Possible 2025: what to expect from the conference

Possible is returning to Miami Beach, Florida, for its third year with big ambitions, a new system for managed meetings, high-profile speakers and another big showing from X. Christian Muche, Possible’s president and co-founder, projected that attendance at the April 27-May 1 conference will reach 5,000, up from last year’s 3,600, with some sessions livestreamed on X via a new partnership. The event is bigger content-wise this year, adding a third full day of programming and spanning at least parts of five days, spreading out more events to properties adjacent to the Fontainebleau, including Cannes-esque yachts. Also new is the conference’s ownership. Hyve Group, a company perhaps best known for owning Las Vegas commerce mega-show Shoptalk, acquired Possible’s owner Beyond Ordinary last year while retaining Muche and the show’s title partnership with the MMA Global trade group. Besides the livestreams, X is seemingly inextricably linked with Possible. Elon Musk helped save the day attendance-wise in the event’s first year in 2023 with a late addition to the agenda. This year, the late agenda addition is X CEO Linda Yaccarino, who interviewed Musk for his 2023 fireside chat while in her prior role at NBCUniversal in what turned out to be an interview of her too, as she became CEO of Twitter (now X) weeks after their onstage chat. Possible’s agenda includes a sprinkling of other celebrities, including Martha Stewart, Mark Cuban and Katie Couric. It’s also heavy on big-name marketers, including Visa Chief Marketing Officer Frank Cooper III, NFL CMO Tim Ellis, Unilever Chief Growth and Marketing Officer Esi Eggleston Bracey and Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner. Big-name marketers are an important part of the “star dust” who attract the “gold dust” of marketer attendees much sought by the vendors, as Hyve Global CEO Mark Shashoua put it. “The first year, they had Elon Musk,” he said. “But last year was a phenomenal expansion of quality speakers. And this year, it’s spectacular.” Possible puts all that “star dust” into non-stop, often overlapping programming all day and much of the night. However, one of the biggest drivers is meetings—marketers can attend Possible free of charge, in return for agreeing to up to eight 15-minute sit-downs during the conference. Meeting requirements Possible’s focus on meetings as a condition of free admission for marketers was an idea MMA CEO Greg Stuart said initially rubbed him the wrong way. But, he said, the commitment isn’t overly burdensome. What really won him over to the idea were surveys showing that marketers who participate in meetings gave shows a higher Net Promoter Score than those who didn’t. Hyve brings with it a proprietary automated system to match the right vendors with the right marketers, which Stuart said would make the system work better still. Possible should generate around 3,000 such “hosted meetings” overall this year, said Shashoua, with roughly 1,500 marketers expected (Hyve targets for marketers to make up at least 30% of attendees). That’s a lot of meetings, but nothing like the 50,000 logged at the most recent Shoptalk in March, where attendance was around 10,000. Possible will never likely get to 50,000 meetings, but it could ultimately get to thousands more than planned this year. Look back: Key takeaways from Possible 2024 Possible’s place in the industry Possible draws comparisons to the ANA, CES, Cannes and, from Muche, Davos. By virtue of its association with the MMA, it’s naturally a little bit of everything, which was part of the appeal to Hyve in making the acquisition, Shashoua said. The MMA is the one organization in the industry with a board and membership comprised in roughly equal parts of marketer, agency, media and ad tech executives. Three years in, Possible is still carving out its place in the crowded field of marketing events, lodged at roughly the midpoint between January’s CES and June’s Cannes, and perhaps a little too close to the NewFronts and upfronts. Still, Possible clearly has earned a place, and its attendance is expected to be double that of the Association of National Advertisers’ Masters of Marketing. For Lou Paskalis, the former Bank of America media executive who helped launch Possible while at the MMA, it beats all those other conferences for sheer efficiency in spawning meetings and new business. Paskalis, now CEO of the AJL Advisory consultancy and chief strategy officer of Ad Fontes Media, said he is bringing numerous media, ad tech and marketer clients to Possible with heavily pre-booked schedules. “Unlike a lot of other industry events, people at Possible seem to really want to network,” said Paskalis. “Last year I had 23 pre-scheduled meetings,” all but one of which happened. What he’s learned in consulting is that actually executing even half of scheduled meetings is better than average, so he concluded, “people are really there to learn.” Also, Paskalis noted that in a budget-conscious time, when tariffs and other economic worries have marketers slashing media and travel budgets, the optics of an event in Miami Beach are better than events in Cannes or Las Vegas. And compared to the Masters of Marketing in Orlando, CMOs stick around longer at Possible before and after their appearances on stage, Paskalis said. MMA is responsible for much of the show’s content programming. This year, the group also will help keep CMOs around in part by holding its first CMO Academy. Along with official attendance estimates, anecdotal evidence of Possible’s growing popularity includes nearby overflow hotels raising prices in recent weeks. And, at least one nearby Airbnb operator managed to slow walk a previously agreed-upon reservation modification in order to double the nightly rate. Media execs still not sold Media company executives said they’re still searching for Possible’s place in their strategies. One major media company representative, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said their ad sales team is still evaluating the value of Possible compared to the other events. That company was still deciding who to send two weeks before the event was set to begin. While they recognized the caliber of marketers present, the company has no shortage of CMO face time during the upfront event season that immediately follows, they said. A second media company representative said there aren’t Possible spreadsheets to track the puzzle of private meetings they hold at other conferences, and that the company has no expectation it will make ad deals at Possible. That’s not to say