After months of uncertainty around the events landscape, RampUp 2022—our first in-person event of the year—went off without a hitch. The two-day marketing technology-focused conference took place in San Francisco on Monday, February 28 through Tuesday, March 1.

More than 1,200 attendees and 125 speakers from across the digital marketing ecosystem filled the historic Fairmont for the first time since March 2020 to discuss the future of data-driven businesses, shifting to an audience-first marketing strategy, owning your social impact, the cruciality of diversity, inclusion, and belonging in adtech and more. Another 670+ tuned in from home to watch the event via Hopin. 

This year’s agenda featured mainly panels to facilitate maximum discussion, and included both in-person and virtual speakers from companies such as Avocados from Mexico, Cisco, the National Society of Black Engineers, Digitas, Roku, Square, Microsoft, Public Democracy, Reddit, Paramount, Conagra Brands, AWS, Lyft, VideoAmp, brown & browner advertising, and even United States Senator Richard Blumenthal.

Day 1 Recap - February 28

Day 1 officially kicked off with the Executive Women’s Lunch, where 60+ VIP attendees gathered in The Fairmont’s beautiful Penthouse. Two cred clients—Obsesh Co-Founder and CEO Tracy Benson and Mighty Capital General Partner Jennifer Vancini—along with LiveRamp VP of Product Management Kimberly Bloomston joined “CMO whisperer” and seasoned marketer (and previous  cred client!) be/co CMO Advisor Lola Bakare to discuss owning your work-life reality, and the relationships and realizations they’ve made in and out of work over the past two years in our ever-changing world.

Meanwhile, in the Crown Room, 100+ VIP attendees joined Indeed SVP of ESG LaFawn Davis and LiveRamp Head of Cloud Partnerships Katrina Cho for the Legacy & Leadership Lunch, where LaFawn shared the benefits of understanding empathy at work, and how attendees can not only exhibit empathy, but empower others around them to do the same.

Following the opening lunches, attendees headed to the Grand Ballroom for keynote discussions with amazing speakers, including:

• Antonio Lucio, Founder & Principal, 5S Diversity; former CMO of Facebook, Visa, and HP

• Walter Geer, Executive Creative Director, XD, VMLY&R

• Scott Howe, CEO, LiveRamp

• Jeff Green, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, The Trade Desk

After the morning keynotes, three exquisite conference rooms  transformed to host the three breakout tracks: Explore Data's New Frontiers, Engineer Customer Centricity, and Collaborate to Innovate. Attendees also filled the French Room across both days for LiveRamp demo sessions under the Innovation Studios track.

Day 2 Recap - March 1

After breakfast, an incredible line-up of keynote speakers kicked off the second day of content:

• Maryam Banikarim, Head of Marketing, Global and Community of Nextdoor shared how to connect authentically, build community and cultivate kindness, using real stories from users across the country.

• Sharawn Tipton, Chief People Officer, LiveRamp moderated a conversation with Emma Grede, Co-Founder and CEO of Good American; Founding Partner, Skims about choosing the right path in achieving our goals.

• Laura Desmond, Founder & CEO, Eagle Vista Partners and Anil Chakravarthy, President, Digital Experience Business, Adobe covered the customer journey.

Day 2 featured conversations tackling industry-wide issues across the martech ecosystem for publishers, data platforms, agencies, and brands. Sessions included:

• Strategies for Owning Your Data Future

• What DIB Means in an Industry That Loves Acronyms

• Why All the Identifiers You Love Are Going Away and What You Can Do about It

• Unlock Competitive Advantage through the Cloud

• Strengthen Agency Relationships through Flexibility

• DMP vs. CDP vs. XYZ

Other notable onsite activities across both event days: a lobby buzzing with networking, an interactive Lego wall with celebrity Lego creator Jessica Ragzy Ewud, crowd-favorite RampPups (featuring adoptable puppies and streamed to the live puppy cam!), and RampUp After Dark in the always-lively Tonga Room.

Our team provided speaker management and prep, and onsite support across both event days. We’re thrilled to check another successful RampUp off our list for 2022, and even more excited to be back onsite at events for the year. Event attendees shared the same sentiment, traveling from around the world to join us in-person for content, networking, and normalcy as the world is beginning to reopen! Next up in the LiveRamp event itinerary is their annual sales kickoff in Chicago this May, followed by RampUp New York this fall. Stay tuned for more!