Pet Valu

When you step away from the daily grind to attend an industry event, you hope for three things: meaningful new connections, genuine insights, and a spark of inspiration. Last week’s Digital Day Camp delivered on all three ✅ ✅ ✅ I had the pleasure of taking the stage with Cameron Williamson ( SJC ) to discuss a philosophy we live by: not all impressions are created equal. In a world of digital noise, our goal isn't just to buy eyes, it’s to earn them. I shared our strategic approach at Pet Valu to ensure every impression works harder by focusing on: 🩵 Creating Meaningful Moments: Designing campaigns so our ads feel like a welcome guest rather than a disruption. 🪡 Medium-Specific Execution: Tailoring creative to the platform. We saw this in action with our "Cat-elaine" and "Playtime" campaigns, where the execution was built specifically for the environment it lived in. A huge thank you to David U.K. and Rob Beeler for the invitation to speak and for curating such a unique, high-caliber forum for industry leaders. The personal highlights of the day? Scoring some major Dad and Uncle points! Brittany MacLean Campbell, OLY didn't just let me hold her Olympic medal 🥉, she went above and beyond with incredible kindness to record a video for my niece, a fellow swimmer (and maybe a future Olympian?). I also had the chance to chat with a true Canadian icon and one of my favourite podcasters, Alan Cross , and managed to get his professional validation that I’ve successfully curated my kids' musical taste (90s Rock for the win! 🤘🎸). Cat-elaine: https://lnkd.in/eGBJzuqu Playtime: https://lnkd.in/etRVKjnm Sarah Thompson Matt McGowan Kristine Sherliker Brandon Gonez Ryan Matier Lakshmi Radhakrishnan Heather Gordon Adam Ritchie David Salmon Jerome Leys Kimberly O'Keefe, CLC Kristi L. Dr. Stephanie Gutnik Monika Platek Marissa Papaconstantinou #Brand #MarketingStrategy #DigitalDayCamp #PetValu #Leadership #90sRock #Inspiration #advertising

I'm so honoured to share that Pet Valu 's “Pet-First Inbox” campaign has been named a finalist for the Emerging Technology category at the eTail™ 2026 Visionary Awards! This idea didn't start from data, but from a simple human insight. Our customers, the devoted pet lovers, don't see their pets as dog or cat - they saw family members with names, distinct personalities, and very different needs. So we asked a simple question: What would email personalization look like if we truly mirrored how pet parents see their pets? That question led us to reimagine email from product-first to pet-first, turning everyday promotions into moments of recognition that feel personal, relevant, and memorable. Huge thank you to Idan Driman , this work is a direct reflection of the vision you set. Love Lives Here isn’t just a platform, it’s a standard for how we show up for our customers. It created the foundation and ambition for us to push personalization further and rethink what great customer experience looks like. Big kudos to Ben Kuzmaski for leading this initiative, and to Cameron Moorehead , Greg Elliott , and WTD (William Thomas Digital) for bringing it to life. Let’s keep raising the bar. #LoveLivesHere .