The Future of Advertising 2024: Second Speakers Announced

We are thrilled to announce our official schedule and first round of speakers for The Future of Advertising 2024!

Faraz is the Managing Director of Gold Wala, the indie he founded to champion diverse teams, produce Factual content with a purpose and develop fun, high quality programming for younger audiences. 

Credits include ‘What’s In Your Bag?’ (CBeebies), ‘Garms: Black Culture’s Influence On British Fashion‘ (BET/Paramount), ‘Sounds Like The 80s‘ (Channel 4), ‘My Mate’s A Muslim’  (BBC Three), short drama ‘Listen, Dad’ (CBBC), and ‘Yo! MTV Raps: Streets’.

He has also exec’d, developed and produced branded content for clients including Apple, Samsung, Google, Ford, Adidas, Spotify and many more.

He was the chair of BAFTA’s Children’s and Young People Committee and sits on the Young BAFTA Advisory Group, Children’s Media Conference Advisory and is the chair of the ScreenSkills Unscripted Fund Development Working Group. He is a mentor for Creative Enterprise UK, a regular columnist for Broadcast Magazine and commentator for the Media Podcast.

Previously, he was Channel 4’s Editor of Education and a Lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Helen is the Managing Director of thenetworkone, the world’s largest community of independent agencies. With over 1600 agencies in 120 countries, their global community of fiercely proud indie agencies provide best-in-class advertising, PR, media, digital, events, branding and design, B2B and B2C solutions for any need, in any geography. Helen is a Chartered Marketer and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), a Chartered PR practitioner and Member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR). 

Before joining thenetworkone, Helen led the global Marketing and Communications team at the Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) where she led an in-house film and production team and studio. She has held other significant marketing and communications roles at the US Chamber of Commerce in London, the City of London Corporation, the Association of Town and City Centre Management and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Katie is a highly experienced Creative Production Leader, who has extensive experience with senior positions held in Global Agencies, Client Side and Production houses. She specialises in building large multi-disciplined teams, in-house agencies and studios, to deliver the most ambitious of projects and multi-award winning 360 campaigns, including 2022 Cannes Lions, Titanium Grand Prix winning Kiyan Prince Foundation #LongLiveThePrince. 

Katie is a WACL Talent award winner and an active Mentor and Awards judge for the Lovies, Effies, BIMA, Next Tech Girls and SheSays. 

Currently running Global Production for Gravity Road, working from London and New York, Katie lives at home in Essex, with her husband, 2 young children and Golden Retriever. 

Ivan leads on Brand Experience and has helped build a wonderful multinational, full service, in-house studio and marketing team in a tech company.

Was Global Creative Director at both Ogilvy and adam&eveDDB, for Dove, Unilever & Philips. Likes to tell people he worked on Diamond Shreddies, the Canadian cereal campaign that ended up in advertising textbooks, business books, TED Talks, and spoof videos.

Champions inclusive and in-house creativity. He writes, does talks, appears on podcasts, makes comments, and volunteers his time to this new community.

He’s won a few awards, including Grand Prix and Gold (& even Silver) at D&AD, Cannes, One Show, Clios, London International, and in almost every category including Integrated Campaign, Innovation, Product Design, Effectiveness, and even web banners.

Co-founder of Truth & Spectacle, a consultancy that helps organisations build consistent and successful brands for themselves.

Loz has worked in advertising for 29 years. He started in media, but was terrible at negotiation and kept paying ratecard for everything, so they suggested he move into planning. That worked out much better and having hopped across to the creative side of the fence he enjoyed stints at Leo Burnett, Wieden + Kennedy and Mother, before joining Lucky Generals in 2014.

As a General, he has helped the agency stay lucky by working on accounts such as Pot Noodle, Amazon, Zoopla, The Guardian, Yorkshire Tea and many more. 

