Case Study

How Horizon Media built an AI-ready culture to match their AI-first platform

The marketing technology company gave 85% of employees their “AI wings” – and the skills to lead clients on AI.
A torn piece of white lined notebook paper with holes along the left edge.
“Our goal was to make AI fluency the baseline across the organization – not a competitive advantage for a select few. Today, over 85% of Horizon employees feel confident and empowered to harness AI to drive smarter growth for our clients.”

- Domenic Venuto, Chief Product and Data Officer, Horizon Media

By the numbers

90%

trusted AI to support them in 
their work

Crumpled and slightly torn white lined paper with grid lines on a white background.

85%

AI proficiency across the organization by Q2 2026

A torn piece of textured beige paper with a paperclip attached at the top right corner.

40%

weekly active use of Section AI platform

Blank torn and perforated lined notebook paper with a rough top edge and right margin holes.

The quick summary

Horizon Media is building a marketing technology company, with their AI-powered operating system HorizonOS at the center. To help their clients lead on AI, Horizon requires a workforce that's genuinely proficient in AI, not just generally aware of it. 

Horizon partnered with Section starting in April 2025 to diagnose their organization’s AI maturity, design a certification program, and execute it across the whole company. 

They reached 85% company-wide proficiency within seven months of rollout, meaning employees know how to safely and effectively use AI to drive business value. At Horizon, they call this milestone “earning your wings,” the certification comes with a distinct brand featuring custom wings, branded rewards and digital credentials.
Book a demo

About Horizon

Industry: Media & Advertising

Company size: ~2,500 employees

Location: United States

Section use cases: 
AI Maturity Diagnostic, Custom Curriculum Design, AI Proficiency Certification, Reporting & Tracking Infrastructure

The challenge

Equipping every employee for what comes next

Horizon had an ambitious vision: Transition from media agency to marketing intelligence leader and growth partner for clients, helmed by their AI operating system, HorizonOS. Leadership knew that to realize that vision, their entire workforce needed to be AI-first, so they could help clients navigate AI-powered marketing. 

Section’s diagnostic revealed the gap in Horizon’s workforce wasn’t buy-in. People were genuinely ready to engage, but they were uncertain about the role of AI in their work.

The diagnostic found: 

Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Horizon had higher proficiency than industry peers – but not enough to drive real business value

Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Foundational AI skills existed, but were underleveraged

Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Employees couldn’t clearly articulate Horizon’s AI vision and priorities

Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Learning was siloed, with some departments further ahead than others

Horizon went to market with an RFI process for a partner who could help them close that gap – not just provide content, but design a path to AI proficiency across their entire organization.

Compounding challenge:

No single person had AI transformation in their formal remit. Without dedicated ownership, activation stalled.

The diagnosis

Ready to engage, but uncertain about the role of AI.

Crumpled white paper ball on a black background.
The proposal

The Section partnership

Horizon selected Section through a formal RFI process. They were seeking a partner who could design a certification path tailored to media and marketing and support the measurement infrastructure needed to manage a rollout at an organization-wide scale (Horizon Media has offices in NYC, LA, and Toronto).
Book a demo
AI Maturity Diagnositic
Stakeholder interviews and an organization-wide pulse check to identify where employees are on AI. 
A sealed package with a colorful abstract design and text reading 'The AI Maturity Benchmark'.
Custom curriculum design
Certification program culminating in employees “earning their wings” through a three-course Section path (AI Crash Course, AI For Problem Solving, AI for Marketers) and five Horizon-specific courses covering Data Foundations and dedicated Blu Platform modules.
Hand holding five playing cards with abstract colorful shapes on the back.
Cohort-based rollout
Five cohorts launched August 2025 with a March 2026 completion deadline, with a mix of live and on-demand sessions, dedicated calendar time, and manager-reinforced messaging at each stage.
A colorful drawing of six human silhouettes walking on multicolored paths, casting long shadows.
Reporting and tracking infrastructure
Unified dashboard that consolidated completion data across all eight requirements, allowing Horizon to distribute learner status when required. 
Hand holding a smartphone displaying a colorful abstract pattern with curved shapes in green, pink, yellow, and blue.
Ongoing partnership
Section has been with Horizon from diagnostic through certification, with the relationship expanding as Horizon moves from foundational AI knowledge to applied workflows in 2026.
3D illustration of a human brain with colorful gradient texture on a black background.
Circular button with a right arrow inside.
Circular button with a right arrow inside.
A torn piece of white lined notebook paper with holes along the left edge.
Smiling man with short brown hair and beard wearing a blue blazer and floral shirt outdoors.
"I set the expectation early: not learning AI now is the equivalent of ignoring the internet back then. It’s the baseline. Once that became clear, everything shifted. It stopped being a training program and became a new tool to sharpen thinking, a built-in thought partner, and an investment in their own growth."

