Experiences worth attending and creators as strategists: Takeaways from the Marketing Brew Summit

In 2026, CMOs are under immense pressure to prove their worth, according to a recent Marketing Brew survey shared at the fifth annual Marketing Brew Summit last week in New York. Almost half of respondents (42%) said CMOs are having difficulty communicating their value to other executives.

In such an intense climate, some CMOs may be feeling the pressure to make their marketing dollars work harder. Marketing leaders from Oatly, SharkNinja, and Pinterest were among those who appeared onstage at the summit to share how they’re building innovative campaigns that seek to stand out and prove the power of marketing.

We’ve compiled some of their advice below.

Gen Z, IRL: In a world where AI is proliferating, younger consumers are craving offline experiences, Michael Lee, EVP executive creative director at Oatly North America, said onstage. The brand recently hosted an activation to debut its Oatly Matcha product in Toronto at the same time as the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), creating a faux hotel suite activation modeled after the VIP parties hosted in hotel suites that take place around the festival. At Oatly’s space, attendees could get “matcha manicures” and sip on matcha-flavored drinks to celebrate the premiere of the drink in Canada.

“There was a line where people were waiting two and a half hours to get into this space, and it just tells you that people love this in-real-life activity,” he said. “It’s something that you can’t really experience on your phone.”

Pinterest is also investing in experiential marketing as a way to emphasize offline engagement, Sara Pollack, global head of consumer marketing at Pinterest, said onstage. The platform went so far as to ban phones at its Coachella activation in April this year. Guests could enter the activation and get their makeup touched up or make charm accessories—as long as they locked away their phones first.

“We want people to be present rather than performative, and we’re designing it as such,” Pollack said.

Rethink creator strategies: Creators are doing more for some brands than just creating sponsored posts. Take SharkNinja, which is using creators to help craft the strategy for various products, Kaitlyn Hebert, SharkNinja CMO, said onstage.

“We are really ideating at the beginning before a product is even a prototype. What is the concept? What are we solving for? What are the insights?” she said. “We don’t do that in isolation. We bring creators in to help us develop it…They’re coming upstream with us to develop the stories.”

As some brands bring creators deeper in the business, some are moving away from spending on creators. Saint James Iced Tea doesn’t pay creators to appear at brand events or go on brand trips, but still invites them to experiences, Brad Neumann, the brand’s co-founder and co-CEO, said onstage. The brand invited influencers to a racetrack in New York last week for the launch of a new yerba mate product, with 25 ultimately attending.

“My team has done an incredible job on creating these incredible experiences over time that people want to be associated with us,” he said.

Choose your character: To get creative with its marketing and stick out among its competitive set, Liberty Mutual Insurance has introduced a series of brand characters, like its most recent fuzzy yellow mascot Liberty Biberty, in its ads, CMO Jenna Lebel said onstage.

“No one woke up here today saying, ‘I really want to buy insurance today,’” Lebel said. “Our philosophy is rather than fight those dynamics and realities, we need to embrace them. That’s why you see the whole category rely on humor, entertainment, [and] brand characters.”