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<hr /> The content experience platform category is a bit of a conundrum. While not a CMS, there are certainly content management systems that lay claim to being a “CXP” – which is also an acronym synonymous with “customer experience platform.” That, too, is a horse of a different color.There are also DXPs, which are markedly different beasts. And just like that, you begin to see the problem: between the acronyms and abject confusion, this region of the contentsphere still struggles from a lack of clarity. Even though <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://aragonresearch.com/the-rise-of-content-experience-platforms/">Aragon Research</a> put its stamp on the silo way back in 2021, the idea of a content experience platform has been around for quite some time, and appropriated in different ways. But forget about the category. What’s really important isn’t what a product is, but what it can do for its customers. If there’s been one consistent thread with vendors in this content experience arena, it’s the focus on serving dynamic content and personalizing it with speed and efficiency. That said, there are lots of digital touch points, and lots of content living in different places like CMSes, DAMs, PIMs, and more. With all this siloed stuff, marketers are struggling with brand management, making it a challenge to be fast, nimble, and responsive when creating personalized experiences using all of these disparate assets. This is where <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.smint.io/">Smint.io</a> has established itself as a sort of “portal powerhouse” in the content experience pantheon. The Linz, Austria-based vendor is doing some novel work to help brands and marketing teams publish existing content from where it lives, and do it through fast, easy-to-deploy portals that can be for public, private, or fully authenticated use.And these portals kind of rock. You can check out a mock example of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://brand.oochiali.com/en/?culture=en">Smint's brand portals here. </a> <figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:89.32%"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/12/portal_logo_colors-scaled.jpg" /></figure>Source: Smint.io website Smint’s breed of no-code portals enable real-time synchronization of assets and product data from a multitude of sources – places like Microsoft SharePoint, Google Drive, Box, and more. It also includes pure-play DAM systems like Cloudinary or even DXP-based services within platforms like <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/sitecore">Sitecore.</a>The use cases for Smint.io’s platform run the gamut, from brand portals, press and media download portals, and product information portals. They even specialize in <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.smint.io/portal-templates/content-buying/">content buying portals,</a> where you can access images from various sources like stock photography platforms – and set up centralized lightboxes and shopping carts while handling licensing in one place. Smint’s model might seem niche, but it’s exactly the kind of service marketing teams crave to handle large quantities of overloaded content. It makes cross-department collaboration a little easier and breaks down content silos by connecting content sources in one place. That translates into brand consistency and faster time to market for global enterprises like Mattel, Synchrony, and BNP Paribas Real Estate. Now, Smint.io has launched a new OEM partnership with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.censhare.com/en">Censhare</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.marmind.com/">Marmind</a>, founding partners of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://entirely.com/">Entirely</a> – the world’s first open, AI-native marketing technology ecosystem. If you’re not familiar, Entirely is an open, personalized, compliant, and composable solution set of flexible tools designed for collaboration and orchestration and powered by AI. It’s like a cabal of best-of-breed technologies for composable martech, with human guidance and ingenuity as part of the recipe. Some of the other platforms include <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://entirely.com/solutions/adverity?hsLang=en">Adverity</a> for process automation, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://entirely.com/solutions/solutions-elaine?hsLang=en">Elaine</a> for smart growth and marketing automation, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://entirely.com/solutions/zeotap?hsLang=en">Zeotap</a> for CDP-powered data insights, and more.Launched in November, the partnership with Censhare and Marmind merges Smint’s content experience expertise with Censhare’s proven PIM, DAM, and CMS capabilities – and amps it up with Marmind’s marketing resource management features. The integration enables businesses to seamlessly create highly personalized and branded content experiences, allowing them design and manage custom-tailored portals to meet their needs.