March 9-11, 2021
Educational Sessions
Tuesday, March 9
11:30 a.m. EST/8:30 a.m. PST
Streaming TV: Where Buzz Meets Opportunity
A trio of sales leaders responsible for performance and direct response advertising on the streaming properties owned by Discovery, Disney, and ViacomCBS will share background on the growing opportunities for advertisers in the space. How important is the variance in content offerings in driving consumer adoption of these platforms? What are the current trends for advertisers seeking the best opportunities on these outlets? And how does a focus on the consumer experience drive more response to your ads?
Confirmed Speakers: David Futterman, ViacomCBS; Brian Judge, Discovery Inc.; Ella Leung, Disney Ad Sales
Moderator: Bridget Italiano, TouchPoint Integrated Communications
1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST
Direct-to-Retail Leaders Ride the Pandemic Wave
As the coronavirus shuttered or limited retailers across the country, one particular area of performance marketing had to remain quick on its feet: traditional direct response marketers who drive customers to retail for final purchases. How did these marketers survive — and thrive — the choppy waters? Hear from a trio of experts in the DR-to-retail game in this special session created by the PDMI’s Workshop Council.
Confirmed Speakers: Matt Fisher, Tristar Products; Adam Hassler, Launch 2 Retail; Amit Khubani, Ontel Products
Moderator: Asieya Pine, Lockard & Wechsler Direct
2:30 p.m. EDT/11:30 a.m. PDT
The Future of Data Privacy Regulation
With the November passage of another California law upping the state’s ante into data privacy regulation — the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) — what does it mean for marketers, what states may follow suit, and when might the federal government step into the breach? Leaders from the firms that are part of the PDMI’s Government Affairs Council discuss one of the hottest topics of 2021 — and beyond.
Confirmed Speakers: Ted Augustinos, Locke Lord LLP; Reed Freeman Jr., Venable LLP; Melinda McLellan, BakerHostetler
Moderator: Thomas Haire, The PDMI
4 p.m. EDT/1 p.m. PDT
Cocktails With a Dash of E-Commerce
In February 2020, few of us knew the term “virtual happy hour.” By April, many of us had taken part in more than one — and would continue to do so regularly as the pandemic expanded. But how did we fill the demand for all that online imbibing with our friends and family? One way: the massive growth of e-commerce for spirits and cocktails. Hear more from two leaders in the booming online beverage world in this special session presented by the PDMI’s partners at E-Commerce Day.
Confirmed Speakers: Tim Angelillo, Sourced Craft Cocktails; Dr. Prashant Desai, Bottlecapps
Moderator: Phil Gorman, E-Commerce Day Events
Wednesday, March 10
11:30 a.m. EST/8:30 a.m. PDT
Brandformance — Build Your Brand With a Performance Mindset
In this talk, Aprajita Jain — Google’s chief marketing brand evangelist — will share the top benefits of branding for performance-minded advertisers and how you can think about success KPIs for brand campaigns. She will also share examples of brands that are successfully driving sales with online video branding.
Confirmed Speaker: Aprajita Jain, Google
1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST
U.S. Hispanic Marketing Trends for 2021
Every market segment was knocked off track in 2020. However, one thing hasn’t changed: the growth in scope and importance of the U.S. Hispanic consumer. What can marketers expect when trying to connect with and sell to this segment as things improve throughout 2021? The PDMI’s U.S. Hispanic Council brings together a group of leaders to discuss.
Confirmed Speakers: Stacie de Armas, Nielsen; Fern Lee, THOR Associates; Kyle Patten, Univision; Alberto Vilar, Apoyo Seguro
Moderator: Nicole Cordero, Havas Edge
2:30 p.m. EDT/11:30 a.m. PDT
Attribution in the Age of Data
It’s been the biggest buzzword in the business — but unlike others, it doesn’t go away: attribution. But in this era of ever-growing data sources, what must marketers and their agency partners focus on to make the best data-driven performance marketing decisions? And how can they then best leverage their attribution efforts for success. In this special one-hour webinar, gain wisdom from a group of agency, data partner, and media outlet leaders.
Confirmed Speakers: AJ Brown, LeadsRx; Brent Lightfoot, iHeart Media; Alyson Sprague, iHeart Media
Moderator: Thomas Galati, Diray Media
4 p.m. EST/1 p.m. PST
The Sliding Scale Between Brand and Performance Marketing
If a DTC brand needs to both create awareness and drive sales, how does the marketing approach change from brand-oriented messaging to hard-driving direct-to-consumer tactics? Across all areas of the industry, what is proving to be the most effective way to engage buyers? The PDMI’s Brand Response Council welcomes a group of leaders to discuss the topic.
