Carat Direct has merged into Carat Interactive, which has become Carat Fusion, highlighting the shift "from a channel-based focus to an approach-based focus," according to President Toby Gabriner, writes ClickZ, which quotes Gabriner as also saying, "Digital is becoming a huge part of the ways in which consumers are using media today. And measurement is becoming increasingly important as a way of determining ad spend. There's a revolution going on in the marketplace as it pertains to media consumption patterns."

Carat Fusion will retain its place in Aegis's Isobar network, which also includes iProspect, Freestyle Interactive, FarFar and web development firm Molecular.

Gabriner told ClickZ that are each of Carat Fusion's campaign briefs will be checked against four criteria: Is it compelling? Is it unexpected? Is it measurable? Is it worth it?
"We've developed an entire Fusion planning process," said Gabriner. "We've gotten rid of the traditional creative brief and media brief, [replacing them] with what we're calling our Fusion brief."

Carat also announced that it has developed an optimization tool, called Citadel, intended to provide better data on the origin of individual sales or leads.