Conference Agenda

WELCOME REMARKS

Bob Liodice

CEO ANA

HOW DO WE RESET FOR 2026—NOW?

This session asks a direct question: How are marketing leaders resetting plans for 2026 amid economic headwinds, reputational pressure, and heightened scrutiny of inclusion efforts? Using SAMA’s objectives as the backbone, leading brands will share practical perspectives and case studies showing how culturally anchored and gender-inclusive marketing drives measurable growth. Speakers will map their work to audiences, decision frameworks, and accountability—including how they guide teams and agencies to deliver. Attendees will leave with proof points and scalable practices to strengthen performance and credibility in 2026.

Moderator: Bob Liodice

CEO ANA

KEYNOTE: THE NEW DEFINITION OF CREATIVE AI - "AUTHENTIC IMPERFECTION”

In an era obsessed with AI efficiency, the most compelling creative work is doing the opposite, embracing human imperfection. This keynote reframes creative AI not as a shortcut to flawless output, but as a powerful collaborator that, when guided by human insight, amplifies authenticity, cultural nuance, and emotional truth.

This session will shed light on how AI is currently being used in creative processes and offer a new lens: one where imperfection becomes an advantage, not a flaw. Attendees will explore how intentional, human-led AI unlocks originality, trust, and deeper resonance, while avoiding the cultural flattening that comes from automated sameness.

Alan Schulman

Managing Partner/Chief Creative Officer UpperRight

BET: SHAPING THE NEXT ERA OF CONNECTION

BET is entering a transformative new chapter, expanding its impact across culture, community, and connection. As the brand evolves, it is redefining how storytelling and experiences engage audiences across every platform. This conversation will explore what’s ahead for BET, offering insight into how the network is deepening its relationship with consumers by shaping cultural conversations, strengthening communities, and building meaningful connections. Attendees will gain a forward-looking perspective on how BET continues to create authentic experiences that give you something you can believe in.

Joelle Cartier

VP Brand Marketing & Strategy BET Media Group

BUILDING BRANDS WITH INCLUSIVE MARKETING: WHY MULTICULTURAL CONSUMERS ARE IMPORTANT TO P&G’S GROWTH

This panel will demonstrate to the industry and suppliers why P&G has remained focused on winning with All and Each, using inclusive marketing to drive business growth. We will explore why multicultural consumers are a growth engine, why winning with all consumers and each unique consumer segment is so important to brand growth, and how P&G trains the organization on building inclusive brands. A member of the Downy Brand Team will also share a case study.

Lela Coffey

VP of Multicultural Business Acceleration P&G North America

INDUSTRY UPDATE ON INCLUSIVE GROWTH ADSPEND

Investments in growth audiences have vastly trailed opportunity — and the 2025 linear TV AdSpend makes that undeniable. Join us as we update trends in our collaboration with Nielsen. Then, a powerhouse panel of growth audience experts — spanning terrestrial and digital radio, broadcast TV, FAST, CTV streaming, programmatic, digital, social, and media partnerships — will amplify the unfiltered investment truth revealing:

• Where dollars flowed, stalled, and shifted.
• Why this volatile environment is exactly when brands can't afford to look away from culture-first audiences.

The pendulum is swinging. Will your brand ride it or get swept away?

Carlos Santiago

Co-Founder SeeALL Marketing Alliance, CEO SSG-Consulting, Partner urVETTED

RADIO CONNECTS. DIGITAL AMPLIFIES. CULTURE CONVERTS.

Deeper engagement creates emotional connection that drives action, which is the key to growing with Latino consumers. It starts with human connection and requires consistency across mediums. The session will provide insights into managing a synergistic media mix centered on creating human connection that aligns with the complex consumer journey.

Benjamin Finley

VP, Business Development Nueva Network

POWERHOUSE TOP MEDIA MULTIPLIERS: WHERE CULTURE CONVERTS

Gain insights from the most culturally effective media publishers across growth audiences —proving excellence in turning resonance into real business results. This session shows how authentic content, unique reach, and accurate inclusion drive outperforming returns, and why these powerhouse multipliers belong in every future-ready growth strategy.

