

CMOs are facing a barrage of new challenges around acquisition and loyalty due to evolving customer behaviours and the accelerating shift towards e-commerce due to the pandemic.
Sense check your approach with likeminded industry experts, sharing insight on business-critical challenges and disruptive technology and drive your industry forward collaboratively.
Connect with 90+ senior Marketing leaders for a curated agenda focused on tackling your current business critical challenges and driving industry forward. Our summits are designed to help you:
Build new connections with likeminded senior leaders
Stay current with emerging business trends
Understand the impact new technology can make
De-risk new projects by gaining a broad range of insights
Accelerate key projects through meaningful new partnerships
Downloadable and actionable takeaways
This award will recognise outstanding C-Suite (or equivalent) marketing executives who can demonstrate exemplary leadership through real-world achievements in their field. Judges are particularly interested in seeing evidence of the applied creativity alongside innovative technologies and strategies over the last 12 months, which have led to improved business performance and reputational benefits.
09:00 - 09:20
09:20 - 09:50
Empathy, Trust, and the CMO
The last year has been an unexpected teacher for CMOs, forced to learn from extraordinary circumstances that changed the habits of customers, the lives of everyone, and the way marketers must now do business. Many new crisis strategies—created immediately and without testing—have already proven their lasting relevance for today and tomorrow. CMOs are rushing to shape a new playbook that shows compassion and adds empathy and trust to marketing’s new tool box. What steps should CMOs take next? Key insights from lessons learned.
09:55 - 10:35
Managing through crisis: how to find & foster successful client-partner relationships
In times of uncertainty, the knee-jerk reaction is often to wait and see before making decisions. The fact is, times of crisis are actually opportune moments to connect with your peers and the broader community to brainstorm solutions. GDS CMO-Summits facilitate hundreds of client-prospective partner opportunities each year. Enjoy Life Foods (a Mondelez brand) and AcuityAds, who met at a GDS event two years ago, are joining us to share the results of their business partnership with key lessons for the rest of the GDS community.
10:35 - 10:45
10:45 - 11:45
Track 1: Agility: creating the ‘new normal’ playbook for a digital world
What does the ‘new normal’ look like when it comes to making agile marketing a reality for an increasingly digital world?
Track 2: Leadership Innovation: is talent the competitive differentiator for 2021?
What does leadership innovation involve?
Track 3: Data & Analytics – How do you anticipate the conversation?
What are the main challenges you face in embracing a data-driven marketing approach?
12:20 - 12:40
Aligning for Immediate Results In A Post-Pandemic Landscape
Where previously we’ve spoken about the simple need to take action - get started, here we’ll talk about how to line up your teams and efforts so that you can see immediate results in 2021, by focusing on tangible product. We’ll talk about simple models you can employ that have your marketing teams focused on near-term successes without compromising on longer-term business strategies.
09:00 - 09:10
09:10 - 09:40
The 21st Century model of leadership: “LEADER AS DESIGNER”
Building modern organizations requires modern leadership. Becoming just such a leader, requires that you bust out of the well-worn model of leadership to embrace a highly dynamic and contemporary one: “Leader as Designer.” You might be surprised to learn same discipline that connects companies to its customers can superpower leaders at all levels to build teams and companies envied for their creativity, speed, flexibility, and profound effectiveness.
09:45 - 10:25
Harnessing Culture to Accelerate Transformation
Whether you realize it or not your organization’s culture has changed likely in some great ways and maybe some less than great ways. As we move into pandemic recovery this moment in time is an inflection point to intentionally think about how you as the CMO shape your organization’s culture to have the agility needed for the future.
10:25 - 10:35
10:35 - 11:35
Track 1: Agility: creating the ‘new normal’ playbook for a digital world
What does the ‘new normal’ look like when it comes to making agile marketing a reality for an increasingly digital world
Track 2: Leadership Innovation: is talent the competitive differentiator for 2021?
What does leadership innovation involve?
Track 3: Data & Analytics – How do you anticipate the conversation?
What are the main challenges you face in embracing a data-driven marketing approach?
