Ben Thomson | eTail Palm Springs

eTail Palm Springs 2025

February 24 - 27, 2025

JW Marriott Desert Springs, Palm Springs, CA

Ben Thomson

European President My Biz Niche

Ben Thomson is the President of Europe for MBN, where he focuses on Strategic Leadership, cultivating Client Relationships, driving Business Development, and delivering Social Media Excellence for Global Brands. Originally joining MBN as Social Media Director in 2019, Ben brought a wealth of experience to the role. Hailing from the United Kingdom, he graduated from the University of York St. John and founded his own music marketing agency at age 21, working on ecommerce and artist promotional projects for Live Nation, Sony, AMG, AEG, and eOne Entertainment. He later joined VF Corporation in Antwerp, Belgium, leading the Digital Marketing, Ecommerce, and Social Media efforts for Lee Jeans across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Since making the switch to the United States and joining MBN in 2019, Ben’s expertise has helped secure high-profile business with the likes of Live Nation, Wrangler, Reshoevn8r, Lee Jeans & Frida Kahlo, while transforming the ecommerce business of music and lifestyle heavyweights like Revolver Magazine and Alt Press, taking them from an average of 2x ROAS to an average of 10x in just 6 months. Ben’s guiding principle is “Follow the data, work hard, and be positive.” A passionate music lover, he enjoys creating and listening to music as his number-one hobby.

Monday, February 24: Search & Performance Marketing Summit (retailer only)

9:10 AM SEARCH: Problem Solving Roundtable Rotations

4 rounds, 25 minutes each 


Table 1: Learn how major brands have diversified their search and social spend 

Ad.net has built a proprietary marketplace allowing brands to reach new customers through its search and social channels. Learn how to reach new customers through our intent-driven marketplace, purpose-built to increase your market share. 

Moderator: Michael Aragon, Vice President of Sales, Ad.net 


Table 2: Google Shopping Masterclass 

Bidnamic powers hundreds of the fastest growing retailers globally, in this interactive session, Ingvar Kraatz and Keelan Dumien will share the best strategies and approaches used to maximize revenue   

Moderator: Ingvar Kraatz, COO, Bidnamic 

Retail Moderator: Keelan Durnien, Director of Digital Marketing, Hershel Supply Co. 


Table 3: Beyond the Logo

The New Digital Brand Era Brands that lead with their name or rely solely on traditional TOF (Top-of-Funnel) strategies are being left behind. Consumers aren’t buying into the “big name” anymore—they’re buying into real, relatable content that feels human, not corporate.

Moderator: Ben Thomson, European President, My Biz Niche 


Table 4: Forget Vanity Metrics; How to Reach New Customers & Drive Sales through Influencer Marketing

Influencers; they’re everywhere, and as a rapidly evolving space, there’s a lot of competing wisdom on best practices for brand safety, creator compensation models (CPA, CPC, gifting), what success looks like and how to measure it. While most retail brands have explored some form of influencer strategy to find new customers and drive sales, few have succeeded to scale efficiently. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. Join us for a discussion on how an optimized influencer strategy can lead directly to brand safe, efficient & measurable new customer growth.

Moderator: Aubrey Gutierrez, Sales Manager, Commerce & Paul Valker, Sales Director, Commerce, Connexity 


Table 5: How can online retailers balance driving performance growth through both paid search and SEO in 2025?

This discussion will focus on how Paid Search & Organic Search can work cohesively together in 2025.  

  • What are the key challenges that online retailers have faced through 2024 when trying to balance paid search & SEO in an ever-changing Search landscape?  
  • When does it make most sense to invest in one channel or the other to find incremental performance growth 
  • How the two channels work together cohesively to offer benefits t one another  
  • Discussing advanced reporting solutions to support a less manual approach to testing and learning  
  • Are AdAi tools the future in this space, and what results are they delivering for clients today  
  • Case study showcasing the successful integration of Paid & Organic search to drive growth 

Moderator: Matt Shenton, Biddable Director & Joe Ball, Executive Director of SEO, Croud 

Table 6:  

Executive, Brave Solutions 

Table 7:

Executive, Adeptmind

Table 8:

Ruchi Pardal, SVP Growth & Innovation, ResultFirst 

Table 9:

Executive, Akamai

Table 10:

Executive, Optiversal

11:40 AM SEARCH: Problem Solving Roundtable Rotations

4 rounds, 25 minutes each 


Table 1: Learn how major brands have diversified their search and social spend 

Ad.net has built a proprietary marketplace allowing brands to reach new customers through its search and social channels. Learn how to reach new customers through our intent-driven marketplace, purpose-built to increase your market share. 

Moderator: Michael Aragon, Vice President of Sales, Ad.net 


Table 2: Google Shopping Masterclass 

Bidnamic powers hundreds of the fastest growing retailers globally, in this interactive session, Ingvar Kraatz and Keelan Dumien will share the best strategies and approaches used to maximize revenue   

Moderator: Ingvar Kraatz, COO, Bidnamic 

Retail Moderator: Keelan Durnien, Director of Digital Marketing, Hershel Supply Co. 