- Matt Higgins, Head of Strategy, Blue Hour Studios

The Journey

Horizon's AI adoption journey

(Q1 2025)
Diagnostic and design
Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Section conducts stakeholder interviews across Horizon to understand AI sentiment, usage, and barriers

Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Organization-wide diagnostic surfaces high buy-in (~60%) but uncertainty and confidence gaps on where to use AI in their work

Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Section and Horizon co-design a custom certification path: three required Section courses plus five Horizon-specific internal courses

Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Reporting dashboard built to track completion across all eight requirements in a single view

(August 2025–March 2026)
Rollout
Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Program launches across five cohorts, with AI upskilling formally required for all Horizon Media employees

Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Bob Lord, President, Horizon Media, publicly earns his Blu Angel wings – leadership visibly participates, not just endorses

Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Managers reinforce the program and deadline at every cohort stage; L&D integrates Blu Platform training as a certification requirement

Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Employees who complete certification earn their Blu Angel wings – and get physical rewards including stickers and LinkedIn certificates

Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Cohorts receive dedicated calendar time blocks; some teams organize watch parties for course material

(2026 and beyond)
From foundation to application
Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Horizon reaches 85% certification completion by end of Q1 2026

Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Leadership frames 2026 as the year of application – foundational knowledge is in place, now AI needs to change how work gets done

Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Partnership with Section continues as Horizon moves from individual AI literacy to team-wide, transferable AI workflows

Blue outlined circle with a blue check mark inside.

Content cascaded across various support resources such as dedicated Resource Center, Community Office Hours, and Teams channel with over 1800 Blu Platform users

The reporting infrastructure that made accountability possible
Managing a certification rollout across hundreds of employees with multiple courses, created a reporting challenge that could have derailed the program.

Section worked with Horizon to build a unified dashboard tracking completion across all eight requirements. The result: precise visibility into who was certified, who was in progress, and who needed intervention – without requiring manual cross-referencing between systems.

We started to see people genuinely want their wings — not because they had to, but because their colleagues already had theirs. That peer energy is what turns a mandate into a movement. To sustain it, our data had to be real-time and accurate. People were reaching out every day and we had to be ready with the right stats to keep them moving
- Suzanne McEachern Gross, VP of Product Marketing, Horizon Media

‍The dashboard also changed the employee dynamic. When people know completion is being tracked precisely, the program stops feeling optional. That accountability, framed alongside genuine leadership commitment, drove sustained progress through a multi-month rollout.
Earning your wings: How Horizon turned certification into culture
Most training programs end with a completion email. Horizon's ends with wings.

Horizon Media transformed a certification into an aspirational achievement complete with its own brand. The visual identity featuring custom “wins” iconography, branded rewards and digital credentials, made the certification a visible point of pride. 

The brand took on a life of its own, phrases like "Do you have your wings yet?" and "Are you an Angel yet?" became part of everyday conversation across the organization, a sign that the program had moved beyond a training initiative and into something employees genuinely identified with. 

‍“We blocked an hour every Friday on our whole team's calendar. It sent a clear signal that this wasn't something you fit in when you had spare time – it was something we were doing together. That shared commitment made a real difference in how seriously people took it.” 
- Sam Rose, Michael Cohen, and Mike O’Connor, from the Investment Team at Horizon Media
Why this matters

Lessons from 
Horizon + Section

Book a demo
Lighthouse with red and white stripes next to a small building on a rocky shore at sunset with colorful sky and calm sea.
Diagnose for the real barrier, not the assumed one.
Section’s diagnostic revealed opportunities in confidence building and policy clarity, not knowledge. That insight shaped a curriculum and rollout that addressed what employees actually needed.
Man standing with arms crossed wearing a multicolored jacket against a colorful background.
Frame mandates as shared commitment.
Horizon positioned their required training as a collective investment rather than a compliance exercise. The framing was even more credible because leadership was doing the work publicly.
Blurred landscape with green grass, trees, and a path under a light blue sky.
Make the deadline real, and protect the time.
Dedicated calendar blocks, cohort structure, and a hard March 2026 deadline signaled that AI upskilling was a priority, not a background activity.
Lighthouse with red and white stripes next to a small building on a rocky shore at sunset with colorful sky and calm sea.
Build reporting infrastructure before you launch.
You cannot manage accountability at scale without visibility. A single dashboard tracking all requirements is a prerequisite for execution.
Man standing with arms crossed wearing a multicolored jacket against a colorful background.
Year 1 creates the conditions; year 2 captures the value.
Horizon’s 2025 culture shift is the foundation for 2026's application focus. Organizations that stop at foundational knowledge have done the hard work without capturing the return.
Circular button with a right arrow inside.
Circular button with a right arrow inside.

Make

AI

a practice your team can run.

Talk to advisory to scope your engagement.

Talk to advisory