AdFest 2026 Welcomes Matthew Lorton, Zimmerman Advertising's Senior Vice President of Media, as Speaker

📣 We’re excited to welcome Matthew Lorton, Senior Vice President of Media at Zimmerman Advertising, to AdFest 2026 for the panel “The New Marketing Playbook.”

Marketing is entering a new era shaped by AI, automation, changing consumer behavior, and increasingly complex paths to discovery and conversion. This conversation will explore what marketing leaders need to rethink as technology changes how brands reach consumers, measure impact, and create competitive advantage.

Matthew Lorton is Senior Vice President of Media at Zimmerman Advertising, where his work focuses on how AI, automation, and changing consumer behavior are reshaping the role of media and marketing. He believes the next era of marketing will be defined less by access to technology than by how intelligently brands apply it, particularly as platforms become more autonomous, consumer discovery becomes less linear, and traditional distinctions between media, commerce, and experience begin to disappear. His perspective is grounded in the tension between automation and accountability, and in how marketers can embrace increasingly sophisticated systems without outsourcing strategic judgment that creates real competitive advantage. Matthew is particularly interested in the rise of agentic commerce, AI-mediated discovery, and what happens when brands must market not only to people, but to the algorithms and agents increasingly influencing their decisions. He advocates for a future in which AI expands the marketer’s capabilities rather than simply accelerating existing practices.

🌴 Join us for the conversation at AdFest 2026, September 14–17 at Dorado Beach, a Ritz-Carlton Reserve in Puerto Rico.

This is the final week to register.

Register now: https://www.islandadfest.com/