Tuesday, February 5, 2019 @ Convene, 32 Old Slip, NYC
Bring your crew to
4A’s CreateTech 2019!
20% discount on all tickets after the first two attendees from the same organization
4A’s CreateTech is now 8!
This conference has always brought information and conversation about the creative possibilities of advanced digital technologies and platforms. Creative technologists and leaders in advertising, marketers and other accomplished creative minds will gather together to begin a discussion of a new “Innovation Imperative”.
Innovation on many fronts is now imperative for all creative businesses; not only in technology but also organization, social representation and ethical expression.
So along with the exciting work and possibilities of AI, mixed reality , voice computing and all else, we’ll begin this year with a look at the many dimensions of innovation; adapting to survive and thrive.
The day will consist of keynotes, discussions, demonstrations and workshops of leading edge ideas, creative executions and technological brilliance. Please join us at CreateTech 2019!
CreateTech 2019 Agenda
8:00 - 9:00 AM
Registration & Breakfast
9:00 AM – 11:40 AM
General Session
9:00–9:05
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Marla Kaplowitz, President & CEO, 4A’s
9:05–9:20
Framing the Day: A Word From CreateTech Emcees
Tim Leake, SVP, Innovation/Chief Marketing Officer , RPA
Charlie Oliver, CEO, Tech2025
9:20 - 9:50
Opening Keynote: The Innovation Imperative for Creative Business
Dr. Kumar Mehta, founder of an innovation think tank and author of The Innovation Biome, shares the foundational elements that drive innovation, and a framework to manage and scale it. Directly counter to long-held academic views about “the innovator’s dilemma,” Mehta demonstrates that legacy organizations can foster sustained innovation: good news for agencies and clients transforming their business in an age of accelerated change—and will help give you tools for your innovation program.
Kumar Mehta
Founder, Bridges Insight
Senior Research Fellow, Center for the Digital Future, USC
Author, The Innovation Biome
9:50 - 10:20
Change Management: Innovation in Action
We all live in a constant loop of adapting to change. For people individually and businesses as organizations, change management is both a global and a local priority, aimed at forecasting the future, presenting ideas and proposing new ways of working. In this session, industry leaders discuss how they manage change across clients, companies, and teams, and in their own lives.
Moderator: Tim Leake, SVP, Innovation/Chief Marketing Officer , RPA
Melissa Lentz, Global CEO, MAGNET Global Network and founder, M.Hatter Consulting LLC
Philip Rackin, VP, Business Transformation, R/GA
Michael Lebowitz, Founder & CEO, Big Spaceship
10:20 - 10:40
CreateTech Masters
New for CreateTech 2019: a series of lightning talks threaded throughout the program, taking attendees behind the creators’ studio with some of the industry’s leading technologists. Co-curated and emceed by Alexander Rea, this series looks at great work and how it came to be—as explained by the masters who made it.
Introduction: Alexander Rea, Technology & Experiential-Focused Executive Creative Director
CreateTech Masters Talk I
Ashley Baccus-Clark, Director of Research, Hyphen-Labs
10:40 - 11:10
Networking Break
11:10 - 11:40
Stop Mistaking Innovation for Futurism
The world's most forward-thinking businesses anticipate the future—and they create that future. But following these trailblazers mistakes innovation for futurism, keeping creators from finding their own paths. This session explores why futurism in the advertising industry should be a compass for innovation in creative technology, and it offers strategy on making room for futurism, in culture and budgets—and bringing talent and partners along for the ride.
Moderator: Mauricio Ruiz, Creative Technology, Director, Grey
Jared Weiner, Executive Vice President, The Future Hunters
Alexis Lloyd, Head of Design Innovation, Automattic
Neil Redding
11:40 – 12:40 PM
Workshops (concurrent)
Three concurrent breakout sessions give attendees the opportunity to dive deeper
into the pressing industry topics most relevant to their interests.
11:40 - 12:40
Workshop 1: A Voice in the Wilderness: Getting Hands-On with Voice Technology
“Alexa: What’s my voice strategy for 2019?” If only it were that easy. Voice-activated digital assistants are rapidly reshaping the way consumers interact with technology, leading us toward untold changes for brands and marketers. But many marketers are still trying to figure out how to use this new technology without understanding how it works. In this session, attendees will learn about the tools they need to create their own “skills”: voice-powered apps that let smart speakers check the weather or update shopping lists. We’ll look at the state of the voice market, experiment with key platforms and tools in voice programming, and explore the incredible power (and fundamental limitations) of today’s digital assistants.
Layne Harris, Vice President, Head of Innovation Technology, 360i
Workshop 2: Creative AI 101, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Neural Network
Artificial intelligence isn’t in the toolset of the typical creative technologist. Not yet, anyway. And for those of us who consider math something to avoid at all costs, getting into AI can seem pretty daunting. In this workshop, Husani Oakley walks through an AI-driven creative project created specifically for this talk to show how your code—and how you think about your code—can include artificial intelligence without melting your brain…or blowing your schedule.
Husani Oakley, SVP, Director of Technology, Great Machine, Deutsch’s AI Innovation Studio
11:40 - 12:40
Workshop 3: Creative Dim Sum!
