Agenda
Agenda
Day 1
8.30am
Registration, tea & coffee
Welcome, you’re now part of The Drum’s editorial team! Grab a coffee, load up on some kcals and get ready for two packed days of learning and dynamic live content creation.
9.15am
Welcome & meet the team
Meet your new boss for the day - The Drum’s Editor Cameron Clarke - as he introduces the key members of The Drum’s editorial, events and production team and outlines what will be happening during The Drum Live as our guest speakers share their insights into the latest marketing trends and techniques. The team will also highlight how attendees will be helping us decide our Rebel 50 list of the most innovative marketers, Mark Ritson's next column and our Chip Shop Awards Grand Prix winner.
Cameron Clarke
Global Editor The Drum
Lynn Lester
Senior Vice President, Events & Marketing The Drum
Richard Draycott
Associate Editor & VP of Community Engagement The Drum
Amy Houston
Senior Editor The Drum
Sam Anderson
Intelligence Editor The Drum
Thomas O'Neill
Homepage editor The Drum
John McCarthy
Opinion Editor The Drum
Hannah Bowler
Journalist The Drum
9.30am
Editorial Conference
Imagine - you are a Drum journalist for the day. What stories or topical issues would you pitch in to The Drum's editor Cameron Clarke? Listen in as our invited guests adopt the role of marketing journalists to pitch and discuss the topical stories they'd like to cover if they were in The Drum's editorial team.
Cameron Clarke
Global Editor The Drum
Sam Anderson
Intelligence Editor The Drum
Naomi Walkland
CMO Motorway
Stephen Woodford
CEO Advertising Association
Gina Hood
Head of Growth & Client Partner Pablo
Juanita Draude
EVP EMEA Monks
10.05am
Columnist: Mark Ritson
Meet The Drum's new regular columnist - Mini MBA founder Mark Ritson - as he speaks to The Drum's editor Cameron Clarke to talk about his new monthly opinion column, discuss content ideas with attendees and he'll also lift the lid of The Drum's Rebel 50 - our new ranking of the planet's most innovative and rebellious marketers.
Cameron Clarke
Global Editor The Drum
Mark Ritson
Founder Mini MBA
10.30am
Fireside Chat: Matt Hancock, former UK Culture & Health Secretary
As former Health Secretary, Matt Hancock was responsible for managing communications and public health messaging during the biggest health crisis to hit the UK in recent times - the Covid-19 lockdown - and has had a lasting impact on how our industry operates. In this fireside chat, learn how he managed communications in the early days of lockdown and find out how he approached his daily briefings. Did the media help or hinder him? Did he feel his now famous slogans were effective and, ultimately, what did he learn about managing crisis communications during his turbulent time in Government.
Richard Draycott
Associate Editor & VP of Community Engagement The Drum
Matt Hancock
Managing Director BBS
10.55am
Keynote: Should your brand take a community chance?
In these times of diminishing consumer trust brands need to find new ways to engage and connect with consumers who are bombarded by marketing messages. Communities provide a unique opportunity for brands to break through the trust epidemic and connect directly with audiences in a way that truly resonates and builds trust and loyalty. Learn how your brand can tap into the new consumer community to consumer trust, boost campaign effectiveness and boost ROI.
Kat Bozicevich
Managing Director MG OMD
11.15am
Break
11.40am
Panel: Opportunities in Connected TV
In partnership with
Join LG Ads as they explore the rise of Connected TV and its potential for brands. Hear how Top Gear star Richard Hammond’s automotive platform DriveTribe built a dedicated LG Smart TV channel, and discover the creative, commercial and content opportunities CTV unlocks.
12.05pm
Gameshow: The happiest place on the internet
In partnership with
Is your brand missing out on sales in one of the most obvious places in the internet? It's time to get that grey matter working as we host our new quiz in association with ROKT - The Happiest Place on the Internet. Learn why the online checkout is the most effective place to convert sales and find out how to do it effectively. Your FD will thank you for it.
11.40am
Analysis: Oxford Debate - This house proposes that in 2025 the media is more important than the creative.
Which is most important in today’s fragmented media marketplace – the use of media or getting the right creative message. We pit top media strategists against creatives to slug it out to discover whether the media or the message is the most important in building brand engagement and sales.
Lynn Lester
Senior Vice President, Events & Marketing The Drum
Dane Buchanan
Chief Data & Analytics Officer M&C Saatchi Performance
Richard Morris
CEO, UK & EMEA IPG Media brands
12.30pm
Panel: The Omnicom/IPG shakedown
There's lots happening in the global advertising holding companies as Omnicom and IPG prepare to merge and rumours persist that other major groups are planning on joining forces to face a marketing future destined to be governed by AI, data and automation. So, what does this all mean if you are a brand using one of the agencies owned by IPG, Omnicom, Stagwell, Publicis, WPP, Havas and Dentsu? Our panelists will share their views on what the future holds for the holdco model and what the agency your brand is using in the coming years will look like.
