Mike Kaufman

Senior Vice President, Brand & Media ANA

SERTA: INNOVATION AT EVERY TOUCHPOINT

Innovation isn’t just a product development/ R&D term. It must be thought about and driven through every step of go-to-market plans and that’s exactly what we’ve done with our upcoming product launch. From zeroing in on a true unmet consumer need to shape our product innovation to rethinking how we develop an integrated big idea to pushing ourselves to execute in-market in new, breakthrough ways, innovation is the name of the game. Laura Brewick, SVP, Serta Brand Marketing, will discuss how Serta has stayed on the forefront of innovation, and compelling storytelling to help drive growth in a typically low interest category."

Laura Brewick

Senior Vice President, Serta Brand Marketing Serta Simmons Bedding

FUELED BY THE FUTURE

Experience is emotional, not tactical. An impression is more than a number. Engagement is about moving hearts and minds, and success is the juncture between creativity and problem solving. Learn how Engine Shop is re-focusing experiential intent on building platforms for soulful assemblage around brand purpose versus brand product to incite and nurture the meaningful connections.

Kamau Akabueze

Head of Creative Engine Shop

BRINGING 5G TO LIFE: USING CREATIVE, IMMERSIVE AND INCLUSIVE STORYTELLING TO DRIVE 5G CONSUMER EDUCATION AND INNOVATION

The intersection of creativity and innovation have become essential pillars for growth and development across all facets of business. Verizon is pushing industry standards to new heights with the development and application of 5G technology across creative advertising, content, and experiential activations. Through touchstone cultural moments like CES, Super Bowl and The Oscars, Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband (UWB) is changing the way consumers connect with one another to experience entertainment, music, gaming and more with ultra-fast speeds and powerful network capabilities. As Verizon continues to drive the industry forward through cutting edge technology, they’re also increasing their commitment to moving the world forward with relevant narratives that promote inclusivity and equity within the marketing industry. By putting purpose into action, Verizon is furthering commitments to eliminating racism, bias and stereotypes in all advertising content and media.

Verizon Chief Creative Officer Andrew McKechnie will discuss how Verizon’s creative strategy strives to educate and engage consumers through immersive next-gen content, best-in-class creative experiences and equitable and inclusive storytelling across all brand touchpoints.

Andrew McKechnie

Sr. Vice President, Chief Creative Officer Verizon

EXECUTING THE BIG IDEA THROUGH TO THE POINT OF PURCHASE

Learn how to use your channel marketing program to improve the customer experience across independent distribution points.

Over the past year, many organizations were forced to pivot their business model to focus more on the customer journey. Customers expect personalized messaging and wow-factor brand experiences to complete the path to purchase and become brand advocates. This requires marketing teams to leverage technology and be extra creative when developing campaigns. Working with local channel partners to implement new corporate marketing initiatives adds another layer of complexity, but partners play a critical role in influencing the final steps to purchase.

Learn how to use your channel marketing program to improve the customer experience across independent distribution points. Using tools like co-op funding and asset development, brands can empower channel partners to give customers the local experience they need to complete the path to purchase, leave rave reviews, and become repeat buyers.

Sarah Cucchiara

SVP of Channel Marketing BrandMuscle

OPENING REMARKS

Bob Liodice

CEO ANA

HOUSEKEEPING

Mike Kaufman

Senior Vice President, Brand & Media ANA

HOW 3M EXTENDED THEIR BRAND TO INCREASE BRAND LOVE

3M is  a company of scientists and engineers and innovators. They have thousands of stories about how they have used science to transform and improve lives, and how 3M products touch your life in ways every day that you don’t even realize. But their most well-known products though, are Post-it® Notes and Scotch™ tape.

The challenge has been to tell the 3M science story in a way that resonates and is meaningful to the next generation of leaders, buyers, and consumers. It has been about telling the life part of the tagline

“3M Science. Applied to Life™”.

