Planning For Uncertainty

The digital marketing ecosystem has accelerated five years in seven months of crisis. Ecommence is on fire, as are the performance media that drive it. But as search and performance marketing teams budget for 2021 they face a clutter of competition and product offerings. Search and shopping queries are proliferating across social platforms and retailer sites. The sales funnel is bending and fluid as the ecommerce windfall drives focus even more on conversion and sales.

The annual December meeting of search and performance marketing leaders at MediaPost's Insider Summit digs into the media plan for an uncertain 2021. How are planners and buyers forecasting in a fog? (Re)evaluating the tech that is best able to pivot with them? Managing performance new media options from social, retail, audio and video products? Keeping an eye on the entire funnel?

The Summit will cover

Solving for planning into 2021
Vetting tech investments in a more fluid environment
Leveraging new shopping opportunities across platforms
Managing the retail adnet clutter
Engaging the post-cookie identity challenge

In its 15th year, the Search and Performance Insider summit maintains its focus on sharing best practices and providing marketers with ideas, case studies and actionable intelligence.

For complimentary Brand Marketer or buy-side Agency VIP pass consideration, please contact Kevin Massa at massa@mediapost.com

The Search & Performance Insider Summit is brought to you by the MediaPost journalists and editors that produce Search & Performance Marketing Daily and Inside Performance - important sources of news and commentary for the search and performance marketing community.

Conference Content Programmers:

Steve Smith, VP, Editorial Director, Events, MediaPost

Lisa Singer, Event Editorial Manager, MediaPost

Advisory Board:

Kerry Curran, Executive Director, Marketing, GroupM
Clayton McLaughlin, SVP, Director of Media Investments, iCrossing
Jonathan Kagan, VP, Search, Cogniscient Media

Search and Performance Insider Summit 2020 Attendees Include

Reasons and Benefits of Attending

Unparalleled access and knowledge sharing with the leading minds in the Industry
Be part of driving the Search Channel forward as a key component of marketing campaigns, within your company and the industry
Unlimited access to stay in touch with the office: WiFi enabled conference room and quiet office area; opportunities in morning to stay up to date at the office; afternoon five hour break in order to stay on top of duties
Congenial, relaxed experience. Attendees are working together to move the industry forward
Enhance your Search initiatives with new solutions learned and partnerships gained

Register for this event

Wednesday, 12/09

Day 1 - Change, clutter, unpredictability On Day 1 of the Summit, marketers share how they are planning for a challenging 2021

3:00 PM ET

Opening Remarks - ALL times EST

MC: Steve Smith, VP, Editorial Director, Events, MediaPost @popeyesm

3:10 PM ET

Keynote Q&A: What happens when you turning off half of search?

Why would one of the major mobile brands on the planet take the risk of turning off half of its search spend? After a two year process of bringing search in-house, the company's "T-Search" internal agency needed to know once and for all whether and where their allocations were producing the best efficiency. What happened next? Cindy Lee shares what they learned.

Interviewee: Cynthia Ballard Lee, Senior Manager, Marketing, T-Mobile
Interviewer: Steve Smith, VP, Editorial Director, Events, MediaPost @popeyesm

3:35 PM ET

Panel: Uncertainty Planning: Solving the Search + Performance + X Equation

Search and performance channels have become both more integrated and diffuse. Retail search and display networks, vertical search, even more social walled gardens, CTV and more have hopelessly complicated the media planning equation. And now unpredictability of the economy, consumer habits and pandemic effects add a maddening X-Factor. So how are cross-channel media planners and buyers doing their jobs? What are the best practices in contingency planning, media negotiations, quick-pivoting creative? We ask the pros to compare notes.

