ADVANCE AGENDA

Discover what moves marketing forward at ADVANCE.

Forget the buzz. These are the ideas, innovations, and real-world stories that marketers are taking back to work.

8:00 - 9:00 am
Registration
Invite-Only
8:00 - 9:00 am
Executive Breakfast hosted by TikTok
Fuel your morning before ADVANCE at an exclusive TikTok breakfast. Designed to foster meaningful connections and insightful conversations, this intimate gathering brings together leaders shaping the next era of advertising.
9:00 - 9:15 am
Opening Remarks
Laura Desmond opens ADVANCE with a look at the trends shaping the future of marketing and the conversations that will define the day.
Smiling older woman with short blonde hair wearing a white collared shirt on a purple background.
Laura Desmond
CEO, Smartly
9:15 - 9:45 am
CMOs on What's Next
The marketing playbook is being rewritten by creators, platforms, and changing consumer habits. The Chief Marketing Officers from Snapchat, The New York Times, and DoorDash discuss where brands should invest, what still drives differentiation, and how the role of marketing is changing.
Grace Kao
CMO, Snapchat
Smiling woman with curly hair against a solid purple background.
Amy Weisenbach
CMO, New York Times
Tim Castree
CMO, DoorDash
Brianna Gays
CMO, Smartly
9:45 - 10:15 am
The Changing Path to Discovery
Discovery is changing, and so are consumer expectations. Hear from Pinterest CEO Bill Ready and Laura Desmond on how AI is reshaping the path from inspiration to action, and what it means for brands competing for attention.
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Bill Ready
CEO, Pinterest
Smiling older woman with short blonde hair wearing a white collared shirt on a purple background.
Laura Desmond
CEO, Smartly
10:15 - 10:45 am
Winning the Big The Creator Shift
One of the world's most influential leaders in media and technology joins ADVANCE for a conversation about where creativity, creators, and AI go next. Final title and full session details coming soon.
Mary Ellen Coe
CBO, YouTube
10:45 - 11:15 am
Networking Break
11:15 - 11:45 am
Real Talk: Humans, Agents & the Future of Marketing Teams
Every marketing leader is making the same decisions: where people create the most value, where AI should take over, and how teams need to evolve. Hear how leaders are redesigning their organizations, rethinking roles, and preparing for a future where humans and agents work side by side.
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Steven Wolfe Pereira
CEO & Founder, Alpha
11:45 - 12:15 pm
Partnership Rewritten: Who Leads in the Age of Intelligence?
When technology becomes widely available, competitive advantage shifts elsewhere. Leaders from the world's top agencies discuss what clients will value most in the years ahead, and how strategy, creativity, and execution are evolving as AI changes the economics of marketing.
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Ndidi Oteh
Global CEO, Accenture Song
Smiling woman with long wavy brown hair wearing a white top against a purple background.
Lauren Wetzel
CEO, WPP
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Bob Lord
President, Horizon Media
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Andrea Bendzick
CEO, WPromote
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Laura Desmond
CEO, Smartly
12:15 - 12:25 pm
The Future of Performance: Why Creativity Wins
For years, performance marketing was defined by targeting, optimization, and media efficiency. That era is ending. Today's highest-performing brands don't start with campaigns, they start with culture. They identify consumer signals earlier, transform them into creative that people genuinely want to engage with, and use AI to continuously learn, adapt, and scale what resonates.
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Join leaders from TikTok, SharkNinja, and athlete/creator Chari Hawkins for a conversation on how the relationship between creativity, technology, and performance is being rewritten.
Chari Hawkins
Team USA Track & Field
Paris 2024 Olympic Competitor
David Kaufman
Global Head of Monetization
Product Partnerships, TikTok
Raheel Khan
Chief Commercial Strategy & Analytics Officer
SharkNinja
12:30 - 1:20 pm
Lunch Break
Invite-Only
1:45 - 2:15 pm
Sponsored Snaps: Culture lives in Conversations
An invite-only Product Roundtable hosted by Snapchat exploring how Sponsored Snaps can turn chat into a powerful, high-engagement part of the media mix—bringing brands closer to consumers through creator-led storytelling and full-funnel activation
Fintan Gillespie
Global Director, Ad Partnerships Group,
Snapchat
Alexandria Sumner
Sr. Director, Global Product Marcomms
and Americas Marketing, Snapchat
1:40 - 4:00 pm
Breakouts: Commerce AI and Creative AI
Spend the afternoon diving deeper into the ideas shaping marketing across two concurrent tracks. Session titles and details to be announced soon.

CREATIVE AI

1:40–2:15 p.m. – Smartly Breakout

2:25–3:00 p.m. – LinkedIn Breakout

3:25–4:00 p.m. – Google Breakout

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COMMERCE AI
‍1:40–2:15 p.m. – Smartly Breakout
2:25–3:00 p.m. – Roku Breakout
3:25–4:00 p.m. – Reddit Breakout
4:30 - 5:00 pm
Advertising For Good
Paid media reaches billions of people every day. Leaders from Snapchat, Meta, Google, Reddit, and Pinterest discuss how that reach can support trusted information, strengthen communities, and create positive impact alongside business results.
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Judy Toland
VP, Marketing, Meta
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Sean Downey
President, Americas &
Global Partners, Google
Portrait of a person with short dark hair wearing a black jacket and light pink collared shirt.
Jen Wong
COO, Reddit
Lee Brown
CBO, Pinterest
Mary Ann Belliveau
President of Americas,
Snapchat
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Laura Desmond
CEO, Smartly
5:00 - 5:30 pm
The Art of Staying Distinctive:
A Conversation with Timbaland
To close out ADVANCE 2026, Smartly CEO Laura Desmond sits down with the four-time Grammy Award winner and member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame for a conversation about the relationship between technology and creative identity. Marketers will hear directly from one of music’s most distinctive creators about the role he believes AI should play in creative work, and how he’s deciding where it belongs in his own process.
Timbaland
Multi-Platinum, 4x GRAMMY
Award-Winning Producer
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Laura Desmond
CEO, Smartly
5:30 - 7:00 pm
Closing Happy Hour
The sessions are over. The conversations aren’t. Grab a drink, find someone you didn’t get to meet, and stick around for one last round at ADVANCE.
Invite-Only
7:00 - 10:00 pm
The ADVANCE Dinner hosted by Pinterest
Continuing the conversation post event, Pinterest will co-host an invite-only dinner just steps away from ADVANCE. Centered around the theme of “Celebrating Great Partnerships", this intimate setting brings together marketing leaders for an evening dedicated to strengthening connections and fostering community.