The Discovery Stage: Powered by MACH Alliance

The Discovery Stage 1

12:10 – 12:20
You Bought AI. Where’s the ROI?  
Speaker: Danson Huang, Global VP - Connected Commerce, Diageo & MACH Brand Ambassador and Amanda Cole, MACH Alliance, CMO at Bloomreach & MACH Alliance VP
Every enterprise is buying AI. Most aren't getting the returns they expected. New research across 600 enterprise decision-makers shows that organizations with the right foundations are six times more likely to achieve measurable AI ROI – but the majority are still stuck in pilots, with tools that don't connect and investments that don't compound. Amanda Cole, MACH Alliance Vice President and CMO at Bloomreach, and Danson Huang, MACH Brand Ambassador and Global VP - Connected Commerce at Diageo cut through the noise to explain what's actually blocking AI at scale, what the organizations getting real results are doing differently, and what needs to happen next – across your vendors, your architecture, and your industry.  


12:25 – 12:35
Scaling Retail Media Off-Site: Unlocking incremental growth beyond retailer walls
Speaker: Kevin Bhawnani Senior Lead, Verticals & Performance, Stackadapt
Retail media is delivering strong results but its impact is often limited within retailer ecosystems. As shopper journeys become increasingly fragmented, brands must extend their retail media strategies off-site to drive true incremental growth. In this session, we’ll explore how to scale retail media beyond walled gardens using programmatic activation, commerce data, and AI-driven insights. Learn how to reach high-intent audiences across the open web, influence purchase decisions earlier, and prove measurable business outcomes; from new-to-brand acquisition to revenue and in-store sales lift.


12:40 – 12:50
From Search Box to Shopping Agent; Preparing Your Brand for the Agentic Commerce Era
Speaker: Tess McManus, VP Sales EMEA,  Profound
The next wave of AI in retail is agents that research, compare, and transact on behalf of shoppers. For European retailers navigating GDPR, multi-market catalogs, and fragmented marketplaces, the rules are still being written. Profound will map the agent maturity curve and show what each stage means for product data, content, and discoverability, with concrete examples and practical guidance for what to put in place this year.


12:55 – 13:05
Rethinking Creative Production: From Bottleneck to Performance Multiplier
Speaker: Piotr Tomczuk, Head of Growth, Assembly
Creative drives nearly half of campaign effectiveness - yet most brands still rely on production models built for a simpler, slower marketing world.
Today, brands have to show up across dozens of formats, channels, and audiences - and still feel relevant in every interaction.
The demand for content - in quality, volume, and variation - has outpaced the way it’s produced, making creative production the biggest constraint on performance.
This session explores how to rethink creative production and redesign creative architecture for modern marketing - connecting AI and automation into workflows that enable brands to move at the speed of today’s marketing.
The result: Creative that makes your media work harder. Everywhere. Always.


13:10 – 13:20
How JD Outdoors scaled five brands without slowing down
Speakers: Nichola Toner, Digital Director at JD Outdoors, Andy Burton, CEO, Tryzen and Peyman Naeini Field CTO, Shopify
When JD Outdoors set out to consolidate Go Outdoors, Blacks, Millets, Naylors, and Tiso onto a single Shopify framework, the goal wasn't just technical - it was organisational. The goal was to move faster and give the team more autonomy and room to focus on innovation.



The Discovery Stage 2

12:10 – 12:20
The New Rules of Visibility and Conversion in Agentic Commerce
Speaker: Luis Ribeiro VP of Technology, ZEOS
The way people shop is changing. Nearly 40% of consumers now use AI agents to filter their initial shopping discovery. In this new era, visibility is earned through machine-readable operational excellence. To stay visible, brands need a setup that both machines and humans can trust.
If an agent can’t confirm a product is in stock or will arrive on time, it simply won’t recommend it. Inaccurate data and fragmented logistics lead to immediate “depromotion” by AI systems.
This session explores how ZEOS uses AI-powered orchestration and high-fidelity content to drive discovery and conversion.



12:25 – 12:35
Beyond the Click: Unmasking the "Why" Behind Digital Friction
Speaker: Bali Aaron, Solutions Engineer, Fullstory and Fabian Alvares, Global Head of CRO & Experimentation, Pizza Hut
In an era where every millisecond influences conversion, standard analytics only tell you what happened after the fact, not why your customers are dropping off. Join us to discover how Fullstory empowers leading e-commerce brands including Oliver Bonas, Iceland, The Gap, Mammut and Pepsico to move beyond surface-level metrics.

In this hands-on demo we’ll explore how behavioural data transforms the e-commerce experience by identifying Rage Clicks,""navigation bottlenecks, and hidden technical errors in real-time. Learn to bridge the gap between intuition and evidence, enabling your teams to prioritise high-impact UX fixes that drive loyalty and maximise CLV.



12:40 – 12:50
The Human Face of AI
Speaker: Simon Piper, Executive VP, Sales & Client Success EMEA, Skai
As AI takes on more of the work that once sat with marketers, planners, and analysts, the question isn’t just what AI can do — it’s what humans should do. In this session, Kenshoo Skai explores how teams, skills, and leadership need to evolve in the AI era.


12:55 – 13:15
When AI Buys the Ocassion: The New Battleground for Consumer Brands
Speakers: Danson Huang, Global VP Connected Commerce, Diageo & Howe Gu, SVP Customer and Partnerships at Rezolve Ai
Commerce is shifting from product discovery to intent fulfillment. Consumers are no longer searching for items—they’re expressing needs, occasions, and contexts, with AI agents increasingly translating that intent into decisions and transactions. 
For consumer goods companies like Diageo, this changes the rules. Success is no longer driven solely by brand awareness or product attributes, but by how well a brand shows up in the right moment—whether that’s “hosting a dinner party,” “planning a celebration,” or “pairing the perfect drink.” In this fireside chat, Howe Gu (Rezolve Ai, SVP Customers & Partners) and Danson Huang (Diageo, Global VP Connected Commerce) explore how agentic commerce is reshaping discovery, decision-making, and brand relevance—and why the shift from product-led to context- and occasion-led strategies will determine which brands are surfaced, selected, and ultimately purchased in an AI-mediated world.