Agenda 2025

Step into the future with the PION100 — a spotlight on the brands capturing the hearts, minds, and wallets of Gen Zalpha. This isn’t just a list; it’s a deep dive into the 100 most influential brands shaping youth culture today.

Backed by fresh insights from Pion’s latest PION100 study, this session reveals what young people say they love versus what they actually spend on. Discover the emotional drivers, spending patterns, and brand behaviours that marketers need to know to stay relevant with the next generation.

Overtime’s apparel business has exploded. We’re excited to be joined by Dan Porter, Overtime’s CEO for a fireside chat hosted by Colin Daniels, on the strategy behind expanding a media brand into one of the most successful sports ecommerce businesses. From content and community to TikTok Shop, merch drops and brand partnerships, discover the technology and creativity leveraged to create a successful DTC strategy.

Gen Z doesn’t care about your logo. They care about your stance. This is a no-fluff, full-volume panel exploring how the next generation crowns and cancels brands in real time, and what legacy names must do to stay relevant. With rebel founders, unfiltered critics, and cultural architects on stage, you’ll leave with one truth: play it safe, and you’re already irrelevant.

Gen Z's digital expectations demand more than traditional marketing. This session reveals how strategic tech partnerships – going beyond basic influencer deals – unlock explosive growth with this influential generation. Discover how Awin empowers brands with cutting-edge tech solutions like the AI-driven Help Me Choose to personalize the customer journey and Contester, a platform maximizing influencer impact through video & livestream, ultimately driving measurable business results.  We'll showcase real-world examples of successful Gen Z campaigns powered by Awin.

Key takeaways for marketers:

• Mastering Gen Z Engagement Through Tech: Learn how to leverage strategic tech partnerships to create personalized, seamless, and engaging experiences that resonate with Gen Z's digital behaviors and preferences.
• Awin's Solution for Gen Z Marketing: Discover how Awin's platform and partner ecosystem connect brands with innovative technologies like Help Me Choose AI and Contester to drive successful Gen Z campaigns.
• Measuring Gen Z Partnership ROI: Learn how to track and analyse the effectiveness of your Gen Z partnerships facilitated through Awin, demonstrating their impact on key business metrics like sales, brand awareness, and customer acquisition. 

Our panel hosted by Pion discuss how brands are addressing the changing online shopping habits of Gen Zalpha. This is your not to miss session on all things loyalty, optimisation and the challenges and opportunities for retail and ecomm marketers.

Why we're excited:

• Jessica has shaped impactful merchandising strategies at top retailers like Macy’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, and now, IPSY - one of the most followed beauty brands on TikTok. She will share insights into all things subscription services, growth and customer loyalty.
• Ray brings his wealth of SEO and marketing knowledge to share the secret ingredients that connect brands with their audiences - and reveals the key to organic growth for ecomm and retail brands.
• Heading up team culture and championing frontline experience and culture at Chick-fil-A, Liz will share her passion for what hospitality means to consumers today and how technology can help fuel a brand that puts people first.

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Markets evolve, industries transform, and technologies disrupt, but the college experience remains strikingly consistent. On campus, students live, learn, eat, and socialize within the same few square miles. That density creates a culture of influence where trends move at lightning speed, adoption happens in packs, and physical proximity, not age or income, quietly drives how students shop, socialize, and build community.

These dynamics make college the most powerful marketing environment in the world—and one of the sharpest predictors of where the broader market is heading. When brands win college, they win the generation.

In this talk, Alex Kronman, founder and CEO of College Inc., will explore why the college experience is a living "prediction market" for brands. By examining timeless patterns in student life alongside new research, he'll show how the choices students make today predict the consumer behaviors that will dominate tomorrow.

We'll explore:

• The factors that make college the world's most powerful marketing environment
• How student behavior predicts broader consumer and cultural trends
• Research insights on what students are doing now and what it means for the market ahead

Ads from banks, insurance companies, and alarm systems don't scream cool — or at least in the past. Adam Grant, CEO of Campus Commandos, reveals how his team turned “cringe” into cool, helping some of the most un-relatable brands capture the attention of college students. Learn how creative campaigns (on shoestring budgets) made financial institutions feel fresh, relevant, and even fun. If your brand is fighting to be heard in a crowded space, this is your blueprint for success.

