…and what does it mean to move and shape culture? Hear from an eclectic mix of marketers, strategists and experts on what culture IS, HOW to navigate it, WHY it matters and WHAT good cultural insight and initiatives look like and HOW to lead, (not borrow or exploit) culture.

• What’s the difference between activating in and creating culture?
• Why do the WHY questions need to be asked?
• What are we getting wrong, as marketers?
• Why are we so obsessed with “youth” and “pop” culture?
• What is a brand’s role in culture? How can brands legitimately play a role in culture?
• What’s the difference between advertising and culture-led work?

A quick-fire, high-energy panel conversation with some of the most interesting and credible brand marketers in this space. Making the business case, influencing internal stakeholders and demonstrating the benefits of long-term cultural influence. How have they achieved extraordinary things year after year in an era of depleting budgets and a heavy focus on performance-led marketing?

There’s a big difference between leaning into culture and leaning into culture correctly. And often, it depends on whether an organisation has the right competencies and capabilities, a high level of psychological trust and a commitment to cultural-led marketing.

• Is it possible to cultivate a culture of curiosity?
• How can you move from producing average to truly transformative culturally-led work?
• And how can you sustain momentum, investment and commitment to cultural-led approaches?
• In this session, you’ll hear from a brand leader who has created a marketing function which not only embraces but leads culture.

Join Raf McDonnell, Founder of Talent & Brands (part of Atomic London), and Professor Green as they explore the cultural impact of celebrity brand partnerships. Drawing from real-world collaborations with brands like Puma, Gillette and Amazon, they’ll share how these partnerships create authentic connections, shape cultural moments, and discuss what happens when things don’t go to plan. With social media reshaping how brands engage, they’ll delve into the evolving role of celebrity in maintaining cultural relevance.

The brands that do it best are the brands that play a loooong game. Memes undeniably work in the moment – they can fuel short-term awareness, relevance and sales, but what does a cultural long-game look like? One expert will reflect on the duality of short-term, “transactional” cultural hijacking v. long-term brand transformation.

How to systematically leverage the cultural opportunity The importance of culture for brands has never been so pronounced, but the amorphous nature of culture, alongside the changing dynamics of an increasingly fragmented landscape, means a more considered approach is urgently required. In this session Mark Murray Jones from OMD EMEA and Marlies Gebetsberger from Philips will explore an approach brands can take to navigate that complexity to leverage culture, unlocking growth and opportunity for brands and society alike.

In this session hear how brands can navigate cultural shifts and social movements, and how to appeal to multiple generations, from Gen Z to Boomers, each with their unique cultural references.

2014-2021 saw a hyper-growth trajectory for Oatly, with supply struggling to keep up with demand. At its peak, cartons of Oatly milk were selling for $100 on eBay. From its meteoric sales during the plant-based, vegan rage to a new post-pandemic age, hear how Oatly is adapting to a new cultural landscape without losing what made the brand so beloved by people globally. Get a masterclass on how to:

• Drive distinctiveness in a highly competitive and deeply politicised category
• Maintain your grassroots relationships and identity throughout stratospheric growth
• Keep your mojo alive, even when you’re being trolled by the multi-million dollar daily industry

In December 2023 a poem celebrating Women’s Football was front page news. The poem was by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy and the people behind it were Three UK.

This was the launch moment for the nomination window of the #WeSeeYou Network.A culture-shifting initiative, with the aim to build a long-term community of role models, celebrating the abundant – but too often hidden – women within football.

Executive Creative Director Mat O’Brien and Sponsorship Campaign Director Nicole Pacitti share how Three brought together the power of their big network with the positivity of a thriving sports network to ensure women are seen, recognised and rewarded through opportunities, experiences, and mentorships, in an effort to change the face of football for good.

Hear how and why Channel 4 devised Carbon Skidmarks, how it disrupted the ideality and why tone of voice and the power of comedy is so important to land purpose comedically. With a high-stakes campaign come high risks. Hear how these were managed and solved, what the impact of Carbon Skid Marks was and finally how it paid it forward to the community it serves.

PepsiCo turned a simple consumer pain point into a creative opportunity with the ‘Silent Doritos’ campaign. The buzz generated by the campaign enjoyed 3.2bn earned reach, the biggest global Doritos gaming campaign ever. It received over 250 pieces of coverage, created a +76% uplift in on-target brand impressions and had over 200K organic social engagements. Doritos also recorded a +$50m sales growth.And the results amongst the gaming community were equally impressive. Interest in the Crunch Cancellation software drove more than 1.8m website hits to find out more and generated over 15K downloads in the first few weeks. And our Twitch Doritos emote was spammed more than 5.3m times!

We’ll hear from those at the forefront of popular culture. What are their predictions on the brands, people, ideas, identities and themes that will bubble up in the near future?

The complexity of culture can't be tracked. It's not about numbers on the board or who has the biggest social following. There’s an inherent tension between tracking the numbers and cultural credibility. Hear what cultural marketing specifically means to Emilie, how to produce world-class marketing campaigns.

Hear from Tinder’s SVP of Communications on how Tinder inserts itself into cultural conversations to drive brand awareness and relevance. Focusing on examples from the Olympics 2024 (where Tinder wasn’t an official sponsor but still picked up a Gold medal for its coverage), “Ink Twice” tattoo coverage up campaign and encouraging Gen Z to vote in elections, this session will underline the importance of nuanced insight, consistency and brand values.