We open the brand summit with the customer, how she makes her way to your brand and product, gather information and intent from the many channels of media she consumes? How are marketers making reliable connections across those channels? And how do you build and act on the map of her journey once you get one?

MC

Steve Smith , VP, Editorial Director, Events ,MediaPost

At the heart of Best Buy’s recent success in weathering the challenges of the retail sector is delivering a superior customer experience across touchpoints. The key is in understanding how art and science must work together. That recipe is driven with a mix of rich data/machine learning, a heathy dash of customer insights and a differentiated brand point of view to deliver a personalized and impactful customer experience.  Marketing continues to evolve in its sophistication, but simple human truths are still critical to create connections and ultimately action.

Keynote

Andy Gorski , Senior Director, Marketing ,Best Buy

At Credit.com mapping the customer journey went far beyond merely understanding multiple touchpoints. It forced the company to rethink its own structure, how it organized its internal communications and fundamental marketing strategy.

Interviewee

Jason Owen , GM and SVP ,credit.com

It isn't a funnel so much as a journey, and you can't follow your customer without a map. As marketers fired torrents of data on consumer behavior a richer portrait emerges of how your customers experience a brand and move towards purchase. Customer mapping is all the rage, but how do you get started, using which data and towards what end? Our opening panel of marketers share their experiences both creating these maps but also learning how to use them to inform the marketing plan.

Moderator

John Ellett , CEO and Founder ,nFusion

Panelist

Shane Jennings , Manager, Paid Media ,ArcBest Corp

Jason Owen , GM and SVP ,credit.com

Kevin Quinlan , Marketing Automation Manager ,Land O' Lakes

Data doesn't have to be "big" to be powerful, nor fully integrated across every screen to be impactful. Sometimes starting small is the best way to prove out and build data-driven marketing. We ask our panel of marketers to share recent examples of how leveraging just a few data points or a small customer sample rendered important insights and results.

Moderator

Valarie McCubbins , SVP, Client Services ,Unique Influence

Panelist

David Chen , Head of Digital Marketing ,Gamut

Martha Gonzalez Gorgonio , Digital Marketing Leader LATAM ,3M

Don Lane , Senior Vice President, Brand & Creative ,DraftKings

The journey from having “an app” to  customer driven loyalty experiences.

Presenter

Stephen Kinch , Director, Digital Technology ,7-Eleven

Customer Mapping - John Ellett, CEO and Founder, nFusion
Leveraging Little Data - Valarie McCubbins, SVP, Client Services, Unique Influence
What is the Customer Experience Now? - Rob Clarke, Chief Experience Officer, Strata

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General Session Room

The heat is on marketing executive to prove out ROI on every spending decision. On Day 2 we explore how brands are doing the math - what to measure, how to define success and how to attribute and learn from results.

Colonel Harland Sanders was the ultimate showman who created one of the world’s most beloved brands by bringing his Kentucky Fried Chicken to the masses by any means necessary. Kentucky Fried Chicken is now turning back to its founder and his values and principles to make the brand relevant to a new generation of people. Whether it’s a virtual reality game, comic books, or romance novels, Colonel Sanders is everywhere. Hear how KFC embraces the idea of “Branded Everything” to make the brand and its founder relevant in 2018.

Keynote

George Felix , Director of Advertising ,KFC U.S.

Steve Kelly , Director, Media and Digital Marketing ,KFC U.S.

Once relegated to a cost line on the ledger, marketing departments are under increasing pressure to show ROI and even become profit centers for their business. How are marketers rethinking what and how they measure, attribute and account for their spend now?

Moderator

Madelynn Brown , Product Manager, Omnichannel Communications ,Expedia

Panelist

Laura Berkobin , Director, Digital Marketing & Content ,Pull-A-Part

James Brohamer , Marketing Chief of Staff ,Overstock.com

Jeffrey Novak , Senior Director, Digital Marketing ,Build A Sign

Stephanie Wang , Director of Marketing ,Zillow

Increasing brand awareness is no longer an acceptable goal. We need to know how our digital dollars are moving our customers to action. Franchisees want to know exactly where their advertising dollars are being spent and what they stand to gain from their investment. Franchisors need to get their community’s buy-in and show results- quickly! Recently A&W Restaurants evolved its thinking about how to measure and report on digital campaigns – the cost of driving a visit to its franchisee’s reataurants.

Presenter

Elizabeth Bazner , Digital Manager ,A&W Restaurants

How can machine learning transform both the function and profitability of marketing departments? Start small, many marketers advise. Our panel shares early tests of ML approaches and what they learned about the potential behind the hype.

Moderator

Ross Fadner , Director, Event Programming ,MediaPost

Panelist

Ben Gaddis , Chief Innovation Officer ,T3

Charity Webb , Senior Manager, Media ,USAA

Measuring and attributing success in cross-channel marketing projects remains a distant goal for many organizations. We ask marketers to share how they are starting to build attribution models in-house or with partners. Are they making the marketing plan more organized, predictable, profitable?

Moderator

Meghan Lockhart , Sr. Brand Manager ,AVVO

Panelist

Philip Bryant , Manager, Digital Media Operations ,ASICS Digital

Antony McGregor Dey , Head of Marketing ,Violet Vixen

Is Marketing a Profit Center? - Madelynn Brown, Product Manager, Omnichannel Communications, Expedia
Are AI and ML All That? - Ben Gaddis, Chief Innovation Officer, T3
Getting ROI from Attribution Modeling - Meghan Lockhart, Sr. Brand Manager, AVVO

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The Market, 319 Colorado St, Downtown Austin (via shuttle, departs from lobby at 6pm sharp!)

Searsucker Austin, 415 Colorado St, Downtown Austin

Downtown Austin - shuttle service provided back to Omni 10:30pm (after this, on your own)

Data and accountability meet customer experience and brand storytelling as we cap off the Summit focusing on the art and science of content. How is data informing both where we tell brand stories but also how and what we tell? Should brands aspire to be entertainers in order to break through the ad noise? And how does the return to story and content square with the new emphasis on accountability and ROI?

It’s 2018 and Boost has been on the streets in the US for 16 years. Practically inventing the pre-paid mobile market with world-class events, artists, athletes, and phenomenal market share. Fast-forward to the current wireless street fight filled with hype and competitive attacks that has left customers jaded and cynical about their service. Hear how Boost has cut through the data and wireless hype with an iconic combination that was evangelized across broadcast media, street stunts, mobile games, disruptive OOH, and social media goodness.

Keynote

Nick Holt , Senior Manager, Advertising and Creative ,Boost Mobile

How does data help marketers understand not only where and to whom to target content but also what story to tell? How is the new understanding of the customer, their journey and behaviors shaping creative inspiration?

Moderator

Morgan Stewart , Co-founder and CEO ,Trendline Interactive

Panelist

Dr. Harold Hardaway , Director, Marketing Chair ,Equality Texas

Carrie Knipfer , Senior Email Marketing Manager ,Avery Products

Jeff Roach , President & Chief Strategy Officer ,Schiefer Chopshop

To develop its first 360 advertising campaign, “We Get It,” Postmates used customer, competitive, and contextual data to inform the creative. The result was anything but analytical: the campaign taps into relatable human insights and has provoked an endless stream of social reactions, all while accomplishing awareness and growth goals. Hear about the inputs that lead to this creative execution and the metrics being used to track its success. 

Presenter

Lizz Niemeyer , Director of Brand Marketing ,Postmates

Data Meets Creative - Morgan Stewart, Co-founder and CEO, Trendline Interactive
Content Marketing and Its ROI - Jason Gibson, VP Sales and Marketing, Grabit Interactive