Event Recaps
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Chief Brand Officer Keynote: Why Marketing Must Inspire Growth
Event Recaps July 21, 2026At the 2026 ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference, Michael Fanuele, chief brand officer at Shake Shack, argued that marketing's growth challenges stem less from operational inefficiencies and more from a lack of inspiration. He explained why passion, emotion, creativity, and bold ambition remain essential for driving business results.
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Client/Agency Relationships: Authenticity or Opportunism?
Event Recaps July 21, 2026New research presented by Joanne Davis, Pat McLean, and Pete Lempert revealed significant perception gaps between agencies, marketers, and procurement teams. The findings show how differing experiences around agency reviews, feedback, communications, and relationship transitions create friction — and highlight opportunities for stronger, more transparent partnerships.
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Elevating Brand as a Driver of Enterprise Value
Event Recaps July 21, 2026At the 2026 ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference, Alfred DuPuy and Laurence Newell of Brand Finance presented a framework for quantifying brand value and translating marketing investments into financial terms. Their session demonstrated how strong brands drive customer preference, revenue growth, profitability, lower financing costs, and long-term shareholder value.
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Perspective from the 4As CEO: Navigating a New Era for Agencies
Event Recaps July 21, 2026At the 2026 ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference, Justin Thomas-Copeland shared his perspective on the profound changes affecting agencies and marketers. Addressing AI, evolving business models, talent, in-housing, and client-agency relationships, he argued that the industry must focus on value creation, stronger partnerships, and new approaches to growth.
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Profitability as a Creative Catalyst
Event Recaps July 21, 2026At the 2026 ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference, Avigail Schlosser, CFO of Yes& Agency, challenged agencies and marketers to rethink profitability as a strategic design choice rather than a financial byproduct. She outlined how client selection, pricing models, talent strategy, AI adoption, and outcome-based partnerships can help organizations build more sustainable and profitable futures.
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Ten Things Every Pitch Gets Wrong
Event Recaps July 21, 2026Agency reviews are among the most expensive and emotionally charged processes in marketing. At the 2026 ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference, leaders from the ANA, 4As, Walgreens, and Cheil outlined ten Positive Pitch Principles designed to improve transparency, fairness, relationship quality, and long-term client-agency success.
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The Marketing Infrastructure Shift: Why Fanatics Built a Content and Media Platform
Event Recaps July 21, 2026When Fanatics acquired Topps, the goal was not incremental growth but category expansion. Kevin Kosanovich and Sam Slaughter shared how Fanatics and Lighthouse Creative launched Topps RIPPED, an owned content and media platform designed to attract new collectors, educate consumers, and create commerce opportunities.
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Yeti Built a Global Brand by Putting Community Roots before Campaign Reach
Event Recaps July 21, 2026YETI marketing head Bill Neff reveals how a 22-person community team — versus just seven on brand — drives the company's global growth strategy. The community-first model may redefine how marketers think about expansion and brand relevance.
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Brousseau & Associates on Why Smarter AP Processes Create Faster, More Predictable AR
Event Recaps July 20, 2026In this session, Mark Brousseau shared new insights into AP and AR trends, revealing where visibility breaks down, the true cost of disconnected processes, and how leading organizations are transforming invoice-to-pay into a strategic advantage.
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Deloitte Turns Digital Twins into Marketing Advantage
Event Recaps July 20, 2026Digital twins are moving from factory floors to marketing operations, and Deloitte's Frances Yu shows how the technology could reshape how brands allocate capital and model decisions. Faster execution, smarter trade-offs, and leaner scale may be within reach — without simply expanding teams.
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How United Airlines Turned Procurement into a Creative Advantage
Event Recaps July 20, 2026United Airlines is reframing procurement as a creative partner — not a gatekeeper — to move faster across more than 100 active brand marketing contracts. The airline's integrated approach may offer a replicable model for marketers navigating agency complexity at scale.
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The New Rules of AI Discovery
Event Recaps July 16, 2026AI systems are reshaping how consumers discover and choose products, and Kenvue is already adapting. The early work by the company across major brands may signal how marketers must rethink trust, content, and organizational structure to remain visible.
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Activision's Amplification Engine Scaled Small Creator Voices to 200 Million Views
Event Recaps July 15, 2026The Activision always-on UGC engine finds and licenses organic creator content, then pushes it into paid media while the conversation is live. The approach could reshape how brands measure campaign success — shifting focus from reach to social conversation.
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Direct Mail Reimagined: High-Performance B2B Insights from the USPS
Event Recaps July 15, 2026At the 2026 ANA Masters of B2B Marketing Conference, Eddie Alvarran of the USPS presented new research demonstrating how direct mail enhances digital marketing performance. The USPS campaign data shows that integrating physical and digital touchpoints leads to higher-quality leads, increased conversions, and stronger overall revenue outcomes.
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Enhancing Programmatic by Teaching AI What Matters
Event Recaps July 15, 2026NRG Home reshaped its programmatic strategy by feeding customer intelligence — lifetime value, home type, and usage data — directly into the Google bidding engine. The results could offer a replicable model for marketers looking to move beyond volume and optimize for the customers that matter most.
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Creator Brands Rewrite the Rules
Event Recaps July 14, 2026Creators are no longer just media partners — they are reshaping how brands launch products and build audiences. Jasmine Enberg of Scalable argues that the $43.9 billion influencer marketing space may demand a fundamentally new operating model.
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Four Shifts That Made Porsche Culturally Relevant
Event Recaps July 14, 2026Lola USA CEO Agathe Guerrier reveals how loosening Porsche's rigid brand framework — not tightening it — may be the key to cultural relevance on social. Four strategic shifts show how prestige brands could grow fandom without sacrificing what makes them iconic.
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How NASA's Artemis II Reached 400 Million Viewers with Zero Paid Media and Participatory Campaigns
Event Recaps July 14, 2026NASA's Artemis II mission reached 400 million viewers with zero paid media, using participatory campaigns and authentic storytelling to drive global engagement. Communications strategist Thalia Patrinos reveals how the approach could reshape how marketers think about organic reach and audience value.
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How Perkins Goes Viral on a Budget: Lessons from the Restaurant Industry
Event Recaps July 14, 2026Perkins turned a fake menu item into a viral moment — without a national ad budget — by pairing creator humor with its comfort-food heritage. The strategy could offer a replicable model for brands navigating tight budgets and fragmented audiences.
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Pine-Sol's Social-First Pivot Drives Fourfold Engagement over CPG Competitors
Event Recaps July 14, 2026The Pine-Sol community-led TikTok strategy is driving engagement rates four to eight times higher than direct competitors. The Clorox Company social-first pivot may offer a replicable model for legacy brands chasing cultural relevance.
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