Brandweek 2026: Why Marketing Belongs in Product, Finance AND Tech

About this episode

In the age of AI, marketers still have to answer one big question: “Why should anyone choose you?” Live from the Marketing Vanguard stage at Brandweek 2026, Jenny Rooney sits down with Ameetess Dira, CMO of Petzey, for a conversation about the decisions that become even more important as marketing gets easier to automate. Ameetess breaks down why purpose alignment is a non-negotiable in her career, why she deliberately pushes marketing into product, technology, and finance conversations and why some of her strongest brand partnerships looked strange on paper. Ameetess Dira is Chief Marketing Officer at Petzey, an on-demand pet telehealth app with more than 1,000 pet professionals across the U.S. Her path into marketing has crossed broadcasting, radio, print, agency leadership, technology, and international market expansion across Asia and the United States. Her move into pet health was deeply personal. After losing her senior dog, Ameetess deliberately sought out work that could improve access to care for animals and the people who love them. That purpose now shapes how she thinks about everything from partnerships and crisis response to the role marketing should play insid