The Big Shift virtual marketing conference

We are pleased to have Jane Luk as this year’s host for our event on October 14, 2021.

A Jill of many trades, Jane most recently appeared in The Handmaid's Tale, Château Laurier (in post-production), Murdoch Mysteries, Kim’s Convenience, Anne With an E as well as Saw lll, World Improv Championships (Just For Laughs Festival) and several Hallmark holiday movies. She has also voiced for Abby Hatcher, Fuzzly Catcher, Space Ranger Roger, Deus Ex Human Revolution and X-Men the series and video game. Her short film, How to be More Chinese, enjoyed a 2-year run on the Comedy Network as well as receiving recognition in various film festivals.  

Jane’s favourite stage credits include Hands Down! (Toronto Fringe), Tragedie of Lear, Kim’s Convenience (Soulpepper Western Tour) and Tout Comme Elle (Luminato/Necessary Angel). 

Jane is a four-time Canadian Comedy Awards nominee for Funniest Female Improvisor and both a Dora and Chalmers Award recipient for Best Youth Script.

We are pleased to have Coko Galore as this year’s host for our event on October 21, 2021. She will also sit on the Diversity Panel for our English event on October 14, 2021.

Panel Discussion: “Marketing to Diverse Audiences with Meaning”

The outcry against systemic racism after George Floyd’s murder has turned the spotlight on every industry, including marketing. And the marketing industry is turning its own spotlight on itself. How do we become more relevant to our real (read diverse) audiences? The answer may surprise you.

This panel will be moderated by Maureen Brown, ROCK Diversity. Panelists include: Coko Galore, Bad Dog Theater; Dr. Golnaz Golnaraghi, Accelerate Her Future^TM; and Jenn Harper, Cheekbone Beauty INC.

Bio

Coko Galore is an actor, comedian, and Artistic & Managing Director for The Bad Dog Comedy Theatre in Toronto, where she is instrumental in the creation of their digital platforms: Bad Dog Comedy TV, Bad Dog Online Education and Bad Dog Comedy Podcast. She uses anti-oppression and pro-empathy as her framework to navigate and lead within the improv community. She is one half of the dynamic improv comedy duo Coko & Daphney, Festival Director of Black and Funny - Toronto and Asian and Funny, and co-producer of The Untitled Black Sketch Project. Her performance credits include headlining festivals across North America (incl. Portland, Vancouver, Chicago & more), Harbourfront's BRAVE Festival 2018 (also curated by Coko Galore), her solo show MIXED CHICK at the Toronto Fringe 2015, and most recently CBC's Tallboyz.

Session: "Navigating a new era of marketing"
This custom-made keynote presentation will introduce the idea of “The Big Shift.” It will focus on the ideas of a changing media landscape and post-cookie world, the importance of customer-centricity and the alignment of customer experience (CX), marketing and advertising.

Tom’s presentation will cover three key themes you need to know to start navigating this new era of marketing*:

• Rethinking how advertising and media work
• Customer experience: Rethinking how to create value
• Sustainability: Rethinking business as usual

*These themes will be explored in greater depth in the other sessions of the conference.

This presentation will be live in English and recorded with French subtitles for the conference date of Oct 21^st.

Bio

Tom Goodwin is the author of Digital Darwinism: Survival of the Fittest in the Age of Business Disruption, the host of The Edge on Euronews and the founder of All We Have Is Now, a business transformation consultancy.

Goodwin has been voted as the #1 Voice in Marketing on LinkedIn globally, four times, with over 700,000 followers. Business Insider named him one of 30 people to follow on Twitter and Fast Company called him a "must-follow." Goodwin’s role is to understand new technology, consumer behavior and culture and create solutions that take advantage of these new opportunities. An industry provocateur, keynote speaker and writer on the future of business, Goodwin has been quoted in The Economist and The New York Times and has appeared on CNBC. His writing has appeared in publications including The Guardian, TechCrunch, Forbes, Adweek, Marketing Week, The Drum, Inc, Digiday, Quartz and The World Economic Forum.

Session: "The intersection of mental health and anti-racism"

Many folks in the BIPOC community felt overwhelmed after the murder of George Floyd. For Anthony McLean, who works in both mental health and anti-racism, it was a collision of his worlds. Now, he loves to explore the overlap between mental wellness and racial equity. McLean contends that empathy is at the heart of both diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work and mental health awareness. Psychological safety and creating a sense of belonging are central to both pursuits. This interactive presentation helps participants bring more empathy to the work of anti-racism and mental wellness.