Moderator: Clayton McLaughlin, SVP, Head of Media Investments, iCrossing @augiecrazy8
PanelistS: Christy Clarke, Managing Director, Belle Tire; Brandon Rhoten, CMO, Potbelly; Joseph Sanfratello, VP of Performance Marketing, Hubble Contacts

4:05 PM ET

Sponsor Spotlight Presentation

View More Details

4:15 PM ET

Case Study: When AI Works

With over 2000 dealers nationwide with their own needs and digital strategies, FordDirect needed a way of both centralizing and iterating its growing trove of first party data across search, display and social. Digital evangelist Robert Skinner explains how the company brought the programmatic program in-house, focused on its own data and leverages machine learning to test and learn at a massive scale.

Interviewee: Robert Skinner, VP, Digital Strategy and Marketing Technologies, Ford Direct
Interviewer: Tanya Gazdik, Senior Editor, Automotive, MediaPost @TanyaGazdik

5:00 PM ET

Roundtables

For 15 years the Insider Summit Round Tables have been where marketers bring their questions, challenges and insights for one another to share in casual, off-the-record conversation. This Virtual Insider Summit is no different. Webcams and Mics ON. Recording and reporting OFF. Discuss amongst yourselves!

5:00 PM ET

Roundtable: Show Your Math: Measurement in the the Post IDFA/Cooke Age

How should performance media buyers prepare for the dramatic crumble of campaign tracking capabilities as iOS14 opts out of IDFA, browsers go on a cookie diet and ever more choice audience and inventory go behind platform garden walls? We ask our panel of media mavens to show their math and share how they are prepping for a less precise future.

Featuring: Brendan McGinn, Manager Paid Digital Marketing, Pandora Jewelry; Alex Sutton III, Director, Digital Acquisition, Avis Budget Group

5:00 PM ET

Roundtable: New Trends in Search

Beyond Search - TikTok, Foursquare, maps, directories?

Featuring: Kerry Curran, Executive Director, Marketing & Growth, GroupM Performance, Catalyst

Thursday, 12/10

Day 2 - The New Shopper Marketing

On Day 2 of the Summit we follow the Buy Button as it proliferates outside of retail sites, and we follow advertising as it goes into e-retail sites and their emerging ad networks.

3:00 PM ET

Welcome Back & Marketer Survey Results - ALL times EST

3:10 PM ET

Fireside Chat

Keynote: AJ Bhatia, CMO, Pier1.com

3:35 PM ET

Panel: The eShopper Channel: Recalibrating for Commerce

The COVID crisis quickly recalibrated search and performance budgets for eCommerce, even as shopping and eComm products blossomed across Facebook, Snap, Pinterest, TikTok, and Instagram. How has this radical proliferation of the buy button into every search and social neighborhood impacted planning and overall digital strategy? Our panel shares early experiences with the range of shopping platforms, how they work, share data and customers, and deliver ROI. Is this the new face of shopper marketing?

PanelistS: Drew Brosnan, Marketing Director, Performance Marketing, Redbubble; Nico Bryant-Aguilar, Head of Growth Marketing, Nurx; Riyaad Edoo, Group Director, Search and eCommerce, Mindshare

4:00 PM ET

Sponsor Spotlight and Trivia

4:15 PM ET

Discussion: Managing the Retail Ad Nets

Every major retailer wants a piece of the ad budget now. Many brands are contending with a dozen or more retail ad networks, each with its own high garden wall, contractual obligations and ties to other co-marketing programs. How are brands evaluating and managing the new clutter of opportunities? How do they compare to platform eComm and Amazon opportunities? What have we learned thus far about making the best of the inventory?

PanelistS: Joniece Hinds, Retail Media Lead, Georgia-Pacific; Michelle Schumaker, Performance Marketing Manager, Amazon & Retailer Media, Scotts Miracle-Gro

4:40 PM ET

Case Study: We Want Our Performance TV

5:00 PM ET

Roundtables

5:00 PM ET

Roundtable: Vetting the 2021 Product Mix

What people are saying about this event

"Search Insider Summit is the one event I look forward to every year. Increasingly rare to get the blend of top talent, top brands, top content and top vendors together year after year without fail."