Possible’s agenda isn’t packed with faces from major media companies. Speaking on panels are representatives from TV companies including Disney, Paramount and NBCUniversal; digital video players including Amazon and YouTube; audio companies including SiriusXM and iHeartMedia; and traditional media sellers such as Vox, the Financial Times, Hearst and the DPAA. Smaller creator presence than Cannes Unlike Cannes, which is rapidly evolving into a creator economy hotspot, Possible isn’t exactly a top destination for content creators or influencer marketers. Influencers will, however, have a slightly larger presence this year than in the first two years, both on stage and at invite-only events that agencies and ad tech companies are hosting around the Fontainebleau. Influencers including Flau’jae Johnson, a college basketball star and rap artist; Davis Burleson, host of the viral man-on-the-street series “What’s Poppin? With Davis!” and model and content creator Haley Kalil will take the stage. Entrepreneurs such as Bobbi Brown, the founder and chief creative officer of Jones Road Beauty (who previously founded the eponymous Bobbi Brown Cosmetics), and Alexis Ohanian, founder of venture capital firm Seven Seven Six and co-founder of Reddit, will also give presentations. Also, Possible enlisted more than 20 business-to-business creators as onsite ambassadors to capture content during the conference, including Tiffany Hardin, founder and CEO of brand management consulting firm Gild Creative Group. Ryan Detert, founder and CEO of influencer marketing agency Influential, anticipates that about two to three dozen creators will attend Possible this year, noting that the conference “is more of a proxy for something like CES, where, unless you’re really in the industry, you’re not going to go.” Detert and his brother Chris Detert, Influential’s chief communications officer, have been involved at Possible since its inception and were initial investors in the conference. While other influencer marketing agencies, such as Influencer, will have executives on the ground this year, Influential is the only one involved in Possible’s formal programming. Areas of marketing aimed at “driving cultural resonance,” such as influencer marketing and strategies for reaching Gen Z, are comprising a bigger part of the conversation at Possible this year, as media executives are growing more “interested in engaging, learning and connecting with this sector as the worlds continue to collide,” said Julian Jacobs, partner and co-head of UTA Entertainment & Culture Marketing. Jonah Minton, principal at United Talent Agency’s MediaLink and co-lead of its creator advisory practice, said his team’s focus at Possible will be “talking to all sides of the marketplace,” from measurement platforms to media companies, about strategies for scaling and measuring the performance of creator marketing. “Those are the back room discussions that are happening between brands and advisors like MediaLink and UTA at places like Possible and Cannes,” Minton said. “We know it works, we’re spending a lot of money, but how do we make it work better for us?” Recent news: Why influencer performance mattered more at Coachella this year Social media platforms will be there. TikTok, whose future remains uncertain after President Donald Trump extended the app’s U.S. ban deadline for a second time earlier this month, has its global head of monetization product partnerships, Lorry Destainville, speaking on a panel. TikTok is also co-sponsoring a new “Creator Lounge” space at Possible, alongside AI-powered ad tech platform Smartly. Both Pinterest and YouTube have executives speaking this year. And on Wednesday, Possible announced that Yaccarino will discuss “X’s rebrand, the introduction of Community Notes, and the strategic merger with xAI” during a fireside chat. Ad giants and ad tech in deal mode A familiar mix of ad tech vendors and tech behemoths will be there. Google, a “founding” sponsor of Possible, declined to comment on its Possible plans. It’s at the center of the biggest issues in the industry with dual antitrust cases affecting its publishing ad tech platform and search engine. And, Google just shook up the programmatic ad world by backtracking on its plan to restrict cookies. Google’s rivals-slash-partners, including Magnite, Yahoo, Criteo, Basis Technologies, PubMatic, Mediaocean, Teads, Kargo, Permutive, Seedtag and others, are expected to attend. Amazon Publisher Services is on Possible’s registry of ad tech brands. Merger and acquisition activity is swirling in ad tech. With economic volatility, there are tighter public markets, and private ad tech companies are looking for deals to fortify their businesses. Ad agencies are looking at their ad tech partnerships to ensure their value, said Tyler Kelly, president of demand-side platform Basis Technologies. Kelly has been attending Possible since its first year in 2023, and said it’s already evolved from an intimate get-together to a venue for wheeling and dealing. “I’m talking to bankers,” Kelly said. Basis is exploring its options; partnerships and purchases. “There’s a lot of companies I think mesh up well with us that can strengthen our position.” Basis is also making moves against larger rivals such as The Trade Desk, which was wounded by disappointing fourth-quarter results. There is a perception among competitors that agencies are open to dealing with alternatives. “There is an opportunity to steal market share,” said Kelly, who said he would spend most of his time at the Basis Oasis bar, an activation for the ad tech firm, meeting with brands and agencies. Mediaocean CEO Bill Wise said that more CMOs will attend this year. In previous years, there was more supply than demand, Wise said, adding, “you’ll see a better balance.” The supply side, representing connected TV and other publishers, will be there. This week, Magnite announced new ad tech for connected TV, combining its ad server and supply-side platform. Disney Advertising, LG Ad Solutions, Paramount, Roku and Warner Bros. Discovery were the launch partners. “We send a decent contingent down there,” Sean Buckley, Magnite’s president, revenue, said of Possible. “Most of our partners are down there, and we’ve got a full meeting docket.” Contributing: Gillian Follett, Parker Herren, Garett Sloane Data-driven Marketing Playbook: Join industry leaders on May 22 to explore how data can drive marketing strategies, optimize media buying and improve customer engagement. Learn more here.

Possible 2025—what to expect from the conference

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