Simon is Head of VFX at Electric Theatre Collective. A VFX Supervisor and Creative Lead with 20 years experience, he oversees the workflows and creative technology deployed across the VFX departments and coordinates the goals of the RnD teams to meet the studio’s needs. His recent work includes: The award winning Accenture “Changing Tree”, Meta “The Tiger and the Buffalo” and Black Mirror Season 5 episode “Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too”

He joined ETC in 2017, having spent 13 years at Framestore working across film and commercials departments, and finishing his time there as Head of CG & Creative Director for the advertising division. Past work includes collaborations with director Daniel Kleinman on the James Bond title sequence for “Spectre”, Mercedes “King of the Jungle”, Galaxy “Chauffeur” and Audi “Leap of Faith” and with directing duo Dom & Nic on projects such as the multi-award winning Chemical Brothers “The Salmon Dance” and Shelter’s “House of Cards” campaign.

Rhona has 27 years in some of the most established and disruptive advertising agencies. Commercial consultant on IPA’s Commercial Certificate and New Business and Marketing Leadership programme. Co-authored “Shift Happens”, the IPA’s recent report into the rise of marketing in-housing.

Trusted advisor to the Inside Out in-house community and judge (Business Impact category) at the 2024 Inside Out awards.

Industry expert on the APA’s Direct to Brand, Get Set For Growth & Grow Your Business training programmes. Runs consultancy projects across advertising and production companies to develop actionable growth plans, improve profitability, strengthen sales credentials and implement change.

Sagar is an Art Center College of Design Alumni who graduated with a BFA (Film). He has since shot (Directed and Produced) commercials for various brands worldwide until he founded a specialist video marketing agency (Liwa Content Driven) in Dubai that’s among the most awarded and coveted agencies in this space.

Liwa is an agency that not only understands the art of filmmaking but also excels in crafting content for brands at various levels. This, combined with strategic thinking and other advertising disciplines, positions Liwa as a one-of-a-kind agency to collaborate with.

 With a thriving business in the Middle East and a deep-rooted connection to North America, Sagar’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to expand his market to the United States and this strategic move allowed him to work with top-tier brands. They have achieved awards at New York Festivals, Dubai Lynx – Cannes Lions, Effies & Midas and have worked with brands such as: Ikea, Lucky brand jeans, State Farm Insurance, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, NBA, Pepsi, Lipton, Landmark Group and its brands, Emirates NBD Bank, Shell, Government of Dubai, Mubadala (Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund), Emaar and Damac Real Estate.

Simon is Head of VFX at Electric Theatre Collective. A VFX Supervisor and Creative Lead with 20 years experience, he oversees the workflows and creative technology deployed across the VFX departments and coordinates the goals of the RnD teams to meet the studio’s needs. His recent work includes: The award winning Accenture “Changing Tree”, Meta “The Tiger and the Buffalo” and Black Mirror Season 5 episode “Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too”

He joined ETC in 2017, having spent 13 years at Framestore working across film and commercials departments, and finishing his time there as Head of CG & Creative Director for the advertising division. Past work includes collaborations with director Daniel Kleinman on the James Bond title sequence for “Spectre”, Mercedes “King of the Jungle”, Galaxy “Chauffeur” and Audi “Leap of Faith” and with directing duo Dom & Nic on projects such as the multi-award winning Chemical Brothers “The Salmon Dance” and Shelter’s “House of Cards” campaign.

Steve Davies is Chief Executive of the APA and a lawyer, and advises  on  IP issues. He has a keen interest in legal issues around AI and how they impact APA members because they are a critical component of successful AI use. 

Creative Director and Director, Will MacNeil orchestrates award-winning projects focusing on innovative image-making techniques across films, installations, and interactive media. Renowned for his exploration of AI applications and cutting-edge interactive interfaces, Will has led notable endeavours such as the EE Hope United Generative Shirt project and Art Fund’s National Art Pass, Art to Brainwaves, viral installation.

His portfolio also includes contributions to high-profile events like the Winter Olympics Closing Ceremony and the Lush Spa Experience data visualization film. A sought-after speaker, Will consistently shares insights on creativity in 3D design at prestigious industry gatherings like OFFF, FMX, and Us By Night.