- Morgan Chemij, Director, North American Marketing, HP.com

"The Search Insider Summit is by far the best event that I have attended. The structure of the summit allowed for networking with industry leaders to help move theories and ideas forward. It's a leading event for the digital marketing industry."

- Roz-Linn Finn, Digital Marketing Manager, Navistar, Navistar, Inc.

"The Search Insider Summit: Simply the best and most informative Search conference I have been to. Real SEM experts with real experience talking candidly about their experiences."

- Steve Gibson VP, Group Director, Canvas Worldwide

"By far the best Search conference I've ever attended! Not only fun but I learned valuable tactics and met great people. Hard to beat!"

- Santina Lay, Senior Paid Search Marketing Manager, National Appraisal Guides, National Appraisal Guides, Inc.

"One of the best opportunities to network and learn from leaders in the search marketing industry"

- Alex Edlund Director, Digital Customer Acquisition, Choice Hotels International

"The Search Insider Summit was far and away the best conference I've attended. Talking with and learning from expert practitioners was invaluable, and the balance between content and fun made it easy to stay focused and engaged. I'll definitely be back!"

- Cody Duke, Product and Digital Marketing Manager, Legacy Texas

"Having been jaded from search conferences given that I hear much the same thing every time, I'm glad I went against my instincts and attended MediaPost's Search Insider Summit. I learned a great deal from industry peers at panels, but probably even more so at casual events where people felt able to talk freely. The venue and environment was perfect for that. A terrific, one-of-a-kind conference for search industry leaders to learn from one another."

- Bob Chandra, Sr. Product Manager, Search World Wide Marketing, Amazon

"One of the top Search conferences of the year. I highly recommend marketers consider attending to share in days chock full of industry-leading content and networking. This is a must attend event for the serious brand Search marketer."

- Brian Kleisner, Director of Digital Performance Marketing, Humana

"It was such a wonderful event filled with great content and ever better people. You guys put on an excellent show!"

- Alexandra Schieken, Director, Worldwide Marketing, Delta Air Lines

"You put together an incredible event where industry experts can truly learn from their peers."

- Jacob Davis, Director, Digital Acquisition, Hilton Hotels

"The Search Insider Summit does a great job of discussing where we're at in digital today and what to expect in the future. The networking events allow for casual conversations with your peers in digital to gain ideas for your own business growth."

- Theresa Duerr, Director of Digital Marketing, Quill

"By far, the best conference I have attended. The Search Insider Summit was a perfect mix of education, conversation, networking and fun. The size of show, combined with the high quality of attendees, resulted in a great experience that delivered valuable business contacts and meaningful takeaways."

- Derek Fulford, Search Marketing Manager, The Weather Channel Interactive

"I REALLY loved the experience relative to other conferences - tremendous networking opportunities and a great venue. A perfect size, this event provided an unparalleled opportunity to really get to know some of the brightest minds in the industry."

- Aaron Levy, Manager, Client Strategy, Elite SEM

"The Insider Summits bring together the smartest people in the industry every time, no exceptions. The agenda always combines great content with even better networking opportunities. They're always on my list of 'must do' events each year."

- Clayton McLaughlin, VP, Group Director, Havas Media

"SIS was a fantastic mix of valuable industry thought-leading content, networking and relaxation. By far, the best atmosphere for an industry event."

- Dan Fleetwood, Group Director, Marketing, SAP Global

"There is no conference I have ever attended in our industry that has this level of executive talent. What a wonderful experience and amazing event...Really a career high for me. I learned so much and networked like never before. Thank you to the exceptional MediaPost team for putting on the best digital marketing event ever featuring THE top-tier executives in our space."

- Ian Lopuch, VP, Search, eHealth Insurance

"I've been to many conferences over the years but really appreciated the size and scale of this conference. When you don't have to deliver a message to the masses it makes it much easier to dive in and have a real discourse about what's important with other industry experts."

