media, marketing & effectiveness 2026
Media, Marketing & Effectiveness is back and we are delighted to welcome Mark Ritson, one of the world’s most respected and entertaining voices in marketing, as our keynote speaker.
Joining Mark are four industry experts covering everything from AI and brand building to media measurement and closed-loop attribution.
HEAR FROM:
- Mark Ritson, one of world’s most respected marketing strategists and founder of the miniMBA, will present Understanding the Drivers of Advertising Creative, addressing core marketing principles and drilling down on strategic approaches to creative.
- Erez Levin, Principal at Emet Advisory and former Google product strategist, joins us to share key messages from the new CIMM white paper Navigating Quality and how he’s inspiring a “Quality Revolution”.
- Shane Skillen, CEO Hotspex Market Research and Media, explores brand building in the age of AI, and why being “Top of Mind and Top of Model” is the new competitive advantage.
- Matt Devlin, Chief Strategy Officer at PHD, will give an overview of the latest Canadian media usage trends, providing a clear, multi-faceted picture for the marketing and buying communities to help guide investments and strategies.
- David Phillips, Chief Media & Activation Officer at Environics, shares the latest development in closed-loop measurement for video advertisers, designed to help Canadian advertisers optimize performance and maximize return on investment.
Detailed agenda will be shared soon.
2026 speakers
MARK RITSON
Professor, Founder, Consultant, Columnist
Mark Ritson is a globally recognized marketing expert, consultant and professor known for his sharp, evidence-based approach to brand strategy and marketing effectiveness. Mark has taught at leading business schools including London Business School, MIT Sloan, and Melbourne Business School, and the founder of the Mini MBA in Marketing. He is also an award-winning columnist for Marketing Week and Adweek.
UNDERSTANDING THE DRIVERS OF ADVERTISING CREATIVE
Mark Ritson cuts through the mythology of “great ads” to examine what actually drives effectiveness. Drawing on decades of academic research and real-world examples, he unpacks the commercial, strategic, and psychological factors behind high-performing creative—and challenges marketers to rethink how they brief, evaluate, and invest in advertising.
EREZ LEVIN
Media Futurist, Ad Quality Evangelist, Principal Emet Advisory
Principal at Emet Advisory and a former Google product strategist, Erez has become the industry’s most persistent advocate for Quality-based buying and measurement practices. Named “Whistleblower of the Year” by MediaPost for his work exposing the gap between how video inventory is classified and how it actually performs, Levin has argued consistently that the industry must course correct away from an over-reliance on undefined “Outcomes” to setting “Quality” as our North Star, with Media Quality serving as the primary driver of all media buying and measurement decisions. This would facilitate moving from easily-gamed attribution metrics toward signals that reliably predict whether an ad had a meaningful opportunity to influence a consumer over the short and long terms.
NAVIGATING QUALITY
Not all media impressions deliver equal business value. Marketers must move beyond simple reach and binary metrics like viewability to focus on media quality signals that better predict incremental marketing outcomes. As identity-based targeting weakens and channels like Connected TV grow, the attributes of the ad placement itself—such as attention potential (screen prominence, audibility, time on screen) and situational context (content environment, time of day, device, geography)—are becoming critical indicators of effectiveness.
For CMOs, the implication is clear: marketing effectiveness depends on balancing short-term performance with long-term brand building while ensuring media spend is aligned to the true value of each impression, not just its cost. The most practical next step is to begin incorporating media quality signals into planning and buying decisions—for example by testing attention and contextual signals in CTV and video campaigns, adjusting bidding or budget allocation based on daypart, placement prominence, or content environment, and working with partners to access and evaluate quality signals alongside traditional performance metrics.
Be sure to catch Erez Levin, Principal at Emet Advisory and former Google product strategist, share the key messages from the new CIMM white paper “Navigating Quality” and how he’s inspiring a “Quality Revolution.”
SHANE SKILLEN
CEO, Hotspex
Shane Skillen is the Founder and CEO of Hotspex, a global insights and analytics company focused on emotional brand connection. With over 20 years of experience, he has built Hotspex into one of the industry’s most innovative research firms, working with leading global advertisers across more than 30 countries. Skillen specializes in combining behavioural science, data, and emerging technologies to help brands uncover the emotional drivers of consumer behaviour and improve marketing effectiveness. Under his leadership, Hotspex has developed award-winning methodologies and advanced tools for measuring brand impact and advertising performance.
BRAND BUILDING IN THE AGE OF AI
AI is now making buying decisions for millions of Canadians across all categories. Large Language AI models don’t recommend brands they don’t understand, making “Top of Model” increasingly important. New research shows 89% of consumers validate AI recommendations before they buy. The brands that will win the AI era are the ones that invest in brand — and learn from Mark Ritson — to drive both Top of Mind and Top of Model. This session reveals how the AI purchase funnel is reshaping what “reach” means, how AI-generated media plans are quietly defunding needed brand equity growth, and how winning marketers can optimally market to both Models and Minds. Brand will be more important than ever.
MATT DEVLIN
Chief Strategy Officer at PHD
Matt Devlin is the Chief Strategy Officer at PHD where he leads data‑driven strategy, communications planning and measurement innovation for major brands. Known for bringing clarity to complex marketing challenges, Matt blends quantitative rigor with strategic intuition to help clients unlock growth.
CANADIAN MEDIA USAGE TRENDS
Matt Devlin, Chief Strategy Officer at PHD, will give an overview of the latest Canadian media usage trends, providing a clear, multi-faceted picture for the marketing and buying communities to help guide investments and strategies.
DAVID PHILLIPS
Chief Media & Activation Officer at Environics
David heads up strategy for media, measurement and activation at Environics Analytics. He is tasked with helping EA’s clients move from insights to activation in a media world that is increasingly dynamic and complex. David has been a senior executive for over two decades, recently serving as President and COO for NLogic. He is well-versed in data and analytics with extensive experience in data, market research and software development. David holds a Master of Arts from the University of Hull, is a regular speaker and participant in industry conferences and sits on the board of directors of IAB Canada.
OUTCOMES IN VIDEO MEASUREMENT
David Phillips outlines the latest development in outcome measurement for video advertisers, designed to help Canadian advertisers optimize performance and maximize return on investment.
2026’s media, marketing & effectiveness event is brought to you in part by MiniMBA
Become the best marketer you can be.
The MiniMBA in Marketing is an MBA-level programme built on the award-winning teaching of Mark Ritson. Designed for serious marketers, it distils the core principles of marketing into a rigorous, applied format that connects theory to commercial reality. Over 12 weeks, you sharpen how you think, plan and make decisions, replacing opinion and trend-chasing with disciplined, evidence-based marketing. The result isn’t vague inspiration; it’s clarity, confidence and a stronger strategic standard you can apply immediately inside your company.
Scenes from 2025’s media, marketing & effectiveness event!
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