Our Discovery: AI & Search Summit sold out as the industry came together to discuss brand discovery in an evolving media landscape of AI-generated answers and instant-response search. We heard keynotes from Amazon Ads, Google, OpenAI and Kantar, insights from our expert hot takes speaker panel plus an interactive workshop led by our Emerging Technology Council team. Here's the event wrap, containing post-event resources, highlights and photos.
Thank you to our keynote speakers and our hot takes speaker panel for their insights, and for the follow-up resources below, which are current at the date of publication 18 August 2026. For those of you that prefer audio, there's a 'deep dive' Gemini Notebook AI podcast 🎧 Plus, you may be able to spot yourself or your friends in the event photo gallery 📷 A big thank you to our event sponsors Amazon Ads and Taboola.
Post Event Speaker Resources
Nikki Rogers, Head of Performance, Google NZ: Resources
Top tips for gen AI features on Google Search
Google SEO guide for marketers
Aneeket Dayal, Strategy & Insights Lead, Amazon Ads: Abridged Keynote
Mitch Pilar, GTM Ads Solutions, OpenAI: Full Keynote
Jason Schoeman, Head of Solutions & Enterprise and Victoria Fedotova, Group Client Director Kantar: Abridged Keynote
Rowan Schaaf, Co-Founder Pattern
Rowan's hot take on the speaker panel was that agentic influence is going to be about utility. The brands that win will be the ones that prioritise the tools agents need to act, and with WebMCP on the horizon, now is the time to start planning.
Here's what you need to know about WebMCP. Pattern has also built a prototype brand-audit tool, which compares how brands appear inside multiple AI platforms.
Richard Conway, CEO The Optimisers
Ahead of this Summit The Optimisers ran 'The NZ AI Answers Project' Survey to uncover what AI tells New Zealanders currently, and it found that the top answer doesn’t reflect real market share and it changes depending on which AI engine you ask. You can download the full report below.
For those who missed this event, you can listen to some of the highlights in the IAB NZ Insights Podcast thanks to the power of Gemini NotebookLM and AI. Please note that this is an automatically generated AI podcast based on content from events and outputs and not the direct perspectives of the presenters or IAB New Zealand.
A big thank you to our industry expert speakers.
Aneeket Dayal
Strategy and Insights Lead, Amazon Ads, Australia
With nearly two decades across digital strategy, enterprise transformation, and behavioural sciences, Aneeket translates complex data into insights that drive real business growth. Previously Principal Digital Strategist at Adobe APAC, he's held leadership roles at OMD, Havas, and AKQA, and is a keynote speaker at Adobe Summit, Mumbrella 360, and AWS Summit.
Victoria Fedotova
Group Client Director, Kantar
Victoria Fedotova is Group Client Director at Kantar New Zealand. She helps organisations translate customer and market insight into growth opportunities, working with leading brands across tourism, financial services, telecommunications, FMCG, retail, and automotive to shape customer, brand, and marketing strategies that deliver measurable impact.
Mitch
Pilar
GTM - Ads Solutions, OpenAI
Mitch Pilar is a founding member of OpenAI’s GTM Ads Solutions team, helping businesses across New Zealand and Australia navigate how AI is reshaping discovery, decision-making and brand engagement. He joins OpenAI as the company continues to build its commercial capabilities and deepen its engagement with enterprise customers globally.
Nikki Rogers
Head of Performance, Google NZ
As Head of Performance, Nikki partners with leading Kiwi advertisers and their agencies to drive business growth and navigate the changing digital landscape. She brings a wealth of strategic insight to the industry; with 20 years of digital marketing experience in agency and in-house roles across NZ and Canada. Nikki will unpack the future of search; exploring Google’s evolving, AI-powered ecosystem and what it means for marketers.
Jason Schoeman
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Head of Solutions and Expertise, Kantar
Jason Schoeman is Head of Solutions and Expertise at Kantar New Zealand, where he helps brands turn data into growth. He specialises in media, AI-driven insights and creative effectiveness, working closely with clients to navigate changing consumer behaviour and deliver measurable impact through smarter marketing strategies.
Richard Conway
Founder & CEO, Pure SEO & The Optimisers
Richard Conway is the founder and CEO of The Optimisers, a native GEO, AEO and Agentic Search agency in New Zealand and Australia. He’s also the author of 'How to Get to the Top of Google Search' (Penguin Random House), a Gold IAB Award winner (Service to The Industry), and an EY Entrepreneur of the Year finalist.
Joe
France
Sales Director, Taboola
Joe has 20 years' experience in digital advertising, and has been with Taboola for the last seven years in sales director roles across Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. He specialises in content marketing, and helping brands reach engaged users beyond traditional paid search. Joe has worked with marketing teams in multiple markets, focusing on connecting content strategy with measurable business outcomes.
Rowan Schaaf
Co-Founder, Pattern
Rowan Schaaf is co-founder of Pattern, an AI-native software agency in Auckland. Pattern builds and operates inside the shift to agent-mediated work exploring what changes when agents sit between companies and the tools, vendors and information they rely on, rather than humans doing the reaching.
Jill
Varani
Head of Search, MBM
Jill is Head of Search at MBM, bringing more than 15 years’ experience across New Zealand’s agency landscape. She has deep expertise in paid search and SEO, with a strong track record of delivering strategic, performance-driven digital marketing solutions for leading Kiwi brands.
Dr. Shahper
Richter
Senior Lecturer, Digital Marketing University of Auckland Business School
Dr. Shahper Richter is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Auckland. She works at the intersection of digital marketing, education and emerging technologies. With a strong focus on making AI understandable and usable in real-world settings, Shahper brings a practical, down-to-earth approach to conversations about digital change.
Mike
Delaney
Group Product Director, Omnicom Media
As Group Product Director at Omnicom Media New Zealand, Mike leads the development and commercialisation of its product suite across media measurement, analytics and data capabilities that power their agency brands (PHD, OMD, Hearts & Science). This includes econometrics and marketing mix modelling, data transformation, business intelligence products and agentic marketing technology operations.
Mike
Puru
Broadcaster & Media Personality
Much loved broadcaster and media personality Mike Puru is one of New Zealand’s most recognised and respected broadcasters. Best known for his twenty-year tenure as a host on The Edge radio station, Mike has been a constant voice in Kiwi households for over two decades and you can currently find him on The Breeze Drive 3-7pm weekdays.
