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Monday, April 30
| 9:15 AM |
Co-chairs opening remarks
Court 9:15 AM-9:30 AM |
| 9:30 AM |
Keynote: How Walmart is building out its omnichannel strategy
Court 9:30 AM-10:15 AM Omni-channel innovation is evolving at an incredible pace, challenging the boundaries of legacy processes and highlighting the pitfalls of acting (or not acting) based on historical trends. Daryl Porter, VP of omni-channel and online grocery at Walmart Canada talks tackling these challenges, exploring how the retailer is investing in a future that is unclear and building experiences for a customer who wants to save time and money. Speaking
Daryl Porter |
| 10:15 AM |
The stopping power of design
Court 10:15 AM-10:45 AM Shoppers are time-starved and bombarded by choices at the shelf, making it increasingly difficult to attract their attention in stores. How can a brand ensure shoppers pick up its products? Speaking
William Labelle 
Stefano Faita Shopper marketing in the age of personalized experiences
Loft 1/2 10:15 AM-10:45 AM As Amazon continues its domination push, what’s its role as a brand platform? What value can brands’ direct-to-consumer e-com sites provide? What role do shopper marketers play in this digitally-diverse environment? In short – it’s all about the data. As product exploration and conversion continues to shift to the web, brands and retailers need to rethink how they can leverage theses digital touchpoints to collect valuable consumer insights to optimize sales both in-store and online. TracyLocke’s Jesse Gilbert will share how companies can better use and identify the data they’re already collecting – from their brand websites, to their media buy, to the contextual happenings of society at large – to arm their shopper marketing with a richer consumer profile. And through best-in-class examples, he’ll show how brands are using these insights to re-shape the physical retail space, delivering cool branded and personalized in-store experiences. Speaking
Jesse Gilbert |
| 11:00 AM |
From cereal to socks: Why General Mills dips its toes in fashion
Court 11:00 AM-11:30 AM Director of shopper marketing Tiffany Carver talks about why the food company dove into Instagram-worthy footwear, how micro-influencers are helping drive the campaign, and how to leverage the power of nostalgia. Speaking
Tiffany Carver Regaining parent's trust in store (and beyond)
Loft 1/2 11:00 AM-11:30 AM Consumer loyalty is on the decline, and more than ever, parents are turning to companies they trust when filling their shopping cart. Combined with a changing path-to-purchase, the power of reviews and influencers is on the rise. How do brands make a good enough impression to win on the trust front? Parent Tested Parent Approved’s Sharon Vinderine will present new research on what motivates mom and dad, the importance they place on peer to peer, how that’s influencing the growth of private label lines and what traditional brands can do about it all. Speaking
Sharon Vinderine |
| 11:30 AM |
Testing in a virtual (reality) world
Court 11:30 AM-12:00 PM Virtual reality isn’t just a cool gimmick or toy – it’s increasingly being used as a valuable research tool to help companies better understand how people shop. VR with eye tracking takes it to the next level. Explorer Group’s Anne Stephenson breaks down how brands can build VR into their product development pipeline, how it can allow for rapid prototyping and how companies can embrace tech to improve on innovation.
Speaking
Anne Stephenson 30 Minutes with a retailer: Loblaws
Loft 1/2 11:30 AM-12:00 PM Wes Brown breaks down how grocery delivery is changing in-store marketing needs, making time at shelf more valuable than ever.