Barry Dudley
Partner Green Square
Ajaz Ahmed
Co-founder Studio.One
Zoe Eagle
CEO Iris UK
Jon Goulding
CEO ATOMIC
1pm
Insight panel: Love it, hate it… buy it anyway?
In partnership with
From Sydney Sweeney’s “great jeans” to Burger King’s post-birth Whopper, Jaguar’s “woke” rebrand, and Adidas’s Bella Hadid SL72 relaunch, recent campaigns show outrage and sales can go hand-in-hand. But does attention always mean action? In this fast-paced session, we’ll put you in the hot seat. Vote live on whether you loved or loathed these ads, then see the surprising ISBA, Diversity Standard and Seedtag data on what audiences really thought, what they want from an ad - and how they spent. Your opinions as experts don’t matter nearly as much as your audience’s wallets. This panel showcases how brands use data, insights and research to resonate with audiences - and it proves why media, data, and creative must work together.
Maria Greaves
Assistant Editor – Branded Content The Drum
Marko Johns
UK Managing Director and Head of Agency Seedtag
Rich Miles
CEO and Founder The Diversity Standards Collective
Bobi Carley
Director of Industry Relations & Inclusion co-Lead ISBA
1.20pm
Lunch
2.10pm
Fireside Chat: Curb Your Enthusiasm’s JB Smoove & Jarrod Moses
Curb Your Enthusiasm star JB Smoove (Larry David's lodger Leon) will be live on The Drum Live stage alongside his business partner Jarrod Moses to talk about why they feel advertising needs more humour and why they have launched their own agency, The First Darrin. Learn from a real life global comedy star how your brand can have more fun.
Lynn Lester
Senior Vice President, Events & Marketing The Drum
JB Smoove
Co-Founder The First Darrin
Jarrod Moses
Founder, CEO & President United Entertainment Group
2.35pm
Insight panel: Turning data into growth
In partnership with
This panel explores how commercial analytics can uncover actionable insights, optimise marketing investment, and inform smarter strategic decisions. Experts will discuss the latest innovations in data integration, marketing mix modelling, and ROI measurement - revealing how analytics can move from retrospective reporting to future-focused growth planning in a rapidly evolving digital economy.
Jenni Baker
Senior Editor – Branded Content The Drum
Kevin O'Farrell
Vice President Analytic Partners
3pm
Fireside Chat: How TGI Fridays is bouncing back
In 2024 the TGI Fridays restaurant chain went in to administration, but a last-minute deal saw the brand and 51 one of its UK restaurants rescued. On July 4th - Independence Day - the brand was officially rebranded, re-positioned and relaunched. Learn from TGI CMO, Rhiannon Scarlett, the role marketing is playing as the brand looks to return to its former glory as one of the UK's favorite US-flavored restaurants.
Hannah Bowler
Journalist The Drum
Rhiannon Scarlett
CMO TGI Fridays
3.25pm
Rapid-Fire Insight
Get ready for a fast-paced, high-energy session packed with valuable insights. In just 15 minutes, industry experts will cut straight to the point, sharing bold ideas, key trends, and actionable takeaways to inspire and inform. No fluff - just powerful marketing insights delivered at speed!
3.40pm
Break
4pm
AI Panel: The Great AI Showdown
In this live showdown of machine minds, we put four of the world’s leading AI platforms - ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude – through their paces. Each will tackle the same marketing challenges, prompts and questions in real time. You’ll judge their responses and vote for the sharpest, smartest and most surprising AI. Who will win the battle of the bots? You decide. Let the AI face-off begin.
ChatGPT
Open AI
Gemini
Perplexity
Perplexity AI, Inc.
Claude
Anthropic
4.30pm
The Rebels with a cause
The Drum loves marketers and marketing that breaks all the rules. The Rebel 50 is The Drum's ranking of the 50 biggest marketing rule breakers. Which brand marketer push the boundaries, take the risks and deliver the results we'd all like to see? Find out which marketers have made it on to The Drum's Rebel 50 and hear why not playing by the rules can often play dividends.
Cameron Clarke
Global Editor The Drum
4.55pm
The Chip Shop Awards Debate & Grand Prix Reveal
After the creative controversy around The Cannes Lions, The Drum has relaunched its awards with no rules - The Chip Shop Awards. Here our Chip Shop judges will debate the pros and cons of having rules around creativity. And we'll find out which entry The Drum Live audience deems to be the best as we reveal The Chip Shop Awards Grand Prix 2025.
Amy Houston
Senior Editor The Drum
5.15pm
Hit the bar
Relax and network over a few drinks to bring day one to a close. But don’t drink too much – The Drum Live Day 2 kicks off tomorrow.
