Webinar
cart culture: why IRL
will win
in 2026
with Erica Bonelli, Founder of Philo
Wednesday | February 18, 2026 | 12 pm CT
Join us for a live, CEO-hosted conversation unpacking why in-person experiences are quietly becoming one of the most powerful drivers of trust, memory, and purchase in 2026.
Cart Culture returns with a sharp, culture-forward look at what broke in digital brand-building and why IRL experiences, community, and real-world moments are reshaping what ends up in the cart, especially for consumer brands.
What you’ll learn
Digital didn’t disappear, but it stopped being enough.
In this episode of Cart Culture, Emily Steele (CEO & Co-Founder, Hummingbirds) sits down with Erica Bonelli, Founder of Philo, to explore why experiential events are having a resurgence, what actually works beyond the hype, and how IRL moments influence purchase long after the event ends.
This isn’t an event playbook.
It’s a cultural read on how buying decisions are really formed.
In this conversation, we’ll cover:
🧠 What Broke in Digital and Why IRL Matters Again
Why attention collapse, AI-driven content overload, and digital saturation have made real-world experiences more valuable, not less.
🎪 What Actually Works in Experiential Events Today
The difference between forgettable activations and experiences people talk about weeks later and where brands consistently over- and under-invest.
🛒 From IRL to the Cart
How in-person moments build trust, familiarity, and cultural relevance that carry forward to shelf, ecommerce, and crowded retail environments.
🤝 Community, Culture, and Context
Why people don’t buy in isolation and how events place brands inside real communities that influence choice.
🔮 2026 POVs for Consumer Brands
What experiential formats are overdone, what’s underrated, and how brands can show up IRL without massive budgets.
🧩 Lessons from 40+ Experiential Events
Erica’s firsthand perspective producing events across CPG, food, and tech and the beliefs most brands aren’t ready to hear yet.
Who This Webinar Is For
If you’re trying to understand why people choose one product over another, not just how to optimize clicks, this conversation is for you.
Brand, growth, and marketing leaders
CPG and consumer brand teams
Community, experiential, and partnerships teams
Omnichannel and retail marketers
Founders and operators building trust in crowded categories
Teams feeling diminishing returns from purely digital strategies
If culture influences your category and community influences your cart, you don’t want this secondhand.
About Your Host
Emily Steele, Co-Founder & CEO, Hummingbirds
Emily is building the largest network of everyday creators helping CPG brands drive real-world discovery and retail momentum. Her platform has powered thousands of creator posts across beauty, bev, grocery, wellness, and pet — helping brands earn the trust of everyday shoppers at scale.
Her expertise blends community-driven marketing, hyperlocal activations, and creator-led brand storytelling — making her one of the leading voices reshaping how modern CPG brands grow.
The future of creator marketing isn’t polished influencers.
It’s real people, sharing real products, in the real world.
Emily breaks down the most important creator trends for 2026, shares real brand case studies, unveils Q1 campaign ideas, and walks through a behind-the-scenes demo of how top CPG brands scale everyday creator content across cities and retailers.