Event Recaps
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How to Drive Consumer Engagement in a Market Dominated by AI Mediocrity
Event Recaps June 24, 2026As artificial intelligence floods the market with competent but forgettable content, brands face a new threat: invisibility by mediocrity. Jason Boyer of Aquent Studios argues that human judgment and creative scarcity may be the last true differentiators.
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Managing AI Risk in Advertising Production
Event Recaps June 24, 2026Candice Kersh of Frankfurt Kurnit explained how marketers can use artificial intelligence (AI) in advertising production while limiting legal, talent, vendor, and disclosure risk.
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Welcome to Saatva House: Building a Scalable System for Premium Brand Video
Event Recaps June 24, 2026At the 2026 ANA In-House Agency Conference, David Link, chief creative officer at Saatva, explained how the brand built "Saatva House," a scalable in-house production system designed to support premium video content across channels. By shifting from campaign-based production to system-based execution — and combining senior talent with AI — Saatva is redefining how brands approach creative output at scale.
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From Production Studio to Growth Partner in Three Years: Splash's In-House Agency Story
Event Recaps June 23, 2026In this session, learn how Treasury Wines, purveyors of wine like Penfolds and Snoops 19 Crimes, went from no in-house capability to winning industry awards and being crowned APAC’s in-house agency of the year in just three years.
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How Georgia-Pacific Built an In-House Media Advantage
Event Recaps June 23, 2026At the 2026 ANA In-House Agency Conference, Georgia-Pacific’s Javier Bustillos explained how the company built an in-house media capability that improved transparency, agility, efficiency, and business performance.
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How In-House Agencies Can Use Language and Process to Show Their Value Within the Industry
Event Recaps June 23, 2026In-house agencies control an estimated $60 billion in annual spend, yet their reputations may not reflect that scale. Gully Flowers of Also Known As argues that adopting stronger language and operational systems could close the gap between what in-house teams produce and the credit they receive.
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How Kimberly-Clark Is Rewiring Retail Media with AI
Event Recaps June 23, 2026Kimberly-Clark is using artificial intelligence-driven audience models inside clean rooms to deliver return-on-ad-spend improvements two to five times over prior benchmarks. Head of Strategy Ali Kefali argues that privacy-safe data collaboration with retailers may reshape how CPG brands find and act on demand signals.
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TikTok Rebuilds Media Mix Modeling for Discovery, Creator Content, and Earned Reach
Event Recaps June 23, 2026TikTok and NielsenIQ are challenging how brands model media, arguing that paid, organic, and creator signals must be measured together. Outdated media mix modeling inputs — not methodology — may be limiting the ROI decisions brands are making at scale.
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How Prudential Finance Is Implementing AI While Maintaining Compliance
Event Recaps June 18, 2026Prudential Financial's Jennifer Massicotte shows how embedding AI into each phase of the marketing lifecycle could turn compliance from a bottleneck into a competitive advantage. Her framework may offer a replicable model for marketers in regulated industries seeking speed without sacrificing governance.
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How Saatva Used Math to Settle the Brand Versus Performance Marketing Debate
Event Recaps June 18, 2026Saatva CMO Joe McCambley used a predictive R-squared model to connect TV impressions to branded search and market share growth. The framework could reshape how marketers justify upper-funnel spending to finance teams.
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Supporting LGBTQ+ Communities in a Complex Climate: From Nonprofit Partnership to Cultural Preservation
Event Recaps June 18, 2026Only 16 lesbian bars were reported as remaining in the U.S. in 2020 — a crisis that sparked a branded docuseries now credited with more than doubling that number. Two ANA committee presentations reveal how brands can move from performative allyship to resource-driven LGBTQ+ support.
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Retail Media that Performs: Turning Shopper Signals into Media Outcomes
Event Recaps June 16, 2026At the 2026 ANA Media Conference presented by A+E Global Media, leaders from Google and Kroger Precision Marketing explored how retail media is evolving into a core performance channel. The session showed how retail signals, cross-channel activation, and faster measurement are helping marketers drive accountability and growth.
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Shifting Procurement's View of Marketing From 'Cost Center' to 'Business Investment'
Event Recaps June 16, 2026Google's David Kaul challenges procurement and finance leaders to stop treating marketing as a cost center and start measuring it as a growth engine. His framework — spanning AI maturity, time horizon, and capital allocation — could reshape how organizations evaluate marketing's return.
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Building Efficient Reach: Solving the 'Glass Jar Problem' in TV and CTV
Event Recaps June 15, 2026At the 2026 ANA Media Conference, Simulmedia's Jonathan Steuer introduced the "Glass Jar Problem" to explain why modern media strategies often fail to maximize reach. By breaking inventory into "rocks," "pebbles," and "sand," Steuer demonstrated how over-reliance on either tentpole programming or targeted CTV creates inefficiencies — and how a balanced mix anchored in underpriced linear inventory delivers more effective reach.
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How Context Became the Engine of Brand Growth in an AI-First World
Event Recaps June 15, 2026At the 2026 ANA Media Conference presented by A+E Global Media, Jonah Goodhart, co-founder and CEO of Mobian, outlined a fundamental shift in marketing: Brands no longer control how they show up. Goodhart argued that marketers must move beyond content and targeting — toward designing for context — to drive meaningful brand growth.
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How the U.S. Army Reframed Forecast Risk to Make Better Marketing Decisions
Event Recaps June 15, 2026Two U.S. Army analytics leaders reveal how reframing forecast uncertainty as a risk tolerance question transforms leadership decision-making. Their interval-based approach may offer commercial marketers a more honest and more actionable model for communicating data-driven recommendations.
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An Agency CEO Calls for Marketers and Partners to Focus on Consumer Connection
Event Recaps June 13, 2026Andrew Graff, CEO of Allen & Gerritsen, argues that brands are too focused on deliverables and not enough on consumer connection. His "life share" framework may reshape how agencies and marketers measure relevance and drive growth.
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USPS Recasts Address Data as an AI-Era Growth Engine
Event Recaps June 11, 2026USPS is recasting its postal network as a first-party geospatial data asset that may sharpen artificial intelligence-driven targeting and logistics planning. Eddie Alvarran shows how occupancy and mobility signals connect to CRM systems and direct mail at scale.
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A Holding Company CFO Gives Her Take on Evolving Client-Agency Relationship Models
Event Recaps June 10, 2026WPP Deputy CFO Diane Holland argues the traditional agency model is no longer sufficient as artificial intelligence (AI) and data reshape client expectations. Her keynote at the ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference suggests blended compensation models and outcome-based thinking may define the next era of client-agency relationships.
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Mars Reframes Measurement Around Decisions, Not Data
Event Recaps June 10, 2026Mars is moving away from dashboard-heavy reporting toward a decision-first measurement system that uses artificial intelligence to surface causal patterns and guide investment choices. The framework from Sam Chang could reshape how marketers connect data infrastructure to business outcomes.
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