Raising consumer temperatures through brilliant brand storytelling

Storytelling has always been marketing’s most powerful tool, but in an age of AI-generated content, fragmented media and declining trust, great stories matter more than ever. In this keynote, discover how brands can use authentic storytelling to build credibility, create emotional connections and turn audiences into advocates. Learn why the brands that win attention today are the ones that give people something meaningful to believe in, share and remember.

Relevance at Scale: How Unilever Turns Attention into Demand

When attention can disappear with a single swipe, how do brands turn visibility into demand? Rani Al Hajji, Chief Growth & Transformation Officer, Personal Care, Unilever, reveals the “poetry and plumbing” behind how Unilever is building brands today. Drawing on the FIFA World Cup 2026™, he’ll show how Dove, Rexona/Sure and AXE/Lynx carved out distinctive roles on the world’s biggest sporting stage, and how creators, culture and real-time infrastructure are helping shape what comes next.

Research: Mind The Gap – why brands & agencies are growing apart?

The marketing industry may be aligned on where it’s heading, but new research suggests brands and agencies disagree on how to get there. Join a leading brand CMO and senior agency executive as they debate The Drum’s Mind the Gap findings, exploring growing tensions around AI, in-housing, capability gaps and value. Where is the relationship breaking down, and what must change before 2030?

Editorial conference

Sit in on The Drum’s daily editorial conference with a difference – the difference being that instead of The Drum’s journalists discussing the day’s news agenda we’ll have special guests and marketing heavyweights highlighting the big stories and issues of the day.

The Drum Debate: This House believes the market not the regulator should decide how AI is used in marketing.

It’s time to pick a side. In this Oxford-style debate, two teams of industry heavyweights go head-to-head over one of marketing’s most contentious questions. Expect strong opinions, sharp arguments and plenty of disagreement as each side makes its case before facing questions from the floor. But there’s only one verdict that matters: the audience vote. Will the arguments change minds, or simply confirm what marketers already believe?

The A-Shaped CMO: Reinventing marketing leadership for the AI age

AI isn’t just transforming marketing; it’s rewriting the CMO job description. So what does tomorrow’s marketing leader look like? This fireside chat explores the rise of the ‘A-shaped CMO’: combining human creativity and emotional intelligence with data-driven thinking, connected by operational excellence. We’ll examine why CMOs risk an AI skills gap, what agentic AI means for marketing leadership and how marketers can turn AI ambition into genuine business transformation.

Gameshow: The Next Generation Game – building tomorrow’s CMO

What does the marketer of 2030 look like? In this fast-paced live gameshow, two contestants compete to build the ultimate next-generation marketer. Across four rounds, they’ll choose the essential marketing skills, broader business capabilities, human qualities and platform expertise tomorrow’s talent will need. With tough choices, competing visions and an audience vote, we’ll discover what – and who – marketing’s future really demands.

Building brands that last: Why long-term thinking wins

In an era of relentless pressure to deliver immediate results, how can marketers continue to invest in long-term brand growth? Sara Holt, CMO at Center Parcs UK & Ireland, joins Neverland co-founder Jon Forsyth to explore why brand should be treated as a strategic business asset. Drawing on leadership experience spanning Center Parcs, LEGO, Merlin Entertainments, the BBC and some of the UK's most celebrated creative work, they’ll examine how the strongest brands balance short-term performance with enduring customer loyalty and sustainable commercial success.

Podcast Live: Slow the F*ck Down

Emma Harris and her Slow The F*ck Down Podcast hits the stage for a candid conversation with senior CMOs about the pressures reshaping modern marketing leadership. From burnout and always-on cultures to managing teams, creativity and personal wellbeing, this live recording will explore what it really takes to sustain high performance in an industry addicted to speed. Expect honest stories, practical lessons and a timely debate around whether marketing’s pace problem has finally gone too far.

Selling Baileys – the world’s most seasonal brand

When an iconic brand sells the majority of its product in just a few short weeks, marketing becomes a year-round exercise in precision, planning and cultural relevance. Baileys reportedly shifts around 60% of its annual volume during the festive season, placing enormous pressure on marketers to get Christmas exactly right while still keeping the brand visible, desirable and commercially active for the other 11 months of the year. This session explores how the team balances long-term brand building with one of the most intense seasonal sales cycles in FMCG.

Closing remarks & drinks

After two packed days of conversation, inspiration and cogitation, The Drum team invites you to join us upstairs in The Drum Arms for some end of day relaxation and refreshment.