 And then the pandemic struck.

Suddenly, there was a challenge of global proportion, N95 respirators were one of the most important tools in the fight against COVID19 and the 3M brand was in the spotlight.

Hear Penny Wise, President of 3M Canada, tell the story focused around the N95 respirator and how they built emotional connections through creative and compelling storytelling that built their brand love and created brand advocates in Canada.

Penny Wise

President and Managing Director and USAC Brand Leader 3M Canada +

5 STEPS FOR BRAND BUILDING INFLUENCER PROGRAMS THAT SCORE

In 2020 the Chicago Bears teamed up with Lyrical Lemonade to connect with younger fans on their terms.  In this relationship they considered as much about what was right for their partner as their objectives for building their fan base.  In the process, The Bears created a long term multiplatform relationship that continues to inspire their partner’s consumers and their loyal fans to this day. Hear Fernando Arriola, VP of Fan & Brand Development, share the key steps to building successful, long term brands

Fernando Arriola

VP of Fan & Brand Development Chicago Bears Football Club

RAISIN IMAGINATIONS: BUILDING A HERITAGE BRAND THROUGH DOING AND SAYING

Sun-Maid Growers of California, founded in 1912, is synonymous with the little red box of raisins. But now, how do you leverage the strength of Sun-Maid’s emotional brand equity to enhance consumer relevancy? By doing and saying. Fernando Herrera, VP of Marketing at Sun-Maid will share the story of how their Board of Imagination came to life.

Fernando Herrera

Vice President of Imaginarium & Marketing Sun-Maid Growers of California

INSPIRING A NEW GENERATION OF OUTDOOR ATHLETES

To celebrate Merrell’s 40^th anniversary and coming off a year spent indoors, the brand is doubling down on getting consumers outdoors. Not only is Merrell challenging consumers to reap the benefits of taking everyday activities outside with the recently launched #DoItOutdoors challenge, they’ve also reframed an age-old activity for the modern consumer, creating a new footwear category in the process. Hear from Merrell’s Director of Retail, Garrett McGuire and Blue Chip’s Creative Director, Darick Maasen as they share how consumer insight mixed with creativity unlocked a new growth path for the organization and a successful new product launch at Dick’s Sporting Goods.

Garrett McGuire

Director of Retail Marketing Merrell

3 SECRETS TO SPARK BRAND ACTIVATION THAT RESONATES

It’s said that marketing is an art and a science – A delicate balance of right brain innovation, out-of-the-box thinking, and sky-high ideation and left brain for data analysis, deriving insights, and crafting strategy.  When they meet, audiences are moved.  Your ability to access, understand and activate data holds the secret to spark more compelling and effective brand activations across all channels. Learn how the Resonate Ignite Platform(TM) delivers dynamic, deep consumer privacy-safe data to fuel creativity and spark innovation, through AI-driven consumer insight. 

Ericka McCoy

Chief Marketing Officer Resonate

BECOMING INNOVATIVE AND CREATIVE WITH EXPERIENTIAL ACTIVATION IN THE AGE OF COVID

March 2020 came as a surprise for all of us. But when a lot of your brand engagement with consumers is based on experiential activations linked to iconic mass events, it was a particularly hard challenge for Heineken®.

In 2020 Heineken® had to rethink what activation and consumer engagement meant and how it could be done at scale even when we cannot be physically together. This required an innovative and creative approach to our marketing activations and required becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable. We will discuss two examples, one for Heineken® Original and one for Heineken® 0.0 that leveraged digital and current events to drive that engagement. Hear from Borja Manso Salinas as he discusses  the delivery of  “Stadium in a Box” which brought creative experiences to MLS fans to celebrate the restart of the league and “Besties” where Heineken literally delivered long-missed best friends to consumer front doors together with a portable Heineken® Bar.

