The world-famous Specsavers brand is renowned with decades of humorous advertising behind them driving growth and engaging audiences across generations. In this rare session, their director of marketing planning ANZ will share the top 5 (probably 5!) learnings from successfully using humour in advertising and marketing.

Attendees will walk away with first-hand insights on:

1. How you can nail both purpose and humour
2. Why not overlooking the obvious is critical
3. Familiarity is your friend
4. You don't have to be serious about serious
5. It's an expedition not a mission

Join Amplify as they explore how brands can harness worldbuilding strategies to create fandoms, with immersive storytelling that puts audiences at the heart.

Worldbuilding is a tool that film directors and novelists have used for decades to create compelling and engaging environments for ideas, characters and stories to live in. But how can brands also construct these connected worlds, and create storylines and environments to put audiences at the heart of their narratives?

This future-forecasting panel will uncover how top brands, entertainment companies and culture shapers design and craft worlds with audience participation and shareability in mind, helping cement your brand's wider influence on culture.

Creativity is the lifeblood of our media, marketing and digital industries, yet up until now, we've overlooked one of our most powerful sources of innovation - neurodivergent professionals.

If you think the goal is to "attract neurodivergent talent," think again. While diversity, equity, and inclusion agendas have traditionally focused on equitable hiring, the true opportunity lies in developing the untapped strengths of the neurodivergent talent already in your teams.

Forward-thinking organisations that invest in neurodivergent professionals are leading the way with stronger pipelines of innovation, better decision-making, and cultures that attract top-tier talent. The question is: Will your organisation rise to the challenge, or leave this untapped opportunity on the table?

In this keynote, Clinical Psychologist and Neurodiversity Specialist, Mariane Power, reveals how neurodivergent professionals are uniquely wired for innovation. Blending lived experience story sharing with cutting-edge neuroscience, positive and performance psychology, Mariane challenges traditional approaches to DEI, sharing evidence-based, actionable strategies for creating neuroinclusive workplaces that maximise creativity, while preventing burnout.

Key takeaways include:

• Learn why neurodivergent professionals excel in creative industries and how to leverage their strengths
• Gain practical strategies to create neuroinclusive environments that foster peak performance
• Discover how embracing cognitive diversity drives industry-leading innovation and collaboration

Generative AI is impressive, but has its limitations. However, when combined with the authenticity of human talent, that's when the magic happens.

In this highly interactive session, we'll explain how we've worked with real human voiceovers to create ethical AI models of their voices.

We'll unpack the guardrails we've put in place to keep them safe, and in an Australian-first, how talent are paid for the use of their voice.

We'll also discuss where AI voice models should (and should not) be used. (HINT: it's a great way to reduce your pitching costs.)

Then, we'll run a live demo - where you'll be part of creating a script and hearing a commercial come to life in minutes!

Together, we'll discuss its strengths and weaknesses as we hear how AI tech - combined with human talent - can transform how we all create content.

The game has changed. Earning fame through playing in culture requires going deeper to get under the skin of your brands and the audiences you want to engage.  It's less about spotting the moments and creating associations. The new game is understanding what emotional or social needs those moments play in your audience's life, and the authentic role your brand can play.   

 In this session, Laura and Guy will unpack how to earn fame (versus buy it) by rethinking how to play.  

This session is curated and presented by major partners Val Morgan and OMD Australia

Don't get left behind in the Google rankings - discover what's really working in SEO right now. Join us for the exclusive reveal of Australia's largest SEO study, packed with fresh data and powerful insights straight from the frontlines of search in 2025. 

Key takeaways: 

1. Latest SEO Ranking Factors for 2025: Discover what's currently driving top rankings in Google.
2. Actionable Strategies to Improve Visibility: Learn practical, proven tactics you can implement immediately to boost your organic traffic and outperform competitors.
3. Insider Tips & Tools: Get access to the exact tools and techniques used by top-performing sites, along with expert recommendations.
4. A Clear, Data-Backed Action Plan: Leave with a step-by-step roadmap tailored to today's SEO landscape, so you know exactly where to focus your efforts.
5. Future-Proof SEO Insights: Understand how to adapt to upcoming changes in search algorithms and stay ahead of evolving digital trends.

If your business depends on being found online, this is the one session you can't afford to miss.

This session is curated and presented by platinum partner Online Marketing Gurus

Momentum matters. We're drawn to brands who are successful, on the way up. And, in return, we expect brands to help us move forwards. But how can brands execute this authentically?  

In this interactive presentation, Colleen Ryan and Terri Hall will unpack the findings of a major study conducted by TRA to understand perceptions of progress and success in 2025 and the role that brands play. 

Australian's think brands should step up to play a part in people's progress, but what part? Is it through customer service, innovation or community initiatives - or is it market category dependent? 

Join us to find out where people think brands can play a role and, just as important, where they cannot. Plus hear what people think brand's use of AI is doing to help people make progress. 

This session is curated and presented by platinum partner TRA

In today's fragmented digital landscape, standing out and building lasting customer relationships requires more than traditional marketing approaches. Discover how the commerce media network revolution is creating unprecedented opportunities for brands to cut through the noise and forge meaningful connections with consumers.