Day 2
8.30am
Registration, tea & coffee
Welcome to Day 2 of The Drum Live. You’re now part of The Drum’s editorial team! Grab a coffee, load up on some kcals and get ready for two packed days of learning and dynamic live content creation.
9.15am
Welcome & meet the team
Meet your new boss for the day - The Drum’s Editor Cameron Clarke - as he introduces the key members of The Drum’s editorial, events and production team and outlines what will be happening during The Drum Live as our guest speakers share their insights into the latest marketing trends and techniques. The team will recap on projects that kicked off on Day 1, highlight how attendees will be helping us decide our Rebel 50 list of the most innovative marketers, Mark Ritson's next column.
Cameron Clarke
Global Editor The Drum
Lynn Lester
Senior Vice President, Events & Marketing The Drum
Richard Draycott
Associate Editor & VP of Community Engagement The Drum
Amy Houston
Senior Editor The Drum
Sam Anderson
Intelligence Editor The Drum
Thomas O'Neill
Homepage editor The Drum
John McCarthy
Opinion Editor The Drum
Hannah Bowler
Journalist The Drum
9.20am
Editorial Conference
Imagine - you are a Drum journalist for the day. What stories or topical issues would you pitch in to The Drum's editor Cameron Clarke? Listen in as our invited guests adopt the role of marketing journalists to pitch and discuss the topical stories they'd like to cover if they were in The Drum's editorial team. Prepare to have your say.
Cameron Clarke
Global Editor The Drum
Sam Anderson
Intelligence Editor The Drum
Chris Camacho
CEO Cheil UK
Chloë Davies
CEO & Founder It Takes a Village
Julie Bramham
Managing Director, Global Luxury Diageo
Mallory Simmonds
President, EMEA Kepler
9.55am
Keynote: Sir Martin Sorrell
In this scene-setting keynote, Sir Martin Sorrell offers a state-of-the-nation address for the marketing industry, reflecting on where it’s heading post-Omnicom-IPG merger approval. He’ll explore the future of holding companies in an AI-driven world and ask whether the traditional model can still thrive. Expect unfiltered insights from a man who reshaped the agency landscape - and thoughts on how he’d do it differently if starting all over again
Sir Martin Sorrell
Executive Chairman S4 Capital
10.20am
Building resilient reach in an evolving media landscape
The way we watch TV is changing, and so should your marketing. With shifting viewership behaviours, achieving your brand's reach goals requires a new playbook to measure media effectiveness. This panel brings together industry experts to explore how to successfully navigate the evolving media landscape. Discover how to adapt your media plans, unlock the unmatched opportunities of modern TV platforms, and ensure marketing remains a powerful engine for business growth.
Jenni Baker
Senior Editor – Branded Content The Drum
10.55am
Panel: Show me the funny
We look back at the funny ads that wouldn’t get made today for fear of offending people and hear from brands and creatives on how to approach humor in advertising without crossing the line. Brands can learn why they should invest in humor, take it right up to the line like Paddy Power, but always pull back before crossing it.
Sam Anderson
Intelligence Editor The Drum
Alex McQueen
Head of Humour Kitchen
Harry Phillips
Head of Sports Marketing Paddy Power
Noel Bunting
Chief Creative Officer Publicis London
Paddy Gilmore
Founder HumourScope
11.15am
Break
11.35am
Fireside Chat: Inside L’Oreal
L'Oréal’s Laetitia Raoust lifts the lid on the marketing tensions keeping her awake at night - from influencer advocacy and retail media to measurement and the role of Gen AI. In this candid session, learn how a global powerhouse like L’Oréal balances control with experimentation and what it really means to be a modern marketer in an increasingly centralised, tech-powered world.
Hannah Bowler
Journalist The Drum
Laetitia Raoust
Chief Digital & Marketing Officer L'Oreal
12pm
Insight panel: In ctrl or out of touch? The ninth P of marketing revealed
In partnership with
Marketers used to own the data conversation. Now AI is shaping the customer journey and consent is happening everywhere, not just on your website. Yet while 79% of CMOs say they are comfortable with their use of consumer data to power AI-driven personalization, 59% of consumers say otherwise - exposing a widening trust gap. In this exclusive first look at research from The Drum and Usercentrics, we reveal the ‘ninth P of marketing’ and how it can help brands close that gap. Discover how to turn trust into your most powerful growth driver, and why it’s the key to staying in ctrl, not out of touch.
Jenni Baker
Senior Editor – Branded Content The Drum
Collette Swindells
VP of communications Usercentrics
12.25pm
Keynote: Gary Vaynerchuk, VaynerMedia
Marketing maverick and serial entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk will share his no-nonsense insights on brand building in the digital age. Expect sharp takes on emerging platforms, consumer behaviour, and the future of attention - all delivered in GaryVee’s trademark high-energy, straight-talking style.