11:40 - 12:10
The CMO: No Longer Just the Bullhorn for the Brand
How will the role of the CMO evolve over the next 5 years?
09:00 - 09:10
09:10 - 09:40
Agility - Flexibility - Reactivity - Resilience: Digital Transformation with Consumer Satisfaction as the New Marketing Excellence
The strategy of 2020 actions deliver in a crisis context but needs continue to evolve and fast! The post-covid consumer and our employees are forever changed, and they are not going back. There are major shifts in all dimensions and for all functions with speed and scale with digital at the heart. What does this mean for all of us? Our ability to continuously reinvent across all business areas from human capabilities, content, experiences, channels, data/personalization, the future of work - all with unprecedented speed. It is an exciting time to be a marketer, where the opportunities are virtually endless.
09:45 - 10:45
Track 1: Agility: creating the ‘new normal’ playbook for a digital world
What does the ‘new normal’ look like when it comes to making agile marketing a reality for an increasingly digital world
Track 2: Leadership Innovation: is talent the competitive differentiator for 2021?
What does leadership innovation involve?
Track 3: Data & Analytics – How do you anticipate the conversation?
What are the main challenges you face in embracing a data-driven marketing approach?
10:50 - 11:30
11:35 - 12:05
Creativity as a Source of Competitive Advantage
What if marketers treated creativity as a competitive advantage? And, most importantly, what results would brand be able to achieve? As the relationship between brands and people evolves, fueled by rapidly changing technology, media landscape and consumer expectation, it is easy to confuse what is here to stay and what is just noise. Fernando Machado, Global Chief Marketing Officer for Restaurant Brands International, believes creativity can be a source of competitive advantage. This entertaining presentation will showcase how BK consistently punches above its weight thanks to a firm belief that creativity does pay off.
Engage with a virtual live audience just as you would at a physical event and create meaningful conversations.
The ultimate live polling and gamification tools, keeping your audience engaged.
Enabling our team to help you control your session experience.
Interactive quizzes to gamify your session
Recognising outstanding Executives who have demonstrated exemplary leadership
Content and insight from industry experts when it matters most
There is no cost associated with attending a GDS Summit. In return, we ask that all senior executives in participation attend for the full duration to ensure that all attendees get maximum value and insight from the interactive roundtables, live Q&As and breakout networking sessions.
Our digital summit portfolio is designed to bring together senior decision makers from large global businesses and innovative disruptor brands to drive industry forward through addressing business critical challenges collaboratively.
If you’re keen to build new connections with likeminded leaders, de-risk your projects through new insight and establish new partnerships that can accelerate your projects then apply to attend today.
Complete our ‘apply to attend’ form on the event page if you’re interested in attending the summit and you meet our application criteria. A member of the GDS team will then reach out to run you through the programme and event format and discuss your participation.
On stage: co-host a panel discussion with a group of likeminded senior executives or host a solo keynote presentation. Both slots include elements of interactive audience Q&A
Off stage: become a roundtable moderator, leading the discussion with the same cohort of executives for the duration of the summit around a specific topic you’ve agreed to focus on during the roundtable session.
We can tailor a partnership package to help meet your business objectives. This might include brand awareness, driving traffic to your site or quality editorial content via exclusive interviews and Q&As with our executive audience. Enquire today for more information.
Still have a question contact us below
You will leave the summit with best practices to immediately apply back to your organisation and new connections from meaningful conversations.
If you haven’t been to a GDS Digital Summit, you will be incredibly impressed. It’s far more engaging than most digital event experiences. It’s a very interactive environment.
I connected with peers that I know I’ll stay in touch with, including suppliers which have presented a fantastic opportunity for 7-Eleven Global in the future. It may well be the most valuable summit I’ve attended in many years
Thank you so much! Great Summit - an outstanding 3 days that culminated in this Award ... I am humbled and honored. Congratulations to you all for pulling off a Hybrid Summit with Augmented Reality features that are truly unparalleled in the Industry! Collaborative, Interactive & showcasing leading edge technology ... GDS Summits really set the bar so high that a return to physical conferences might be re-evaluated in the Industry. You are an amazing Team of Professionals & I am truly honoured to have been a part of this Summit.