Insights from 2024 DMWF NA

Last week, I covered the Digital Marketing World Forum conference in New York. The conference was held at the Marriot Marquis in New York’s Times Square. The Digital Marketing World Forum or DMWF for short, covered a wide array of topics beyond just digital marketing, that covered AI, ecommerce, influencer marketing, and creativity just to name a few. 

DMWF also had interesting service providers in the Digital Marketing space. 

The conference was divided into two tracks. Track one consisted of topics that fell into the categories of: Covering Data, CRM & Insights // eCommerce & Omnichannel // AI & Marketing Automation // Digital Transformation & Leadership // Customer Experience, Email & Automation // Mobile Marketing & Advertising //.

Track two consisted of topics that fell into the categories of: Influencer, Affiliate & Creator Marketing // Content & Video Marketing // Social Media & Community Marketing // Digital Brand Strategy & Communications //.

There were so many amazing discussions. The topics that I found the most interesting were Building a successful Full-Funnel Marketing Strategy, and How to navigate changing social platforms.

In the Building a successful Full-Funnel Marketing Strategy panel,

Shayna Macklin, Director, Social / Brand + Music Partnerships & Fractional CMO, Playboy Enterprises, Inc. & Rainbow Apparel Co

Carly Schrager, Head of Marketing Automation Engagements, North America, Bluprintx

Michelle Gitter, Beauty Commerce & Measurement Insights Manager, Unilever

address the questions of:

• the power of implementing a full-funnel marketing strategy
• Moving away from a leaky funnel and delivering and building on brand perception, targeted content and communications to your consumers
• Reviewing the opportunities and risks when implementing a full-funnel marketing strategy
• How does the change in strategy impact your reach of message, insights and conversion of purchases

In the How to navigate changing social platforms panel,

https://fb.watch/uWyBOeuXQg/

Moderator: Dasha Shunina, Ambassador Community & Partnerships, Puzzle

David Johnston, Head of Social Media, U.S. Department of Defense

Lamarr Shand, Head of YouTube & Digital Video Strategy, Google

Cara Hedgepeth, Senior Social Media Community Advisor, AARP

address the questions of:

• Social strategies in 2024 and beyond
• Defining your customer profiles and adapting your game plan for your audiences, including B2B and B2C
• Using data and insights to define your social strategy and increase engagement
• Socials in different industries — when should you engage with your customer?

The DMWF was an amazing conference. If you are interested in Digital Marketing and all things Marketing, I suggest attending the DMWF.

I want to the thank the organizers of the Digital Marketing World Forum for having me as their guest. 



Salesforce Launches Agentforce Operations to End Back-Office Bottlenecks

I covered Salesforce Agentforce in New York this past month. This event was organized to showcase Salesforce’s Agentforce. Agentforce is DIY AI in action. Agentforce is a customer service agent built by Salesforce customers and integrated across industries and across the customer journey.

In the keynote, Patrick Stokes, President and CMO, Salesforce, announced the launch of Agentforce Operations.

Agentforce Operations uses AI to turn manual and outdated back-office processes into clear tasks so that Agents can do the work instead of humans. Agentforce Operations can automate tasks such as process coordination, data verification, ensuring compliance, obtaining approvals, and more.

Using Agentforce Operations pays big dividends with cycle times reduced by 50 to 70 percent, improved accuracy, and manual data entry cut by 80 percent. This leads to better outcomes and experiences. With Agentforce Operations, Agents complete work beyond organizing tasks for completion. 

Salesforce also announced the creation of a Slack workspace and Slackbot, which is being offered free to every new Salesforce customer. Sales and Service Teams can use AI and Apps across their tech stack, moving from Slack to Microsoft Teams, Gmail, and more, to increase their productivity. Slackbots can turn customer conversations into records, capturing updates and keeping data current. 

I saw demos for use cases across industry verticals and the customer journey in Sales, Service, and Marketing functions with Canada Goose, Engine, and Dell.