Bio

Anthony McLean delivers lively presentations on diversity, anti-racism and mental health. He has delivered hundreds of inspiring talks across Canada, the U.S. and Australia. As a respected voice in his field, Anthony has appeared on CBC News, Global Toronto’s Morning Show and Breakfast Television. Delivering research-backed tools and actionable strategies, McLean always leaves his audiences inspired to bring their best every day.

McLean is also an actor who has starred in television commercials for Ford, Milk, Sprite, Verizon Wireless and Bell. He hosted the CBC Television show The X and was featured in the documentary films Colour Me, SOAR and Rising Above. In his theatre career, McLean acted in the renowned Stratford Festival where he developed his passion for Shakespeare. He also loves to freestyle rap – give him any topic in the world and he'll make up a rap about it on the spot.

Session: "Embed privacy into your operations for positive gains"

Privacy is essential; it forms the foundation of our freedom and must be preserved at all costs, now and well into the future. For marketers, it’s not a zero-sum game, privacy vs. marketing or privacy vs. data utility match, it’s all about a win-win model that yields great returns.

Join Dr. Ann Cavoukian as she shows you how following a proactive Privacy by Design (PbD) model will lead to great benefits. Given the trust deficit marketers face currently by consumers, PbD will help increase loyalty with your consumers by showing you how to embed privacy into your marketing operations and how to enhance the quality of the data you gather.

Bio

Dr. Ann Cavoukian is recognized as one of the world’s leading privacy experts. Dr. Cavoukian served an unprecedented three terms as the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. There she created Privacy by Design, a framework that seeks to proactively embed privacy into the design specifications of information technologies, networked infrastructure and business practices.

Dr. Cavoukian is the author of The Privacy Payoff: How Successful Businesses Build Customer Trust with Tyler Hamilton and Who Knows: Safeguarding Your Privacy in a Networked World with Don Tapscott. She is also a Senior Fellow of the Ted Rogers Leadership Centre at Ryerson University and a Faculty Fellow of the Center for Law, Science and Innovation at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University. 

Being the adult: A considerate approach to inclusion and diversity

How do we welcome and benefit from people’s stories? Join Kadi Diop as she explores the application of goodwill in equity, inclusion and diversity efforts. Through her own story, she suggests ways to develop effective strategies, encouraging us to be the adult in any given situation.

Bio

Kadi Diop is a speaker, humorist and bilingual storyteller, half Senegalese, half Guinean. She has worked in the community for over 20 years in the leisure and social development sectors. She is also an improv teacher at the Bad Dog Theater, a ballet neophyte and a seasoned aunt.

Session "How B2B marketing strategies can create impact on commercial success"

Successful strategies in B2B can have an impact on commercial success both above and below the line.  While it’s critical to create and manage your brand at every touch point, businesses depend on strong tactical and content initiatives to drive bottom-line client engagement, relationships and sales. This session will showcase a few examples on how marketing communications can support a global brand while providing value to its key stakeholders who are ultimately responsible for driving commercial success.

Bio

Bianca Barbucci is a senior marketer with over 30 years of experience. She leads a team dedicated to managing Stikeman Elliott LLP’s brand, as well as all marketing and communications initiatives across all channels and across the entire firm. This includes brand positioning and brand touch points, customer engagement, content amplification, media relations, advertising and PR, directories, awards and rankings and marketing-related analytics.

Before joining Stikeman Elliot, Bianca had her own marketing and business development consulting practice. In previous positions, she led the shopper marketing division of a large TV network and worked in the advertising and marketing agency business, in Vice-President and Managing Director roles, for numerous years.

Session: "Embracing sustainability to drive new value"

Sustainability requires new levels of resilience and agility, rooted in responsible business practices that preserve our planet for future generations. It is fast becoming a necessary strategic business imperative and technology is the lever that can help organizations achieve and even accelerate their journey. This session will explore what sustainability is and IBM’s journey to get there, technology’s role in unlocking value and enabling Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) goals and Canadian and global examples of sustainability at work to help provide attendees with a roadmap to a sustainable enterprise.

Bio

Lucy helps clients create differentiated experiences through authentic interactions that generate meaningful impact on profits, people and the planet. Her role blends sustainability strategy, content design, user research, design thinking, and accelerated visioning to help them establish a competitive advantage and adapt over time. Her true passion lies in getting people excited about uncovering solutions to the climate crisis, starting with tech.