Moderator: Lisa Torres

Founder & Principal the LIT Group Co

WINNING AUDIENCES THROUGH PASSION POINTS

Passion points, often rooted in culture, are a proven growth lever, delivering measurable lift across the funnel by tapping into what consumers care about most. This session highlights how culturally grounded, passion-driven strategies, some activated through trusted creators and influencers, build authentic connection across generations and how these creators can serve as conduits to passion points with diverse audiences. Grounded in real data, the discussion reveals why culture-led approaches outperform broad strategies and how brands can drive stronger relevance, engagement, and results.

Moderator: Lonnie Limon

EVP Publicis Media

WE ARE THE MOMENTUM: HOW BRANDS WIN WHEN CULTURE MOVES FIRST

This presentation shows how brands grow by moving with culture and building sustained relevance, shifting focus from impressions to meaningful momentum.

Rogerio J. Alves

Senior Vice President, Digital Sales MediaCo

Paz Beatty

Sr. Director of Member Experience & Strategic Inclusion SeeALL Marketing Alliance

For any questions regarding your meeting schedule or eligibility pre-event, please contact Paz Beatty [email protected]. For questions onsite, please stop by the information desk. 

For any questions regarding your meeting schedule or eligibility pre-event, please contact Paz Beatty [email protected]. For questions onsite, please stop by the information desk. 

WELCOME REMARKS/ KICKOFF TO SAMA MEMBER FORUM

Bob Liodice

CEO ANA

THE NEW AND MORE INCLUSIVE LANDSCAPE OF SPORTS MARKETING

The center of gravity in American sports has moved — and the fandom data, the stadiums, and the streaming numbers confirm it. Multicultural fans, Gen Z audiences, and women's sports are no longer the future of fandom. They are the growth engine, right now. Leaders from audience intelligence, a major pro sports brand, and a top talent and entertainment agency unpack what this shift demands of brand strategy — from culture-connected storytelling and the athlete-as-media-company model to women's sports as a growth imperative. Whether you're a seasoned sponsor or entering sports for the first time, learn how to build scalable, attainable programs that link cultural relevance to measurable outcomes with the fans defining sports' next era.

Moderator: Jodi Marchisotta

SVP ANA

1:1 MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT

Gilbert Davila

Co-Founder SeeALL Marketing Alliance & Co-CEO of DMI-Consulting and Partner UrVETTED

PLAYING TO WIN THROUGH HEALTH & FITNESS

Savannah Louie, Survivor Season 49 winner and former TV news journalist turned agency professional, brings a distinct perspective shaped by reporting on community health, building audience trust, and navigating her own role as a public figure in culture today. Drawing from her experience across journalism, marketing, and her current platform, she will offer a clear view into how health and fitness content resonates, how influence takes shape, and what brands need to understand when working with trusted voices to create authentic connection.

Joined by Singleton Beato who anchors the discussion in practical business application across customers, suppliers, employees, and community brand touchpoints, this session will focus on how brands can show up credibly in health and wellness, build authentic connection through shared passion points, and use their products and partnerships to create differentiated access and experiences that drive inclusive growth.

Moderator: Paz Beatty

Sr. Director of Strategic Inclusion SeeALL Marketing Alliance

ANA’S BRAND MEDIA GROWTHFRONTS 1:1 MEETINGS (BY APPOINTMENT ONLY)

10:00AM - 12:45PM: For registered GrowthFronts participants with scheduled meetings only

For any questions regarding your meeting schedule or eligibility pre-event, please contact Paz Beatty [email protected]. For questions onsite, please stop by the information desk. 

MARKETING'S POWER SHIFT: WHO REALLY DRIVES INFLUENCE NOW

Influence no longer flows from brands to consumers—it flows through creators. As trust in traditional brand messaging erodes and culture moves faster than marketing can keep up, creators have become the new engines of relevance, credibility, and growth. This session examines how creators function as cultural intelligence, trusted distribution, and visible signals of brand alignment. Attendees will explore why leading organizations are moving beyond one-off activations to scalable creator strategies—and what it takes to build partnerships that deliver more than reach. The conversation will challenge how influence is measured, who truly holds power, and how brands can earn long-term trust in a creator-led ecosystem.

Moderator: Stephen Paez

EVP, Cultural Investment and Innovation Publicis Media

FROM SPEED TO CONFIDENCE: CULTURAL RELEVANCE VALIDATION THAT ENHANCES CREATOR PERFORMANCE

Creator partnerships drive reach, but cultural relevance is what drives results. This session explores how validating content creators for cultural alignment before campaigns go live directly impacts effectiveness KPIs, from stronger audience connection to better conversion to measurable brand impact potential. Hear real campaign findings and candid perspectives from brand and agency leaders on how structured, consumer-informed creator validation is becoming a competitive advantage for the brands that get it right.

