Consumer behavior has significantly changed over the last 18 months making technology key to enhance customer experiences. eCommerce and Support industries have had to quickly react to create seamless online experiences that meet customer expectations.

Given these shifts, it is crucial to empower both your customers and agents to self-serve and get direct, actionable answers to support questions, while also addressing the need for an enhanced customer experience. During this fireside chat with Josh Grau (CMO of Yext) and John Finch (VP of Product Marketing at Zendesk) we will dive into the technology shifts we’ve seen, how retailers are pivoting, and where we anticipate future trends moving.

When the pandemic forced consumers largely online, automakers were left struggling to reimagine their go to market strategies. But Mazda had a clear ambition – own the full consumer journey from discovery, purchase, usage, and loyalty. In an industry, where the shopping, buying, and owning portions of the journey are mostly in the hands of auto dealers, the real challenge was how to ensure a coordinated brand and customer experience across the entire journey. With the help of VMLY&R COMMERCE, the way forward was clear -- build a connected commerce experience that scaled dealer solutions and created a full journey ecosystem featuring one view of the consumer with performance attribution at the center.

In this session, hear how Mazda enabled data-based decision making to drive a more efficient, personalized, and frictionless customer experience– to become just one of three automakers to see an increase in sales in 2020. Brands across verticals will learn ways to:

• Build performance marketing capabilities while simultaneously driving conversion and efficiency.
• Harness 1st - 3rd party data to strengthen audience building and management toward more targeted, effective total marketing.
• Architect a performance marketing capability that is attributable to conversion from a national level to a hyper-local level.
• Deliver journey-based, personalized content at scale that converts customers across their shopping journey.

Welcoming remarks and a look at the event.

In this new era of discovery and innovation, brands are adapting to the latest trends and insights to reach their consumers where they are.

Join Adweek, as we hear from commerce legends and BRAVE COMMERCE podcast co-hosts Sarah Hofstetter and Rachel Tipograph as they interview a C-Suite executive on how eCommerce has fundamentally changed their business over the last two years, and where they see consumer behavior is going in the near term.

Long known as a destination retailer, Best Buy has a reputation of over-delivering on shopper expectations, whether through in-store experiences, in-home services, or integrating digital communications and channels. They also provide opportunities for brands to connect with their customers in ways that are welcome and informative, not intrusive or overbearing.

In this session, hear from Anna Kruse, Vice President and General Manager, Best Buy Advertising, and Sherry Smith, Managing Director of Retail Media for the Americas as they explore how Best Buy has built a retail media offering in service of enhancing their customer experience.

The explosion of social and ecommerce in recent years has forever changed the way people shop, discover new products and seek recommendations via their communities – from creators and celebrities to friends and family. TikTok has quickly become a destination for a new kind of shopping culture - Community Commerce – which blends content, creators, community, entertainment and shopping. Brands have an opportunity to activate and unlock the power of this emerging trend and connect with engaged audiences like never before.

Join Adweek, to hear Amy Lanzi, EVP, North America Practice Lead, Publicis Commerce speak with Khartoon Weiss, Head of Global Agency & Accounts, TikTok and Emmanuel Marques, VP, Customer Engagement, Disney about the power of community-driven commerce and how their companies are partnering to bring this new shopping movement to the next level.

Oliver Embry helped build cutting-edge traffic and retail strategies for adidas, and now leads the charge on advertiser product innovation at MNTN. His experience creating effective and unexpected tactics for retailers has led to countless revenue wins. So with an ever-changing cultural and economic climate—the looming supply chain crisis being the latest example—what opportunities does he see for savvy marketers looking to navigate fluid scenarios that call for quick action?

In this session, join MNTN’s Oliver Embry where he’ll explore how Connected TV, whether as a net-new channel, or a performance-focused addition to existing strategy, can help advertisers both big and small nimbly adapt to the latest events, trends and environments—all while still delivering on vital KPIs.

As emerging media, from AI to AR, continue to fast-forward the customer experience, marketers are seeing measurable gains in satisfaction and retention. Design and UX play an integral role in elevating the shopping experience.

Join Adweek, as we hear from 1-800-Flowers.com President, Amit Shah on ways in which the floral and gifts retailer shares insights on how to master the marketing funnel, from design to distribution.

With the meteoric rise of time and money spent in online shopping, retailers are growing and accelerating their high-margin retail media business to monetize their shopper engagement into advertising revenues. Building a successful retail media business requires strategic and operational alignment between data, technology and skills. Learn how Salesforce can help retail companies converge their ad sales process across channels (digital, in-store etc.) and streamline their ad sales operations all the way from RFP to revenue optimization.

Retailers have evolved enormous new capabilities in media. They’ve also dramatically changed their expectations from brand partners. In this environment, there are major opportunities for brands to win … and lose. We’ll teach you the secrets that help you win. You’ll hear from Ethan Goodman, SVP of Media at The Mars Agency and Diana Haussling, VP – GM of Digital Commerce at Colgate-Palmolive on:

• How brands should set a comprehensive retail media strategy
• How to achieve full funnel activation inside retailer’s walled gardens
• How retailers can improve their offering and their selling process

In today’s hypercompetitive market, retailers are under pressure to deliver products, messages, and programs that foster deep-rooted, lasting customer loyalty.

