Northern Marketing Festival – Prolific North’s brand new event series – is almost here, set to celebrate, connect and inspire the North’s ambitious marketing sectors.
From 24 to 27 June, Northern Marketing Festival will be hosted across three cities – Newcastle, Leeds and Manchester – where you can expect to uncover marketing insights and top tips to help take your marketing knowledge to the next level from big names across the brand and agency worlds.
On day two of the festival, hosted on 25 June at VUE Cinema, Yorkshire’s creative and marketing communities will come together to connect and share ideas with a jam-packed line-up covering anything from paid media, the recent explosion of GenAI and so much more.
Expect a talk with McCann Worldgroup on the journey of advertising, where strategy directors Miles Williams and James Bagan will unpacks how marketers can more effectively link spend to growth and long-term success.
We’ll be diving into how to grow businesses with paid media, with Harriet Tuite, head of paid social at Embryo; Callum Leonard, head of PPC; and Simon Wild, head of marketing and membership at TOTUM. During this talk, you’ll hear from agency and brand marketers as they discuss the strategies, tools, and trends in paid media that are shaping the future of performance marketing.
There will be a highly anticipated fireside chat with Dom Dwight, strategy & innovation director at Bettys & Taylors of Harrogate. With a 16-year career at the brand, he spent eight years as marketing director where he helped Yorkshire Tea to become the UK’s number one brew through consistently creative comms. Now focusing on strategy and innovation, Dwight is exploring new ideas that could shape the future for one of Yorkshire’s most successful independent businesses.
How can brands be playful in marketing and not cock it up? Join Jon Workman, creative director at Ponderosa; Steve Henry, group growth director at Audience Collective; and Adam Irwin, strategy director at Ponderosa who will look at the benefits of bold, creative thinking for brands, and why some of it works and sometimes go badly wrong. The session will arm you with strong arguments to sell the most exciting and adventurous ideas, as well as the principles to ensure they don’t backfire.
Expect a myth-busting session with Alex Culshaw, head of qualitative research at Spark Market Research, who will showcase how research and insights can provide inspiration and confidence to push brands in new directions.
Want to find out how to ensure your content delivers what you need, not just what you asked for? Join a special session presented by Neil Adams, CEO and co-founder at Powerhouse, who will share proactive ways to make the most out of your marketing budget.
There will be no Bored-Rooms with Marc Allot, creative director at First Event and Max Collishaw, head of innovation & tech at First Event, as the duo share their insights on the latest strategies and innovations to apply to your events, as well as the pitfalls to avoid.
Make sure you join Danny Blackburn, chief strategy officer at KINESSO, who will explore how with the recent explosion of GenAI, algorithmic bidding and emerging platforms, the search ecosystem is changing fast – disrupting consumer behaviours and upending established advertising strategies and business models. He’ll be delving into how should brands respond to gain a competitive advantage in this pivotal moment.
The final session of the day will include a panel session on raising the bar in the North when it comes to marketing and creativity with Caroline Huntley, partner marketing manager at Virgin and more speakers to be revealed soon. We’ll also be revealing Prolific North’s brand new list – Top Northern Brand Marketers 2024.
It’s set to be an unmissable day for marketers, both brand and agency side. Check out the full agenda here and make sure you buy your tickets here before they go!
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