Level Agency Executive Summit 2026
Adaptive Advantage.
Key Takeaways, Session Materials & Highlights
Pittsburgh, PA | April 8–10, 2026
Summit-Wide Themes
Five themes emerged across every session.
01
Data is the new competitive edge
AI systems are only as good as their inputs. Google, LeadSquared, and Level all reinforced that feeding algorithms low-quality signals produces low-quality outcomes at scale.
02
Authenticity and trust drive the modern purchase journey
Reddit showed consumers turning to real conversation. Pittsburgh Dad demonstrated audiences value authentic voice. LinkedIn proved trusted professional voices drive outsized engagement.
03
Measurement must move from reporting to causality
Google's Causmos, Level's Signal, and LeadSquared's outcome-based framework all point the same direction: stop reporting what happened and start proving why it happened.
04
AI systems beat AI tools
Tools automate tasks, but systems learn from outcomes. The agencies and brands that build learning systems will be structurally different from those that just adopt tools.
05
Innovation comes from unexpected connections
CMU's research on analogical thinking, Pittsburgh's reinvention story, and the Summit's cross-industry format all reinforced that the best ideas come from outside your current domain.
Sessions & Key Takeaways
10 sessions. One playbook.
Pittsburgh Dad: Creativity, AI & Authenticity
Curt Wootton, Chris Preksta & Mike Rubino
- Pittsburgh Dad demonstrated an AI-generated video, exploring the intersection of AI tools and authentic content creation.
- Authenticity remains the differentiator — AI can produce content quickly, but audiences connect with real personality and voice.
- AI is best used as a creative accelerator (handling production tasks) rather than a creative replacement. The genuine, human voice builds lasting audience loyalty.
The Creative Advantage: Ads That Connect and Convert
Jeff Sikaitis, Head of Agency, Global Business Group — Meta
- Creative diversification drives measurable performance: ad sets with diverse creative saw 32% improvement in CPA and 9% increase in incremental reach.
- 49% of brand impact is attributable to creative quality. Creative is a media efficiency lever, not just a branding exercise.
- The optimal ad set includes image, standard video, and 9:16 vertical video with audio — delivering 9.1% lower CPA.
- Stop building one-off assets. Start building a Creative Operating System: motivators, hooks, creator voices, remixing, and format adaptation.
Where Decisions Start: Reddit, Community Trust & the New Discovery Engine
Carly Steuck, Senior Client Partner — Reddit
- Reddit is the #1 most cited domain across AI models and the 7th most searched term on Google in the U.S.
- 77% of consumers switch between multiple search tools in a single session. 2 in 3 do more research before purchases than 12 months ago.
- 69% of Redditors are not on LinkedIn, 62% are not on Instagram — largely unduplicated reach.
- Adding Reddit to the media mix delivers incremental lift: +14% with search, +11% with social, +5% with video.
The Measurement Advantage: From Signal to Causal Proof
Alana Parsons & Chris Marino, Google | Bill Buchanan, Level Agency
- Data + Causality + Better Decisions = Profitable Growth. AI-powered ad formats are only as good as their data inputs.
- Level's Signal technology: +68% lead-to-application rate and +48% more applications for an education client.
- Attribution is your speedometer (what's happening now); Incrementality is your wind tunnel (why it happened). You need both.
- Level pioneered external deployment of Google's Causmos — proving YouTube pauses dropped brand queries by 43.7%.
What the Data Says, What AI Adoption Misses
Prithwi Dasgupta, President, North America — LeadSquared
- Consumer discovery has shifted from searching links to asking questions. AI-enhanced organic (AEO) is now a distinct lead source.
- Speed decides everything in B2C: 78% buy from the first responder, yet average response time is still 47 hours.
- 74% of companies struggle to scale AI value. The #1 reason: desired outcomes were never defined before deployment.
- Key principle: "Tentatively Right > Confidently Wrong." Measure AI by outcomes delivered, not adoption rates.
Rewriting the Narrative: Pittsburgh's Resilience & the AI Future
Tammy Thompson, President & CEO — Catapult Greater Pittsburgh
- Every renaissance creates opportunity, but not everyone experiences it equally. Inclusion requires deliberate intention.
- Pittsburgh's history of reinvention (steel → eds & meds → robotics → AI) offers a model for how organizations can adapt.
- AI carries biases from its training data — demonstrated live with ChatGPT-generated images that reinforced stereotypes.
- The call to action: translate language for mutual understanding, be intentional about inclusion, ensure communities directly benefit from transformation.
AI @ CMU: Using AI to Uncover Analogies for Innovation
Dr. Aniket (Niki) Kittur — Carnegie Mellon University
- Breakthroughs come from analogies, not incremental improvement. The Wright Brothers, Dyson, and medical innovators all solved problems by drawing from distant domains.
- Both human experts and AI suffer from fixation — they search where they already know, leading to homogenized solutions.
- Analogical search led to 5.4x more creative adaptations and 2x as many "good" ideas vs. keyword search.
- FlexMind, a CMU tool, helps users think through trade-offs and iterations — producing higher novelty and feasibility scores than ChatGPT.
Keynote
Patrick Patterson, CEO — Level Agency
Accelerating Your Adaptive Advantage and the AI Org
Patrick Patterson, CEO — Level Agency
- The right question isn't "What is your AI strategy?" but "What is your strategy, and how can AI enable it?"
- Level is building a Marketing Operating System: Intelligence, Creation, Measurement, and Relationship — all feeding each other.
- Most agencies are at AI Phase 2 (copilots). Level is testing Phase 4 (agents) and building toward Phase 5 (AI Orgs).
- Tools automate tasks; systems learn from outcomes. Stacking AI on fragmented process doesn't fix the process.
- Creative turnaround: 8+ days → under 24 hours (93% faster). Application rate lifted 68% via Signal. 80% AI-assisted coding adoption.
Programmatic Fireside: The Open Internet, DSPs, SSPs & Untapped Growth
John Ferraro (The Trade Desk), Kyle Dozeman (Pubmatic) & Brendan Clifford (Untapped Growth)
- The open internet represents 1/3 of investment but 2/3 of time spent — a massive opportunity beyond walled gardens.
- Programmatic is no longer remnant or low-quality. Open internet inventory is now truly premium, brand-safe, and high-performing.
- DSPs are moving into supply, SSPs into demand — competition is driving better transparency and lower fees for advertisers.
- For brands over-indexed on walled gardens, there is significant untapped reach and efficiency through programmatic.
Driving Influence Throughout the Buying Journey with LinkedIn Video
Mike Niesz, Sr. Video Solutions Lead — LinkedIn
- B2B buying now averages 10 stakeholders and 9 months. 94% of buying groups use LLMs before talking to sales.
- Vendors are 20x more likely to be purchased when known by the entire buying group. Confidence, not just reach, drives conversion.
- LinkedIn CTV Ads drive 2.6x stronger B2B awareness lift. ROAS is 121% at the company level — higher than any other platform.
- Thought Leader Ads: +252% CTR increase and +48% lead gen form completion vs. conventional ads.
Highlights
Scenes from the Summit.
“What is your AI strategy?” is the wrong question.
— Patrick Patterson, CEO, Level Agency
The right question is: “What is your strategy?
And how can AI enable it?”
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