Your ATM Withdrawal

Marketing's Most Important Moment: ANA Masters finds itself at the most critical time for the industry - a transformative moment where nobody has mastered new technology yet, making it exciting for marketers learning daily 🎯 Industry Leaders Share Insights: Marketing experts and brand leaders gathered to discuss how marketing delivers measurable results and see where it's heading, covering AI redefining talent to CTV full-funnel impact plus so much more 🎤 Experiential Connection Strategy: Sports, entertainment, and experiential events capture captivated audiences and build authentic connections with fans beyond traditional advertising 🏟️ Solutions Over Problems: Industry shift is noticeable - people talking about solutions now instead of just identifying challenges, showing proactive approach to marketing's evolution 💡 Reinvigorated Industry Energy: Feeling excited despite uncertainty, with new technology creating innovation opportunities that nobody's figured out yet ⚡

Ruth Mortimer started her career digging up history as an archeologist in the Middle East, loved storytelling while piecing together the past, retrained as a journalist because I didn't want tent life with bad hair and zero makeup 🏺 Education Meets Entertainment: Attracted to Advertising Week's marriage of education and entertainment - excited people pay her to create the stories in her head and make them real across all formats 🎭 Sports Programming Pioneer: Launched Playmaker Awards as sports open to more brands, including beauty, women's sports becoming huge, creating a moment where audience, commerce, and field play come together 🏆 Global Cross-Pollination Strategy: Events in Mexico City, Tokyo, and Europe in early 2026 focused on cross-pollinating learning territory to territory to supercharge knowledge across continents 🌍 Leadership Philosophy: "Be brilliant at something, not everything" - lean into what you're brilliant at and forget what you're not good at (like working the photocopier) 💡

Jennifer Kattula started coding websites in the web 1.0 era but loved communication more - business school led to marketing at American Express, Microsoft search ads, then 6th person on Facebook's marketing team 💻 AI Early Adopter: One of the first to try ChatGPT and mid journey, serendipitously reconnected with a Microsoft colleague for a head of marketing role where AI expertise became crucial 🤖 Zero Click Revolution: Four out of five people use zero click search results for almost half their searches - AI interfaces becoming the primary way people get information in one personalized place 🔍 Conversational Commerce: Microsoft building conversational, personalized, agentic experiences - experimenting with ad formats, business tools, and brand agents for 2026 🚀 Hidden Talent: Can still do handstands, splits, and back bends while binging podcasts like "Not Another CEO Podcast" about billion-dollar exits 🤸

Dana McGraw coached college basketball for 8 years before pivoting to data, starting in search engine optimization and moving through analytics at Yahoo Sports to now leading measurement science at Disney 🏀 Measurement Philosophy: Believes measurement isn't finite but fluid, with no single metric answering if you've driven value. It's the combination of all measures together creating the full picture of advertising outcomes 📊 Cross-Platform Reality Check: Debunking the misconception that cross-screen, cross-platform measurement is impossible. With audience graphs and identity resolution capabilities, it's absolutely achievable 🌐 Outcomes Over Reach: The big industry trend is shifting focus from reach to outcomes, with more collaboration between agencies, brands, and media companies all driven by creating value and customer-first experiences 🤝 Bold Leadership Advice: "You never lose when you lead with compassion and give people a bit of grace" when leading teams. Would tell her younger self to be bolder and more confident while making sure her voice is heard 💪

Megan Graham was obsessed with Nancy Drew as a kid and decided to become a reporter, worked her way from high school newspaper editor through college paper to eventually landing at WSJ after 4 years at Ad Age 📚 2012 Graduate Persistence: Graduated during a tough time for journalism jobs, applied to 75+ positions before Kokomo Tribune in Indiana hired her as a business reporter 📊 CMO Today Focus: Covers how companies break through noise and into the zeitgeist at WSJ - "companies just want people to be talking about them positively" - writing for CMOs who can't get enough AI content 🎯 Anti-Pitch Philosophy: Best stories don't come from pitches but from seeing something and noticing social media chatter - companies need to be more proactive before moments happen 💡 Cooking Content Creator: Still sends cooking pics to her mom for approval (even though she now cooks for her boyfriend) - recently made crispy rice with smoked salmon and ate all but two pieces 🍳

Greg Licciardi published book on achieving optimal marketing success using AI and beyond, teaching the framework at Fordham and Seton Hall universities for years - concept inspired by Wendy's targeted ads during the pandemic 📚 Wendy's Epiphany: Got hooked on fast food during pandemic and noticed Friday 11 am ads in social feed, realizing "this is the holy grail of marketing" - framework: right person, right message, right environment, right time, right outcome 🍟 AI + Human Element Advocate: Features Microsoft's Vera Hsu on the importance of AI enablement while maintaining human connection and emotional strategies - warns AI's speed can't replace authentic brand purpose 🤖 ANA Event Leader: Bringing top brands together in Orlando at Rosen Shingle Creek with Steven Van Zandt and the Disciples of Soul (E Street Band members) 🎸 Holiday Book Discount: Offering the ATM audience a special holiday discount on "the must-read modern-day marketing book" - content focused on helping audiences do their jobs better 🎁