Speaking
Wes Brown |
| 12:00 PM |
Lunch-and-learn roundtables
Mezzanine 12:00 PM-1:15 PM Twitter-at-retail best in class * Speaker: Andrea Macdonald, Twitter Canada The power of data: best practices and pitfalls to avoid Speaker: Sean Claessen, Bond Brand Loyalty Multicultural strategy planning workshop Speaker: Milind Shirke, Ethos Communication Breaking down Canada's favourite new foods and flavours Speaker: Wes Brown, Loblaws Companies Limited Building an ideas bank: weighing the importance of insight versus ideas and quick-and-easy methods to inspire your next SMR campaign. Speaker: Tiffany Carver, General Mills *Advanced sign-up is required. Please see registration staff on-site. Speaking
Andrea MacDonald, Table host
Wes Brown, Table host 
Milind Shirke, Table host 
Sean Claessen, Table host
Tiffany Carver, Table host Media iQ presents: an exclusive MiQ unlocked session
Studio 12:00 PM-1:15 PM Getting Into Motion: A Marketer’s Guide to Location-based Targeting* With location-based targeting, marketers are now equipped technologically to bridge the gap between digital message and physical store visits. The goal of this session is to make sure brands are equipped technically and strategically. We’ll review the basics of how location-based targeting works, strategies for using it to accomplish campaign objectives, and how you can take the next step in using location data to inform marketing decisions. *Advance sign up is required
Speaking
Robert Jones |
| 1:15 PM |
From e-commerce to s-commerce: the new way of buying
Court 1:15 PM-2:00 PM Move over e-comm, there’s a new way to buy on the horizon. S-commerce is emerging as the hottest shopping trend of 2018, and execs from Facebook, Twitter and Google will discuss how companies can get ahead of the pack. Learn how brands need to differentiate from e-com retailing practices, and how some are successfully building s-commerce into traditional shopper marketing strategies. Speaking
John Fanous 
Sam Galanis 
Bree Rody-Mantha
Andrea MacDonald |
| 2:00 PM |
The changing face of loyalty: Key findings from Bond's The Loyalty Report 2018
Court 2:00 PM-2:30 PM Emerging technology, advancing analytics and smarter programs are creating new and exciting ways to engage shoppers along the entire path to purchase. It’s time to adopt a new outlook on loyalty and move beyond brand’s boundaries to meet the changing needs and expectations of consumers who want to engage. Join Sean Claessen, EVP strategy and innovation, Bond Brand Loyalty, for a lesson in how to rethink high-frequency #retailoyalty for the long-run. Using key findings from the Loyalty Report 2018, Claessen will highlight changing consumer and market dynamics and share new opportunities, constructs, emerging models, and innovative approaches that deliver business results.
Speaking
Sean Claessen 
Olivia Lorrimer |
| 2:45 PM |
Quantifying the new path to purchase: Crafting an ROI structure for an evolving shopper marketing world
Court 2:45 PM-3:30 PM Tech is fundamentally changing shopping behavior and the path to purchase is increasingly fragmented. As consumers and brands head online, traditional shopper marketing metrics no longer adequately measure success, and at times, figuring out a marketing program’s ROI can be daunting. Help is at hand. Nielsen's Aslam Ghori will explore the biggest measurement myths and realities in the marketing and retail environment today and showcase how shopper marketers can better craft ROI strategies for an increasingly digital world. Speaking
Aslam Ghori |
| 3:30 PM |
Keynote: Embracing start-up culture: How Unilever broke the product development cycle
Court 3:30 PM-4:15 PM Launched in mere months, Unilever's Love Beauty & Planet fast-tracked the product development cycle. Marketing lead Sarah Callaghan shares the trick to making that shortened time-frame work and why an eye towards sustainability is a key to success. Speaking
Sarah Callaghan |
| 4:15 PM |
Co-chairs' Day 1 wrap-up
Court 4:15 PM-4:30 PM |
| 5:00 PM |
Strategy's 6th annual Shopper Innovation Awards
Loft 1/2 5:00 PM-6:00 PM Speaking
Sandy Marshall, Host |
Tuesday, May 1
| 9:25 AM |
Co-chairs' opening remarks
Court 9:25 AM-9:30 AM |
| 9:30 AM |
Keynote: IMI's strategy to increase your marketing budget by more than 40%
Court 9:30 AM-10:15 AM With more than 40% of marketing spend typically destined for failure, IMI completed a comprehensive primary research paper delving into more than 1,000 case studies from 2017. The newly released paper will break down the five steps companies can take to re-purpose those lost dollars (The soon-to-be not-so-secret sauce: It’s about what you need to stop doing). Going through the research from across North America, as well as consumer input from more than 10,000 Canadians, Don Mayo will help identify what’s working, what’s not and what needs to be enhanced. Speaking
Don Mayo |
| 10:15 AM |
How to hack your product development process
Court 10:15 AM-10:45 AM Looking to develop a product that solves a business problem? A breakthrough in how you reach customers? Learn how BuzzFeed uses data, insights and category-specific experts, to develop product and marketing innovation for brand partners. In just five days. Speaking
Jake Bronstein |
| 11:00 AM |
Cracking the Quebec code
Court 11:00 AM-11:30 AM Most Quebecers come from a French culture, live in an English society and have an American lifestyle. But who are Quebecers exactly? What do they want? What are their aspirations? Christian Bourque paints a surprising, sometimes unsettling and uncompromising portrait of the Quebec personality. During the last 30 years, Leger Marketing has collected the most intimate secrets, deepest fears and greatest hopes of Quebecers and Canadians, in order to redefine what exactly constitutes the Quebec difference. Bourque will unveil the seven character traits that make Quebecers unique – not better or worse, but different –and how shopper marketers can open the hearts, minds and wallets of Quebecers. Speaking
