CPG & Retail Roundtable Cologne · 22.09.2026

From pilot
to purchase.

Two sessions, one table, one evening. How retail and CPG brands turn isolated AI pilots into customer journeys that show up in the numbers. Roundtable from 17:00, networking dinner from 19:00.

Date
Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Time
17:00 to 21:00
Venue
Hotel Wasserturm, Cologne
Format
Chatham House Rules
Introduction
I
CPG & Retail
Roundtable
Adobe and Innovatus Media
Hotel Wasserturm, Cologne
22 September 2026
Closed-door

Inspiration, interaction, purchase decision. AI is no longer changing single processes, it is changing the whole customer journey. Nearly every retailer and CPG brand now runs something: a personalisation engine, a content tool, a chatbot in the funnel.

Far fewer have turned those pieces into connected journeys that move the commercial numbers. The brands pulling ahead work with fewer, better integrated touchpoints across the whole shopper journey, which matters most at the point where product search moves out of the search box and into conversational AI.

Over the evening we work through four topics at the table, and find out which of it holds up in practice. The roundtable runs from 17:00 to 19:00. A networking dinner follows from 19:00 to 21:00, where the conversation carries on in a smaller setting.

The numbers
II

AI is already changing how people buy.

55 %
of consumers already use AI before the shopping process itself, for inspiration and ideas.
+138 %
year on year growth in AI-driven retail traffic, as at May 2026.
54 %
higher conversion rate and more revenue per visit when visitors arrive through AI channels.
79 %
of consumers feel more confident about purchase decisions made with AI support.
Source: Adobe Digital Insights, Q3 AI Traffic Trends Report.
The discussion
III

Four topics to carry the evening.

01
TOPIC 01

AI use cases in retail

Real-time personalisation, data-led insight and smarter content production. Which of these are delivering results today, and which quietly stall after the pilot?

Personalisation · Insight
02
TOPIC 02

From SEO to GEO

More visibility for your brand inside AI search environments. Generative Engine Optimization is settling in alongside classic search, with different rules and different winners.

Search · Visibility
03
TOPIC 03

Scaling on brand

Automating creative work with AI and deploying it consistently across markets, without losing control of the brand along the way.

Creative · Consistency
04
TOPIC 04

Evidence from practice

What the AI transformation of retail and CPG actually looks like from inside the businesses already doing it, rather than from the deck.

Results · Growth
Schedule
IV

Four hours, no stage.

17:00 to 19:00

Roundtable

Arrival and reception at the Wasserturm, a short opening from Adobe, then the moderated discussion across the four topics. Chatham House rules apply from the first minute.

19:00 to 21:00

Networking dinner

Dinner together, looking out over the city. A chance to carry the roundtable conversation on in a smaller setting, with no agenda.

Venue
V

Hotel Wasserturm, Cologne.

Private dining room at an Innovatus executive dinner
Plate: Innovatus executive dinner, private dining room
Hotel Wasserturm
(1872)
Kaygasse 2, 50676 Cologne
Listed brick water tower
Private area
1872 to present

The water tower on Kaygasse was built in 1872 and was once the largest of its kind in Europe. The listed brick building now houses a hotel, and its glass structure opens up a view across the whole of central Cologne over eleven floors.

We are guests in a private part of the building. No passing traffic, no open bar, just the group at the table.

By public transport: lines 3, 4, 16 or 18 to Poststraße, then a two minute walk.

Your hosts
VI

Your hosts from Adobe.

Volker John
GTM Lead Commerce
Adobe
Malte Günther
Manager Enterprise Sales CPG
Adobe
Executive dinner, closed group
Executive dinner, closed group
Conversation at the table during a dinner
Conversation at the table
Cologne cathedral and the Hohenzollern bridge
Cologne, the cathedral and the Hohenzollern bridge
“
“The most honest conversations about AI do not happen on stages. They happen at the table, among people with the same numbers on their desks.”
On the format
At a glance
VII
Date
Tuesday, 22 September 2026
Time
17:00 to 21:00
Roundtable 17:00 to 19:00, networking dinner 19:00 to 21:00
Venue
Hotel Wasserturm
Kaygasse 2, 50676 Cologne
Format
Closed-door roundtable
Chatham House rules, no recording
Attendance
By personal invitation
Retail, CPG, commerce
Cost
None
Dinner and drinks included
Registration
VIII

Reserve your place.

The group is kept deliberately small so that everyone at the table gets a say. Register your interest and we will come back to you shortly to confirm.

If you cannot make it but would like to suggest a colleague, just drop us a line.

Questions beforehand: events@innovatusmedia.com
Your place is confirmed only once we come back to you. A business email address is required for this closed-door format.

We use your details solely to organise this event. Full information on how we process them and on your rights is set out in our privacy policy.

Any questions before you commit?

Who else is at the table, how the evening actually runs, whether the trip is worth it: just ask, we reply the same day.

events@innovatusmedia.com Go to registration