Latest / Retail Media Breakfast Club / Get on the Damn Stage: Why 2026 Is Your Year to Step Into the Spotlight
Transcript
- Reprise: Get on the Damn Stage === [00:00:00] Kiri Masters: Hello and welcome back to Retail Media Breakfast Club. This is Kiri Masters, and today I am replaying an episode that aired way back in the prehistoric times March 24 of this year because this is [00:00:15] a perfectly timed topic [00:00:17] as event organizers are planning their agendas for conferences and events in 2026, and And I got such great feedback from an episode I did a week or two ago [00:00:30] about applying for the DAM award, and I think it really resonated because everyone feels some level of imposter syndrome and they're not sure if. They should be applying for these things. They're worried about what other [00:00:45] people will think. [00:00:45] And my point was, apply for the DAM award. No one else cares about your future as much as you do, and you have to back yourself before anyone else will believe in you. So on that same theme, here is [00:01:00] a reprise of an earlier podcast and it's about getting on the damn stage. Let's go. [00:01:06] [00:01:08] Speaker: So first, I'm gonna address the brand side leaders and practitioners out there. Great news, you are in high demand for [00:01:15] your point of view. Event organizers, podcast hosts, journalists, they all wanna hear from you. And the more steamy you are, the hotter a commodity, your ideas and experience are, bad news is potentially your organization, [00:01:30] especially generally, the larger ones may be a little touchy about it. [00:01:34] About what you can and can't say. And so this can end up creating a lot of work for yourself to be getting approvals, what you can talk about. Um, I'll share a little bit more on tactics around that later [00:01:45] on. But before we get into that, what's the benefits of doing this? I was really scratching my head a couple of years ago because I was in a position where I wanted to help facilitate more conversations with brand side leaders while I was on the agency side myself. [00:01:59] [00:02:00] And I went to lunch regularly in Atlanta with brand side leaders. And I remember this conversation with Celia Van w, shout out to Celia, and I asked, well, what's in it for you on the brand side to get up there on stage? 'cause [00:02:15] I kind of understand maybe that a lot of the larger organizations wouldn't wanna do this. [00:02:19] And she gave me a really. Great take on this that I found a little surprising. So she talked about a couple of different areas where this helps you personally, but also helps the company. [00:02:30] First of all, it helps with recruiting. It's very helpful, especially if you're a large company, to be out there, being seen as a leader and innovator with good leadership, exciting ideas that you are doing exciting things with technology and [00:02:45] partners, and that's gonna help. [00:02:46] Your organization to attract better talent. So that's one reason and a win for the organization. Second is signaling to your suppliers, to your retail partners, to your prospective [00:03:00] retail partners. That you're out there doing things, you're progressive, you're investing where it counts. Then number three for the organization is it can be a win for your partners when you present with them. [00:03:12] When you do them a solid and you're getting up there [00:03:15] and sharing a case study, you are helping your solution provider partners out with that, and you can expect some great treatment from your solution provider partners when you are getting up there and presenting with them and helping them to look good as [00:03:30] well. [00:03:30] So those are benefits for the organization that you can kind of pitch when you're trying to get out there and get approvals to get up on the stage and talk about your experience. On a personal level, this is pretty obvious. It's gonna help you in your career. It's gonna help future [00:03:45] employers get wind of you. [00:03:47] It's gonna help with recruiting for your direct team. It's going to help you build your network of peers who you can text and ask for advice. And opinions when you need it. And finally, it just makes the [00:04:00] event so much more fun. You have a completely different experience when you're at an event and your badge says Speaker, people will come up to you, people will introduce themselves, they will talk about your session. [00:04:11] It makes the experience so much richer and more fun, [00:04:15] and you get so much more out of it. So I really encourage you on the brand side. Even if you're an introvert, even if it scares you, feel the fear and do it anyway. Second group here is the solution providers, agencies, tech [00:04:30] companies. Great news. Your organization really wants you to get on stage and get any publicity you can. [00:04:36] You won't have any resistance if you get one of these invitations. The bad news is event providers see you as their meal ticket. And expect [00:04:45] you to pay for the privilege, and sometimes paying is really the clearest and ultimately the cheapest way to get that opportunity. You can totally still make this work. [00:04:54] The benefits here are very obvious beyond all the ones that I mentioned that are relevant to the brand side. Still irrelevant here, [00:05:00] but you get new business and credibility as well. So how can you get something like this over the line? I have some experience of this from the other side when I'll have a brand side leader come onto my podcast or share about, you know, what sort of [00:05:15] internal hoops they had to jump through to get permission to speak about their experience. [00:05:19] So there's a couple of different approaches here. One is just ask for forgiveness, not permission, I won't say who it was or which company it was, but I submitted the questions from my [00:05:30] podcast to this individual. They went and got them approved by a legal, and when it came time for the interview, they