Confirmed Speakers: Jennifer Bunch, Eckler’s; Jennifer Geddy, Sony Electronics; Dan Kelly, DISH Media; Kathi Moore, Fareportal
Moderator: Chris Foster, Modern Postcard
Thursday, March 11
1 p.m. EST/10 a.m. PST
Electronic Payments Save Time and Money, Allow AP to Focus on Mission-Critical Tasks
Accounts payable is now busier than ever and AP leaders are eager to improve operation efficiency and effectiveness. Paying vendors electronically frees staff from the drudgery of manual check processing, allowing them to focus more of their time on higher-value activities such as data analysis and supplier management. Join our informative webinar to learn how e-payments make AP more efficient.
Confirmed Speakers: Leslie Thomason, Paymerang; John Zaudtke, Paymerang
Moderator: Michael Johnson, Paymerang
2:30 p.m. EST/11:30 a.m. PST
New Direct Marketing Techniques Proven to Drive Response
From retargeting lost website visitors with postcards to linking digital advertising with direct mail to households, direct marketing is now about combining data and technology to digital and print. Learn the best new techniques that major brands are using to drive response and get more customers.
Confirmed Speakers: Chris Foster and Keith Goodman, Modern Postcard
Speaker Bios
Moderators
Thomas Haire
In 2018,
Thomas Haire co-founded Definitive Media Group, an event and trade publishing company, as well as the Performance-Driven Marketing Institute (PDMI), a non-profit trade association for companies working in performance-driven and direct-to-consumer marketing. He serves both as chief content officer. Prior to this, Haire was editor-in-chief of
Response — the magazine for media, technology, and commerce — for 17 years. He also served as the content director of Response Expo, a trade event in the direct-to-consumer marketing industry, from 2007-2018. A four-time Western Publications Association (WPA) Maggie-award nominee as editor-in-chief of
Response and a two-time Eddie Award winner as a magazine editor and feature writer, Haire also contributes regularly to the CBS-owned 247sports.com website,
USCFootball.com (since 2000) and
BostonMan Magazine. In fits and starts, he also operates his own blog,
TomRants.com, and can be followed on his personal Twitter feed at
@THrants. A native Southern Californian, Haire and his wife relocated to Massachusetts three years ago where they reside with their 2-year-old son.
Asieya Pine
As president of Lockard & Wechsler Direct (LWD),
Asieya Pine is responsible for the agency's day-to-day operations. She also leads the planning and account services group, which optimizes media for the agency's 80-plus clients. Under her leadership, LWD has grown year after year for 20 years, becoming one of the largest privately held performance marketing agencies in the country. Pine’s experience covers a wide range of direct response disciplines, including advertising for consumer products, lead-generation, and e-commerce brands.
Thomas Galati
Thomas Galati is the sales director with Diray Media, a direct response-focused media buying agency. He is responsible for leading relationships with agency partners and direct marketers. Galati’s experience ranges from publishers and platforms like Microsoft and LinkedIn to leaders in adtech, such as Rocket Fuel and Sizmek. He has experience building and managing comprehensive marketing campaigns for companies like Unilever, Delta Air Lines, and ExxonMobil, as well as start-ups aspiring to join the Fortune 500. Galati has sold digital, search, radio, print, events, and branded entertainment solutions. He serves on the board of the Michael Magro Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to helping families affected by pediatric cancer. Galati is married with three children and lives in New York.
Nicole Cordero
Chris Foster
Phil Gorman
Phil Gorman is the founder of E-Commerce Day®. He turned his 30-year career in e-commerce, software, and small business advisory into the production of educational, motivational, and inspirational events for e-commerce merchants and brands. E-Commerce Day counts industry-leader Shopify as a partner in its efforts, along with many other industry leading experts and vendors from around the world. Thousands of e-commerce merchants have attended various E-Commerce Day events during the past two years.
Bridget Italiano
Speakers
Matt Fisher
Matt Fisher serves as president of the retail division at Tristar Products. He worked independently with Tristar for 13 years before joining the team for the past seven years. He oversees the company’s growth with a focus on sales, operations, and strategy. Before joining Tristar, he was vice president of sales at LiveOps Inc., the world’s largest home agent call center. Fisher specialized in working with enterprises to develop award-winning customer service systems and solutions. He was previously head of project management for Lycos Global Media Group and worked closely with the core engineering team at Netscape. Fisher also served as a director of the Electronic Retailing Association. He holds a B.S. in mathematics from the University of California, Davis, and an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Adam Hassler
Amit Khubani
Amit Khubani is a 15-year direct response industry veteran. He is executive vice president and director of international at Ontel Products, an industry leading, retail-centric direct response company. Khubani manages many facets of the retail business, including digital, live shopping, mass retail, mass hardware, and off-price retail. During his tenure, he has overseen or contributed to nearly $4 billion in retail sales of DRTV items.
