The Festival of Marketing, which this year is taking place in Tobacco Dock in London on 4 and 5 October, features more than 200 speakers across 12 stages.
The first agenda has been released showing top marketers from brands including John Lewis, Unilever and Direct Line, as well as disruptors such as Starling Bank and Laundrapp, talking across a broad range of topics from diversity to in-house creative and what to do when ads appear in unsavoury places.
Two headliners have so far been announced, with Jo Malone taking the stage at the end of the first day to share her experiences of brand building and her entrepreneurial journey launching two fragrance brands. Then professors Mark Ritson and Byron Sharp will go head-to-head on stage at the start of the second day to debate the impact of Sharp’s best-selling book ‘How Brands Grow’.
There are some great speakers worth catching away from the headline stage too. John Lewis’s recently appointed marketing director Becky Brock will be offering her views on loyalty, innovation and risk-taking. While Marks & Spencer’s Nathan Ansell will be sharing learnings from the retailer’s move to more personalised marketing.
There are also some interesting panel discussions taking place. Mars’s Michele Oliver, Ros King from Lloyd’s Bank and Mike Alhadeff from Grey Advertising will be talking about why marketers should be paying more attention to consumers with disabilities, while Jaguar Land Rover’s Dominic Chambers and Marie Curie’s Steve Armstrong will be offering advice on what to do when ads appear alongside inappropriate content.
There will also be an opportunity to hear from startups and disruptive brands. Laundrapp’s founder Edward Relf will talk about building ‘the Uber of laundry’, while challenger bank Starling will look at how fintech is shaking up the banking sector. (Marketing week.)
