You could feel it between sessions. At The Lead Summit 2025, the most revealing moments didn’t just happen on stage, they also happened in the gaps between. In coffee lines, suite meetings, and fast-moving hallway conversations, operators spoke candidly about what’s really changing.
The tone wasn’t performative. It was precise. From AI to attribution, brand equity to operational clarity, one theme echoed throughout: growth in 2025 isn’t about doing more, it’s about doing what matters.
Here are 12 sharp takeaways from the people driving the real work and what we can learn from each.
1. Brand equity has to earn its seat at the table.
“If your brand doesn’t buy you margin, it’s just decoration.”
Allison Ames leads a licensing firm that extends brands into new categories, everything from CPG to fashion. And she sees a pattern: the brands that win shelf space are the ones that deliver pricing power, not just awareness. If a brand doesn’t justify its price point, retailers lose interest.
Lesson: Brand is no longer an aura. It’s an asset and one that must show up in financial models. Marketers should align creative and product teams on a single question: how does this story make us more valuable?
2. The discount trap is a measurement failure.
“The best way out of the discount trap is to build brand affinity you can actually measure.”
Attribution conversations are changing. Bolton’s team at Fospha helps ecommerce brands map media performance across the funnel showing how top-of-funnel campaigns contribute to conversion and loyalty. With better visibility, teams can reduce dependence on promotions.
Lesson: The inability to measure brand's commercial impact is what keeps teams locked in short-term tactics. Fixing attribution unlocks more strategic decision-making and protects margin.
3. Small brands aren’t playing small.
“We’re learning how to talk to people who already love Cartolina and the ones who will.”
Cartolina’s strategy is refreshingly clear: deepen brand voice, not just expand audience. As a boutique brand with global ambitions, they’re leaning into storytelling and community rather than chasing scale for its own sake.
Lesson: In a noisy market, clarity beats volume. Teams should evaluate whether their content speaks directly to core customers and if not, refocus.
4. AI is only useful when it works with people.
“I came to understand how AI and people work together. That’s what matters right now.”
Under Armour is approaching AI pragmatically: tools must enhance workflows, not complicate them. Choate is exploring how AI can support decision-making, especially across partnerships and planning but she’s skeptical of AI solutions that demand behavior change without payoff.
Lesson: AI adoption won’t scale through innovation alone. It requires operational empathy. Ask: does this tool save time, improve clarity, or sharpen execution?
5. Your next great idea is probably not from your own category.
“Everyone’s using the same stuff. I want to see what others are doing and bring it fast into our world.”
As a global streetwear brand, Extra Butter moves fast. But its edge comes from cultural cross-pollination. Kienhard is looking beyond fashion to hospitality, entertainment, and niche retail for ideas that can be reinterpreted through their lens.
Lesson: Great strategy doesn’t always start with benchmarking. Sometimes it starts with borrowing. Build in time for competitive research that isn’t your competition.
6. AI success = permission to experiment.
“Your job won’t be replaced by AI. It’ll be replaced by someone who uses it.”
The most innovative companies Hutchinson speaks to aren’t investing more in AI, they’re simply creating better conditions for experimentation. Teams are encouraged to try, fail, and share what they learn.
Lesson: AI advantage isn’t just technical. It’s cultural. If your org hasn’t created the space to test, it’s not ready to scale.
7. Ops teams are leaning out their stacks.
“Omnichannel’s where we’re focused. But we’re trying to say no to complexity.”
Resendes is focused on execution, not experimentation for its own sake. His goal is simplicity: systems that talk to each other, processes that scale without friction, and tools that enable rather than distract.
Lesson: The real performance edge isn’t in more tech, it’s in more signal. As GTM becomes increasingly cross-functional, the cleanest system wins.
8. Finance wants AI they can model.
“As a finance guy, I’m here to understand the cost-benefit of AI, what’s the actual lift?”
For Espinola, AI isn’t a roadmap priority unless it comes with numbers. He wants to know: how does this change margin? Does it reduce inventory drag? Can it streamline working capital? If the answer’s unclear, the investment won’t happen.
Lesson: AI has moved from R&D to ROI. If your use case doesn’t tie back to the balance sheet, expect slow adoption.
9. Consumer shifts are cross-category.
“What’s happening in beauty is happening everywhere spending habits are changing.”
Gunthner’s team isn’t just watching internal data. They’re watching macro behavior how shoppers behave across sectors, not just SKUs. The pattern? Less loyalty. More scrutiny. Shorter windows to earn trust.
Lesson: Buyer behavior has decoupled from traditional segments. GTM teams need insight that travels beyond category lines.
10. Conversion clarity is a launch team’s edge.
“I’m responsible for launches. I came to learn how to make product pages convert.”
Tomasek owns the drop calendar. But he’s treating ecommerce like performance marketing: testing visuals, refining CTA logic, iterating content structure. The goal isn’t just impressions. It’s sell-through.
Lesson: Conversion is no longer just marketing's job. Launch teams need to optimize content and UX the way marketers optimize media.
11. GTM tech stacks are under review.
“We’re rethinking our tech stack and approach, it’s not what it was two years ago.”
Hearst’s team is simplifying. They’re asking: which tools truly drive speed, insight, or accuracy? And which tools are baggage? As they grow internationally, agility is becoming more valuable than scale.
Lesson: Bloat is the enemy of responsiveness. The best GTM stacks today are lean, focused, and ready to move.
12. The best interface is no interface.
“The future is screenless. Ask, act, done.”
Patel believes dashboards are on the decline. The best UI, he says, will be invisible. Whether it’s demand forecasting, pricing, or performance summaries, the goal is frictionless command.
Lesson: If a tool requires training, onboarding, or navigation complexity, it’s vulnerable. The next generation of business tech is frictionless by design.
Final Take: Day 1 was clear. Teams aren’t chasing transformation. They’re chasing traction.
The sharpest operators at Lead Summit aren’t overhauling. They’re editing. Across brand, AI, ops, and performance, the question isn’t "what can we add?" It’s "what can we focus on that drives real work forward?"
We’ll be back tomorrow with Day 2.
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