Agenda

Authentic connection between customer and brand is built with emotional motivators focusing on how brands can make life better. In this session retailers discuss the science behind campaigns that have built emotional connections and how they’ve leveraged the connection to drive consumer behaviour. Discover what make these campaigns significant with their lasting impact.

Get the inside track on shifting shopper behaviours & the new must-win retail marketing playbook. Lindsay Carter from Google Canada shares the latest shopper truths & marketing innovations that will help Canadian retailers of all sizes stay agile & strengthen results. Lindsay also shares a sneak peak of what is in the Google pipeline for the exciting future of retail marketing.

Fast Five Sponsor Highlight

Customer ratings and reviews have become the most important factor in a buying decision today, overtaking price, features, and free shipping. Planned, engaged and amplified correctly, customer reviews can drive loyalty, advocacy, and ultimately, transformational business outcomes. In this session, we will introduce a framework to do precisely that, illustrated with an example of the consumer electronics brand that has achieved this goal.

With increasing amounts of content and inflationary pressures on shoppers’ weekly budgets, flyers are more important than ever. The role of the flyer to help customers discover, plan and save has not changed; but the way in which the content is consumed has. Ransom Hawley, CEO of Caddle, and Viktor Yakovlev, Manager, Consumer Brands at reebee tackle this ongoing debate and share research and insights from a shopper’s perspective on how we need to think about flyer creation and distribution for the future. Print and digital flyers can live in harmony with both formats playing a role to drive maximum reach and ROI as we plan for the future of the flyer.

Offer marketing is evolving, with print-first quickly becoming digital-first. While replicating the flyer in digital is a first step, going fully digital makes for a highly complicated real-time data set to manage and automate at scale for all digital channels. Learn how retailers like Carrefour and Auchan have re-imagined and leveraged partnerships with Google and Meta to provide their consumers with the right offers at the right time, and how engagement is multiplied 10-fold.

Shifting consumer expectations are being reflected in the loyalty landscape with numerous retailers launching their own programs or evaluating strategic partnerships that will matter most to their customers. Raj Loganathan, Director, Customer Service Lead at AIR MILES Reward Program, chats with Steve Cull, Head of Mobile Product Management, Services and Strategy, Samsung Electronics, discussing what makes for an effective loyalty strategy no matter the platform, what makes for an impactful campaign and the role for personalization.

Today’s customers are more conscious than ever of the carbon footprint and sustainability promises made by their favourite brands. In this session Dave McManus, Marketing Director from DCM will talk about a sustainable solution that enables retailers to offset their print footprint and allows marketers to easily create honest and transparent communications that make the consumer a part of the sustainability journey by showing the real-time impacts being made.

For many years, retailers have been striving to know when personalization is valued and when is it intrusive, when does it generate revenue, and when is it wasteful. This session dives into the best practices, the obstacles, and innovative ideas that are cementing loyalty through a relevant retail experience.

Augmented Reality is the space where consumers come to explore, play, and shop with their favourite brands. Over 250 million people are engaging with AR everyday on Snapchat and half of Canadian Snapchatters say AR helps them feel closer to brands. This session will explore what Canadian shoppers are expecting from brands this upcoming holiday season and how your brand can build immersive experiences that multiply performance.

See what’s next in this new era of brand building that empowers marketers to add depth to their storytelling and build unforgettable brand experiences. Nish Shah, Head of Agency with Meta Canada, shares what you need to know to increase your visibility and maximize audience engagement.

Fast Five Sponsor Highlight

Digital electronic shelf labels (ESL’s) aren’t just a tool for quickly changing a product price but offer an opportunity to operate more efficiently and be responsive with marketing tactics. Devy Breda shares how Smart Label Solutions are adding value and the untapped potential within your marketing strategy.

As Canada’s consumer landscape evolves, the idea of a “holiday season” is also evolving and Canadian retailers are eager to engage. One in five Canadians is foreign-born — that’s equivalent to the population of the province of Quebec.  Another million newcomers are arriving every year, with many never having heard of Canadian retail brands. Howard Lichtman, Partner and Co-Founder of Ethnicity Matters, unpacks the growth opportunities of cultural holidays including Diwali, Eid, Dragonboat Festival, Holi, and Singles Day, amongst others. Learn how to apply strategic thinking and be confident of authentic recognition that lets customers know you are prioritizing connection before the sale.

The best retail experiences today are activating the best of the in person and digital shopping experiences. In this session leading retailers share the challenges and wins of creating seamless integration that empower shoppers and elevate the brick-and-mortar experience.