<h3 id="building-a-‘portal-powerhouse’">Building a ‘portal powerhouse’</h3>According to Smint.io, this trifecta provides a module of functionality, delivering sophisticated branding tools and CMS capabilities. With it, brands can design bespoke portal applications, contextualize assets, and integrate with minimal effort with various platforms via custom components. By creating more compelling content experiences, they can activate both internal and external audiences.“Partnering with Censhare brings our content experience platform directly into an open, AI-orchestrated marketing ecosystem,” said <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/reinhardholzner/">Reinhard Holzner, </a>CEO of Smint.io. “Together, we’re empowering brands to deliver personalized, contextual, and on-brand experiences faster and smarter.”CMS Critic connected with Smint.io about how this partnership will potentially impact its go-to-market strategy. As the company told us, it will enable the further expansion of its enterprise customer segment. They see the open-minded, best-of-breed collaboration with both Censhare and Marmind as a game-changer, one that will stymie isolated solutions from competing with the combined offering.I asked Smint about their focus on personalization, and how they might compare in a market of choices – particularly where AI is acting as a force multiplier. They take a direct page from each specific target group on what they need or expect, be it a very specific content portal or an information stream for AI consumers. Smint’s software is flexible enough to meet a range of use cases and be implemented in a very short timeframe.Some of Smint’s customers are already using the joint offering to power brand portals, as well as product information and marketing portals that are fed by assets and data located in Censhare and/or Marmind. The partnership delivers a unified solution that bridges the gap between content creation and personalized delivery. For Censhare, Smint.io provides a no-code solution that transforms a company's Censhare content into on-brand, client-facing portals, like partner or media hubs.“Smint.io adds powerful branded content experience portals to our ecosystem,” said <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobiasackermann/">Tobias Ackermann,</a> CEO of Censhare and Entirely. “This partnership boosts our clients’ capability to combine creativity with the flexibility to integrate the various Censhare applications into a single, seamless frontend – setting new standards for speed, scale, and personalization.”<h3 id="pricing">Pricing</h3>Smint.io doesn’t offer fixed pricing, but it does offer a transparent method for calculating costs based on specific parameters. This includes the number of portals, the audience (internal, external, authenticated), the number of users, and the data sources – of which Censhare is an option.There are also some add-ons for analytics, video support, custom forms and pages, and even dynamic content routing. All of this can be tabulated into a total annual cost.Smint does offer a free 21-day trial, which kicks off with an introductory session with a Customer Success Expert. You can learn more about <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.smint.io/pricing/">the details here. </a><h3 id="the-verdict">The verdict</h3>Portals are a unique form of content experience. And Smint.io is more than just a content experience platform – it’s content activation, enabling organizations to seamlessly publish content directly from their DAM, SharePoint, OneDrive, Google Drive, and PIM systems without creating another dreaded content silo. With Smint.io, businesses can deliver engaging, personalized content experiences tailored to specific audiences. Whether for brand management, media distribution, or sales enablement, it helps ensure that content is always accessible, up-to-date, and on-brand. What’s great about Smint is its simplicity. Marketers have enough cognitive overload to manage, and this portal solution eliminates the complexity in a single hub. Deployment is easy, out-of-the-box, and uniquely catered to the collaborative needs of teams, agencies, retailers, and other organizations where nimble marketing solutions are a must. It also eliminates the need for additional asset storage.For Smint.io, Censhare, and Marmind, it represents a strategic alignment to serve global enterprises with scalable, future-proof technology. It has the potential to boost creativity and flexibility for customers by harnessing the combined powers of all three solutions to deliver faster, scalable personalization.Our recommendation: If portal experience management is part of your integrated marketing and content strategy, Smint.io’s new partnership looks promising, and offers a potentially powerful augmentation with Censhare and Marmind – which benefit from the Entirely ecosystem. You can visit the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.smint.io/pricing/">Smint.io website</a> for details on pricing, support, and other resources.   <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:31.44%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/08/cms-kickoff-2026-logo.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff26">CMS Kickoff 2026</a></h4>January 13-14, 2026 – St. Petersburg, FLMeet industry leaders at our fourth annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global CMS event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff26">so secure your tickets today.</a>

