WHERE CREATIVITY AND MEDIA COLLIDE

 The Future of Brands is for that ‘Aha!” moment. That lightbulb moment. The realisation. The big discovery. The quick wins, too. When you step away from your desk, and it hits you – that’s it! We’ll cover everything you need to know in 2024 that you’ve probably missed; media, creativity, data, technology, and what makes consumers tick. You’ll raise a glass to your industry alongside 400+ of your peers. Bold thinkers, innovators, performers, and breakers. Brands, agencies, and media makers. The world’s leading creatives, tech leaders, familiar names, and faces. The Future of Brands is focused on delivering returns through inspiring work, so expect fast-paced keynotes, questions dug out of fishbowls, and interactive masterclasses over lunch. Interviews, roundtables, quiz shows and debates where speakers have to take a side. It’s a programme curated for you, exploring stories that make you lean forward and think big. Because that’s what we believe the best events should be all about. Disruption, innovation, courage, and excellence. And above anything else, for that lightbulb moment. The stuff you just don’t have time to think about day-to-day. The Future of Brands is where creativity and media collide.  

Sub themes:

If you’re buying, planning or trading media, creating the strategy or informing teams who do, this is the theme for you! From the changing shape of the commercial media landscape and best in class media planning strategies, to trading programmatically in 2024, and the essential building blocks of mental availability, in this theme you’ll gain insights from leaders across industry as they share insight into how to plan and trade effectively in 2024. 

Across this theme, you’ll hear from speakers who know how to breathe life into the heart of brands. A masterclass in creativity, we’ll explore subjects including whether the 'big idea' is still important, the emotional impact of brands and ads on consumers and we’ll even go beyond our immediate world of media and advertising, exploring creativity from other industries such as architecture. Expect to collect plenty of examples of excellence along the way. 

We'll explore all the shiny new things that will impact brands, media, and advertising, asking innovation experts to showcase the revolutionary... and the not so revolutionary, on the road to the future of brands. We’ll hear about retail media, digital commerce, and the evolving AV landscape. We’ll unpick AI, VR/AR, privacy and first party data, and explore the latest advancements from the wider world of tech. 

In this theme, we’ll explore the dynamics of our industry, the money flowing through it, it’s people and our responsibilities to the world around us. We’ll uncover subjects as diverse as the future of the agency and in-house operations, to stories of leadership and financial investments in start-ups, to investigating how businesses are investing in talent. We'll find out what young people think of our business - and discuss how we can all commit to a responsible future, too. 

Can a reliance on measurement stifle creativity? Does data limit risks - when we need to take risks to deliver big returns? Or can data serve as a valuable tool to inform and enhance creativity? Can insight on consumer behaviour, preferences, and market trends, guide better decision making? Across this theme, we'll discuss how to strike the right balance, covering measurement, context, targeting, and consumer insights to drive better results for your business.