The Media Evolution 2024, presented by Google - Virtual

In the golden age of advertising, we spoke to the masses. But today, the masses have splintered. They crave authenticity, personalization – a connection that cuts through the noise. Even the old tricks of emotional advertising fall flat; people demand more than a single note.

This isn't about algorithms and data points. It's about crafting stories that resonate, that respect, that matter. Because in this new age, the brands that win aren't the loudest, but the truest.

But how do we pivot? How do we build multi-faceted campaigns that capture hearts and minds? 

Canadians currently spend 54% of their time online on the open internet, and despite this, 81% of all advertising dollars in Canada are still being invested in the walled gardens.

As advertisers look to add value—using audience and consumer insights—and take control of their marketing costs, the ecosystem of the open internet represents a significant opportunity to shape the future of their business. By shifting budgets to premium inventory through local and global publishers, advertisers can craft omni-channel strategies that minimize risk and optimize their media investment. Join Bob Cornwall, the General Manager of Client Services for Canada at The Trade Desk to discover all that the premium internet has to offer.

Bob Cornwall,
General Manager, Client Services
The Trade Desk

Bob Cornwall is the General Manager of Client Services for Canada at The Trade Desk. As an accomplished business leader, he excels in fostering relationships with executive leadership at agencies and brands and oversees a team focused on enhancing advertiser value through data-driven solutions and AI technology.

Prior to The Trade Desk, Bob spent 10 years at Google, responsible for Canadian Brand Activation efforts, Global YouTube/Video Ad Solutions and Education Programs, and serving as the Chief of Staff/Product Strategy & Operations Lead for YouTube Ads Engineering. Before Google, he built extensive experience in Brand Marketing working at Unilever, Kraft, and Mondelez. Bob is a graduate of Queen’s University with a BCom.

In today's fast-paced world, brands must innovate to cut through the clutter and achieve business goals. With attention spans getting shorter and shorter, creative bravery is not only welcome but necessary to capture attention and drive engagement. Let's explore how top Canadian brands are harnessing the power of digital engagement and data-driven insights to create innovative and impactful campaigns. We'll delve into how they are approaching 360 omnichannel strategies, lessons learned, and implications for the future of their industries. 

Joshua Bloom
General Manager, Global Business Solutions, TikTok Canada

As the GM of Global Business Solutions for TikTok Canada, Joshua Bloom leads with a vision for thought leadership and cultural development, shaping a world-class sales team dedicated to empowering marketers with innovative solutions that foster authentic connections and drive tangible business outcomes. Joshua brings over 24 years of digital media expertise to his role, having pioneered impactful strategies at Facebook, where he was the inaugural Canadian employee, and cultivated trusted partnerships with major brands and agencies. With a career spanning pivotal roles at DoubleClick Media, Conducive, WhenU, and MySpace, Joshua's deep market insights and creative prowess continue to drive growth and innovation in the ever-evolving landscape of digital media.

Lauren Tallody
Sr. Global Product Marketing Manager
Microsoft Advertising

With nearly 15 years of industry experience, Lauren Tallody is a trailblazer in digital marketing. She began her journey leading agency teams specializing in biddable media and has spent the last 9 years at Microsoft Advertising, where she has become a trusted product strategist for the business and its top global brands. Lauren pioneered the Ads for Social Impact nonprofit grants program and has been at the forefront of integrating AI and automation into innovative product offerings. Recently, she has been driving growth through premium third-party Generative AI partnerships and enhancing Copilot experiences in Bing and the Microsoft Advertising Platform.

Just as passionate about shaping the future of marketing, Lauren is also committed to fostering inclusivity and enhancing the industry’s social impact footprint. She is excited to share her insights on the evolving performance marketing landscape.

Today, marketers have access to a wide range of data about consumers, and increasingly, deterministic data is becoming the key to understanding complex consumer behaviours. This paper argues that behavioural data derived from massive, granular, low-latency transaction streams, adjusted with survey data, is necessary to build high quality consumer information necessary for successful marketing of tomorrow’s consumers.

Traditional survey or passive data sources rely on statistical sampling techniques to account for differences between sample estimates from the population using, for example, sample balancing and to mitigate any sample bias. In contrast, transactional data – data collected as an artifact of a transaction such as credit card or loyalty card purchases – has no element of statistical research design in this collection. Just like all statistical data sources, transactional data has bias, but because it is an artifact of a transaction where no data is available to weight the data and to mitigate bias, it must be adjusted statistically using companion statistical sample study.

From local to national, retail to online, and media to consumer, the future of information for marketers is tied to the integration of powerful, granular, massive scale, behavioural data sets properly weighted and adjusted to complementary high-quality surveys. 

Pasquale (Pat) A. Pellegrini, Ph.D.
President & Chief Executive Officer, Vividata

Pat is a pioneer in audience measurement, cross-media research and consumer insights, and has successfully transitioned into business leadership roles, from GM to President to CEO. Visionary product innovation, strategic investment and operational efficiencies drove the rapid and dramatic transformation of Vividata where he has been CEO since December 2017.

Pat pioneered the methodology and practice of passive measurement for TV, radio, print and digital media including the widely used hybrid and census plus panel methods. His award-winning research has continually enhanced the state of the art in media audience measurement, consumer insights, and measurement science through advanced data integrations.

This panel will focus on how the media industry is evolving, especially with the rise of AI and the new legislative and regulatory challenges. We’ll discuss predictions for brand growth, how media operators and brands are adapting to reach their customers, and what the future might hold for the media sector.

Our aim is for the audience to leave with actionable insights and a clearer understanding of the trends shaping the industry.

Sean Hutchison
President, Data Sciences

Before joining Data Sciences, Sean led the business development, platform and partnerships teams for Facebook in Canada. Prior to that, Sean was Vice President of Product at Points.com. He’s also co-founded two companies — Fort Nocs Networks, one of Canada’s leading application managed services companies, and Think Dynamics, an early cloud computing platform.

Barbara Huggett (Moderator)
General Manager, SVP Advertising, Captivate

With over 25 years of experience in business development, media strategy and client relations, Barb is a business leader who excels at connecting brands with their most valuable audiences. [AO1] Her role is grounded in her abilities as a relationship builder focused on collaborative partnerships that deliver unique, integrated campaigns to achieve client success.

During her time at Captivate, Barb has been instrumental in creating a customer centric culture, developing and executing strategic, operational and policy initiatives to enhance the contribution and effectiveness of the Canadian operation. Prior to her current role at Captivate, Barb held progressively senior roles with advertising agencies and digital-out-of-home providers.

Dave Pauk
Head of Sales, Samsung Ads

Dave Pauk is Head of Sales at Samsung Ads where he has led the growth of Connected TV advertising in Canada and is responsible for driving revenue, expanding commercial partnerships and overseeing ad sales strategy. With more than 15 years of sales and business development experience in television and digital advertising, Dave works with brands to leverage Samsung Ads’ TV data and insights to reach consumers across Smart TVs and mobile devices. Prior to joining Samsung, Dave held leadership roles with Tremor Video DSP, CBC-Radio Canada, Quebecor Media, and Rogers Media. In addition to his involvement on the IAB Canada Ad Tech Council, he’s also a member of their Connected TV & Programmatic Councils.