Marketing Made Sweet 2026
About this Event
Join 170+ growth-minded executives, founders and marketing leaders for a one-day, high-energy conference that focuses on all things marketing. Expect no-BS case studies, candid conversations and actionable ideas you can implement the very next day.
Why this conference?
Most events talk about AI. Marketing Made Sweet 2026 shows you exactly how leading brands blend HI (Human Intelligence) and AI to drive measurable growth. Walk away with new ideas that move the revenue needle.
What you’ll experience
- Story-driven keynotes, cinematic visuals and live demos.
- Catered gourmet taco lunch (because rubber chicken lunches are dead).
- Marketing + sales case studies from industry experts.
- Swag so sweet you’ll post it before you leave the venue.
Who’s in the room?
CEOs • CMOs • Marketing & Growth Directors • RevOps & Demand Gen leaders • Anyone tasked with turning budget into real-world results.
Who’s NOT in the room?
Marketing/Advertising Agencies. This is a conference focused on brands, and we'll be sharing some of our agencies' confidential playbooks and tactics. If agencies register, we reserve the right to provide you with a full refund.
Who’s sponsoring this shindig?
We are currently accepting sponsorships. Please contact [email protected] for more details.
Agenda
🕑: 09:15 AM - 10:15 AM
Gold or Garbage: Sifting through the AI Hype
Host: Darrell Keezer
Info: Every week there's a new AI tool, a new case study, a new headline promising transformation. But most of it? Noise. Vanity metrics dressed up as strategy.
In this keynote, Darrell Keezer, CEO of Candybox, cuts through the hype to show you what's actually working, and what's quietly wasting your budget. From the tactics producing real pipeline to the "innovations" generating nothing but impressive-sounding reports, this session is a no-filter audit of AI in marketing today.
You'll walk away knowing:
-> The AI use cases generating real ROI, and the ones burning your team's time.
-> Why vanity metrics are the biggest threat to your marketing credibility right now.
-> How the best brands are using AI to fuel smarter, faster creative campaigns.
-> What the brand stories of 2026 actually teach us about doing this right.
This isn't a session about what AI could do someday. It's about what separates the gold from the garbage, right now.
🕑: 10:30 AM - 11:15 AM
The Art & Science of Persuasion
Host: Ben Wise
Info: What if you could understand the hidden triggers that drive human decision-making? In this talk, we'll decode the science behind persuasion, revealing the subtle tactics that influence our choices. We scour the research on psychology, behavioural economics, and influence to bring you the most actionable way to increase your impact. Learn to apply these insights to achieve your goals, whether in marketing, sales, or everyday life.
🕑: 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM
Nacho Average Strategy
Host: Derek Joynt
Info: Great marketing isn't complicated. It's just rarely done right.
In this session, Derek Joynt, COO of Candybox, breaks down what separates a strategy worth talking about from one that goes stale, using the most honest metaphor in food: nachos.
The chips are your foundation. The salsa is your messaging. The guac? That's the good stuff, the work that actually gets remembered, shared, and awarded.
And then there's everything else. The soggy toppings nobody asked for. The ideas that sounded great in the boardroom and flopped in the market. Derek's pulling those out of the fridge too.
You'll leave knowing what every winning strategy has as its base and why most brands skip it, how to layer messaging that actually sticks, and what "the guac" looks like in real campaigns. Most importantly, you'll know what to stop doing immediately.
Whether you're building from scratch or fixing a strategy that's gone cold, this session will change how you think about what goes on the plate.
🕑: 01:15 PM - 02:00 PM
TBD
Host: TBD
Info: TBD
🕑: 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
TBD
Info: TBD
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
CAD 258.77
