As the Head of Corporate Communications and External Affairs at Girlguiding - the UK's largest youth organisation for girls - Abby is passionate about storytelling and amplifying girls’ voices within these stories, sharing issues and topics that are important to them.

She helps to strengthen Girlguiding’s external presence and reputation by overseeing a busy press office, influencing sectors and government, and managing the corporate narrative of the organisation.

Previously, Abby worked at a communications agency focused on positive change, from preparing the UK for the EV era to guiding parents and young people on post-16 educational options.

Alex is Campfire's Chief Creative Officer, who brings a blend of creativity and strategic insight from his experience in social media content creation and advertising. Alex works to revolutionise our approach to social-first advertising, aiming to inspire our teams to push the envelope, blending bold creativity with meticulous strategy.

Alexandra is Senior Content Executive at Pion, working on blog content, social media content and with the wider insights team for long-form guides and reports. She is a digital native with a background in content marketing and a passion for all things Gen Z.

Her simple pleasures include Radio 4 in the morning, old X-Factor auditions, pop culture trivia and drinking her body weight in Diet Coke.

Charlie Cooper Henniker is Head of Brand Experiences at ITV where he’s responsible for the development and production of title-led and brand activity with a particular focus on content creator and commercial audiences. Prior to this Charlie was Director of Global Production at the LEGO® Group, creating content and experiences for fans. He has also led event and production teams at BBC Studios, toured comedy shows internationally and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, published on the topic of Indian Cinema and produced a range of theatre projects.

Christopher Platt is the founder and CEO of Dig In, a company dedicated to creating a brand that is both well-loved by students and universities while also achieving commercial success. Established 10 years ago, Dig In has grown into the largest offline marketing network in the UK, helping brands connect meaningfully with students.As a youth marketing maverick and attention economy expert, Christopher leverages his unique insights to develop future-proof marketing strategies that transcend algorithmic dependencies. He also embraces his ADHD, turning it into an asset in the marketing realm, fueling his ability to think outside the box and drive innovation.Before launching Dig In, Christopher built an impressive career in financial services and data analytics, building tailored financial planning and risk solutions for institutions in the UK and overseas.

Clem completed a Drama degree and a Masters in Production Design before going on to form award-winning theatre company Kill The Beast. He has worked as a writer, designer and director in theatre for more than 10 years, including a significant time at Punchdrunk. Clem now brings brings his creative expertise to SWAMP, crafting groundbreaking brand experiences that have thrilled audiences the world over.

Daniel is Head of Content & Customer Experience at Pion and is responsible for leading Pion’s Global content operations in 100+ markets. In his time at Pion, Daniel has successfully worked on Gen Z campaigns across EMEA, US and APAC regions, with brands including ASOS, Gymshark, Domino’s Pizza, Apple, Amazon and more. Daniel has first hand experience in adapting to the changes on e-commerce consumer buying behaviours over the past decade.

Outside of work, Daniel enjoys spending time in his local playground with his 2 daughters and cuddling his Persian Cat, Dandy, whilst binging ITV’s latest crime thriller.

Dr. Peter Hughes is a specialist in communication psychology with a particular interest in brand psychology. He founded the Cognition Scientific Board, now acknowledged as the UK’s foremost board of advisors with expertise in psychology, neuroscience and statistics.

Peter has managed over 200 research, messaging, segmentation and growth projects for clients in more than 25 countries in EMEA, the US, LATAM and APAC. He has appeared in more than 60 television documentaries, delivers talks and runs workshops in the UK and internationally on psychology, decision science and leadership.

Dr. Russ Wilson is currently Head of UK at global strategic insight agency, The Sound. He has spent the last 15 years working across the insight and strategy industry, including a stint at Amazon, and has carried out research and consultancy projects for many of the worlds’ leading retailers, delivery companies and payment providers.

Eni Shabani (he/him) is Founder and Director at Rising Ballers, the biggest Gen Z football media brand in the UK. A passionate and purpose-led entrepreneur, Eni founded Rising Ballers to combat the lack of support and representation young and aspiring football players had. Originally working as a private equity consultant, Eni saw how disheartened his brother Brendon felt while playing at academy level and wanted to do something to help change that. Recognising a gap in the digital market for a community platform that would speak directly to grassroots football fans, Eni set about building a network to shine a light on young ballers.

Now on a mission to create culture and opportunity within football for the next wave, Eni’s impact spans far and wide. The Rising Ballers network has one of the most engaged, authentic communities out there boasting a following of 9M and impressive repertoire of brands partnered with. From activating successful campaigns and projects with the likes of Adidas, PlayStation and Premier League to running grassroots talent-finding tournaments up and down the country, the RB network educates and entertains communities while keeping young representation at its core.

