their actual workflows. Less manual lift. More signal. Faster execution. This month, we're covering what that looks like in practice — from Braze's latest releases to new partnerships and resources worth your time. Consider it your pre-race briefing: everything you need to run smarter and faster. 🏎️ 🏁 What we're talking about this month: 🧭 The real AI shift — it's not just about models 📌 Braze tips & tricks 🛠️ The most relevant updates from Braze’s recent releases 🪡 Resources you can use to hone your craft STITCH IN TIME The real AI shift isn't the models — it's the ecosystem The conversation around AI has been loud, and honestly, a little misleading. The headline grabs are about the models themselves: how smart they're getting, how fast they're evolving. But if you're waiting for LLMs to transform your marketing operation on their own, you're looking in the wrong place. The real shift? It's the ecosystem surrounding them. The platforms, integrations, agents, and automation frameworks connecting to LLMs — that's where scale is being built right now. In 2026, 87% of enterprise marketing teams report using AI tools in at least one workflow, and companies leveraging AI-enabled automation are seeing returns of up to $5.44 for every $1 invested. That ROI isn't coming from a model in isolation — it's coming from AI embedded into the way work actually gets done. What this looks like in practice (and a peek into some of the ways we're using it internally and with the brands we partner with): instead of a human manually reviewing every asset, AI runs content QA automatically — flagging brand voice and compliance issues before anything goes to publish. Tools like Granola turn meeting conversations into structured outputs: action items, project plans, follow-up briefs. What used to require a coordinator pulling notes after every call now happens in minutes, across every meeting on the calendar. Less time on the mechanics of work, more time on the work that matters. The teams winning with AI aren't chasing the newest model. They're operationalizing it — connecting it to workflows, eliminating manual lift, and freeing their people to think bigger. AI isn't replacing marketers. It's removing the ceiling on what they can accomplish. The future will be defined by how well teams embed it into the way they work — not by the model itself, but by the intelligence layered on top of it. - Laura Scholke Delivery Director & Pro Travel Strategist (Vacation planning = ruthless preparation & zero room for winging it) PIN IT Braze tips & tricks 📌 Want to target a specific device with push notifications? When a user has multiple devices registered in Braze, a push send attempt goes to all of them by default. That means a user with an iPhone and an iPad can receive the same notification twice. By storing a user's device ID as a custom attribute and checking it against Braze’s generated at send time, you can abort the push for any device that doesn't match, ensuring you always target the exact right device. Why this matters: Duplicate push notifications can cause messaging fatigue and lead users to opt out completely. This pattern keeps your send logic centralized in one template while giving you device-level precision. - Michael Cook Senior Technical Architect & Boston Marathon Finisher (2:46:52!!!!) PATCHWORK Decoding Braze product updates 🛠️ eCommerce recommended events Braze has standardized six purchase-journey events: product_viewed, cart_updated, checkout_started, order_placed, order_cancelled, and order_refunded. Send them correctly, and Braze validates the data and unlocks a growing set of platform features automatically. Why it matters: Standardization, fewer QA issues, and better cross-team alignment. The earlier you adopt it, the more features you unlock automatically as they roll out. What it looks like in real life: Your developer fires cart_updated each time a user adds or removes an item. Braze validates the payload, and your CRM team can now build an abandoned cart Canvas off a clean, recognized event, ensuring the cart metadata powers true personalization. Multi-language translations You can now compose messages in multiple languages with a one-time locale setup with no need of Liquid code or workarounds. Why it matters: For teams sending to global markets, this removes a major technical barrier. Less reliance on developers means faster campaign launches in markets that were previously deprioritized. What it looks like in real life: You're launching a campaign across the US, Mexico and Brazil. Instead of creating three separate message variants and coordinating with a developer on Liquid logic, you set up your locales once, drop in translated copy for each market and send all from the same message composer. Granular permissions migration Not everyone on your team should have the same level of access for security and operational efficiency and now they don't have to. Braze is rolling out granular controls that let you define exactly who can do what across your account. Why it matters: As Braze footprints grow, so does the risk of accidental changes or unauthorized access. If your team has grown or you're managing multiple brands in one workspace, this is a governance upgrade worth configuring sooner rather than later. What it looks like in real life: Your agency partner needs access to build Canvases but shouldn't be able to touch billing or export user data. Instead of giving them a broad admin role, you assign permissions scoped to exactly what they need. Send to destination canvas component A new Canvas step lets you route users from one Canvas into another. It’s useful when multiple journeys share overlapping messaging. Why it matters: This reduces Canvas duplication significantly. Instead of copying promotional messaging across multiple flows, you can centralize it in one Canvas and route to it from others. What it looks like in real life: A user enters your “App Download” nurture Canvas. Halfway through, they place their first order and now qualify for your first-time buyer Canvas. Instead of those two journeys colliding or requiring complex branching logic, Send to Destination hands them off cleanly with the right message, right flow, and right timing. - Shweta Gupta Associate Principal Marketing Strategist & Book Hoarder ANNOUNCEMENT [NEW!] Stitch x Databricks Partnership "We have Databricks" should mean something to the marketing team, not just the data team. For most brands, we see that the data engineering team and the marketing team are still working in parallel — not together. Data engineers have Databricks humming. Marketers? Still exporting CSVs. That gap isn't a people problem. It's an architecture problem — and it's getting more expensive every quarter as AI-native competitors pull ahead. We are partnering with Databricks to close the gap between what enterprise data can do and what marketing actually delivers. If you're sitting on Databricks infrastructure that you haven't fully put to work, we can help! Learn more about the partnership > HONE YOUR CRAFT Our top resources this month 🪡 ✍ To CDP, or not CDP? If your team is evaluating a CDP, read this first. We break down why most brands already have the data infrastructure they need, and why the real gap is often activation rather than unification. Spoiler: a data warehouse + Braze connection might be all you need. Read the CDP article > 🚚 Friends don’t let friends stay on SFMC. If you know someone sitting in a Salesforce Marketing Cloud contract wondering if there's a better way — send them this. We wrote a guide on making the switch to Braze. Not a sanitized "10 steps to migration" checklist. The real stuff: what's actually driving brands off SFMC, how to build the internal business case, what's genuinely different about how Braze works, and what to sort out before a single asset moves. Share the guide > 📚 What we're reading/watching The State of Martech 2026 Report - Chief Martec Elizabeth Dobbs: Inside Databricks’ stack with 3 AI agents, 1 lakehouse, and 6 years of data work - Humans of Martech LOOSE ENDS This month's VIP (very important pet) 🐾 Catch up on past editions of Cutting Edge > Stitch, 830 Massachusetts Ave Floor 3, Suite 9, Indianapolis, IN 46204, USA Unsubscribe Manage Preferences