Search, Media & Advertising

• Learn how Unilever is building centralized visibility and access to media campaign data, status, and workflows using AI and automation, reducing time and resource demands
• Explore tools and technologies that automate end-to-end marketing workflows, cutting manual processes and reducing tracking timelines from two weeks to under four days
• Understand how to leverage AI-driven predictive planning to optimize campaign performance and streamline workflow

• Discuss how first-party, platform, and real-time data power AI-driven media planning and activation
• Explore how predictive modeling and real-time signals enable personalized experiences across channels
• Examine how data, creative, targeting, and optimization converge through intelligent decision-making systems
• Understand how brands ensure data quality, transparency, and brand safety in AI-driven ecosystems

Streaming is now the most-watched form of television in America, yet most media plans still treat it like leftover budget. This session is a working field guide for performance marketers: where streaming dollars quietly leak onto phones and tablets, which attribution claims hold up under real data and which don’t, and how buying direct from publishers changes both cost and clarity. You’ll leave with a scorecard to tell a performance-grade buy from a rerun, whether you’re already running streaming or planning a first test.

Key learning points:

• Why attention and cost have moved, and why most channel mixes haven’t followed
• The device gap: where “CTV” budgets quietly land on phones and tablets
• The attribution claims that don’t survive contact with the data
• How buying direct from publishers changes your CPMs and your reporting
• A scorecard that separates a performance-grade buy from a rerun

• Explore how AI overviews, zero-click results, and conversational search are reshaping brand visibility
• Examine the role of content quality, authority, and trust in modern discovery ecosystems
• Discuss how search, social, and commerce platforms compete and converge as discovery channels
• Understand how brands adapt strategy for voice, visual, and AI-driven search experiences
• Define what successful discovery looks like for brands in 2026 and beyond

Keyword research has evolved beyond simple search terms into a deeper understanding of user intent, context and conversational queries driven by AI-powered search experiences. In this talk, Michael will explore how to identify opportunities across traditional and AI-driven discovery by leveraging topics, entities, and real user behavior to build more effective, future-ready strategies.

• Review how performance strategies integrate paid search, retail media, and paid social
• Explore how AI and automation optimize bidding, targeting, and budget allocation
• Examine how brands connect performance campaigns to revenue, LTV, and margin
• Understand how first-party data powers targeting in a privacy-first environment
• Assess how teams measure incrementality and true ROI

• Challenge traditional ROAS metrics in a multi-channel, AI-driven environment
• Examine how brands measure incrementality, contribution, and true growth
• Align performance investment with margin, lifetime value, and profitability
• Balance short-term efficiency with long-term brand impact
• Define what high-performing media teams prioritize in 2026

The views expressed are the speaker’s own and do not represent their employer.

Every day, millions of conversations shape how your brand is perceived, and increasingly, those conversations aren’t just influencing people. They’re influencing AI.

News articles, customer reviews, social media discussions, podcasts, forums, influencer content, and digital publications are all becoming the knowledge base that powers AI assistants and next-generation search experiences. In today’s landscape, your brand reputation isn’t defined solely by what you publish; it’s defined by what the world says about you, and what AI learns from it.

The question is: Do you know what AI knows about your brand?

In this thought-provoking session, we’ll explore why Brand Intelligence has become one of the most important competitive advantages for modern marketing organizations. We’ll discuss how Media Monitoring, Social Listening, and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) work together to help marketers understand perception, identify emerging trends, protect brand reputation, optimize visibility in AI-driven discovery, and make faster, smarter business decisions.

Rather than focusing on tools, this session will provide a practical framework for turning real-time conversations into strategic marketing intelligence that drives growth, improves campaign performance, and strengthens executive decision-making.

Whether you’re responsible for brand, demand generation, digital marketing, or communications, you’ll leave with actionable ideas to help your organization stay visible, relevant, and competitive in the age of AI.

Key Takeaways

Attendees will learn how to:

• Understand how AI is changing the way consumers discover, evaluate, and trust brands.
• Identify the signals that influence both public perception and AI-generated answers.
• Combine Media Monitoring, Social Listening, and GEO into a unified Brand Intelligence strategy.
• Detect emerging trends, reputation risks, and market opportunities before competitors.
• Measure brand visibility across earned media, social platforms, online communities, and AI-powered search experiences.
• Turn insights into faster decisions that improve campaign performance, customer engagement, and business outcomes.
• Build a modern measurement framework that demonstrates the strategic impact of marketing beyond traditional KPIs.

• How AI-powered search, zero-click results, and platform discovery are reshaping visibility
• Explore optimizing content and experiences across search, social, and commerce platforms
• Examine strategies for ranking within AI overviews, voice search, and conversational search tools
• Understand how technical SEO, content quality, and authority signals drive long-term performance
• Assess how measurement and attribution evolve in an AI-influenced search ecosystem

• Learn how to evolve your search strategy as bot traffic increasingly outweighs human visits- ensuring your brand remains visible in organic discovery, even if you’ve restricted access to LLMs
• Explore how to optimise content for both bots and humans, balancing machine-readable structure with engaging storytelling while diversifying your acquisition channels to maintain performance
• Understand how SEO strategies differ across platforms, including web, social, and app stores, and how to tailor your approach to each environment
• Assess the impact of AI overviews and AI-driven search experiences on brand visibility, and discover ways to ensure your content remains clearly attributed and recognisable in an AI- and bot-led ecosystem