Brand Experience Committee Meeting

This event is virtual only and no in-person option is available.

Announcements & Introductions (11:00 - 11:10 a.m.)

Session I: Make Them All: How the CVS Heart Haus Team Built a Holiday Content Engine with Human Craft + AI (11:10 - 11:45 a.m.)

When CVS leadership saw multiple holiday creative concepts, the mandate was simple: “Make them all.” But with short timelines, shorter budgets and strict gen‑AI guardrails, bringing them to life would be anything but. Join Jay Williams, AVP Creative & Design and Ben Raynes, Head of Production at Heart Haus, the award-winning CVS in-house team, to learn how they delivered 5x more unique content pieces than originally planned during the 2025 holiday season. In this session we’ll discuss:

• How they used gen‑AI to help sell in a concept, bringing human-created ideas to life early in the process
• Where AI accelerated output and where it couldn’t replace physical production
• How they seamlessly integrated multiple production techniques to create a 4X Muse Creative Award-winning spot

If you’re trying to scale content without scaling budgets all while doing so responsibly you won’t want to miss this session.

Speaker:
Jay Williams, AVP Creative & Design, Heart Haus
Ben Raynes, Head of Production, Heart Haus

Session II: Award-Winning Brand Story: The India Wali Diwali Campaign (11:45 a.m. - 12:20 p.m.) 

What does it take to create a culturally authentic campaign that resonates deeply with consumers while delivering measurable business results? In this session, Asheria Marketing and Tanishq USA, recipients of two Gold REGGIE Brand Catalyst Awards at the 2026 ANA Brand Masters ICONS Conference, will share the story behind their award-winning India Wali Diwali campaign.

The speakers will explore the strategic thinking, creative execution, and customer experience principles that shaped the campaign, demonstrating how the team celebrated cultural heritage in a way that strengthened brand affinity and drove meaningful business impact. Attendees will gain practical insights into developing purpose-driven campaigns that foster authentic consumer connections and deliver measurable results.

Attendees will walk away with:

• An inside look at the strategy behind an award-winning, culturally resonant marketing campaign
• Best practices for creating authentic brand experiences that strengthen consumer trust and affinity
• Insights into balancing creativity, cultural relevance, and business objectives
• Practical ideas for building campaigns that drive both emotional connection and measurable business outcomes

Speaker: TBU

Break (12:20 - 12:25 p.m.)

Session IIl: AI and Brand Experience (12:25 - 1:00 p.m.)

Join Louise Laing for a session on how a global company approaches brand experience across different regions and what non-travel brands can learn from how Intrepid crafts experiences for U.S. consumers.

Speaker:
Louise Laing, VP of U.S. Marketing, Intrepid Travel

Speaker Bios:
Jay Williams
Throughout his career, Jay’s work has moved a lot of facial parts. His work at CVS Health promoting COVID vaccinations not only moved people emotionally but actually moved them to get vaccinated saving untold lives. That campaign and others led to Heart Haus being nominated two years running for In-House Agency of the Year.

His work for Proctor & Gamble helped solidify the positions of brands like Crest and Oral B in North America while giving those brands strong important footholds in markets around the world. His award-winning work for UBS Financial used their support of the art world as a way to cement the company’s reputation for attention to detail and build their presence in the US. His campaigns for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines helped turn a mid-level category player into the most recognized, most admired, most preferred cruise line in the industry. Fidelity, Nestle, Hilton, Titleist, Coors and others have all benefitted from his strategic thinking and creative abilities.

Besides consumer audiences, Jay’s work has drawn praise and admiration from his industry peers. Considered a writer’s writer, Jay has won virtually every advertising award there is to win – Clios, The One Show, Communication Arts, Andy’s, D&AD. Even 2 Emmys. And 4 EFFIE’s for you result-oriented folks out there. Four of his commercials/films are in the permanent advertising collection in The Museum of Modern Art. In addition to his own creative talents, Jay has a reputation as a great mentor, with the ability to recognize, grow and develop creative talent.

Jay is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross where he received a BA in English Literature while mistakenly thinking he was going to be a lawyer.

Ben Raynes
Ben Raynes is a production leader with 25 years of experience spanning ad agencies and brand-side studio leadership. Currently Head of Production at CVS Health, Ben built the company's in-house studio from the ground up and became an early advocate for AI-assisted production — not as a replacement for human creativity, but as a tool to extend it. He explores how emerging technologies can enhance creative workflows while preserving craft, helping the brand unlock new, more meaningful ways to connect with audiences. He brings a pragmatic, practitioner's perspective to one of the most important conversations happening in the industry today.