BelvaOS: Creative Pulse

A Kenyan-developed artificial intelligence marketing platform has received international recognition after outperforming competitors from more than 30 countries at a global technology hackathon held alongside the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Belva Digital, in partnership with WildMango, was awarded a Distinction for Innovation at the PMG AI & Tech Global Hackathon for developing BelvaOS: Creative Pulse, an AI-powered platform designed to help marketers analyse campaign performance and generate creative concepts backed by data.

The recognition places the Kenyan team among leading innovators showcased during one of the world's biggest gatherings of marketing, advertising and technology professionals.

The global hackathon brought together hundreds of marketers, technologists and creative professionals tasked with exploring how artificial intelligence can speed up creative production while preserving human oversight and strategic decision-making.

Working within a 24-hour development challenge, the Kenyan team built a prototype capable of analysing previous campaign performance, tracking emerging cultural trends and recommending creative concepts supported by evidence rather than relying solely on AI prompts.

Belva Digital founder and Group CEO Fred Kithinzi said the company developed the platform to bridge the gap between marketing data and creative execution.

"Our vision has always been to build technology that empowers marketers rather than replaces them. Creative Pulse bridges the gap between campaign intelligence and creative execution, enabling brands to understand why previous campaigns succeeded before creating the next one," Kithinzi said.

According to the company, many organisations collect vast amounts of marketing data but struggle to integrate those insights into the creative process, often taking days or weeks to move from campaign analysis to developing new concepts.

Creative Pulse seeks to shorten that process by combining campaign data, cultural insights and generative AI to recommend creative ideas while allowing marketers to retain final control over campaign decisions.

Belva Digital CEO Serah Katusya said the recognition demonstrated that artificial intelligence should complement rather than replace human creativity.

"AI should enhance creativity, not replace it. This recognition validates our belief that the future belongs to solutions that combine the speed of AI with the strategic judgement and nuanced creativity of humans," she said.

Creative Pulse forms part of the company's broader BelvaOS project, an AI-powered marketing operating system being developed to support campaign planning, creative production, customer engagement, performance monitoring and optimisation through artificial intelligence.

The Distinction for Innovation places Belva Digital among the standout participants at this year's PMG AI & Tech Global Hackathon and highlights growing recognition of African-developed AI solutions on the international stage.