Following a successful European launch, Empathy Lab enters North America to help CMOs unify marketing, product and technology through AI-powered platforms grounded in human insight
EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM), a leading digital and AI transformation company, today announced the North American launch of Empathy Lab by EPAM, its AI-native agency designed to help brands build intelligent, human-centered growth systems in an era reshaped by AI.
As AI continues to transform how consumers discover, evaluate and buy, CMOs are under growing pressure to move beyond incremental automation and rethink how creativity, data and technology work together. Empathy Lab helps marketing and digital leaders orchestrate these as one connected system – enabling brands to protect differentiation, grow demand and build lasting customer relationships and scale.
The North America launch builds on a strong inaugural year in Europe, where Empathy Lab has partnered with global brands as well as with the world’s leading agency groups. These organizations are seeking a new type of partner capable of designing and building agentic platforms that support next-generation marketing capabilities – combining EPAM’s deep engineering expertise with a human-centered approach to growth, experience and decision-making.
“CMOs are now expected to use AI to bring product, technology, data and customer experience together in ways that simply weren’t part of the job before, and many marketing organizations weren’t built for that challenging shift,” said Elaina Shekhter, SVP, Chief Marketing & Strategy Officer, EPAM. “We launched Empathy Lab to help CMOs navigate this change, reconnecting siloed functions and putting empathy at the center of every AI-powered experience. Bringing this proven approach to North America gives marketing and technology leaders a practical model to scale impact in an AI-driven economy.”
Marketing is entering a critical phase. As AI search and agentic commerce compress consumer journeys, brands face a growing risk of optimizing for speed and cost while eroding emotional connection, differentiation and long-term demand. Where 2025 was the year brands embedded AI, 2026 is the year where the next generation of leaders will re-architect marketing for orchestration, not efficiency.
“Most brands are already using AI to automate parts of their marketing, and that’s an important first step. But the bigger opportunity is using AI to connect insight, creativity and execution so teams can respond with agility and precision to changes in the market,” said David Billings, Chief Strategy Officer, Empathy Lab. “Over the past year, we’ve seen how powerful this becomes when teams collaborate across a single intelligent platform, making faster decisions, producing stronger creative and linking marketing activity more directly to commercial outcomes.”
Following its European launch in 2025, Empathy Lab has developed and deployed a suite of AI-powered accelerators designed to support every stage of the marketing lifecycle, from insights and planning to content, commerce, media and measurement. Recent engagements include:Â
- Synthetic Audiences helped product teams at Mars bring impactful new products to market faster by augmenting traditional research with AI-enabled synthetic research
- Agentic Retail Media Platform development for a major UK supermarket chain, helping the retailer rewire workflows and more efficiently orchestrate brand, commercial and customer value
- An integrated operating system of AI tools empowering 700+ Reckitt marketers to drive efficiency, consistency and growth across global markets
To drive its North American expansion, EPAM has appointed Ben Hall as Head of Empathy Lab for North America, where he will lead growth across the U.S. and Canada. Hall brings more than 20 years of experience in leading enterprise growth at several global creative and technology organizations, including Tata Consulting Services and R/GA.
“I’m excited to bring Empathy Lab’s vision to North America at a time when marketing and technology leaders are under growing pressure to modernize how their organizations operate,” said Ben Hall, VP, North America, Empathy Lab. “CMOs recognize the shift toward AI-driven marketing is happening, but many are overwhelmed by fragmented pilots, multiple vendors and the absence of a clear operating model. Empathy Lab brings creativity, technology and human insight together to enable marketing leaders to scale automation while building a deeper understanding of their customers.”
With a focus on strategic consultancy, creativity and the development of AI and data-enabled capabilities, Empathy Lab offers CMOs and cross-functional leaders a set of integrated services and accelerators across marketing, commerce and loyalty. The result is growth that feels considered, not automated – delivering stronger demand, easier transactions and customer relationships that last.