Reed Freeman Jr.
Ted Augustinos
AJ Brown
AJ Brown is CEO, co-founder, and head of technology at LeadsRx. He provided the initial inspiration for LeadsRx, having been head of marketing for several businesses during his career, as well as head of software engineering. His experience working with fast-paced Silicon Valley startups for the better part of two-and-a-half decades has helped a number of businesses build early traction and high-impact lead generation programs.
Brent Lightfoot
As part of iHeart Media’s leadership team, Brent Lightfoot — senior director of research, multi-market partnerships and analytics — works across all of iHeart’s 150+ markets to provide clients with actionable research. His areas of expertise include identifying the best audience targets, media and market selection, brand building, measuring results, and consulting on best practices for campaign success and optimization. Additionally, Lightfoot has been deeply involved in the creation of multiple attribution solutions, including design, methodology, UAT, go-to-market strategies, and training programs. Prior to joining iHeartMedia in 2016, he worked for several large media research and data tech firms including Allant, Rentrak (comScore), and Nielsen Media Research. He holds a B.A. in telecommunications from Michigan State University and is a past-president of the Research Club of Chicago.
Alyson Sprague
As senior director of research and analytics for iHeartMedia, Alyson Sprague is responsible for helping develop audio attribution solutions for advertisers and performance marketers. Her aim is to provide marketers with actionable recommendations on how to plan, measure, and optimize marketing budgets by leveraging aggregated performance data and learnings from thousands of iHeartMedia marketing campaigns. Prior to joining iHeartMedia in 2012, Sprague worked as a digital marketing manager at an international non-profit organization and in academic research labs at Stanford and San Francisco State Universities. She holds a B.A. in research psychology and an M.A. in international studies from Stanford University.
Aprajita Jain
Aprajita Jain is a global soul with Indian roots and a German upbringing. She is the chief brand marketing evangelist at Google and feels she has found her “calling.” In her 17 years at Google, Jain has worked with some of Google's most sophisticated advertisers to help them improve their digital marketing strategies that are grounded in consumers’ wants and needs. In her Google career, she has focused on various performance marketing solutions for large advertisers in the retail and travel industries before she discovered her love for branding six years ago. Her approach to executive meetings is to provoke bold action through the perfect mix of facts and fun, head and heart, convincing and caring. Jain is a diehard Bollywood fan, movie critic, blog author, and dancer. She speaks four languages, which makes her hobby of traveling the world a lot easier. Jain earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration from the University of Saarland in Germany, and also has attended the MBA Marketing curriculum at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania.
Brian Judge
Ella Leung
David Futterman
Tim Angelillo
As a successful tech entrepreneur and global business leader, Tim Angelillo brings 15-plus years of experience running divisions of publically traded companies like Yahoo! and Time Warner, as well currently founding and leading three start up businesses in Austin, Texas. These experiences allow him to share detailed insights on how to apply an entrepreneurial drive, and marketing, sales, technology, and management skills both inside global companies and the tech start up world. As global business leader for $900 million of revenue overseeing Yahoo! Sports and the Y! Commerce divisions, and executive director founding and overseeing $100 million of Sports Illustrated licensing, properties, and retail business units, Angelillo shares his experience with audiences around the world on the topics like: “5 Keys to Being a Successful, Halfway Sane Start Up Entrepreneur”; “Launch Fast, Listen, and Never Fail”; and “Pacing? It’s a Not a Marathon but a Sprint With No Finish Line.” During his talks, Angelillo offers specific recounts of real-world experience from his various roles, including, currently, founder and CEO of Sourced Craft Cocktails. He is an avid runner, using more than 30 miles a week to think up the next business venture, and the grateful husband and father of three children — RJ, Cooper, and Grace — all under the age of 10.
Dr. Prashant Desai
Fern Lee
Fern Lee, CEO of THOR Associates, is an award-winning marketing professional with a proven track record of creating and increasing brand awareness. A proud 2018 inductee to the Direct Response Hall of Fame, she has mastered the caveat of consumer engagement with each campaign, recognizing the “journey” to provide loyalty and asset values for multiple globally recognized brands. Lee is successful at applying direct response initiatives to the traditional and digital marketplaces with a unique expertise in branded-response omnichannel results. Earlier in her career, Lee was the head of direct response at Good Times Entertainment/Gaiam, bringing fitness hits Billy Blanks, THE FIRM, and Richard Simmons incredible success around the world. TurboCooker and GTXpress were also multi-million-dollar revenue generators in DTC and retail initiatives. For the past 14 years, Lee has dedicated her talents as CEO of THOR Associates, creating a premier omnichannel strategic marketing agency that implements dynamic lead generation resulting in multiple consumer transactions. Under the THOR Associates umbrella, Lee is proud to have provided services to select clients such as: MetLife, AIG, Humana, J&J, Mars, Balsam Hill, FocusFactor, KUMON, InventHelp, GalleryDirect.com, MedicareAdvantage.com, ClickNKids, Zestra, ReBloom, SmartSilk, and Migralex.