Christian Bourque Optimizing packaging for an online/offline world
Loft 1/2 11:00 AM-11:30 AM With a decline in mass advertising and a fragmentation of media budgets, packaging is taking an increasingly important role in both the retail and ecom world. But people look at products differently depending on their environment – so how can brands optimize their design process to win in both? Mike Moussallem will walk through the latest packaging research and trends to help audiences better understand how to optimally design products for both worlds. Speaking
Mike Moussallem |
| 11:30 AM |
Mythbusting: Getting ahead of the Gen-Z shopper
Court 11:30 AM-12:00 PM Those always-on, born-with-a-phone-in-their-hands, Generation Z shoppers are about to start having real shopping power. The oldest of the youngest generation are turning 16, have part time jobs and are starting to make up their minds today about the brands they’ll buy tomorrow. With a new book set to be released, Idea Couture’s Dominic Smith and Martin Williams dive deep into this little-understood cohort, dispelling myths about how these teens and tweens communicate, and offering insight into how retailers and brands should connect with these emerging consumers as individuals – rather than a single amorphous mass. Speaking
Martin Williams 
Dominic Smith 30 Minutes with a retailer: Longo's
Loft 1/2 11:30 AM-12:00 PM To move beyond price, Longo's is going big on cross-functional, cross-promotional in-store efforts. Hear from Robert Koss on how its size helps it stay nimble, what it’s planning for the future, and how brands can get involved. *
*Advance sign up is required. Sign-ups close April 27 at 5pm. Please check with our registration team on-site for availability Speaking
Robert Koss |
| 12:00 PM |
Lunch-and- learn roundtables
Mezzanine 12:00 PM-1:15 PM How to select brand causes that resonate * Speaker: Phillip Haid,Public Global tips-and-tricks for making your packaging work harder at shelf Speaker: Adrienne Cardy, Explorer Group Identifying aging shopper pain-points: how to anticipate your older consumers' in store needs Speaker: Colin Milner, International Council on Active Aging Stretch your in-store marketing budget further Speaker: Don Mayo,IMI International Artificial Intelligence at retail 101-making AI work for you today Speaker: Marina Laven *Advance sign-up is required. Please see registration staff on-site. Speaking
Phillip Haid, Table host 
Colin Milner, Table host
Don Mayo, Table host 
Adrienne Cardy, Table host 
Marina Laven, Table host |
| 1:15 PM |
Meeting the shopper needs of an aging demo
Court 1:15 PM-2:00 PM Everyone loves millennials, but what about boomers – the cohort with the largest disposable income in modern history. As they move into their geriatric years, most marketing risks alienating – or worse, completely ignoring – this powerful demo. Colin Milner walks through the financial power of this aging demo, as well as the primary pain points for older shoppers, and shares how brands can start addressing those concerns to win over the boomers of tomorrow. Speaking
Colin Milner |
| 2:00 PM |
Brand activism: How to navigate the current political and cultural landscape to engage (not turn off) consumers
Court 2:00 PM-2:30 PM Keeping your brand out of divisive societal conversations today is neither possible nor a good idea, given the vast majority of consumers (84%) believe that business has a responsibility to bring social change on important issues. But navigating the highly charged social terrain, be it on gun control, climate change, the #metoo movement, or social and economic exclusion, to name a few, is fraught with challenges and unintended consequences. So how should a brand capitalize on the positive opportunities, while avoiding the pitfalls of misalignment with consumer beliefs? Hint: embrace social change as a business driver. Phillip Haid of Public Inc. will explain what that means and share key lessons based on the successes and failures of leading global brands. Speaking
Phillip Haid Getting the most bang for your digital buck in-store
Loft 1/2 2:00 PM-2:30 PM From a Facebook-operated gift-grab machine to endless iPhone marathon to discounts based on body heat, Sports Expert has seamlessly blended the in-store and online experience to create activations that get people talking…and shopping. Hear how the sports retailer brought its brand purpose to life digitally and IRL. Speaking
Patrick Lavallee |
| 2:45 PM |
The techy future of retail
Court 2:45 PM-3:15 PM From voice search to self-driving cars, the future is techy. But what do all the tech discruptions mean for stores and the brands that populate those stores? Deloitte's Peter Nashed demystifies tomorrow's technology so brands can start preparing to weather all the new challenges - and opportunites - coming at them.
Speaking
Peter Nashed |
| 3:15 PM |
Keynote: What does AI mean for retail?
Court 3:15 PM-4:00 PM Artificial intelligence is all the rage, so how can shopper marketers jump on the trend without getting lost in the crowds...or data? IBM’s Susan Salib (and resident Watson expert) will walk the audience through what AI means for retailers right this instant, and what it might mean for tomorrow’s SMR experiences.
Speaking
Susan Salib |
| 4:00 PM |
Closing remarks
Court 4:00 PM-4:15 PM |