Agenda.
The complete schedule from September 18, 2025 at WSA NYC. All times are Eastern.
Breakfast & Networking
Join fellow attendees for breakfast and morning networking before the conference begins.
break10:00 AMTransformers are Eating the World
Just like software 15 years ago, transformer-based models are now eating logic and work up and down the stack.
Noah Brier (BrXnd)
keynote10:25 AMSo Your Boss Read an Article About AI
Your boss just asked you for your AI strategy. Now what? Paul Ford is a client service veteran, technology journalist, and entrepreneur building an AI startup. He'll explain how to see and use AI, how to apply these new technologies, and how to build really resilient guardrails so that you can provide AI solutions in a predictable, totally measurable way. You have more power than you know—let's use it!
Paul Ford (President, Aboard)
keynote10:48 AMHow Consumers Are Thinking About (and Using) AI
Dan Frommer of The New Consumer shares new, exclusive insights on consumer trends in AI.
Dan Frommer (Founder and Editor in Chief, The New Consumer)
keynote11:11 AMVibe Marketing Breaks the Speed Limit
Six-month campaigns now ship in six minutes. Marketing teams deploy agents that handle the production marathon—endless variations, localizations, resizing, brand checks—while humans do what only humans can: find the ideas worth scaling.
Howie Liu (CEO & Co-Founder, Airtable)
sponsor-showcase11:29 AMThe Future of Search & The Death of Links
Search, Chat, and what SEO/GEO/AIEO really means for consumer behavior. A look at how the search landscape and industry is evolving in the age of AI. Come for a data-driven and opinionated take on the future of search, myths vs reality, where we are today and where things might go next.
Tom Critchlow (EVP Audience Growth, Raptive)
keynote11:52 AMHow Do You Measure a Vibe?
See how AI makes culture measurable. In this live demo Suasiv will show how brands can track cultural relevance and resonance in real time, understand momentum and competitors, and use the Arenas framework to uncover the spaces where influence and opportunity live.
Brandon Farley (Co-founder/CEO, Suasiv) / Samantha Sammis (Co-Founder / COO, Suasiv)
demo12:05 PMThe 10 Minute Marketing Plan
Watch as we compress the traditional 3-month planning cycle into just 10 minutes while building a comprehensive marketing strategy using Evidenza's synthetic research platform. In this live demonstration, we'll tackle a real brand challenge and navigate the entire strategic journey—from initial diagnosis through segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP), to creative testing, media planning, and measurement framework development—all powered by AI synthetic respondents that deliver business insights traditionally requiring weeks of fieldwork.
Jon Lombardo (Co-Founder, Evidenza)
demo12:18 PMTurning Pilots into Programs
An inside look at how a small pilot turned into a global AI capability—highlighting the mindsets, processes, and lessons learned along the way.
Erika Chambers (Marketing Director, EY) / Kat Gillis (Alephic)
fireside1:41 PMWays of Seeing: Building a Brand in the AI Era
AI isn't just fragmenting text queries, it's creating new journeys of product discovery. With the rise of multimodal capabilities, brands can start evaluating, and designing, for the ways that AI models and services 'see' brands and products.
John Dawson (VP, Strategy, Jellyfish)
sponsor-showcase1:51 PMCatalog as Dynamic Media
Matt Trainor, from Lands' End, shares the unexpected wins and ongoing challenges of implementing AI in traditional retail. Starting with a bold vision to revolutionize catalog creation, Lands' End discovered powerful applications along the way—including an AI copywriting tool that became an immediate revenue driver on Amazon. Matt explores how embracing the journey with AI, rather than demanding precision, led to solutions they never imagined, while still pursuing their ultimate goal of AI-powered personalized marketing.
Matt Trainor (SVP Brand Creative, Lands' End)
other2:09 PMMy Friend Frankenstein - Getting Mad Sciencey With Your Creative Department
Join Amazon Global Chief Creative Officer Jo Shoesmith and CD-turned-PMT Mike Houston as they discuss re-inventing creative department roles in the AI era.
Jo Shoesmith (VP, Global Chief Creative Officer , Amazon ) / Mike Houston (Creative Director, Amazon)
keynote2:32 PMFLORA Demo: Generative Workflows for Brand & Marketing
This demo will show you how to build entire brand & marketing generative workflows using FLORA, a workflow tool with every single creative model across text, image and video on one infinite canvas. FLORA is used by world-class creative teams including Pentagram, AKQA, R/GA, and more to rapidly concept, explore hundreds of variations, collaborate with the team, and build scalable & shareable generative workflows.
Weber Wong (CEO, Flora)
demo2:45 PMBreaking the Machines to Break the Mold
When AI is trained to give “the right answer,” creativity flatlines. So we broke it. In this live demo, we’ll show how we reprogrammed the most sophisticated machines in the world—not for perfection, but for possibility. You’ll see how we’re using AI to spark chaos, weirdness, and way more creative variation. Along the way, we’ll unpack the tension between AI as a creative tool vs. a creative killer and why the future only works if human creativity stays in the mix.