Kyle Patten
Alberto Vilar Jr.
Kathi Moore
Since 2016, Kathi Moore has led branding and communications at Fareportal, the corporate owner of CheapOair.com, One Travel, and five additional domestic and international travel brands. In her role as vice president of these areas, she is responsible for brand positioning, strategy, and execution for online and offline tactics, including television, radio, social media, SEO, blogs, public relations, and internal communications. She also heads up Fareportal Media Group, the company’s online media sales arm. Prior to joining Fareportal, Moore’s career was a blend of agency and client-side roles in media and account management for companies in the U.S. and abroad. She has experience working with large brands and small start-ups, and particularly enjoys blending e-commerce know-how with research-driven, data-inspired customer messaging to create success.
Jennifer Bunch
Jennifer Bunch is the senior director of direct marketing for Eckler’s Automotive and oversees direct mail, email, digital, and marketing operations. She has more than 20 years of experience in helping companies grow and maintain their customer bases by building fully integrated, omnichannel marketing programs.
Jennifer Geddy
In her role as director of marketing at Sony Electronics, Jennifer Geddy drives Sony’s adoption of data-driven marketing, marketing technology, and advanced analytics. With more than 15 years of experience developing marketing strategy and the supporting tactical executions, she is committed to leveraging consumer insights and data analytics to engage customers and drive measurable growth and results. Geddy has a B.A. from George Mason University and an M.B.A. from San Diego State University.
John Zaudtke
John Zaudtke is director of business development, leading sales at Paymerang — overseeing a team of outside and inside sales professionals and directing the day-to-day activities to deliver rapid growth. His goal is to drive a world-class sales organization that is able to connect with financial professionals in a diverse set of industry verticals and help them benefit from Paymerang’s transformative finance automation solutions. Zaudtke spent the past three years in an outside sales role with Paymerang, managing the company’s K-12 education and financial institution verticals. He has more than 15 years of sales experience from companies big and small, like Ricoh, Snag, and The Brink’s Company. A highly motivated and energetic leader, Zaudtke loves coaching and mentoring others, both in the office and on the lacrosse field.
Leslie Thomason
Leslie Thomason is client success manager, leading the client success team at Paymerang, overseeing all client implementations and client account reviews. Thomason and her team ensure that client on-boarding is a smooth process and that clients have a successful ongoing relationship with Paymerang.
Michael Johnson
Michael Johnson is vice president of business development at Paymerang, an automated accounts payable solution that converts paper checks to electronic payments, creating efficiency and additional revenue for your organization. He has more than 20 years of experience in finance, with an extensive background in the A/R and A/P arenas. His strengths include building strong relationships in the industries he caters to. He resides in Gray, Maine with his wife and three sons.
Keith Goodman
Keith Goodman — a 30-year veteran in the direct marketing space — is vice president, corporate sales and marketing, at Modern Postcard, a leading provider of direct mail marketing solutions that has leveraged today’s technology to provide businesses of any size access to a breadth of powerful direct mail services. Prior to Modern Postcard, Goodman co-founded ThinkDirectMarketing Inc., the first online direct mail list provider. Previously, he held executive level positions with USA Direct Inc., one of the nation’s largest direct mail marketing companies, and technology industry leaders NewTek and Access Graphics, a subsidiary of Lockheed Martin. Goodman has shared his experience as a speaker at hundreds of conferences, seminars, and webinars around the world.
Melinda McLellan
Stacie M. de Armas
Stacie M. de Armas is senior vice president, Inclusive Insights & Initiatives, and a leader within Nielsen's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion practice. She is a researcher, consumer behaviorist, thought leader, and subject matter expert on diverse communities. de Armas is responsible for producing inclusive thought leadership and new research initiatives on diverse consumers and audiences. She joined Nielsen in 1998 and has served in many roles related to multicultural marketing. She sits on the Cultural Marketing Council Board of Directors, as well as Google's 21st Century Multicultural Marketing Council, and has been the recipient of industry honors for her work in diversity marketing. de Armas is an adjunct professor of qualitative research at California State University, Los Angeles, and California State University, Northridge. She received her M.B.A. with a focus on marketing from Texas A&M University. de Armas is a first-generation Cubana and lives in Los Angeles with her two children.
Dan Kelly