Today’s teens are more than just digital natives — they’re culture drivers, trendsetters, and early adopters shaping the future of consumption. In this session, we’ll share findings from TeenVoice’s national “Teens as Consumers” study and delve into how Gen Alpha’s values, preferences, and behaviors influence how they discover brands, make purchasing decisions, and influence household buying. Attendees will leave with actionable insights and data-backed trends to stay ahead of the curve.

Key Takeaways:

• Understand Gen Alpha’s content and advertising preferences and how their digital behaviors influencing teen spending habits
• Learn how authenticity, identity, and social impact are driving brand loyalty among this demographic
• Get a powerful comparison of Gen Z and emerging-Gen Alpha consumer mindsets

There’s a new generation on the block: Gen Alpha. They’re loud, opinionated, and already reshaping the rules - and chances are, you don’t fully understand them yet.

In this panel, we bring together leading marketers and real-world parents to explore how brands can build trust, relevance, and value in the lives of Gen Alpha families.We'll explore:

• How brands are evolving their messaging and tactics to connect with both Gen Alpha and their parents.
• The real purchasing power of Alpha kids—and how parents are managing a generation that’s more informed (and persuasive) than ever.
• The key challenges and opportunities shaping Gen Alpha: from screen time and social media pressures to education, values, and digital identity.

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Brands no longer have purely transactional relationships with their customers. Today, they’re in group chats, hosting community events, and offering more than just a product, they’re building meaningful connections. Community is now at the heart of successful marketing, and one of the best places to do this is on TikTok where many buzzing communities live.

Josh McCoy, Associate Partnerships Director at NewGen sits down with Brett Estrella at Cash App and Nidhi R. Mehta at Samsung’s B2B and B2C Display Division, to explore why community management is essential to brand recognition on TikTok and how creator partnerships can amplify those efforts.

Key Takeaways:

• Why community management is essential to TikTok social strategy
• Which platforms drive strong community engagement
• How to collaborate with creators to expand reach and impact

Discover how today’s innovative brands are turning one-time encounters into lasting relationships with younger audiences. In this dynamic session, Groove Jones and Revolution Marketing reveal how AI, personalization, and social influence came together in a major Coachella activation to create thousands of unique, shareable experiences.

You will gain insights on tailoring interactions from customized photo and video content to influencer-driven amplification, and learn how data-backed strategies boost engagement, loyalty, and ROI. Walk away inspired and equipped to make every brand touchpoint feel personal.

As a leader in consumer electronics, Lenovo's Jessica Tomlinson will share how creator campaigns have helped the eComm side of the brand forge real connections with different consumer segments - from students to gamers and everyone in between.

She will discuss how student and gamer influencer programs, live shopping events and getting creative with creator campaigns have helped the brand showcase how tech products fit into the day to day lives of young people - and how they are navigating pre-teen gamers and what’s coming next with Alpha.

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Join our experts who are at the intersection of influencer marketing and sports. They will discuss the power of sports partnerships, how athletes are moving from performers to creators and how your brand can tap in.

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Deep diving into what you can learn from the creator-athlete marketing space, we’ll cover:

- How to make informed decisions about your creator strategy

- Navigating the athlete-creator ecosystem and finding hidden gem athlete influencers that can amplify your brand

- Working smarter not harder to build long term relationships and success with sports partnerships

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This keynote from Unified Modern Minds (UMM Digital) explores the profound transformation reshaping marketing today, driven by AI and personalized customer experiences - which Gen Zalpha audiences demand.

This talk will examine how traditional digital marketing—characterized by broad audience targeting, manual campaign management, and limited real-time optimization—is being challenged by AI-powered customer experience (CX) strategies.

You will get an understanding of how AI can deliver seamless, 24/7 personalized interactions that can improve customer satisfaction and loyalty - using real-world examples to highlight how brands can integrate AI CX to enhance personalization, streamline operations, and foster deeper engagement—while still preserving the trust and emotional connection that traditional marketing builds.

Attendees will gain insights into balancing legacy marketing methods with AI innovations to future-proof your strategies in an era where customer experience is the new battleground for brand success.

A not to be missed interactive session with a panel of candid young individuals from Gen Zalpha. This live session offers a unique opportunity to seek the unfiltered opinions of young people on a wide range of topics. The floor is yours!