Leah McGowen-Hare, SVP at ‪Salesforce‬ , Demos How Canada Goose is an Agentic Retailer using Salesforce and Data 360

Rob Seaman, SVP & GM ‪Slack‬ shows how Engine became an Agentic Travel Company using ‪Salesforce‬

MaryAnn Patel SVP, at ‪@salesforce‬ , shares how Dell is an Agentic Enterprise W/Agentforce Operations

There were panel discussions, and leaders discussed Agentforce Operations. Panelists also shared how they would like Agentforce and DIY AI to evolve to improve productivity and outcomes.

Hayley Advokat, MPS, Head of AI Product & Executive Communications at Salesforce, led the Agentforce Operations Deep Dive with Sanjna Parulekar, SVP of Product Marketing at Salesforce.

Maha Neouchy, Director of Communications at Salesforce, moderated the panel discussion with Muddu Sudhakar, SVP and GM of Salesforce IT Service and HR Service, and CEO of Cornerstone OnDemand, who discussed how Salesforce is transforming front-office operations in HR and IT, improving the employee experience with Slack and Teams.

I built AI Agents with Agentforce, Vibes, and Claude Code, using them to start building Sales and Marketing analytics and strategy. 

Agentforce Tour was a great event. I learned a lot about AI Agents, DIY AI, and how it can transform the worker and customer experience.

If you want to be on the cutting edge of DIY AI, attend Agentforce in your city.

Have you used Agentforce?

Share your experience in the comments.

Additional pictures can be found on Instagram.

Trends in the US Auto Industry: Key Insights from the 2025 Auto Forum New York

I covered Automotive Forum New York, the day before the New York International Auto Show. This event connects Automotive thought leaders with Manufacturers and Dealers. Attendees learned about trends and insights in the Automotive industry, focusing on the dealer side of the business. 

The auto forum started with an economist who analyzed the US Economy as a whole, followed by Thomas King, President, Data & Analytics Division, Chief Product Officer at JD Power, who analyzed the US auto industry, addressing the issue of tariffs and electric vehicle mandates on the automotive industry.

Thomas shared some interesting statistics and analysis.

The State of the Automotive Industry

The US put a 25 percent tariff on vehicles made outside the United States. 

Vehicle exposure for US Retail sales amounts to $62 billion, translating to $4782 on average for every vehicle sold, or 10.6 percent of the price. However, this spread is asymmetric across brands. For example, brands where the tariff makes up 1 to 4 percent of the sales price sell more than brands where the tariff makes up a higher percentage of the sales price. As a result, dealers can not simply pass a 25 percent tariff on to their customers without a significant sales decline.

What can dealers and OEMs do immediately for the long term?

Dealers can focus on pricing incentives, shipping, rationalizing their portfolio, leveraging a global sales footprint to increase prices in other markets, right-sizing local production, optimizing part sourcing to increase US production, and eventually building more plants in the United States. 

Thomas predicts that vehicle prices will increase 5 percent on average $2300, with an annual retail sales pace SAAR decrease of 8 percent or 1.1 million sales.

Industry Regulations & the EV Landscape

In the 2025 Industry Regulations & the EV Landscape panel, there was a conversation about how manufacturers and dealers are impacted by differing incentives, fines, compliance, and manufacturing mandates from the federal and state governments, resulting in a lack of uniformity. This will impact sales and profitability.

Improving the Customer Experience at Auto Dealerships

Anu Roberts, Director of Product Marketing at CDK Global, shared a study highlighting a correlation with shorter purchase time on the customer journey (2 hours or less), improved customer experience, and an increased net promoter score. Anu also shared how dealers are using AI, which included:

1. AI assistant for lead generation and qualification
2. AI assistants for providing information to customers 
3. Scheduling appointments for customers 
4. Targeting marketing campaigns based on segments
5. Analyzing customer feedback

She suggests dealers audit their buying process to lower customer friction, testing how long it takes to purchase a car. 

What’s next for OEMs, Dealers, and Manufacturers?

Senator Bernie Moreno, a former car dealer, advised dealers and manufacturers on improving relationships with one another and the US Government in the Golden Age of Retail panel. He suggested working with the Trump administration in a collaborative partnership to manufacture cars people want to buy instead of cars they need to sell because of mandates and regulations. 

It was a great event with many great panels. I learned a lot about the automotive industry. 

I want to thank J.D. Power, NADA, and the New York International Auto Show for having me as their guest.