Borja Manso Salinas

Vice President, Marketing (Heineken Brand) Heineken USA

THE FUTURE OF INFLUENCER MARKETING: VIRTUALS & THE METAVERSE

Global influencer marketing is expected to reach $13.8 billion this year, $4 billion of which is U.S. influencer marketing alone. One of the reasons why brands continue to bet on influencers is the creativity and innovation they bring to marketing campaigns. This session, hosted by the head of the ANA’s influencer marketing practice, will explore how different brands tap creator creativity across the major platforms, and how they leverage different brand activation strategies from shoppable commerce and content to experiential and loyalty/rewards to drive growth. 

Leah Marshall

Director, Influencer Marketing ANA

POWER OF THE PEOPLE

Jen Burkey

Lead Creative Strategist TikTok

INNOVATION & IDEATION

In this session, we will use the fundamentals of improvisation - the same skills our actors use on stage – and show you how it can be applied to the ideation process by using the mentality of failing hard and failing fast. This session is highly interactive and experiential, where participants learn by doing and seeing their ideas on 'their feet' through the performance of our renowned Second City improvisors. Every participant is able to practice skill building and make discoveries that lead to “AHA!” moments. 

Butch Jerinic

Lead Facilitator Second City

REDEFINING THE RETAIL EXPERIENCE

The Retail Experience is constantly evolving to address changes in customer and business needs. McDonald's and The Marketing Store share how leaning into consumer insights and behavior is helping them convert bold, brand-led ideas into transactions at retail. Learn how this global brand is creating seamless brand purchase experiences both in-restaurant and drive-thru utilizing data-informed strategy, technology, and creativity to convert brand affinity into optimal purchase decisions.

Jami Guthrie

Vice President, Consumer Insights McDonald’s

Cheers to better partnerships. Join us at the bar as we raise the bar for strategic sponsorships and long-term partnerships.  

KORE Software is an intelligence platform in the engagement marketing space. KORE’s technology not only helps organizations find better partners for their business, but allows teams to track and manage their activations every step of the way, for maximized returns and impact.  KORE Software welcomes all marketers to join us for a happy hour and as we share ideas around the future of sponsorship measurement and driving successful partnerships.

Please note that this reception will feature lots of food action stations.

MAKE IT FUNOMENAL

Robert Pasin, Chief Wagon Officer at Radio Flyer and grandson of the company’s founder, is no stranger to innovation. Throughout the years, he’s helped the iconic 104-year-old brand establish itself as a leader in imagination and play, and continues to position the brand for future success by carefully leveraging key consumer insights. Robert will discuss in depth the importance of establishing a brand identity and leveraging its purpose within your overall brand strategy. He’ll share how Radio Flyer is investing heavily in key partnerships and new product developments, like their unique Tesla partnership, along with how the brand is driving innovation in sustainability and technology, and leveraging its expertise to explore new product categories.

Robert Pasin

Chief Wagon Officer Radio Flyer

HEADING OUT AGAIN: A BRAND'S GUIDE TO ENGAGING AND ACTIVATING CONSUMERS IN THE NEW NORMAL

After over a year of massive life disruptions, people are starting to head out again to eat, shop, and gather. Certainly, that creates new opportunities for brands to creatively connect with their audiences, but what are the rules of engagement in this post-pandemic era? What will grab attention and convert potential buyers as they engage the world once again?

Sarah O’Grady addresses these questions with new, survey-based research from Vericast’s 2021 Consumer Intel Report. In this presentation, she will provide a glimpse into the anxiety, resilience, and hope built up over the last year and reflect the cautious optimism that most people have about the future. Expect to walk away with insights for you to fuel your brand activation, including:  

• How consumer optimism should shape messaging 
• Implications for the in-store experience
• The role of deals and special offers 
• And anticipated trends in consumer expectations

Sarah O’Grady

Vice President, Brand Marketing Valassis, A Vericast Business

EVOLUTION OF SPONSORSHIP MEASUREMENT

As technology continues to transform the way business data is utilized, organizations continue to evolve how they measure their marketing investments. Join KORE Software COO, Adam Grow, and Hookit CEO, Scott Tilton, as they discuss how technology is driving the sports partnership marketing industry forward. How are brands leveraging this evolution to better measure their partnership investments in today's world and into the future? The discussion will include how brands are aggregating data across all partner & vendor platforms to create real-time measurements and make proactive adjustments to their asset portfolios to maximize their investment. By leveraging these insights, brands are able to positively impact their bottom line through customer acquisition and brand recognition.