Lisette Arsuaga

Co-CEO of DMI-Consulting, Partner, urVETTED and Co-Founder SeeALL Marketing Alliance

FROM INVISIBLE TO INDISPENSABLE: HOW CULTURE-FIRST TARGETING BECOMES MODERN OPTIMIZATION

As third-party identifiers fade, multicultural growth audiences may seem elusive—yet they’re the engine of modern brand growth. Culture-first media and AdTech partners will share how inclusive data strategies restore visibility and unlock incremental reach and sales without personal labels. You’ll learn from SAMA’s Inclusive Value Creation research platforms to see how culture-first media across mobile, CTV/FAST, and digital drives immediate sales, stronger brands, and higher lifetime value—so cultural relevance is funded as an always‑on optimization engine, not a discretionary tactic.

Moderator: Josh Chasin

CEO Knot Simpler

FROM TRUST TO AFFINITY: HOW “SHE’S A HERO” DRIVES BRAND VALUE

Discover how the "She's a Hero" customized media franchise drives brand trust, consumer affinity, and business growth by spotlighting real women in action. Learn how major brands, including Herbal Essence, Bank of America, and L’Oreal, have leveraged authentic storytelling to boost brand opinion, deepen emotional connections, and achieve measurable marketing results.

Christine Guilfoyle

Group Executive VP ANA

AFTERNOON REMARKS

Open to all GrowthFronts participants and SAMA members

Jennifer Woods

VP of Growth & Development SAMA

REWRITING THE BRIEF: HOW CREATORS ARE REINVENTING BRAND STORYTELLING

The future of brand storytelling is being built by creators. Digital creators are earning massive, loyal audiences by bringing authenticity and cultural fluency to content, and brands are paying attention.

Evelyn Gonzalez is an actress, writer, director, and producer, who has amassed a following of over 1.5 million followers across TikTok and Instagram by being genuinely, unmistakably herself. Known for blending comedy, action, and authenticity, she understands what audiences want to watch — and it's what she's bringing to creator-led sports programming like the Creator Poker Championship, co-produced by Creator TV® and World Poker Tour®.

This session, led by Charlie Ibarra, Co-Founder and Head of Content at Creator TV®, will explore how creator-led storytelling turns brand integrations into multi-platform moments — and how a single activation can become a scalable content franchise. Join us to discuss how authentic creator voices drive real reach and relevance.

Charlie Ibarra

Co-founder and Head of Content Creator TV

FROM PASSION TO PERFORMANCE: GAMING'S POWER IN INCLUSIVE MARKETING

Mobile gaming is the rare channel where attention isn’t rented—it’s earned through habit, fandom, and daily repetition, creating a performance environment where identity, community, and conversion collide. This session opens with real player perspectives on what feels authentic in mobile-first play and social gaming environments. Then we go straight to the metric question: mobile gaming delivers growth audiences reach at scale with emotional engagement that other channels can’t replicate. Breakthrough research by urVETTED reveals that culturally fluent mobile gaming activations drive over 50% higher brand recall, along with greater attention, engagement, and purchase intent, than major social media platforms using the same creative. AI makes the bridge from culture to conversion actionable by identifying which portions of a brand’s audience are gamers, pinpointing where gaming attention concentrates, and aligning placements and creator ecosystems to those signals so activations feel native and measurable.

Moderator: Carlos Santiago

Co-Founder SeeALL Marketing Alliance, CEO SSG-Consulting, Partner UrVETTED

FROM HYPE TO CHECKOUT: THE CREATOR COMMERCE PLAYBOOK

This session explores creator-led campaigns built for instant conversion—where audiences move from content to purchase with a single click. Learn how top creators spark real-time demand, shorten the path to purchase, and turn cultural hype into immediate revenue. This session will tackle what's blocking marketers... Siloed teams that separate social from sales. Attribution chaos that rewards impressions over revenue. Approval cycles too slow to catch a cultural moment. Or the fact that multicultural and growth audiences — among the most creator-trusting consumers — are still treated as an afterthought. Practitioners across technology, media, agency, and brand management name barriers and hand you the playbook to turn creator content into a revenue engine.

Moderator:

Christine Guilfoyle

Group Executive VP ANA