Session: "Embracing sustainability to drive new value"

Sustainability requires new levels of resilience and agility, rooted in responsible business practices that preserve our planet for future generations. It is fast becoming a necessary strategic business imperative and technology is the lever that can help organizations achieve and even accelerate their journey. This session will explore what sustainability is and IBM’s journey to get there, technology’s role in unlocking value and enabling Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) goals and Canadian and global examples of sustainability at work to help provide attendees with a roadmap to a sustainable enterprise.

Bio

As an Associate Partner and Practice Lead for Sustainability at IBM Canada, Ally’s mandate includes helping clients accelerate their sustainable journey across six key areas: ESG Strategy, Climate Risk, Green House Gas (GHG) Reporting, Electrification, Energy & Emissions Management, Smart Infrastructure & Intelligent Operations. Prior to joining IBM, Ally was the Chief Operating Officer for a multi-national climate risk insurer and reinsurer specializing in climate risk management. As a former banking regulator, Ally also worked on identifying systemic climate risk impact across the banking sector.

Session: "Succeeding in a data driven world without third-party cookies"

Third-party cookie deprecation has been a consistent topic in the minds of marketers and publishers since Apple first removed them from Safari in 2017. Today, Google remains the last major browser with 3PCs still available, and their public plans to deprecate them by 2023 confirms the inevitable – 100% depreciation of the once dominant online identifier. Find out what is happening with third-party cookies, the impact their deprecation has on the industry and its key players and get guidance on ways to prepare and future-proof your business.

Bio

Gillian leads the strategy to drive revenue of Epsilon's industry leading data assets across all digital, ATV and emerging channels, encompassing business development, marketing, product development and strategic partnerships. Her team is responsible for building and creating the largest self-reported database in North America, Shoppers Voice. She also leads the Epsilon Consumer Insights team, which conducts customized market research projects on consumer U&A insights, segmentation, tracking studies, performance measurement and thought leadership.

Gillian has 20+ years experience in strategic planning, business management, product management and people development. Experienced in digital and traditional marketing disciplines in multiple verticals, including CPG, DTC, finance, pharma, retail and telco.

Panel Discussion: “Marketing to Diverse Audiences with Meaning”

The outcry against systemic racism after George Floyd’s murder has turned the spotlight on every industry, including marketing. And the marketing industry is turning its own spotlight on itself. How do we become more relevant to our real (read diverse) audiences? The answer may surprise you.

This panel will be moderated by Maureen Brown, ROCK Diversity. Panelists include: Coko Galore, Bad Dog Theater; Dr. Golnaz Golnaraghi, Accelerate Her Future^TM; and Jenn Harper, Cheekbone Beauty INC.

Bio

Maureen Brown is founder and consulting lead at ROCK Diversity. ROCK provides assessment, strategic planning, training and implementation supports to organizations seeking to become more inclusive of diverse populations. Maureen has delivered services in sectors such as banking, pharmaceutical, government, HR professional development, retail, post-secondary and not-for-profit. A former journalist, Maureen has engaged audiences in Canada, the U.S. and Europe on issues ranging from unconscious bias to inclusive communications, community engagement, and cross-cultural mentoring.

Panel Discussion: “Marketing to Diverse Audiences with Meaning”

The outcry against systemic racism after George Floyd’s murder has turned the spotlight on every industry, including marketing. And the marketing industry is turning its own spotlight on itself. How do we become more relevant to our real (read diverse) audiences? The answer may surprise you.

This panel will be moderated by Maureen Brown, ROCK Diversity. Panelists include: Coko Galore, Bad Dog Theater; Dr. Golnaz Golnaraghi, Accelerate Her Future^TM; and Jenn Harper, Cheekbone Beauty INC.

Bio

An award-winning social entrepreneur, Jenn Harper is the founder and CEO of Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics INC. The brand has ushered in a new segment in the beauty industry – Sustainable Socially Conscious Beauty. Cheekbone Beauty’s mission is to help every Indigenous youth see and feel their enormous value in the world while creating sustainable colour cosmetics.

Jenn has been making a name for herself in the beauty industry for a number of years, but has been gaining popularity quickly after being on the hit CBC show, Dragons Den. She works as a speaker with the mission to educate as many people as possible about the Residential School System and the effects it has had on her family and friends through decades of generational trauma.

Panel Discussion: “Marketing to Diverse Audiences with Meaning”

The outcry against systemic racism after George Floyd’s murder has turned the spotlight on every industry, including marketing. And the marketing industry is turning its own spotlight on itself. How do we become more relevant to our real (read diverse) audiences? The answer may surprise you.