- Jeff Day, VP Search Marketing, Barnes & Noble

"The Search Insider Summit was a wonderful Summit for me because I am new to SEM. I was able to learn from experienced search marketing peers, hear about real case studies to learn about successful optimization, and get inside info on trending and where SEM is headed for the future."

- Diane Devlin, WW Advertising and Media, Brocade

"Search Insider Summit was phenomenal. The show really capitalized on it's intimate feel with the use of the breakout sessions. As always, well done!"

- Frank Lee, Client Partner, Global Marketing Solutions, Facebook

"This was the best Search Summit to date! Great event...Rich content, great activities."

- Adam Allamar, Director, Digital Acquisition, Barclaycard US

"Thank you to MediaPost for hosting an amazing conference. The networking, strategic discussions and hallway chit-chat proved invaluable, and I walked away with deeper insight into what is going on in the search vertical with practical information I can start using to improve my business immediately. Thanks again for doing these!"

- Anthony Ginn, VP, Digital Strategy, Transamerica

"There is an almost familial feel about the Search Insider Summit. The incredibly high bar in terms of attendee quality both from the vendor and the brand side and the intimacy of a small group in some fabulous locations seems to elevate the conversation while allowing it at the same time to percolate far more completely. Would recommend this over any other conference in the space for its ability to create very fundamental value for the attendees."

- Vikram Somaya, SVP, Global Data Officer & Ad Platforms, ESPN

"The combination of a small number of great attendees, excellent content, afternoon activities, and evening social events makes the Search Insider Summit the best search conference to make genuine, valuable connections."

- Lucinda Holt, CEO, ClickEquations

"The MediaPost Search Insider Summit was a first-class event that successfully balanced healthy debate around search strategy & the future of the industry, and plenty of time to mingle with other Search professionals. I highly recommend it for those who care to take the industry to the next level."

- Olivier Lemaignen, Vice President, Marketing & Brand Strategy, LegalZoom

"The Search Insider Summit is unlike any other event I've ever attended. The venue, the programming, the speakers, the attendees, the networking opportunities - everything about this event is at a different level."

- Lance Loveday, CEO, Closed Loop Marketing

"I've never been to any event where the exchange of business cards felt so immediately personal and deep, like we both knew that next week we'd certainly continue the conversation towards the real possibility of friendship and working together… sooner rather than later. Believe me, I'm adding MediaPost's Search Insider Summit to the annual must-attend list."

- Marty Weintraub, President, aimClear

"MediaPost events continue to be our best investment year after year. From the quality of the content and overall attendee experience to the networking and business opportunities, their events are a high-performing component of our marketing strategy. Working with the MediaPost staff is like working with my own team. They consistently demonstrate that they have our best interests at heart."

- Dan McDermott, Director of Product Marketing - Messaging, Epsilon

Contact Us

Speaker Consideration

For speaker consideration please complete the speaker proposal form. Due to the high volume of speaker proposals that we receive we will only be able to notify those whose proposals have been selected. All proposals must go through this form, no exceptions. Do not contact other MediaPost representatives regarding speaker opportunities.

Sponsorships

For questions regarding sponsorship of this event please contact Jon Whitfield, VP, Event Sales at jon@mediapost.com.

Press

For press inquiries, please contact Ken Fadner at ken@mediapost.com.

General

For general summit inquiries please contact Maya Abulashvili, Coordinator of Events and Conferences at maya@mediapost.com.

VIP Program

For questions about or to apply to the VIP Program please contact Kevin Massa, Manager of Brand & Agency Relations at massa@mediapost.com.

Quality Pledge

MediaPost strives for excellence in its coverage of media, marketing and advertising. Our mission is to critically engage key questions for brand marketers, media buyers, sellers and emerging platforms. We choose speakers exclusively for their ability to bring perspective and insight to our stage. All conferences are programmed by proven, expert, unbiased journalists. MediaPost has never and will never engage in "pay to play" conferencing.

