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The CRM Marketer Evolution Curve’s Guide
Last week, marketers from around the world came together in London for Optimove Connect 2026. Over two days at the Home of Positionless Marketing, they explored how leading teams operate, execute, and drive impact across industries.
From keynote sessions and real-world customer stories to hands-on learning and meaningful connections, Optimove Connect 2026 reflected how marketing is moving faster, becoming more autonomous, and delivering more measurable results than ever before.
Here’s a look back at some of the moments that defined this year’s conference.
In the opening keynote, CEO Pini Yakuel traced the evolution of Positionless Marketing from mindset to movement, showing how leading teams use it to accelerate execution, scale personalization, and operate with greater speed and independence.
Optimove’s SVP and Head of Product, Shai Frank, highlighted the shift from content creation to decisioning, showing how AI and unified data enable marketers to deliver more relevant experiences at scale.
Mark Wilson, Group Head of Marketing Technology at Lottoland, shared how Lottoland unified its martech stack, reducing complexity, saving over €1M annually, and enabling faster, more efficient campaign execution
Rob Davis, Senior Director of Product at Optimove, showed how AI helps teams identify top-performing content and apply those insights across channels to scale personalization without added complexity.
David Hardy, VP Business Services, and Alice Andreo, Customer Success Team Lead at Optimove, explained how to measure true marketing impact, helping teams distinguish between driven and existing demand to improve decision-making.
In this session, Jovan Ratkovic, Omnichannel Solutions Expert at our partner MMDSmart, shared how BalkanBet evolved to an AI-ready omnichannel approach, improving engagement through better integration and smarter channel use.
Tricia Williams, Customer Success Team Leader, and Asaf Stein, Global Director of Solution Engineering at Optimove, showed how real-time signals enable immediate, event-driven execution, helping teams act on customer behavior as it happens.
Jonathan Collins, Director of Marketing Data Analytics at Optimove, highlighted how making data accessible across teams unlocks faster collaboration, deeper insights, and more effective decision-making.
Justin Thomson, Head of Marketing at BetJets, showed how BetJets replaced traditional promotions with gamified experiences, achieving a 3.5x lift in first-time deposits.
Ignatius Fogarty, Product Team Leader, and Edward Aaron-Obelley, Product Marketing Manager at Optimove, showed how AI and real-time data transform email into a dynamic, high-impact channel.
Jamil Qureshi, performance psychologist and coach to elite athletes, challenged teams to rethink mindset, showing how performance is often limited not by tools, but by how teams think and operate.
Ben Tepfer, Director of Product Marketing at Optimove, introduced the next evolution of Optimove Gamify, showing how gamification turns loyalty into an active driver of engagement and long-term value.
Stefanos Aspiotis, Head of Commercial Strategy & Planning at Stoiximan, shared how Stoiximan built a flexible, high-performance marketing team that scales execution without slowing down.
Rob Davis and Jack Webster, Solutions Engineer at Optimove, showed how AI supports decisions across the entire customer journey, from audience selection to last-mile experience.
Alun Bowden, SVP Strategic Insight at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, and Moshe Demri, GM and SVP of Global Revenue at Optimove, explored the key trends reshaping iGaming, connecting market shifts to practical strategies for growth and retention.
Alyson Blawat, Senior Director of Customer Strategy at Blain’s Farm & Fleet, shared how Blain’s scaled persona-driven personalization during peak season, maintaining relevance and long-term engagement.
Shai Frank, SVP Product, and Ben Tepfer, Director of Product Marketing at Optimove, answered live product questions, offering direct insight into Optimove’s roadmap and future direction.
Matt Pilgrim, Adtech & Martech Partner Lead for EMEA at our partner Snowflake, showed how data, privacy, and AI are reshaping marketing, and why a strong data foundation is key to staying competitive.
Rhylan Johnson, Product Lead, and Elana Yentis, Customer Success Lead at Optimove, demonstrated how real-time data powers dynamic, personalized experiences across digital touchpoints.
Punal Shah, Senior Director of Strategic Consulting, and Ben Tepfer, Director of Product Marketing at Optimove, highlighted the key forces impacting modern marketing and how teams can adapt to stay effective.
Shai Frank and Julia Dela Rosa, Senior Data Insights Consultant at Optimove, showed how to use incentives strategically to drive engagement while protecting margins.
Paul O’Shea, VP Customer Success, and David Hardy, VP Business Services at Optimove, explained how teams can move to a more outcome-driven, Positionless way of working.
Moshe Demri closed the event by reinforcing how Positionless Marketing is moving from vision to reality.
From AI-driven decisioning and real-time execution to gamification, personalization, and data foundations, Connect 2026 showcased how marketers can move faster, work more independently, and drive greater impact.
Optimove Connect 2026 brought together a global community of marketers to share ideas, challenges, and explore what’s next. Attendees experienced a mix of thought leadership, real-world use cases, and hands-on learning designed to turn strategy into execution.
Thank you to our speakers, sponsors, partners, and attendees for making this year’s event such a success.
See how Optimove can help you put Positionless Marketing into action. Request a demo.
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Writers in the Optimove Team include marketing, R&D, product, data science, customer success, and technology experts who were instrumental in the creation of Positionless Marketing, a movement enabling marketers to do anything, and be everything.
Optimove’s leaders’ diverse expertise and real-world experience provide expert commentary and insight into proven and leading-edge marketing practices and trends.