In this session Meghann York, Global Head of Product Marketing, Marketing Solutions at SAP, will shed light on the forces driving the increased importance of customer loyalty, and offer advice on how brands can successfully integrate loyalty into their current marketing programs.

You’ll also hear from Catriona Woodward, Pizza Hut’s Head of Digital Marketing as she shares how Pizza Hut launched highly relevant loyalty-boosting initiatives that led to higher conversion rates month-over-month and dramatic growth in loyalty program sign-ups.

Topics covered include:

• Why loyalty is essential for business growth in today’s world of quick-change customer behavior and market conditions
• Why most loyalty programs fail and which factors ensure loyalty success
• How to break through the common barriers that prevent retailers from getting successful programs off the ground (collecting first party data, understanding customers, achieving true 1:1 personalization)
• Pizza Hut’s approach to delivering more relevant, loyalty-boosting initiatives through personalized communication
• The importance of customer relevancy (in offers, messaging and product) for driving successful loyalty programs

It's no secret personalization and crafted content are key indicators for brand's seeking to build long-term relationships with consumers. As we head into 2022, it is more imperative than ever for brands to be mindful of how they collect and manage data, how they build seamless experiences, and the communities and influencers they're incorporating into their marketing plans.

In this session, Foot Locker Vice President, Consumer Connections, Francine Feder will dive into the global retailer’s emphasis on community-driven and hyper local communications to its consumers, including how it leverages data to develop targeted marketing plans. The session will also focus on the importance of local communities to Foot Locker’s DNA including through investing in Community Power Store formats and tapping into micro-influencers.

After launching his own NFT collection “VeeFriends," Gary Vaynerchuk has been able to bring his ambitions of building a community around his creative and business passions to life using NFT technology. Taking the learnings from his personal NFT endeavor Gary then launched “VaynerNFT,” blazing new territory for brands across the industry.

With attention towards the NFT landscape growing, how can brands leverage NFTs in an authentic and meaningful way? Join VaynerX Chairman Gary Vaynerchuk as he shares how NFTs can shake up the brand experience, create new communities and revenue streams, and drive cultural change overall.

To deliver personalized customer experiences on the showroom floor and through every digital touchpoint, retail companies must give their business teams access to first-party data that offers both confidence and utility. Join Adweek, as we hear from Sue Beckett, VP Digital Marketing and E-commerce at Lovesac, on the furniture retailer’s journey to creating a single customer view that serves a diverse set of stakeholders across the organization. 
Sue will also share:

• Best practices for uncovering data needs and customer insights in a retail organization
• How the right first-party data strategy creates efficiencies internally and boosts revenue
• Examples of how the right tech stack can deliver omni-channel experiences in real time

Since 2009, Food52 has been growing its audience via content and community-building endeavors like digital recipe contests and a 24-hour hotline for cooking questions. Commerce — now the brand's primary revenue stream — was introduced early on, originally as a means of delighting community members which ultimately built trusting customers. Today, deliberately integrated experiences across content, community and commerce touchpoints (in that order) increase engagement and convert that target audience into loyal shoppers with high lifetime value.

Join Adweek as we hear from Food52 President Claire Chambers on how they use data and personalization to accelerate growth while staying true to its values that stand the test of time. 

Gen Z, the most connected, price conscious, savvy consumer ever, is forcing marketers to rethink and throw out their tried and tested models. They're hyper-connected and averse to traditional advertising, expecting brands to be like Netflix - ready and waiting to be consumed on their terms. But what does this mean for brands and how can they capture the hearts and digital-wallets of this elusive market. In this session, our panel of experts seeks to drive home the increasing importance of purposeful, value-driven content that goes beyond product offering and connects with their values and beliefs.

Today, consumers not only look for products and services that help make their lives easier and simpler, they expect brands to anticipate and cater to their unique needs. In a technology-driven world, leading personal shopping and delivery company Shipt is focused on leveraging its personal shopper community and enhanced app features to make its personal shopping delivery service even more personal.
 
Join Adweek as we hear from Shipt Chief Product & Experience Officer Karl Varsanyi on the importance of anticipating consumer needs and how technology can create a strong pathway to more personalized brand experiences.

As a generation that has never known a world without the internet, Gen Zs are super tech-savvy. And as a result of the pandemic, this digitally native generation have spent more time online than ever before - scrolling through Instagram on the daily, creating TikTok videos, watching streaming services, taking part in online gaming activities, and of course, online shopping.

Ecommerce fashion retailer, Princess Polly, has taken all the necessary steps to really engage with the Gen Z market during the height of the pandemic and beyond - by tailoring their messaging and offering exclusive student discounts, to give their target audience the royal treatment. Having built up a global presence in Australia and the US, and with plans underway to expand in the UK and Asia, Princess Polly is taking the Gen Z market by storm.

Join Student Beans as we sit down with Princess Polly to discuss the challenges of international expansion, the benefits of social media marketing, and why Gen Z students should be at the heart of your marketing strategy.

Influencer marketing continues to take the industry by storm. From personalized branding to collaborative campaigns, brands are embracing the opportunity for authenticity and seeing a strong return on investment. Tula Skincare, a digitally native and social-first brand says it has seen incredible growth by leveraging lifestyle influencers.

Join Adweek as we hear from Tula CEO Savannah Sachson how innovative campaigns with influencers are the key to supercharging the beauty retailer’s strategy.