Planning For Uncertainty

Premier Sponsor

Conference Content Programmers:

Advisory Board:

Search and Performance Insider Summit 2020 Attendees Include

Reasons and Benefits of Attending

Register for this event

Stay Informed

Event Sponsors

Agenda

Wednesday, 12/09

Thursday, 12/10

Wednesday, 12/09

Thursday, 12/10

Featured Speakers

Cynthia Ballard Lee

AJ Bhatia

Nico Bryant-Aguilar

Kerry Curran

Riyaad Edoo

Joniece Hinds

Brendan McGinn

Brandon Rhoten

Joseph Sanfratello

Robert Skinner

Alex Sutton III

Drew Brosnan

Christy Clarke

Tanya Gazdik

Clayton McLaughlin

Michelle Schumaker

Steve Smith

What people are saying about this event

"Search Insider Summit is the one event I look forward to every year. Increasingly rare to get the blend of top talent, top brands, top content and top vendors together year after year without fail."

"The Search Insider Summit is by far the best event that I have attended. The structure of the summit allowed for networking with industry leaders to help move theories and ideas forward. It's a leading event for the digital marketing industry."

"The Search Insider Summit: Simply the best and most informative Search conference I have been to. Real SEM experts with real experience talking candidly about their experiences."

"By far the best Search conference I've ever attended! Not only fun but I learned valuable tactics and met great people. Hard to beat!"

"One of the best opportunities to network and learn from leaders in the search marketing industry"

"The Search Insider Summit was far and away the best conference I've attended. Talking with and learning from expert practitioners was invaluable, and the balance between content and fun made it easy to stay focused and engaged. I'll definitely be back!"

"One of the top Search conferences of the year. I highly recommend marketers consider attending to share in days chock full of industry-leading content and networking. This is a must attend event for the serious brand Search marketer."

"It was such a wonderful event filled with great content and ever better people. You guys put on an excellent show!"

"You put together an incredible event where industry experts can truly learn from their peers."

"The Search Insider Summit does a great job of discussing where we're at in digital today and what to expect in the future. The networking events allow for casual conversations with your peers in digital to gain ideas for your own business growth."

"I REALLY loved the experience relative to other conferences - tremendous networking opportunities and a great venue. A perfect size, this event provided an unparalleled opportunity to really get to know some of the brightest minds in the industry."

"The Insider Summits bring together the smartest people in the industry every time, no exceptions. The agenda always combines great content with even better networking opportunities. They're always on my list of 'must do' events each year."

"SIS was a fantastic mix of valuable industry thought-leading content, networking and relaxation. By far, the best atmosphere for an industry event."

"I've been to many conferences over the years but really appreciated the size and scale of this conference. When you don't have to deliver a message to the masses it makes it much easier to dive in and have a real discourse about what's important with other industry experts."

"The Search Insider Summit was a wonderful Summit for me because I am new to SEM. I was able to learn from experienced search marketing peers, hear about real case studies to learn about successful optimization, and get inside info on trending and where SEM is headed for the future."

"Search Insider Summit was phenomenal. The show really capitalized on it's intimate feel with the use of the breakout sessions. As always, well done!"

"This was the best Search Summit to date! Great event...Rich content, great activities."

"The combination of a small number of great attendees, excellent content, afternoon activities, and evening social events makes the Search Insider Summit the best search conference to make genuine, valuable connections."

"The MediaPost Search Insider Summit was a first-class event that successfully balanced healthy debate around search strategy & the future of the industry, and plenty of time to mingle with other Search professionals. I highly recommend it for those who care to take the industry to the next level."

"The Search Insider Summit is unlike any other event I've ever attended. The venue, the programming, the speakers, the attendees, the networking opportunities - everything about this event is at a different level."

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