Table 3: Beyond the Logo

The New Digital Brand Era Brands that lead with their name or rely solely on traditional TOF (Top-of-Funnel) strategies are being left behind. Consumers aren’t buying into the “big name” anymore—they’re buying into real, relatable content that feels human, not corporate.

Moderator: Ben Thomson, European President, My Biz Niche 


Table 4: Forget Vanity Metrics; How to Reach New Customers & Drive Sales through Influencer Marketing

Influencers; they’re everywhere, and as a rapidly evolving space, there’s a lot of competing wisdom on best practices for brand safety, creator compensation models (CPA, CPC, gifting), what success looks like and how to measure it. While most retail brands have explored some form of influencer strategy to find new customers and drive sales, few have succeeded to scale efficiently. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. Join us for a discussion on how an optimized influencer strategy can lead directly to brand safe, efficient & measurable new customer growth.

Moderator: Aubrey Gutierrez, Sales Manager, Commerce & Paul Valker, Sales Director, Commerce, Connexity 


Table 5: How can online retailers balance driving performance growth through both paid search and SEO in 2025?

This discussion will focus on how Paid Search & Organic Search can work cohesively together in 2025.  

  • What are the key challenges that online retailers have faced through 2024 when trying to balance paid search & SEO in an ever-changing Search landscape?  
  • When does it make most sense to invest in one channel or the other to find incremental performance growth 
  • How the two channels work together cohesively to offer benefits t one another  
  • Discussing advanced reporting solutions to support a less manual approach to testing and learning  
  • Are AdAi tools the future in this space, and what results are they delivering for clients today  
  • Case study showcasing the successful integration of Paid & Organic search to drive growth 

Moderator: Matt Shenton, Biddable Director & Joe Ball, Executive Director of SEO, Croud 

Table 6:  

Executive, Brave Solutions 

Table 7:

Executive, Adeptmind

Table 8:

Ruchi Pardal, SVP Growth & Innovation, ResultFirst 

Table 9:

Executive, Akamai

Table 10:

Executive, Optiversal

2:50 PM SEARCH: Problem Solving Roundtable Rotations

2 rounds, 25 minutes each 


Table 1: Learn how major brands have diversified their search and social spend 

Ad.net has built a proprietary marketplace allowing brands to reach new customers through its search and social channels. Learn how to reach new customers through our intent-driven marketplace, purpose-built to increase your market share. 

Moderator: Michael Aragon, Vice President of Sales, Ad.net 


Table 2: Google Shopping Masterclass 

Bidnamic powers hundreds of the fastest growing retailers globally, in this interactive session, Ingvar Kraatz and Keelan Dumien will share the best strategies and approaches used to maximize revenue   

Moderator: Ingvar Kraatz, COO, Bidnamic 

Retail Moderator: Keelan Durnien, Director of Digital Marketing, Hershel Supply Co. 


Table 3: Beyond the Logo

The New Digital Brand Era Brands that lead with their name or rely solely on traditional TOF (Top-of-Funnel) strategies are being left behind. Consumers aren’t buying into the “big name” anymore—they’re buying into real, relatable content that feels human, not corporate.

Moderator: Ben Thomson, European President, My Biz Niche 


Table 4: Forget Vanity Metrics; How to Reach New Customers & Drive Sales through Influencer Marketing

Influencers; they’re everywhere, and as a rapidly evolving space, there’s a lot of competing wisdom on best practices for brand safety, creator compensation models (CPA, CPC, gifting), what success looks like and how to measure it. While most retail brands have explored some form of influencer strategy to find new customers and drive sales, few have succeeded to scale efficiently. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. Join us for a discussion on how an optimized influencer strategy can lead directly to brand safe, efficient & measurable new customer growth.

Moderator: Aubrey Gutierrez, Sales Manager, Commerce & Paul Valker, Sales Director, Commerce, Connexity 


Table 5: How can online retailers balance driving performance growth through both paid search and SEO in 2025?

This discussion will focus on how Paid Search & Organic Search can work cohesively together in 2025.  

  • What are the key challenges that online retailers have faced through 2024 when trying to balance paid search & SEO in an ever-changing Search landscape?  
  • When does it make most sense to invest in one channel or the other to find incremental performance growth 
  • How the two channels work together cohesively to offer benefits t one another  
  • Discussing advanced reporting solutions to support a less manual approach to testing and learning  
  • Are AdAi tools the future in this space, and what results are they delivering for clients today  
  • Case study showcasing the successful integration of Paid & Organic search to drive growth 

Moderator: Matt Shenton, Biddable Director & Joe Ball, Executive Director of SEO, Croud 

Table 6:  

Executive, Brave Solutions 

Table 7:

Executive, Adeptmind

Table 8:

Ruchi Pardal, SVP Growth & Innovation, ResultFirst 

Table 9:

Executive, Akamai

Table 10:

Executive, Optiversal

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Ben.

Download The Latest Agenda