Pip Bingemann (Co-founder/CEO, Springboards) / Carolyn Murphy (GM, Americas, Springboards)
sponsor-showcase2:55 PMStealing Without Knowing & How to Stop It
CopySight is the trust layer for generative AI, giving studios and brands the ability to create with confidence. In this demo, we’ll show how our platform flags hidden IP risks and generates certified Proof of Creation—turning potential legal liability into copyrightable assets.
Artem Petrov (CEO, CopySight AI )
demo3:08 PMAI Rules Everything Around Me
Step inside a day-in-the-life of leading Coinbase's Creative Studio, where someone always has a "game-changing" idea involving AI. From early morning CEO Slacks to late night prototyping sessions in Runway, follow Patrick Marzullo through a day of fielding everyone's latest AI breakthrough. This honest look reveals what it's really like when your CEO, creative teams, marketers, and external partners all think they've cracked the AI code and somehow you're supposed to make it happen. Through real moments of "wait, what?" and "oh, that actually works," plus the occasional AI-generated disaster, discover how curiosity is the key to finding real leaps forward. No lectures or mind-blowing predictions. Just the truth about what happens when everyone knows AI is a massive opportunity and we're all figuring it out together.
Patrick Marzullo (Sr. Director, Creative , Coinbase)
session3:16 PMPlease Make Me Laugh: Making AI Funny (On Purpose)
I begged robots to be funny so you don’t have to! See which AI models landed the most laughs in LOLLM experiment, and how to prompt better jokes from any of them using a few simple ideas from humor psychology.
Claire Fridkin (AI Engineer , Alephic)
session3:25 PMThe State of (Amateur) GenAI Video
To help CMOs understand the state of GenAI video creation, the speaker, a complete video novice, decided to produce a 60-second promotional video using a wide range of GenAI tools. Seemed like a great idea at the time. He didn't expect to go on an emotional roller coaster from naïve excitement to genuine despair to a professional handoff that saved the day. Given that all of these tools will only get easier to use and provide better outputs, the speaker's journey is simultaneously cautionary and inspirational.
Drew Neisser (Founder, Renegade & CMO Huddles)
session3:34 PMAfternoon Coffee Break
Recharge with coffee and afternoon networking.
break3:59 PMBrains, Boffins, and Binary: A Bit of a Wheeze on AI
What ho! In this decidedly rum turn, we summon a half-dozen of history’s most formidable brains to hold forth on how humanity will respond to AI. A PechaKucha with a dash of metaphysical bafflement, rhetorical fireworks, and the odd contrarian snort.
Scott Stedman (CEO, The Imaginarium)
session4:08 PMFrom Thought to Feed: Streamlining LinkedIn with AI
LinkedIn has become the stage where leaders build brands, attract talent, and shape industry narratives—but keeping up with the demands of consistent posting is exhausting. This session shows how Kait, Brij’s CEO, turned that challenge into a repeatable system powered by AI.
Kait Stephens (CEO & Co-Founder, Brij)
session4:17 PMA Brief History of People Talking to Their Computers
Visions of people interacting with computers using their voice have preoccupied popular imagination for most of our lives. With plenty of missteps along the way, could voice interaction finally be here? AndThen is betting on the future of voice-first entertainment.
Rex Sorgatz (Co-Founder, AndThen)
demo4:40 PMThe Future of Talent in an Al-driven World
Join us for a riveting fireside chat where Shareen Pathak, Product Manager for Shopping AI at Amazon and former executive editor at Digiday will interview Shannon Moorman, the Global Head of Talent for WPP, on one of the most pressing topics of our time: The future of talent in an Al-driven world. As artificial intelligence and digital agentic employees begin to reshape the workplace, what are the implications for our workforce? Shannon Moorman will share her comprehensive view on how the world's largest marketing services company is navigating this shift and preparing its global talent pool for the future. Key discussion points will include: The Evolving Workplace: How Al is augmenting human capabilities, creating new roles, and making others obsolete. The Rise of the "M-Shaped" Employee: Shannon will introduce WPP's concept of the "M-shaped" worker, a new profile of employee with deep expertise in multiple complementary areas, blending creative, technical, and leadership skills. The Rise of Digital Colleagues: Understanding the impact of agentic Al on team structures, collaboration, and company culture. Nurturing Future Talent: Strategies for attracting, developing, and retaining early-career and entry-level talent in an Al-first environment. How do we equip the next generation with the skills to thrive alongside Al? Employee Impact: Addressing the concerns and opportunities for the current workforce, including upskilling, reskilling, and fostering a culture of continuous learning to develop into "M-shaped" professionals. This fireside chat promises a thought-provoking exploration of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead, offering actionable insights for leaders, talent managers, and anyone looking to understand the future of work.
Shannon Moorman (EVP/Global Head of Talent Attraction and Operations, WPP) / Shareen Pathak (Product, Shopping AI, Amazon)
fireside5:03 PMClosing Thoughts
Wrapping up three years of BRXND.ai
Noah Brier (BrXnd)
keynote5:11 PM