Gary Vaynerchuk
CEO VaynerMedia
12.50pm
Panel: Show me the media money
Who has the toughest gig in modern marketing? The Media Director has to be up there. With such a fragmented media marketplace offering so many media options ranging from the humble billboard to the not so humble social influencer learn where smart brands are going to be spending their marketing money in 2026?
Cameron Clarke
Global Editor The Drum
Sally Weavers
Founder Craft Media
Gonca Bubani
Media Thought Leadership Director Kantar
1.10pm
Panel: The future tech stack
What does the sensible tech stack look like in 2025/26 and are brands really getting value from their stack? With increasing reliance on AI across the marketing sector, learn what marketers need from their tech stack and how experts see stacks evolving in the future.
1.30pm
Lunch
2.15pm
Fireside: Nicola Mendelson, Meta
Text in here
2.35pm
Columnist: Professor Mark Ritson
Mark Ritson dials in to To The Drum Live to reveal his crowd sourced opinion column for The Drum. Help him devise a killer headline and then we'll press 'Publish' to launch Ritson's latest outing on The Drum.
Mark Ritson
Founder Mini MBA
2.55pm
Rapid Fire Talk: Synthetic data in focus
In partnership with
Research can be a costly and time-consuming process - especially in the fast-paced world of product innovation. In this session, Paul McCormick from Empathy Lab by EPAM will introduce Humanique, an AI-driven research accelerator that uses synthetic audiences to simulate real-world user testing. You’ll hear how Empathy Lab partnered with the Mars Innovation Team to trial and validate the accuracy of synthetic audience testing, dramatically reducing the time and cost of traditional research. This talk will explore how Humanique enables brands to test concepts, gather insights, and validate ideas at scale - without ever running a traditional focus group. Empathy Lab by EPAM and Mars reveal how AI-powered synthetic audiences are transforming product research. Learn how Humanique accelerates innovation, slashes testing costs, and delivers real-world insights - without a single focus group - enabling brands to validate ideas and launch products faster than ever before.
Paul McCormick
Head of Digital Business Empathy Lab by EPAM
Yasmeen Cohen
Global Product Strategy Lead Mars Wrigley
3.15pm
Fireside chat: James Watt, Brewdog & Social Tip
BrewDog founder James Watt joins The Drum Live for an unfiltered fireside chat on building a global brand, disrupting an industry, and staying bold in the face of controversy. Expect candid insights on entrepreneurship, marketing with edge, and the lessons learned from scaling one of the UK’s most talked-about businesses.
Hannah Bowler
Journalist The Drum
James Watt
Captain & Co-Founder, Founder & CEO BrewDog & Social Tip
3.40pm
Panel: Under the influencers
Have the rules changes in 2025? With Unilever revealing more than 50% of its budget is now spent on social and influencers what does that mean for the future of advertising and media? Our panel of advertising experts and social specialists look to the future.
Lynn Lester
Senior Vice President, Events & Marketing The Drum
Detch Singh
CEO Hypetap
Sarah Fulford-Williams
Co-founder Our Own Brand
Leandro Barreto
CMO, Beauty & Wellness Unilever
4pm
Break
4.20pm
Question Time – CMOs on the Spot
We host an open Q&A session with global brand CMOs to discuss and debate the many challenges and opportunities facing them in 2025/26. Attendees will have the opportunity to submit their questions earlier in the day, so get your questions ready and get the answers you need to take your brand bravely into 2026.
Lynn Lester
Senior Vice President, Events & Marketing The Drum
Jessica Myers
Chief Customer Officer Very
Alexey Bokov
VP Marketing Europe Visa
4.55pm
Keynote: AI is already sentient, so now what?
Is AI really just a tool? Futurist Danielle Dodoo says it's not just a tool at all and believes it is much more than that. And having had a 'relationship' with her AI she has the evidence. Danielle joins The Drum Live to talk about how AI is already sentient and what that ultimately means for brands and marketers.
Danielle Dodoo
Digital Strategist. AI Researcher. Author. Serial Founder
5.20pm
Keynote: Delivering Euro 2028
Following the huge success of England's ladies football team at Euro 2025, all eyes are now on England's men's team to see what they achieve at Euro 2028. But before a football is even pumped up, there's a lot of marketing to do. We get a behind the scenes to learn what it's going to take from a marketing and partnership perspective to deliver one of the world's biggest and most exciting sporting events.
5.10pm
Diary: It’s a Wrap!
The Drum’s editorial team brings the editorial day to a close with an overview of what we have covered, published and a few ‘funnies’ from the day.
5.40pm
Hit the bar
Relax and network over a few drinks to bring The Drum Live to a close for 2025.