Key Focus Areas:

Building Trust Through Personalisation:

• Understand how innovation in tech and AdTech is reshaping consumer trust and loyalty in the digital age

Insights Driven Consumer Understanding:

• Gain exclusive insights into next-gen consumer behaviour, particularly their shifting relationship with traditional financial systems
• Access unique multi-retailer and cross-audience insights from Block and Afterpay's vast consumer network, revealing how brands can build fame through smart, insights-driven experiences

Creating Lasting Brand Impact

• Discover how to build smarter, more impactful campaigns through utilising commerce media networks and their uniquely innovative approaches
• Learn how advanced targeting, measurement and effectiveness can help your brand break through the noise

This session is curated and presented by platinum partner Afterpay

Marketing Mix Modelling was meant to bring clarity. Instead, it's become a black box of inflated claims and fuzzy maths. This masterclass unpacks how MMM got off track - and how marketers can reclaim it as a useful, transparent tool for better decisions. 

What You'll Learn 

• Where MMM went wrong - and why 

• How to spot bad models and overpromises 

• What good modelling looks like (and how to use it)

This session is curated and presented by gold partner Prophet

Forget everything you know about traditional marketing - the game has fundamentally changed. In this high-energy session, VaynerX CMO Avery Akkineni reveals why attention is the new currency and how to trade it effectively. Drawing from her experience leading global Fortune 500 campaigns, she'll break down why most marketing strategies are stuck in the past and provide a practical framework for modern attention arbitrage. Learn how to spot platform opportunities before they peak, create scroll-stopping content that converts, and build a marketing strategy that actually works in 2025.

The Shift 20 Initiative is a coalition of the nation's top brands working towards increased representation, inclusion and accessibility in marketing and communications. Having already celebrated one year in operation, how is the initiative delivering on its mission? Come and hear the scorecard first-hand from leading CMOs as they discuss their respective brand journeys so far. Delegates will glean insights on the wider opportunities that being inclusive of disability (beyond just representation on screen) has, and even ways it unlocks deeper connections with their customers.

• AI is transforming traditional production models. If you're not on the front foot, you'll fall behind.
• Consumer data privacy is a real threat - find out how and why brands should look to train their own AI models.
• We'll share some of the AI outputs to show you how truly transformational it is.

Today's business landscape is evolving at a rapid pace. Performance demands, tech advancements, frequent restructuring have created a perfect storm of individuals fighting for relevance and feeling burnt out. With retrenchments up 11% YOY (ABS Mobility Report, Feb 2024) and 77% of employees disengaged (both actively and passively) according to the Gallup State of the Global Workplace Report (2024), your credibility and reputation needs to rise above and make you stand out.

Do you know how others perceive you? Are you the one talked about when you AREN'T in the room? Have you got your elevator pitch ready?

Marketers are terrific when building their brands but turn that mirror around, particularly at the mid-career stage, many are pretty lack lustre at building and nurturing their personal brands and afraid to offer their opinions. The same marketing principles apply, how do YOU not fall into the brand trap and become vanilla in the sea of sameness? Join this masterclass and learn what it takes to build a formidable reputation for yourself.

Kellie Hush is one of the most powerful women in Australian fashion, with a career spanning over 20 years.

Hush will present a session anchored in how the power of fame has changed over time and who holds it. In a ruthlessly competitive landscape, Kellie's bold moves in her career parallel the shifts in power within the industry. From celebrities; to brands; and today, the power is with the consumer now more than ever.

The key pillars of Kellie's session include:

Building the foundations

• How Kellie landed the job as EIC at Harper's BAZAAR
• Sharing stories from the lessons learned in publishing and how to harness fame and celebrities to sell magazines

Overcoming the challenges

• How the shift in power landed with brands and their owned platforms
• The power of making bold moves in business and in your career
• Frustrations with the magazine industry, and why she wanted to do things differently
• The lessons she learned founding The Way, and ultimately having to change course

The Current State of Play

• In her current role as Chief Brand and Strategy Officer at The Volte, Kellie recognizes the power of peer-to-peer business models and how consumers are feeling empowered
• How consumers become your ambassador with UGC being a brand's most powerful asset

Where are all the Mums? 85% of Australian household purchasing decisions are made by mums, yet only 10% of creatives in advertising departments are mums. Where did we go so wrong as an industry? And more importantly, how do we fix it?

This session brings together incredible mums - and one incredible dad - for an honest and unfiltered discussion about the unique challenges parents face in advertising. From navigating tantrums and pulling all-nighters to the herculean task of juggling a creative career with parenthood, our panellists will share their experiences and insights into one of the industry's most pressing issues: the steep drop-off of women, especially creatives, around the ages of 30-40.

In this session you'll learn clear strategies to better support parents in the workplace, an understanding of how motherhood supercharges creativity and problem-solving, and actionable steps to retain and empower mums in advertising.

It's time to stop asking, "Where are all the mums?" and start building an industry where they thrive.

💡 We'll be diving into the role cultural presence plays in driving real business impact. Are great products and media spends still enough-or is it time for marketers to think differently about how they shape culture, influence behaviour, and stay relevant?

In this live podcast recording, Adam and Brent will play and discuss highlights on the creative processes from industry luminaries such as Samira Ansari, Nils Leonard, David Droga and more. You'll also get a chance to join the recording as they take questions from the audience. Finally have your say as they put their own podcast to the pub test.