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At this year’s sync, three standout panel discussions tackled the biggest challenges and opportunities facing modern brands in a digital-first world.
From the evolution of search and the rise of shoppable content to the creative strategies driving full-funnel success, these sessions brought together industry leaders from Shopify, Google, Pinterest, PrettyLittleThing, and other prominent brands.
Each panel provided a unique perspective on how consumer behaviour is evolving and what brands must do to remain competitive. Whether it’s mastering fragmented search journeys, turning inspiration into instant sales, or creating content that converts at every stage of the funnel, one thing was clear: the eCommerce landscape is changing fast, and those who adapt will lead.
Here’s a closer look at the key insights and takeaways from the panels.
Search everywhere: Navigating the new frontiers of digital discovery
Search is no longer confined to a single channel; it’s a complex web of AI, voice, visual, and social discovery. In this forward-looking panel, Stephen Brook, Senior Solutions Engineer at Shopify, Sarah Byrne, Director EMEA at Google, and Tom Chetwyn, Head of SEO at Visualsoft, explored how search is transforming and what it means for online retailers.
From Google’s Search Generative Experience to omnichannel strategies, the discussion offered practical insights on optimising product visibility across today’s fragmented digital landscape, empowering brands to stay relevant, discoverable, and competitive in the evolving world of eCommerce.
Sarah Byrne opened the session by highlighting the shift towards AI-powered discovery. “The user is rapidly moving towards an AI-based experience; they’re bringing with them way more context, which gives brands massive opportunities to connect.” But this shift is only benefiting some. “We’re not necessarily seeing an even spread of who’s getting higher volumes of better quality clicks,” she said.
“The difference with the brands that are investing in the quality of their site, the quality of their content, and the structure of their data. So, basically, the brands are meeting users where they are in terms of the content they want. They want more visual content. They want more personalised content. They want more insightful content.”
Stephen Brook reinforced the importance of structured product data. “If you’ve got better structured data, you’re going to win against brands that have weaker product data.” However, he added that this needs to be backed up with a positive user experience. “Chatbots are going to see that as, I trust this about 60%... I need user experience to back up that data.”
The takeaway? To succeed in the AI-driven search era, brands must combine clean, structured data with rich, user-focused content that builds trust and boosts discoverability.
From scroll to scale: The new shoppable content revolution
In today’s social-first world, a single scroll can take consumers from inspiration to purchase in seconds. This panel examined how brands can utilise the power of shoppable content without compromising their brand integrity. Featuring Hadi Alavi, CEO of Contester, Luke Atherton, Performance Marketing and Insights Director at Visualsoft, and Lucy Hart, Founder of Wolfie Cosmetics, the discussion unpacked the tools, trends, and creative strategies that enable frictionless commerce. From protecting brand equity to maximising conversion, attendees gained actionable insights to thrive in a landscape where content and commerce have fully converged.
Lucy Hart, shared her first-hand experience with influencers, advising, “If you haven’t used content creators before, then definitely approach the micro influencers, the ones with a smaller following, because they’re going to produce you incredible content that feels really organic and engaging, with their followers because they’ve got trusted followers and they hang on every word they say.”
She contrasted two campaigns: one featuring a major influencer boasting 700k+ followers that generated just one sale, and another with a local creator who sold out a product in a single day. “She’s only got 13,000 followers.”
Hadi Alavi highlighted the limits of AI in the creator economy, saying, “I believe that AI will contribute more and more to display ads. But when it comes to the creator economy, where people are already developing a mistrust about their content consumption… this audience seeks more and more authenticity and accountability from the content creator, and that’s where we are laser-focused.”
He shared an example of a Samsung creator who’d been partnered for years, but only stood out when posting a campaign with Contester: “His audience (was) coming to the social media and commenting ‘you finally made it’… so authenticity is not replaceable.” The takeaway? Small, trusted voices often carry more impact than larger, more established names. In the scroll-to-sale journey, authenticity is everything.
Beyond the hook: How creative drives full-funnel impact
Great creative doesn’t just capture attention, it drives performance at every stage of the marketing funnel. In this inspiring session, Carli Buckley, Creative Director at Visualsoft, Nicki Capstick, Former Chief Marketing Officer at PrettyLittleThing and Founder of The Brand Collective, and Tom Hayes, Head of Strategic Agency SMB Sales at Pinterest, explored how brands can craft content that resonates, engages, and converts.
From platform-first thinking to sound design and storytelling, the panel shared practical takeaways to elevate creative impact across channels. Whether you're refining your strategy or starting fresh, this session offered the tools to turn creative into measurable growth.
Nicki Capstick emphasised that creative today plays a much broader role than it once did. “I think creative is no longer just about catching the customer’s eye, it’s taking them on that full journey.” She explained the importance of tailoring content by stage: “So when you’re at the top of the funnel, probably the customer is new to the brand, you’ve got to do the storytelling piece. But as you’re driving them down the funnel into that conversion piece, it’s about removing those barriers that stop them from purchasing.” Examples included before-and-after photos and styling tips to support informed decision-making.
Tom Hayes broke down effective creative into what he called “the four C’s of creative effectiveness.” These are the elements of “context, content, craft, and colour.” He emphasised a mobile-first approach, featuring “short, punchy videos” to capture attention. He also highlighted storytelling and authenticity, explaining that craft involves “positioning the fonts on the ad… how do we structure and lay out the ad,” while colour is about “balance between colour and contrast, colour and brightness.”
The takeaway? Strong creative is full-funnel, blending storytelling with strategy to convert attention into action.
Watch every moment from Sync 2025 on demand now.