Portal Powerhouse: Smint.io, Censhare, and Marmind Partner to Evolve Content Experiences for Brands

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<hr /> It's been an active year for DAMs, particularly as AI capabilities juice the value and performance of both pure-play and DXP platform offerings. As brands look for new ways to enhance and streamline their digital assets across global teams, having a reliable and scalable DAM has become an essential part of the enterprise stack.We've tracked multiple announcements (and even an acquisition or two) in the recent past. Most have focused on addressing key gaps in delivering a complete vision for a modern digital asset management platform.That was clearly the goal for <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/mediavalet">MediaValet</a>, which just announced its acquisition of <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://www.gotbeam.com/">Beam</a>. Beam, which describes itself as the “heartbeat of your brand,” is a SaaS platform that enables brands to accurately and effectively represent themselves anywhere and everywhere they appear. Under the hood, Beam's unique Brand Center and Experience Portal capabilities provide a suite of enablement solutions designed to help organizations optimize their brand management and curate content experiences.This acquisition extends the functionality of MediaValet’s AI-powered <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-digital-asset-management-dam-system">digital asset management platform</a> with Beam’s brand governance and enablement capabilities. The offering aims to help marketing organizations achieve brand consistency at scale by empowering and educating every team to deliver on-brand content across every channel through engaging, interactive experiences.<h3 id="building-the-best-dam-with-a-focus-on-brand-and-portals">Building the best DAM with a focus on brand and portals</h3>Modern DAMs have a lot of responsibility in the stack, helping to manage the content chaos that many large enterprises are wrestling with. This requires best-of-breed features like search, asset proofing, and multi-media capabilities like video management.  But DAMs need work beyond organizational facets, giving creative teams more freedom and productivity while providing broad distribution capabilities that connect content to critical stakeholders, audiences, channels, and pipelines. Additionally, successful DAMs are concerned with delivering brand governance, enablement, and education – areas where marketing teams face significant challenges. To meet this need, MediaValet and Beam are providing a pathway to scaling brand consistency and control.One of the key distribution elements of DAM is portals: webpages tied to DAM content for rapid and broad sharing with key stakeholders. Portals accelerate idea-sharing and storytelling, and help securely build brand consistency – and Beam's Experience Portals make this feature even more streamlined for enterprise content teams.“With Beam’s Brand Centers and Experience Portals, we are taking this Portal capability to new heights – unmatched in the DAM and Brand industries,” said <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-chase-b0845645/">Rob Chase</a>, President and CEO of MediaValet. “The combination creates a best-in-class solution for our clients to unlock the power of their content at scale, and to build engaging and experiential Brand Centers. Once integrated, it will also enable us to deliver Experience Portals for a multitude of use cases such as sales enablement portals, partner portals, and events management, with high brand fidelity and interactive experiences.”Beam was acquired from <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.monigle.com/">Monigle</a>, a U.S.-based brand consultancy with offices in New York and Denver. Monigle originally built the solution to help secure brand assets for their own customers, and ended up creating a curated, interactive, and engaging platform for brand enablement.“The Beam platform and their team’s expert brand-building knowledge is a formidable combination that is proven to deliver high-fidelity Brand Centers that are truly interactive, engaging, and experiential – the result of which is a platform that brings brands to life and helps clients to win in their markets,” Chase said. "That is why they are trusted by powerful brands like WTW and others. In addition, like us, they are known for their best-in-class support, aligning with a key pillar of our culture.”<h3 id="why-it-matters">Why it matters</h3>MediaValet continues to execute its mission to empower creatives and democratize content. Now, with the addition of Beam's Brand Centers and Experience Portals, it has expanded its core DAM capabilities to provide a more integrated and expansive solution – one that elevates brand enablement and governance. While many pure-play solutions exist on the market, MediaValet has acquired a strong position as a top content management solution in the G2 review-driven ecosystem, validated by global enterprise customers like SONOS and Experian. The company also has its fingers on the industry pulse, authoring and publishing a research index on DAM industry trends that <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.mediavalet.com/resources/dam-trends-report">you can read here. </a>From an AI perspective, DAMs are running hot and heavy – and MediaValet is definitely in the game. The platform's automation offers precision tagging of content with relevant keywords, as well as color recognition, smart image search, and even facial recognition. MediaValet also offers an open API for building custom solutions and a library of pre-built integrations with platforms like <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/contentful">Contentful</a> and <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/salesforce">Salesforce</a>. If you're evaluating pure-play DAMs for your stack, this is definitely worth exploring.  <hr /><h4 style="text-align:center" id="looking-for-guidance-on-mediavalet?-talk-to-an-expert.">Looking for guidance on MediaValet? <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/contact">Talk to an expert.</a></h4><hr /> <h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:31.83%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/01/cms-connect-2025-logo.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-connect-25"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">CMS Connect 25</a></h4>August 5-6, 2025 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present the second annual summer edition of our signature global conference dedicated to the content management community! CMS Connect will be held again in beautiful Montreal, Canada, and feature a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. Join vendors, agencies, and customers from across our industry as we engage and collaborate around the future of content management – and hear from the top thought leaders at the only vendor-neutral, in-person conference exclusively focused on CMS. Space is limited for this event, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect25">so book your seats today.</a>

MediaValet Acquires Beam, Aims to Evolve DAM with Brand Enablement and Governance

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Portal Powerhouse: Smint.io, Censhare, and Marmind Partner to Evolve Content Experiences for Brands

MediaValet Acquires Beam, Aims to Evolve DAM with Brand Enablement and Governance