Nathan Phillips, Co-Founder, Managing Partner, Technology, Humans and Taste
12:40 – 1:40 PM
Networking Lunch
12:50 - 1:35
Lunch and Learn TBD
1:40 – 5:30 PM
General Session
1:40 - 2:20
Agency by Definition
Agency is a word commonly used in advertising and marketing… But how does the meaning of “agency” change in a world of hypertext and social media, where innovation is everywhere? And what are the most promising strategies inside the industry to reclaim the meaning and purpose of agency? Where can advertising do well, and do good at the same time? This panel explores the heart of agency and its role in creating meaningful brand futures.
Moderator: Christine Lane, Executive Producer, Innovation, McCann
Esther Bahne, VP Strategy and Innovation, A/D/O MINI
Kwesi Blair, Strategy Director, SYPartners
Jessica Tillyer, Managing Creative Director, SYPartners
2:10 - 2:30
CreateTech Masters Talk II
Becoming a TechnoWizard: How VR/AR/ML Enable a Magical World of Unlimited Creativity
Sam Snider-Held, Real Time VR/AR Creative Technologist MediaMonks, NY
2:30 - 3:00
Rock & Roll: Fallon’s Story of In-House Innovation at a Global Scale
All leaders want to inspire their teams to learn, collaborate and try new things. But few can sustain that energy—let alone grow a new billable capability. To create an in-house VR experience about a Soviet-Latvian rock band’s influence on Soviet culture and society in the 1980s, more than 20 Fallon employees taught themselves the production skills—software, hardware, immersive storytelling techniques. Learn how Fallon created Perkons: A VR Rockumentary—discovering the story and then bringing it to life as a mixed-reality experience over two years (amidst client workloads!) while encouraging creative passions in the workplace.
Cory McLeod, Creative Technologist, Fallon
Greg Swan, Director of Digital, Social & Innovation, Fallon
3:00 - 3:30
Networking Break
3:30 - 4:00
AI, Innovation and Creativity
AI is forcing us to challenge long-held assumptions about creativity and delivery, and it’s the edge cases that teach more about AI's potential across the enterprise than anything else. In this discussion boundary pushing creators, technologists, and industry practitioners explore these edges cases and share insight AI’s growing place in a wide array of creative applications.
Moderator: Charlie Oliver, CEO & Founder, Tech2025
Jamie Brew, Founder/CEO, Botnik
Marc Blanchard, Global Head, Experience Design, Havas
Clara de Soto, Co-Founder, Reply.ai
4:00 - 4:15 Session TBA
4:15 - 4:45
Women Leading Innovation Across Major Brands
As women take the lead on innovation across industries and verticals, they face challenges as diverse as their backgrounds. Talent expert and entrepreneur Stephanie Redlener of DDG moderates a panel featuring top female executives at Bloomberg, IBM and MetLife about women’s challenges in leading innovation: the barriers the face and the ways they empower their teams (and other women) to build and support innovative policies and programs.
Moderator: Stephanie Redlener, Managing Director of Talent Strategy, DDG, and Founder, Lionness
Monica Beltran, Head of Corporate Communications Digital Media, Bloomberg
Elizabeth O'Brien, Program Director, Worldwide Sports and Entertainment Sponsorships Marketing, IBM
Paige Winburn, Vice President, Global Head of Content Strategy,, MetLife
4:45 - 5:15
CMO Innovation Spotlight: Innovation Partnerships and the Responsibility Imperative
What does an innovation partner look like today? As CMOs take the lead on driving growth through faster cycles of innovation and more complex technological consumer experiences, brand responsibility and ethics are coming to the forefront. Agencies, as brand stewardship partners, also have a role.
Catharine Hays, co-host of “CMO Spotlight” interviews leading marketers on the evolution of the their roles.
Moderator: Catharine Hays, Co-Author, Beyond Advertising, and Co-Host, “CMO Spotlight,” SiriusXM
Jennifer Cohan, President, Edelman New York
Maura Tuohy, Global Director, Marketing, Mozilla
Bret Sanford-Chung, VP, CMO Executive Partner, Forrester
5:15 - 5:30
Tying it Together: Closing Thoughts and Key Takeaways
Tim Leake, SVP, Innovation/Chief Marketing Officer , RPA
Charlie Oliver, CEO, Tech2025
Curious?
We welcome questions of all types. Connect Now
Logistics: Melissa Belfiore at mbelfiore@4As.org
Partnerships: Reema Elghossain at relghossain@4As.org
Speaker Submission Form: Speaker submissions
Featured Session
In Stop Mistaking Innovation for Futurism, Mauricio Ruiz, Group Creative Director of Grey Group, will lead a panel showing why futurism should be the compass for innovation—and how to make room for both in your culture and your budget.
Featured Session
Charlie Oliver, CEO and founder of Tech2025, leads a discussion with leading industry practitioners that uses the observe, orient, decide and act (OODA loop) description framework on how to apply AI to the creative enterprise of the future.
Featured Session
Sam Snider-Held focuses on the intersection of AR, VR, AI, and creativity at global creative digital production company MediaMonks. Hear from Sam and other CreateTech Masters this year at the 4A’s CreateTech 2019.
