

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 70+ 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
09:00 - 09:15
Intro & Diamond Comentary
09:15 - 09:45
09:45 - 10:25
Consumers Come First: The Importance of Brand Authenticity & Trust
There is no question that trusted brands go further. Trust drives loyalty, engagement, and brand exclusivity, as well as helping to build lasting customer relationships. Whilst it has always been a hot topic, the question remains – how do we gain it, nurture it, and what are the consequences of losing it?Join this panel discussion to explore what role emotion & culture plays in marketing, and how brands can ensure they retain that trust & authenticity to drive consumer loyalty.
10:25 - 10:35
10:35 - 11:25
Track 1: Whole Brand Thinking: Is it Time to Rethink the Role of Brand?
The pandemic forced brands, employees, and customers to rethink their priorities and approach. One new paradigm is the Whole Brand approach, treating everything an organization does as the brand. According to The Whole Brand Project, so called ‘whole brands’ are twice as likely to be recommended as their fractured competitors, with a 40% increase in market share and employee satisfaction running 85% higher. Is it time for a rethink?
This roundtable will explore questions including:•How can organizations identify causes that align with their brand message?•What is the best way for organizations to turn their purpose into tangible solutions and actions?•What can you do to align your brand and your employee experience?•How can you measure the success of your brand?•How should departments and responsibilities be structured to create a cohesive Whole Brand organization?
Sponsor:
Track 2: Cutting Through the Noise: Reaching Customers in the Crowded Marketplace
With sales and marketing teams flocking to virtual platforms, assisted by increased use of automation and efficiency tools, the result has been a massive increase in the volume of messaging reaching consumers and prospects. Buyers are bombarded with adverts, impersonalized messages, alongside security threats such as phishing messages, and all their work and social network chatter. So how do you break through?
This roundtable will explore questions including:•Where are the best examples of personalised communications that cut through the noise?•With options as diverse as livestreaming, influencer marketing, audio content, and much more; which platforms, tools and tactics will help you stand out?•What can we do to restore emotion and human connection to our communications?•How can you balance automation with personalization?•As the world moves from virtual to hybrid, how do we blend digital marketing with physical world impact?
Sponsor:
Track 3: The Cookie has Crumbled; But what does a cookie-less future look like?
With data and privacy being top of mind for many customers and anyone using social media, as marketers we find ourselves in a world where cookies are disappearing, and consumers are choosing to exercise more control. Separately, as the world is shifting from being fully virtual towards a more hybrid approach to work and life, online marketing approaches are losing some of their previous lustre. So, what can we do to put the performance back into online marketing?
This roundtable will explore questions including:•How do you deliver and track results as the landscape of tools like cookies changes drastically?•How do you get the best out of your paid advertising in the cookie-less world?•What is the role of more organic approaches like SEO and owned media in this new world?•How do you align sales & marketing to unify your demand generation and capitalise on leads generated?
11:25 - 11:30
11:30 - 12:10
Track 1: Sponsor:
Track 2: Using Influencers to Break Through to Your Audience Across the Funnel
Authenticity is key to reaching and engaging your target audience. In this conversation, we'll discuss the importance of pairing the art of quality influencer content with the science of custom audience targeting to drive results across the funnel.
Sponsor:
12:10 - 12:40
09:00 - 09:10
09:10 - 09:40
Marketing in the New Normal
History shows us that fundamental changes often happen on the back of big global events. So it’s no surprise that understanding the long-term implications and effects of the last 2 years is top of mind for business leaders right now. Join Tia Cummings-Hopkins as she provides some thought-starters on what Marketing in the New Normal looks like.
09:40 - 10:20
Embracing the fusion of Creativity, Analytics, and Purpose
According to a study by McKinsey, companies that use the three elements of the ‘growth triple play’ together - creativity, analytics, and purpose - achieve dramatically higher average growth rates compared to companies that don’t use any of the three elements. Only 7% of companies are delivering on the growth triple play by unifying creativity, analytics, and purpose. If the “growth triple play” is the way forward, who’s leading the way? According to McKinsey, CMO’s have a once-in-a-generation opportunity, as 78% of CEOs are now banking on CMOs and marketing leaders to drive this newfound growth. So how do we make the most of it?
10:20 - 10:30
10:35 - 11:25
Track 1: Whole Brand Thinking: Is it Time to Rethink the Role of Brand?
