Smartly, the leading AI-powered adtech company, today announced that multi-platinum, four-time Grammy Award-winning producer and Songwriters Hall of Fame member Timbaland will headline ADVANCE, Smartly’s flagship industry event, on Sept. 29 at Spring Studios in New York City, bringing together senior leaders across brands, agencies, media and technology.

Timbaland will join Smartly CEO Laura Desmond on the mainstage for a conversation exploring creativity in the age of AI and the role of taste and originality as technology reshapes the advertising industry.

Timbaland helped define the sound of modern music, producing influential work for artists including Coldplay, Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé, Madonna, and Rihanna, continually embracing new approaches to music production. At ADVANCE, he will explore what happens to creativity when new technology becomes more available to everyone: what makes an idea distinctive, how creators preserve a recognizable viewpoint, and where human judgment, taste and collaboration matter most.

Timbaland joins a lineup spanning the marketing, media, technology and agency ecosystem, including Ndidi Oteh, global CEO of Accenture Song; Tim Castree, chief marketing officer of DoorDash; Sean Downey, president, Americas and Global Partners at Google; Bob Lord, president of Horizon Media; Judy Toland, vice president of marketing at Meta; Lee Brown, chief business officer of Pinterest; Bill Ready, CEO of Pinterest; Jen Wong, chief operating officer of Reddit; Mary Ann Belliveau, president of Americas at Snapchat; Grace Kao, chief marketing officer of Snapchat; David Kaufman, global head of monetization product partnerships at TikTok; Amy Weisenbach, chief marketing officer of The New York Times; Lauren Wetzel, CEO of WPP Data & Tech Solutions; Andrea Bendzick, CEO of Wpromote; and Mary Ellen Coe, chief business officer of YouTube, among others.

Across the mainstage and dedicated Creative AI and Commerce AI tracks, ADVANCE will explore how AI is changing the way brands are built, discovered, and grown, with conversations spanning creative intelligence, consumer discovery, agentic commerce, the future of agencies, the convergence of video, and the intersection of creators, brands, and performance.

To register for ADVANCE and explore the latest speakers, sessions and event details, visit AdvanceSmartly.com.

About Smartly

Smartly is the AI-powered advertising technology company ranked as the leader in The Forrester Wave™: Creative Advertising Technologies. Our platform unifies creative and media to produce intelligent creative, dynamic, data-driven image and video assets optimized for seamless activation across channels. Brands manage, optimize, and scale high-performance campaigns in one place, achieving PwC-validated results, including a 5.5x return on ad spend (ROAS) and 42 minutes saved every hour.

We support 800+ brands and manage over $7 billion in ad spend globally. With strategic partnerships across major media platforms, including Amazon, Google, Meta, Pinterest, Reddit, Snap, Spotify, and TikTok, we help Fortune 500 companies deliver relevant advertising at speed and scale. Backed by deep media expertise and best-in-class customer support, we empower brands to maximize performance and drive real business outcomes. Visit Smartly.io to learn more.

Media gallery

About The Author
Business Wire