This panel will be moderated by Maureen Brown, ROCK Diversity. Panelists include: Coko Galore, Bad Dog Theater; Dr. Golnaz Golnaraghi, Accelerate Her Future^TM; and Jenn Harper, Cheekbone Beauty INC.

Bio

Dr. Golnaz Golnaraghi is an award-winning Leadership and Equity and Inclusion expert, social entrepreneur, TEDx speaker and author. She is a leading career accelerator in Canada providing self-identified Black, Indigenous and women of colour (BIWOC) with tailored programs to launch their careers in business and STEM while building networks of solidarity and action. Golnaz has presented her research at international conferences and has been published in peer-review journals and books including the International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal and The Oxford Handbook of Diversity in Organizations. Her commentary has been featured in CTV News, Liisbeth Media and Women of Influence. She was recently recognized as a top 50 Report on Business 2021 Changemakers.

Session: "Crazy little thing called love"

Customer expectations and behaviours are always in flux, whether they’re facing different life stages or other meaningful changes in their personal situation. However, the global pandemic of the last 18 months has led to seismic shifts in consumer behaviour, attitudes and expectations whose impact will be felt for years to come. Against this backdrop, there is a need (and opportunity!) to re-think your marketing playbook. While reaching people is generally treated as a science these days, real brand impact comes from elevating a moment of transaction into a meaningful moment of connection.

Ultimately, if we are to build and grow brand love, the customer journey needs to be designed around meaning making. And why brand love? Because there is no better source of economic value to an organization than building a brand that is loved.

Bio

Shari Walczak is Co-Founder of The Garden, one of Canada’s top independent creative and brand strategy agencies. She has built a reputation as a brand strategy expert, skilled facilitator and workplace change agent. Shari is a passionate advocate for creativity, particularly in the world of education where she was Chair of the founding committee for Equinox Holistic Alternative School – now celebrating its 13th anniversary as the TDSB's largest elementary alternative school. In addition, she is a contributor to The Collective Wisdom of High-Performing Women: Leadership Lessons from The Judy Project (published April 2019), and a proud SheEO Activator supporting other female entrepreneurs who are creating a better world.

Maximizing target audience insights to uplift your consumer journey

Join Ingrid as she shares why it is valuable to consider audience nuances and how to enrich your marketing mix to effectively roadmap through customer insights.

In this session you will learn how to create an ideal work environment to instill an audience-centric mindset. You will gain a better understating of which tools and practices can help you gather key consumer data to embrace future business and marketing challenges.

Bio

Ingrid has many strings to her bow; she holds a Bachelor of Commerce from McGill, received executive training in strategic planning at London Business School, earned a certificate in digital marketing from Harvard and studied urban ethnography at the University of Toronto in collaboration with Berlin’s Humboldt University. Her 19 years of experience finding solutions, imagining, collaborating, questioning, reconsidering, developing, engaging, contributing and, above all, making an impact on people—and consumers—via all sorts of brand initiatives. Advertising, behavioural designing, strategic planning, entrepreneurship. Ingrid has travelled far and wide, and her experiences (highs and lows) have given her a refreshing perspective on today’s business challenges.

Session: "Embracing sustainability to drive new value"

Sustainability requires new levels of resilience and agility, rooted in responsible business practices that preserve our planet for future generations. It is fast becoming a necessary strategic business imperative and technology is the lever that can help organizations achieve and even accelerate their journey. This session will explore what sustainability is and IBM’s journey to get there, technology’s role in unlocking value and enabling Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) goals and Canadian and global examples of sustainability at work to help provide attendees with a roadmap to a sustainable enterprise.

Bio

Laïla believes in putting sustainability at the core of any company’s purpose in order to lead into a more successful and thriving economy. Expert in business transformation, she’s using her product management and customer experience (CX) skills to design the best experience for users while delivering the highest business value for companies. A Design Thinking advocate, Laïla works at the intersection of progressive strategy, creative vision, and transformational technology to create sustainable human-centred solutions.

The five minute shift

Join Esmé for a brief overview of the macro trends that are shaping the big shift.

Bio

Esme Rottschafer is a strategy and commercial innovation consultant specializing in brand, human-centred design and foresight. She is co-owner of a patented brand measurement algorithm, a Board Member for the TETT Centre for Learning & Creativity, and Editor-in-Chief of INCITE magazine.