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The Modern Retail Marketing Summit in Huntington Beach pushed leaders to rethink playbooks. Facing economic headwinds and shifting consumer habits, brand and retail teams ran live workshops to test ideas. The result: a set of practical shifts marketers plan to adopt now.
How brands are inviting Gen Z to co-create and engage
Speakers at the summit made a clear point: one-way messaging is losing power with younger shoppers. Brands that invite participation create deeper loyalty.
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- Make customers collaborators. Campaigns that let shoppers shape creative content, attend brand events, or share personal stories perform better than ads alone.
- Urban Outfitters experimented with small, intimate trips and events targeting micro-influencers to turn casual buyers into advocates.
- PacSun formed a 16-member Youth Advisory Board to have Gen Z and Gen Alpha directly influence product, visuals, and activations.
Giving young consumers a seat at the table builds authenticity. According to brand leaders, Gen Z doesn’t want to be talked at—they want to co-create.
Get ready for AI discovery: structure data and build third-party trust
Search is changing. AI-driven systems now assemble results from multiple sources. That shift demands new technical and reputation work.
Technical steps for AI visibility
- Convert product and catalog data into machine-readable formats.
- Prefer server-side rendering so language models and crawlers can parse content.
- Implement robust schema and structured markup across product pages.
Earned signals matter more
As AI pulls evidence from across the web, third-party trust markers—reviews, earned media, community mentions—gain influence. Authentic external validation can outweigh a brand’s own claims in AI-driven ranking.
Break silos and stitch together the customer journey
Disconnected marketing stacks hide behavior and shrink revenue potential. Unifying data sources helps brands act faster and more relevantly.
- Integrate channels: Combine email, SMS, social, and onsite analytics to create unified customer profiles.
- Link in-store transactions to online IDs to measure how digital campaigns drive physical visits.
- Create cross-functional teams or shared platforms to remove blind spots between vendors and channels.
Marketing leaders argued that fragmented teams lead to missed signals, like abandoned carts or repeat visitors. An omnichannel view preserves message consistency and boosts conversion.
Use IRL moments to cut through digital overload
Consumers are fatigued by endless digital ads. Physical experiences give brands a way to stand out and build trust.
- Bring back tactile marketing: catalogs, samples, and print can re-engage skeptical shoppers.
- Host immersive pop-ups that combine product trials with memorable programming.
- Design events that prioritize touch, trust, and shareable moments over quick transactions.
Brands noted that IRL activations not only strengthen relationships, they also drive measurable sales when paired with strong post-event digital follow-up.
Protect brand budgets by redefining how you measure success
Several executives warned against forcing every marketing dollar to prove itself via last-click metrics. That practice can undermine long-term brand health.
- Set separate KPIs for upper-funnel work—awareness, consideration, and trust metrics.
- Present upper-funnel scorecards alongside ROAS and acquisition numbers to leadership.
- Recognize that broad reach builds future demand and should not be dismissed as wasteful spend.
Marketing leaders recommended a balanced scorecard approach to preserve investments that drive brand equity over time.
