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Time
11:40 AM - 12:25 PM
Session #1:
Featured Workshops
Full-Stack Strategy: Play Outside Your Playground
Dive into the evolving demands of strategic thinking, where traditional boundaries between brand, media and data are dissolving. Emphasizing that contemporary strategists require broad expertise rather than specialized silos, this workshop incorporates cutting-edge, evidence-based research on brand growth and communication effectiveness. The challenge though is that most strategists are only fluent in a slice of the skillset. This dynamic workshop will employ a gameshow-style format, featuring team challenges and rapid-fire prompts to help participants pinpoint their strengths, areas for development and unexplored potential within the comprehensive strategy landscape.
You’ll walk away with:
- A clearer view of your strategic strengths and gaps
- A stronger understanding of the evidence-based foundations behind what works
- A language for full-stack thinking across brand, comms and performance
- And a nudge to stop repeating the same year on loop
Whether you’re brand-side, agency-side, media, creative or hybrid—this session is for strategists who don’t want to be left behind, who want to think bigger and who are ready to stretch beyond their comfort zone. Don’t just master your playground. Learn to play outside it.
Speaker:
- Christopher Owens, Head of Brand Strategy, TRG
The Strategist's AI Playbook
Transform from AI-curious to AI-fluent as a strategist in advertising. This workshop cuts through the noise to focus on strategic AI adoption—not just better prompts, but smarter solutions. You'll explore emerging AI capabilities through live demos designed specifically for strategists, learning to identify opportunities that others miss. This session will dive into the fundamentals of AI strategy development and how to leverage AI's strengths while avoiding its weaknesses. Walk away with a comprehensive toolkit, real examples of award-winning AI strategies and hands-on experience that positions you as the AI voice your agency needs. This isn't another prompt workshop—it's strategic intelligence for the AI-powered future of advertising.
Speaker:
- Elijah Kleinsmith, Innovation & Technology Direction, Signal Theory Inc.
WARC Future of Strategy Report - What Comes Next?
In light of the opportunities and challenges strategists face in 2025, WARC’s Future of Strategy report looks at the current state of planning and strategy, and where the discipline is headed, based on a global survey of strategists.
This session reveals some of the key themes that have emerged, including how the strategy role is adapting; what skills and expertise need to be prioritized, as well as the impact of different social, cultural and technological trends on strategy development.
Speaker:
- Ann Marie Kerwin, Americas Editor, WARC
Sponsored Workshop by TikTok
Virtual Workshop -
Sponsored Workshop by ActiveCampaign
1:05 - 1:50 PM
Session #2:
Featured Workshops
Brace for Impact: Smarter Strategy for a Turbulent Market
In today’s turbulent market, agencies can’t rely on instinct alone. They need predictive, real-time consumer intelligence to anticipate change and deliver strategies that stick. In this hands-on workshop, Resonate will demonstrate how our AI-powered platform reveals the “why” behind consumer behavior and how to use those insights to build smarter campaigns. Through live demos and an interactive activity, you’ll experience firsthand how to transform data into action, strengthen client partnerships and future-proof your strategy.
Speaker:
- Jonathan Ricard, Chief Strategy Officer, Resonate
Build a Persona Factory with AI: A Hands-On Workshop for Strategists
This workshop is designed for strategists at all levels, from junior planners to senior leaders, seeking to leverage AI in their insight work. Participants will learn to use ChatGPT (or their preferred LLM) as a partner in cultural exploration, persona-building and brief development, with no prior technical expertise required. The emphasis is on the ethos of strategy as a team sport.
Attendees will also get a live demonstration of Prism, broadhead’s proprietary AI platform, showcasing its ability to craft personas and customer journeys at the speed of culture. "We contain multitudes. Our platform gives us the ability to see the facets of culture and human behavior as they evolve.”
Speaker:
- Emilie Hitch, Chief Strategy Officer, broadhead.
The Data-Backed Case for Creativity in a Performance-Obsessed World
In a world where algorithms reward instant clicks and CMOs are cornered into chasing short-term wins, System1 flips the script with a data-rich, behaviorally grounded case for the enduring power of compound creativity. Based on their latest research — The Power of Compound Creativity and The Creative Dividend — this hands-on workshop equips strategists with the tools and mindset to adapt to the moment without sacrificing what makes brands memorable.
Join System1’s experts in decoding how consistent creative foundations (think long-running ideas, agency continuity and reusable brand assets) dramatically multiply brand and business outcomes — even in volatile markets. Discover why high-confidence marketers prioritize emotional effectiveness, and learn how creativity, far from being risky, is the most undervalued asset in your growth arsenal.
Attendees will leave with:
- A blueprint for building compound creativity into your brand strategy
- Tools to evaluate and elevate creative quality using System1's effectiveness metrics
- Insights on how to convince stakeholders that creativity isn’t a cost — it’s a multiplier
If the age of adaptation demands clarity, confidence and creative courage, this is the workshop that arms strategists to lead, not just react.
Speaker:
- Andrew Tindall, Senior Vice President, Global Partnerships, System1
Sponsored Workshop by Tunnl
Virtual Workshop -
The Science That Sells Great Work: win trust, sell creativity, & make better marketing
Most agencies want to sell bold ideas. Most clients want data & proof. This talk shows how "the physics of brand growth" can do both. I’ll walk through a powerful framework — the Laws & Levers of Brand Science — that shows how science and art interlock to make work that really works. (Really really works.) Your clients get the rigor they crave and the science behind it; you get to make work that’s more effective, more creative, and easier to sell in.
You'll walk away with 3 things:
- A clear intro to the Laws & Levers framework.
- A couple of choice examples of brand science that are sticky, easy to use, and client-friendly.
- My favorite tricks & tips for using science to sell in smart work.
Speaker:
- Ethan Decker, PhD, Founder, Applied Brand Science