Adam Grow

Chief Operating Officer KORE Software

TRANSFORMING ULTA BEAUTY INTO A PURPOSE DRIVEN, DIVERSITY FORWARD BRAND

As the beauty category leader and one of the top 20 fastest-growing retailers in the world, Ulta Beauty is changing beauty and retail. Hear from Ulta Beauty's Vice President of Brand Marketing, Karla Davis, about architecting the evolution of a brand from functional to emotional and purposeful and how the company creates ways to not only tell the story but also to live the story of the brand. Get a behind-the-scenes look at how this continued transformation has been key to weathering 2020, deepening consumer connection, driving category leadership and delivering outstanding business results.

Karla Davis

Vice President, Brand Marketing Ulta Beauty

EMPOWERING CREATIVITY FOR ALL TO CREATE CHANGE

Creativity has the power to change the world in big and small ways. It is what unites us, helps us cope, inspires us, and drives positive impact. But, not everyone has the same opportunity to tap into their creativity and tell their story. Join Stacy Martinet, Adobe VP of Marketing Strategy and Communications who will share more about Adobe’s commitment to Creativity for All, ways this is being brought to life through customers and the community, and why it’s important for everyone to share their unique perspectives with the world. 

Stacy Martinet

Vice President, Marketing Strategy and Communications Adobe

HOW LEGO MAINTAINS CREATIVE INSPIRATION IN A WORLD OF DIGITAL REINVENTION

With digital channels in a constant state of flux – with the rise of new platforms like TikTok and communities like Clubhouse the digital world can become overwhelming FAST! In this session James Gregson, Digital Creative Director for LEGO, will take you through how he stays creatively curious, the sources of his creative inspiration and how he goes about gaining inspiration for all areas of the web…at all hours of the day…and night.

James Gregson

Creative Director, Digital The LEGO Group

CRISIS SHAPES CHARACTER AND FUELS CREATIVITY: LESSONS FROM CANNES LIONS 2021

Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity has long been a source of inspiration and where the best of the best are being celebrated in our industry. This year, it was different in many ways, and took on new meanings as we reflect on the work and the changing world in the past two extraordinary years. Our judges and experts looked at the 150+ content sessions and hundreds of winning work, to provide a succinct and thought-provoking view of the key themes and learnings. You’ll take-away from this session: 

• Key themes from Cannes driving not just creativity, but the industry at large 
• New expectations for brands, and agencies around authenticity and impact 
• Lessons learned from award-winning work to help any brand drive growth 

Brad Alperin

SVP, Integrated Strategy Lead dentsu

CREATIVITY FOR GOOD: ACTIVATING A BRAND ASSET WITH PURPOSE

Meet an unlikely hero in the fight against pediatric cancers: My Special Aflac Duck, a social robot and constant companion for children with cancer. For the first time in Aflac’s history, the company bestowed its beloved mascot with a higher social purpose, to radically evolve its 22-year, $124M commitment to childhood cancers. The team behind the duck will discuss the journey to identifying an authentic social purpose approach; leveraging research, technology, and radical creativity to bring an ambitious idea to life; and impacting the lives of 15,000+ children newly-diagnosed with cancers in the U.S. 

Carol Cone

Founder/Chief Executive Officer Carol Cone ON PURPOSE

CLOSING REMARKS & VIRTUAL CONFERENCE ADJOURNMENT