A Conference of Two Halves: Peer Exchange, But Where’s the Industry Dialogue?
ProcureCon Marketing returns November 17–19 in Austin, bringing together brand-side marketing procurement leaders from across industries to explore how the function is evolving to meet today’s marketing complexity. As brands grapple with tighter budgets, more fragmented media environments, and increasing scrutiny around ROI, this year’s event leans into procurement’s growing role as both value enabler and strategic operator.
The 2025 agenda is built around core themes that feel familiar to many procurement leaders: agency model evolution, the growing impact of martech and AI on sourcing strategies, and how to mitigate commercial risk while supporting creative innovation. Sessions such as “Marketing’s Next Wave” and “AI Acquisition Without Regret” tackle these challenges directly, emphasizing sourcing agility, cross-functional planning, and governance as levers for long-term valueAgenda Procurecon 2025.
This year’s agenda also includes specific discussions on artificial intelligence. In addition to the AI tech procurement panel mentioned above, there’s a practitioner only workshop focused on AI ethics and data responsibility, and a peer-led roundtable on how GenAI is shaping enterprise procurement transformation. These sessions indicate that while AI isn’t the headline theme of the conference, it is emerging as a practical concern, particularly around governance, risk, and implementation readiness.
However, we are seeing the type of change in the format that may affect the type of dialogue taking place. Both afternoons of the conference are reserved for practitioner-only sessions, meaning agencies, suppliers, and third-party partners are excluded from a significant portion of the agenda. While this shift is probably designed to foster more open conversation among brand-side attendees, it also limits the kind of cross-functional and cross-industry exchange that makes these industry conferences well worth it to attend.
The topics covered during the practitioner-only sessions range from general procurement practices to marketing capability-building and analytics. In our view, this reflects a pivot away from deeper industry innovation — such as compensation models in the new world of AI or talent strategies — and more toward skill enhancement, internal alignment, and peer-sharing of operational expertise.
That said, there are still meaningful opportunities for brand teams to connect with external partners. Morning sessions remain open to all attendees, including agencies and tech providers. Networking breaks, solution zone walk-throughs, and hosted roundtables will provide time and space for live conversation and informal alignment.
The broader takeaway? Marketing procurement is shifting from cost containment toward commercial readiness. Not just tracking spend, but building smarter contracts, driving accountability, and embedding performance frameworks that enable better marketing outcomes. The focus now is on contract integrity, governance, and enabling speed.
For teams navigating new scopes of work, evolving media strategies, or broader transformation efforts, the sessions and conversations at this year’s ProcureCon may offer a valuable mirror — one that reflects not only where the discipline stands, but where it still needs to go.