said, yeah, I got all these, you know, Q and As approved. [00:05:39] I'm not gonna stick to the script really, because no offense kiri, but they're not gonna listen to your show. [00:05:45] Absolutely no offense taken, but that's sort of a way around it is. You got the questions in advance, you write the bullet points, you know you're not gonna stick exactly to the script and you might go off script, but you got it all approved. [00:05:56] Of course, you still must be responsible. You still need to consider who's in the [00:06:00] room that they're gonna be press there, is there gonna be competitors? And balance out what you stand to gain versus what you might lose from being very candid. Second tactic here is. Stick to career lessons and management lessons rather than [00:06:15] specific tactics that you're using. [00:06:17] You know, that might end up in the wrong hands. And finally, for brands, team up with your solution provider partners who have a huge incentive to build the case studies and do all the [00:06:30] legwork of creating the content and the message. They will be very prepared to jump through any hoops necessary, and so it's a win-win for your relationship with them. [00:06:41] It's a great win for your partner who deserves it. [00:06:45] Retailers know that a marketplace model can dramatically boost product assortment, shopper engagement, and total revenue. But to get the most out of your [00:07:00] marketplace, you need an ad tech solution that can really engage sellers. Miracle Ads is powering the future of retail media for leading retailers to activate both three P Sellers and one P brands. [00:07:14] Kiri Masters: Learn [00:07:15] more@miracle.com. That's M-I-R-A-K l.com. [00:07:21] Speaker: Now, if you're on the solution provider side, it's going to be a little bit more difficult for you to get onto the stage. You're either going to have to pay [00:07:30] for the privilege. Or do quite a bit of extra work, and I think it's entirely appropriate and still can be a great win if you pay for the slot to speak, pay to sponsor the event, pay to get on the stage and [00:07:45] present with a client. [00:07:45] It's still going to be ticking the boxes that you need it to. Another approach here that I think a lot of solution providers skip because they just don't have the time or the resources or the ability to make this happen, is creating unique [00:08:00] research that you can present and you know, you can present this as a downloadable resource where you're collecting opt-ins and leads. [00:08:09] You can be pitching this to podcasts and journalists. I think if [00:08:15] your research gets enough credibility, it's something that you could conceivably present at a large event and maybe your research and benchmarks get enough of a profile where that's enough of a draw over time where you don't have to pay to get up on this [00:08:30] stage potentially. [00:08:31] If you're a solution provider and you collect data, even if you are an agency and you don't have any of your own technology, you can still collect how your clients are thinking about Prime Day this year and what deals are they running and aggregate [00:08:45] that and share that. That's very useful. That's actually what's going to happen or what has happened or how they perform. [00:08:50] This is the type of insights that event organizers, podcasters, journalists, they're all dying for. And yes, it does take a little bit of time. It's gonna [00:09:00] take time away from your clients, but this is so defensible and such a great way to build a brand around your topic. Highly recommend chasing down this path. [00:09:10] [00:09:11] Kiri Masters: Now this is where going back through the podcast [00:09:15] archives really pays off. And I'm glad you've stuck with me to the end because when I posted this on LinkedIn, I got some really great insights from the community and I wanna revisit those for your benefit. So Mike Feldman, who is the SVP of [00:09:30] Commerce at Flywheel, made a really great point, which is one thing I always tell people is to start with a panel. It's low pressure. Often more conversational and you usually have input into the questions. It's a great entry point. However, my biggest piece of advice [00:09:45] is always to play to your strengths. [00:09:46] You don't need to be polished or hit every talking point perfectly. Just speak to what you know that passion and credibility will follow. [00:09:54] And then at, [00:09:55] Kiri Masters: There's a really interesting point from Chris Sheldon who said, . [00:10:00] I'm bummed you advise brand side leaders to focus on career lessons rather than tactical details. [00:10:05] Conferences these days could use a lot more real world tactical details like the programmatic media of old. That is an excellent point, Chris, and I'm glad you brought it up. I [00:10:15] think that there is a lot of wishy-washy content out there on this stage, and this is where I'm gonna contradict myself because often I think panels can be a very uninspiring format, so you've gotta really bring the energy and bring [00:10:30] some great anecdotes and things like that. [00:10:32] There's obviously a delicate balance here. You want to be giving value and not just talking in platitudes and generalities and just everyday tips that any person could find by [00:10:45] Googling it. [00:10:46] But some organizations truly are so restrictive with what you can do and what you can say that maybe you just need to find a creative way around that. Talk about your past experience, not point [00:11:00] to a particular. Thing that you're doing at your current company, but you can talk about things that have worked really well before. [00:11:07] Or here's one experience that I had without pointing out which company that experience related [00:11:15] to. Those are some ways that you can get specific add value to the audience while not getting into trouble. I hope you found this helpful as we gear up to 2026, and I hope to see you out on [00:11:30] stage. [00:11:30]