The pandemic forced brands, employees, and customers to rethink their priorities and approach. One new paradigm is the Whole Brand approach, treating everything an organization does as the brand. According to The Whole Brand Project, so called ‘whole brands’ are twice as likely to be recommended as their fractured competitors, with a 40% increase in market share and employee satisfaction running 85% higher. Is it time for a rethink?
This roundtable will explore questions including:•How can organizations identify causes that align with their brand message?•What is the best way for organizations to turn their purpose into tangible solutions and actions?•What can you do to align your brand and your employee experience?•How can you measure the success of your brand?•How should departments and responsibilities be structured to create a cohesive Whole Brand organization?
Sponsor:
Track 2: Cutting Through the Noise: Reaching Customers in the Crowded Marketplace
With sales and marketing teams flocking to virtual platforms, assisted by increased use of automation and efficiency tools, the result has been a massive increase in the volume of messaging reaching consumers and prospects. Buyers are bombarded with adverts, impersonalized messages, alongside security threats such as phishing messages, and all their work and social network chatter. So how do you break through?
This roundtable will explore questions including:•Where are the best examples of personalised communications that cut through the noise?•With options as diverse as livestreaming, influencer marketing, audio content, and much more; which platforms, tools and tactics will help you stand out?•What can we do to restore emotion and human connection to our communications?•How can you balance automation with personalization?•As the world moves from virtual to hybrid, how do we blend digital marketing with physical world impact?
Track 3: The Cookie has Crumbled; But what does a cookie-less future look like?
With data and privacy being top of mind for many customers and anyone using social media, as marketers we find ourselves in a world where cookies are disappearing, and consumers are choosing to exercise more control. Separately, as the world is shifting from being fully virtual towards a more hybrid approach to work and life, online marketing approaches are losing some of their previous lustre. So, what can we do to put the performance back into online marketing?
This roundtable will explore questions including:•How do you deliver and track results as the landscape of tools like cookies changes drastically?•How do you get the best out of your paid advertising in the cookie-less world?•What is the role of more organic approaches like SEO and owned media in this new world?•How do you align sales & marketing to unify your demand generation and capitalise on leads generated?
11:25 - 11:55
The In-House Lighthouse: Your Guide to Working Within
12:00 - 12:30
09:00 - 09:10
09:10 - 09:40
The Power of Authenticity to Community
From starting in a garage in Birmingham, England almost ten years ago, Gymshark’s community now stands at over 18 million across over 180 countries. Being authentic, listening and being a part of the community continue to be key components in building this brand. Having played at the likes of Nike, ESPN, Beats by Dre and Apple, Sennai is now combining his experience and this approach to grow the Gymshark brand in North America and beyond. You’ll hear about the Gymshark journey, how we are building the rocket ship, and how the power of authenticity is running through it all. But we are going to make interactive – Sennai is going to open it to the floor early, rather than just give a TED Talk and disappear, so get your questions ready. He promises to be authentic in his responses….
09:40 - 10:20
If the Pandemic Didn’t Prompt You to Rethink Your Customer Experience, Maybe This Session Will
Post-pandemic, we asked consumers and business decision-makers about what really influences their purchasing decisions and how brands are meeting their expectations. Based on the findings, we created a 7-point framework any brand can use to create content-driven experiences that make customers want to buy. In this session, we’ll walk you through that framework, complete with brand examples that put it in action.
10:20 - 10:30
10:30 - 11:20
11:20 - 11:30
11:30 - 12:00
Build Customer Loyalty with Omnichannel, Personalized Engagement
Omnichannel can be a bit of a marketing buzzword, but what does it really mean and why are teams making this a priority in 2022? In this session, we’ll demystify the difference between multi-channel vs. omnichannel and why it is important for your business. Learn how you can grow customer lifetime value and loyalty by meeting customers on the channels they prefer with the information they want.
12:01 - 12:31
The Metaverse: Building for the Future
What is the metaverse? What marketing opportunities does the metaverse offer today and tomorrow? In this presentation, Meta's Head of Business Marketing in EMEA, Carrie Timms, explores how the metaverse will help brands tell more immersive stories, create more meaningful connections with people, and drive business results. She'll share Meta's latest thinking on the next major technological shift, and what it means for you.
12:31 - 12:41
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
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.