Modern Retail Marketing Summit
BOOK PASSES

    Modern Retail Marketing Summit

    Huntington Beach, CA
    Apr 20–22, 2026
    BOOK PASSES

    Marketers don’t have crystal balls. But some days, it sure feels like they are expected to, as they are tasked with figuring out how to adapt to an ever-changing marketing landscape.

    New technological shifts like AI are forcing marketers to move faster, while figuring out to get their brand surfaced in more Gemini or ChatGPT results. Third-party data signals are becoming less reliable, meaning brands have to get smarter about first-party or even zero-party data collection.

    On the consumer side – shoppers are taking longer to buy, doing more research to ensure they get the best value and increasingly demanding a shopping experience that feels personalized and authentic.

    All this while CACs are climbing, budgets are shifting, the best practices for each channel are changing and every dollar needs to work harder.

    The Modern Retail Marketing Summit equips you with the knowledge, strategies and connections you need to navigate this new marketing landscape through fireside chat discussions. And our signature Challenge Board and Working Groups enable the sharing of pain points as well as solutions to overcome them that you can take back to your colleagues who aren’t lucky enough to attend.

    Brand and retail executives face a marketing landscape that is changing more quickly than ever before. Attendees will come away with practical tips on how to ensure they’re building a modern, fast-moving and tech-first marketing operation.

    Prices on passes increase after February 9. Add a calendar reminder.

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    Speakers

    • Cathrin Bowtell
      Chief Executive Officer
      Seed Health
    • Kristen Brophy
      SVP, Head of Marketing
      ThredUp
    • Richard Cox
      Chief Merchandising Officer
      Pacsun
    • Lindsey Kling
      SVP Brand Marketing, Partnerships + Business Development
      Coterie
    • Amina Pasha
      Chief Marketing Officer
      Thrive Market
    • Nilofer Vahora
      Chief Marketing Officer
      Amika Beauty

    Agenda

    Apr. 20

    • 1:30 pm
      Registration opens

      Registration opens and our team will be ready to greet you. Please stop by to check in and grab your badge.

    • 2:00 pm
      Opening remarks

      Anna Hensel

      EXECUTIVE EDITOR

      MODERN RETAIL

    • 2:10 pm
      The GEO playbook

      It’s the hottest topic on everyone’s minds right now: how do I make sure my brand is getting mentioned by ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and more? In this session, you’ll hear from one brand executive who will talk about how their company is rethinking their approach for the GEO era – updating PDPs, investing more in organic content, changing budgets – how they are tracking whether these changes are successful, and what results they’ve seen so far.

    • 2:30 pm
      Building an AI-first marketing operation

      Building an AI-first marketing operation involves more than just using the latest AI tools from Meta. It’s also about getting your team comfortable with a whole new swath of tools, getting faster at testing and experimentation and rethinking how various teams work together. In this session, you’ll hear from one brand executive about how they are trying to build a more tech-savy, AI-first modern marketing operation, and how they think about everything from getting all members of their team to incorporate AI into their workflow, to coming up with a process for testing new tools to figure out which AI solutions actually help them solve real problems, and which ones are just marketing fluff.

      Amina Pasha

      Chief Marketing Officer

      Thrive Market

    • 2:50 pm
      Sponsor workshop

    • 3:05 pm
      First-party and zero-party data strategies

      It’s easier than ever for brands to collect large swaths of data on their customers, but they don’t always know what to do with it. In this session, you’ll hear from one brand executive about their strategies for collecting first-party and zero-party data, how to properly analyze this data, and how they use this data to more smartly target high-value customers.

    • 3:25 pm
      Sponsor dialogue

    • 3:35 pm
      Modern customer acquisition strategies

      The modern CMO’s job has gotten a lot more complicated as artificial intelligence and attribution changes have impacted what it takes to acquire large swaths of new customers on platforms like Facebook and Google. In this session, you’ll hear from one brand executive about how their approach to customer acquisition has changed in recent years – what is and isn’t working for them on Facebook, what new channels they’ve found success with, and overall how they are continuously filling their funnel with new-to-market customers.

      Kristen Brophy

      SVP, Head of Marketing

      ThredUp

    • 3:55 pm
      Coffee & networking break

      Take a break, grab a coffee and connect with fellow attendees before the next session begins.

    • 4:15 pm
      Town hall & challenge board

      Brands only. Gather with fellow brand and retail leaders for a candid discussion about the industry. Together, we’ll create a challenge board and explore the real issues you’re facing — think of it as group therapy.

    • 5:15 pm
      VIP welcome reception

      ​​Brand and retailer VIPs are invited to join us for a welcome drink and networking ahead of the 10-Minute Meetings.

    • 5:30 pm
      10-minute meetings

      The 10-Minute Meetings are designed to help connect participants with innovative technology platforms and build valuable business relationships.

    • 6:35 pm
      Cocktail reception

      Join us for a cocktail to wrap up Day 1. Open to All.

    Apr. 21

    • 8:30 am
      Breakfast

      Fuel up with breakfast, courtesy of Modern Retail, as we get the day started.

    • 9:00 am
      Welcome back

      Welcome back! The editorial team is about to kick off day 2.

