Intro

Panel Hosted by Robyn Pound-Woods, Founder of Current Creative, this panel brings together creator, brand and legal perspectives to unpack how influence is evolving beyond polished feeds, one-off partnerships and surface-level reach. As platforms shift, audience behaviours change and expectations of brand content become more complex, the session will explore the changing role of creators in brand work and why the old playbook no longer works in the same way. With panellists Luke Mackley, Martyn Odell and Amy Ralston, the conversation will look at how TikTok accelerated the rise of more informal, personality-led and UGC-style content, and how that shift has influenced behaviour across wider platforms. It will also examine how many brands were slow to respond when they were still geared around glossy Instagram-first output, and how they are now adapting to audiences who increasingly want content that feels more immediate, useful and real. Rather than treating influence as a niche social tactic, the session positions creator marketing as a broader business and brand challenge. As audiences become more selective, platforms more crowded and AI-generated content more prevalent, the brands and creators who win will be the ones who understand that influence is no longer just about attention. It is about trust, relevance, adaptability and how well content, community and commercial goals actually align.

Panel ‘Social Impact and the Role of Brands’ hosted by DYSUJO founder, Chris Thomson, explores what meaningful brand impact actually looks like at a time when consumer expectations are higher, scrutiny is sharper and performative purpose is easier than ever to spot. Bringing together voices from YETI, Airbnb, Patagonia and Janine’s experience across Vans and Dr. Martens, this panel looks at how modern brands can play a credible role in culture, community and society without losing commercial clarity or drifting into vague purpose language, and how some of these learnings from some of the biggest global brands can be applied at a local level.

Break

Keynote The Mainstreaming of Sport & Outdoor Culture: Balancing the Risk and Reward Dan Macaulay (Brandwave), alongside representatives from leading global sports brands, explores the rise of outdoor culture into the mainstream — from trail shoes at Paris Fashion Week to water bottles as status symbols — and asks: is this sustainable growth, or the start of brand dilution?

Fireside chat. Chris Thomson, founder of DYSUJO and Marwick Marketing, sits down with Richard “Rich” Sutcliffe, founder of Passenger, to unpack the remarkable growth of one of the UK's fastest-growing consumer brands. From a passion project launched in 2012 to an outdoor lifestyle brand generating more than £100m in annual revenue, achieving 78% year-on-year growth and ranking among the UK's fastest-growing private companies, Passenger's rise has been anything but ordinary. In this conversation, Rich shares the key decisions behind Passenger's growth, including brand building, ecommerce, customer acquisition, leadership, investment, and scaling a purpose-driven business while staying true to its roots. A behind-the-scenes look at how Passenger grew from a startup into a multi-million-pound global brand selling hundreds of thousands of products each year—and what's next on the journey towards £200m in sales.

Break Free legal question and answer lunch session with Coodes. As part of the lunch session, Kayleigh Whitman and Fleur Uren from Coodes Commercial Disputes team will be on hand to answer any legal questions you may have relating to your marketing and wider business activities. Whether you’re planning your next campaign, growing your business or simply want reassurance before taking the next step, this is an informal opportunity to ask questions, gain practical guidance and identify potential risks before they become problems. To get the conversation started, have you ever wondered: Can I use customer testimonials or case studies without permission? Is my website legally compliant with current privacy and cookie requirements? What should I include in my website terms and conditions? How can I protect my brand, business name or logo? What should I do if a competitor copies my content, web domain, branding or ideas? What should I look out for when signing sponsorship, advertising or collaboration agreements? How can I recover unpaid invoices or deal with customers who don’t pay? When is it worth having a commercial contract reviewed before signing? No question is too small. Bring along your current challenges, future plans or ideas, and take advantage of the opportunity to speak directly with experienced legal professionals in a relaxed, informal setting.

Keynote Every brand is producing more content, across more channels than ever before, and getting less back for it. The echo chamber of always-on publishing has created a paradox: brands are more visible and more forgettable than ever before. We are all to blame. This talk gives you a way out. Michael Corcoran introduces the Organic Social Matrix: a practical framework that maps Fast & Slow content across Prompted and Unprompted discovery systems, giving you a clear lens for deciding what to make, where it lives, and what it's supposed to do - so every piece of content earns its place instead of filling a slot. Lastly, how do you build an idea ecosystem in 'the new way', where it's not only an obsession with optimising the format, but also creative distribution that bypasses the current way so many brands are set up to fail?

Keynote ‘How to Build a Stronger Destination Brand (and Business) in a Tough Economy’ explores how places, cultural organisations and local businesses can market themselves more effectively when consumer confidence is fragile, spending is tighter and competition for attention is increasing. Using real examples from destination, cultural and place-based work across the UK, this keynote looks at how some locations are creating stronger, more meaningful identities by understanding what local people and visitors actually value, then translating that into clearer stories, better experiences and more commercially relevant offers. Rather than treating place marketing as a tourism-only issue, the session positions it as a broader business challenge. The strongest destinations are not simply the ones with the biggest budgets or the best-known landmarks. They are the ones that understand their identity, package it well, connect cultural and commercial assets intelligently, and create reasons for people to spend time and money there.

Break

Keynote Brand to Bottom Line is a practical, structured session designed to help marketing leaders build a stronger connection between brand activity and business outcomes. Drawing on real-world frameworks and industry evidence, the talk covers everything from how to brief agency partners more effectively, sharing business goals, stakeholder priorities and reporting cadence rather than just marketing objectives, to how to structure budgets using a framework that protects core spend while keeping innovation on the agenda. The session tackles some of the most pressing challenges facing brand teams today: navigating the tension between brand building and direct response, using AI as a thinking tool rather than a cost-cutting shortcut, and deciding what genuinely belongs in-house versus with external partners. It also addresses the often-overlooked basics of internal reporting and joined-up customer experience, arguing that consistency across every touchpoint is as much a revenue driver as any campaign. Attendees will leave with a clear set of actions they can implement immediately, from rewriting a brief to auditing their customer journey and rethinking how they report to the board.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Panel “When Consumption Shifts: How Brands Adapt” uses the drinks industry as a live case study in what happens when demand declines, culture shifts and the rules change. People are drinking and socialising less, younger generations behave differently, spending is tighter and regulation is increasing. This session explores how drinks brands are being forced to adapt, and what founders and leaders in any industry can learn from that pressure. Featuring a panel of both new‐generation and experienced drinks founders, it focuses on relevance, value, learning fast and building resilient businesses when growth is no longer guaranteed.