I’ll be at Advertising Week New York this week, and I’m looking forward to being
By Ethelbertwilliams · October 5, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
I’ll be at Advertising Week New York this week, and I’m looking forward to being in rooms where the industry’s next operating models are being designed.
The timing couldn’t be better. In just the past few weeks, OpenAI launched always-on agents designed to pursue goals across applications. Amazon unBoxed pushed agentic AI deeper into media planning and commercial decision-making. Mastercard is building infrastructure to make products discoverable and transactable by AI agents.
AI is moving from helping us create and optimize toward actively influencing decisions, recommendations and transactions.
That’s the insight I’m bringing to various forums this week. I want to push beyond “How are marketers using AI?” toward immediate steps to help operators: Who owns the AI-mediated customer relationship? How should organizations change when agents increasingly sit between intent and execution? And what new measures of brand visibility, trust and recommendation belong on the executive dashboard?
I’m also looking forward to turning those conversations into action—connecting ideas across brand, commerce, technology, organizational design and governance, and pressure-testing what an actionable 2027 AI readiness playbook should look like. These questions are already themes across the Advertising Week programming around agent-driven customer journeys and AI-mediated shopping.
My experience across brand building, P&L leadership, digital commerce, retail media and now board and advisory work has reinforced one lesson—the biggest advantage rarely goes to the company that adopts the newest technology first. It goes to the company that redesigns around changing behavior fastest. Where are your teams on this journey?
Above all, I’m looking forward to reconnecting with old friends and making some new ones. The hallway conversations, coffees and dinner tables are often where the most powerful ideas start.
If you’ll be in NYC, please send me a message. I’m carving out time for discussions with leaders thinking seriously about what needs to change for 2027.
Lets keep building and I’ll see you in New York.