    • 9:05 am
      How one company is building out its full-funnel marketing mix

      As next-gen enterprise brands grow, their marketing mixes and overall approach to marketing planning must evolve, too. In this session, you’ll hear from an executive at one brand that’s evolved from a pure-play DTC startup to a broadly distributed omnichannel brand with distribution in Target, Walmart, Amazon and more. They’ll talk about how their team knew when it was ready to move beyond performance marketing, how to balance awareness-driving marketing with targeted mid-to-lower funnel activations, and how their team is preparing for future marketing and media shifts.

    • 9:25 am
      Sponsor workshop

    • 9:40 am
      The modern guide to working with retailers

      Succeeding in retail today requires brands to build out different muscles. Gone are the days when brands can score more sales simply by scoring a sweet end cap. Rather, today’s brands face pressure from retailers to spend on everything from retail media to seasonal deals, while also constantly promoting newness and innovation. In this session, you’ll hear from one brand executive who will talk about how they use the insights collected from their brand’s DTC business to power its omnichannel business to successfully launch new products for their retail partners, and how they approach everything from retail media spend to working with local influencers to power new customer acquisition in retail.

    • 10:00 am
      Building a high-trust brand in the age of AI and information overload

      Join Lindsey Kling, SVP of Brand Marketing at Coterie, as she discusses how to build a brand that resonates in a world where shoppers take longer to buy and demand more from every dollar. Lindsey will share how Coterie moved beyond transactional marketing to create a "parent-first" community, leveraging zero-party data and authentic storytelling to cut through the noise.

      Lindsey Kling

      SVP Brand Marketing, Partnerships + Business Development

      Coterie

    • 10:20 am
      Sponsor dialogue

    • 10:30 am
      What it takes to actually retain customers and build brand love

      Today’s customers have more options than ever when deciding where to shop, which makes cementing brand loyalty harder than ever before. In this session, you’ll hear from one brand executive about what actually works when it comes to retention. They’ll cover everything from the products that are most popular among their repeat customers to the retargeting campaigns that actually work for them.

      Richard Cox

      Chief Merchandising Officer

      Pacsun

    • 10:50 am
      Coffee & networking break

      Take a break, grab a coffee and connect with fellow attendees before the next session begins.

    • 11:10 am
      Working groups

      Attendees will break out into small groups of 20-30, with discussions led by a brand executive, to talk about potential solutions related to some of the most pressing issues marketers at brands and retailers face today. Attendees will be able to choose which working group they would like to attend, which will cover topics like: The new customer acquisition playbook How AI is changing the job of a marketer Breaking through in brand marketing Self select your group and join us. Details to follow!

    • 12:00 pm
      Lunch

      Recharge with a delicious lunch and network with peers before the next session.

    • 1:00 pm
      Afternoon activities

    • 5:15 pm
      VIP cocktail reception

      Opent to VIP participants. Grab a drink before the 10-Minute meetings begin.

    • 6:35 pm
      Cocktail reception

      Join us for a cocktail to wrap up Day 2. Open to all.

    Apr. 22

    • 8:30 am
      Breakfast

      Fuel up with breakfast, courtesy of Modern Retail, as we get the day started.

    • 9:00 am
      Open remarks

      Welcome back. The editorial team is about to kick off the day's sessions.

    • 9:05 am
      All about TV and video

      TV has become one of the most important brand-building channels, but the strategies that it takes to succeed in the channel as shoppers these days consume media in different places. In this session, you’ll hear from one company about how they approach TV, how they have decided in the past when it makes sense to invest in linear or CTV advertising, how they use data to run smarter CTV campaigns, how they approach social-first video channels like YouTube and TikTok and overall, what it takes to stand out in today’s fragmented media landscape.

    • 9:25 am
      Keeping pace with rapid trend cycles

      It seems like trends change faster than thanks to the ascent of social media. In CPG, for example, one year consumers are all about protein, the next year they are all about fiber. What’s a CMO to do, and how do you make sense of the trends that are actually relevant to your business? In this session you’ll hear from one brand executive about how they evaluate what trends are actually worth paying attention to, how they’ve structured their marketing operation in order to be able to more quickly respond to trends, and what their north stars are as they navigate increasingly rapid trend cycles.

    • 9:45 am
      Closing remarks

    Full Agenda

    Location

    Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach
    21500 Pacific Coast Hwy, Huntington Beach, CA 92648


    Pass Options

    Connect Pass
    $2,995
    • Super Early Rate
      Price increases to $3,145 after Feb. 9
    • • Access to three days of key insights and honest discussion
    • • Three one-on-one 8-Minute Meetings with executives of your choice
    • • Early access to book the one-to-one meetings of your choice
    • • Networking functions including meals, cocktail receptions, attendee activities and more
    • • Access to our meeting scheduler to help you find the perfect prospects
    • Brand or retail marketing execs: You may be eligible for a discounted Retailer Pass. Contact us here to find out.
    Buy Now
    Best Value
    Premium Connect Pass
    $4,595
    • Super Early Rate
      Price increases to $4,795 after Feb. 9
    • • Access to three days of key insights and honest discussion
    • • Five one-on-one 8-Minute Meetings with executives of your choice
    • • Early access to book the one-to-one meetings of your choice
    • • Networking functions including meals, cocktail receptions, attendee activities and more
    • • Access to our meeting scheduler to help you find the perfect prospects
    • Brand or retail marketing execs: You may be eligible for a discounted Retailer Pass. Contact us here to find out.
    Buy Now

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