Marketing has been a passion of mine since age 15, when I first realised the potential of this field to shape narratives and create meaningful connections between brands and people. Early on, I started giving career talks to Year 11 and sixth form students around North and East London, sharing the often-unseen creative and strategic avenues that marketing offers. Those experiences showed me the power of mentorship and ignited a lasting desire to inspire others about this dynamic career path. Currently, I develop strategy and ideas for all multi-channel seasonal campaigns and marketing activations at Ann Summers.

Frankie leads Talent Attraction and Recruitment Marketing at Linklaters, and specialises in designing campaigns and initiatives that connect Gen-Z talent with career opportunities. She has developed social strategies that have driven exceptional engagement, making her responsible for some of the most followed and engaged social accounts in the legal industry globally.

Outside of her work increasing access to career opportunities, Frankie is also dedicated to increasing access to the slopes. She co-founded Off Piste Ski Trip, a Black-led ski community that has inspired millions and introduced hundreds to snow sports, even catching the attention of Beyoncé.

Hanne is a Senior Marketing Manager at Abercrombie & Fitch working across the portfolio of brands (Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch) where she oversees the affiliate and student-based strategies across the EMEA region. She has been specializing in affiliate and performance-based marketing for over 9 years and have previously worked across brands like Decathlon, Webgains and Betway.

Harri is the co-founder of Antler Social Ltd, a TikTok-first agency reshaping how brands connect with audiences. With 5 years in global influencer marketing, working with Beats by Dr. Dre, MAC Cosmetics, and FARFETCH, she saw the need for fresher strategies. Since 2023, Antler Social has grown to a 7-strong team, empowering brands like Ann Summers and Purplebricks to thrive on social platforms.

Jas is the Co-Founder of luna, the world’s first digital companion for teens as they navigate adolescence. Jas is a consultant turned entrepreneur. She started her career at Deloitte working on Strategy and Operations projects for FTSE 100 Banks and Insurers. Jas decided she wanted to do something more impactful and entrepreneurial so left her role as a big 4 Consultant to start luna. Jas holds an MBA from Oxford Saïd Business School and outside of work she sits on the Governing Board of her former high school.

Jess Wreford is the co-founder of Antler Social, a TikTok-first agency dedicated to helping brands stand out with bold, creative strategies and scroll-stopping content. With over a decade of experience in social media, Jess brings a passion for creativity and data-driven insights to help brands thrive in the ever-changing digital landscape.

As a former actress and singer, Jessie Lilley brings a creative flair to her current role as an enthusiastic sales leader at Awin, a global leading affiliate network. With a passion for storytelling and a deep understanding of audience engagement, she helps clients of all sizes build their online presence and drive sales. With years of experience in both creative and commercial industries, Jessie is dedicated to helping brands achieve measurable success in the ever-evolving world of digital marketing.

As the CEO of Co:cubed, Joel leverages over a decade of experience helping the world's largest brands solve their biggest problems by fostering impactful partnerships with startups & scaleups globally. Under his leadership, Co:cubed has established a network of 12 million startups, fostering impactful partnerships between brands and startups that drive innovation and growth.

Jon Kell is the Vice President of Marketing at Yoto, responsible for driving the growth of the Yoto brand globally. Since joining Yoto in its early stages, Jon has helped it expand from a small team to over 170 employees worldwide.

Prior to joining Yoto, Jon spent a decade in various agencies working across a number of disciplines crafting strategy and campaigns for brands such as Coca-Cola, Budweiser, and Bose. Additionally his time in startups and the music industry further enriched his experience, culminating in the insights he brings to Yoto today.

Jon has over 20 years’ experience in developing successful student marketing strategies across dozens of brands. In addition to leading paid media campaigns, he’s been at the centre of countless strategic projects helping universities to communicate more effectively with their audiences. Projects such as brand development, brand research, propensity modelling, student journey mapping and persona development.​

Kian is the Founder of The People and Author of Marketing for Social Change. The People is a Gen-Z consultancy powered by a global community of young changemakers. He is listed as one of the Top 50 Future Leaders by the Financial Times. Kian is also an Advisor to UN Climate Change and a TEDx speaker. He regularly writes about Gen-Z marketing and social impact for Forbes CMO Network. Kian is deeply passionate about using the power of creativity for good.

Kim Townend is a strategist and researcher who turns social data into cultural intelligence and cultural intelligence into actionable strategy.

As Head of Brand, Marketing and Communications at Girlguiding - the UK's largest youth organisation for girls - Laura is dedicated to promoting Girlguiding’s mission of empowering girls and ensuring their voices are heard.

She helps to build Girlguiding’s brand, including the launch of a rebrand in 2023, improve perceptions and inspire people to join through overseeing creative output, marketing campaigns, social media channels and member communications.

With over 16 years working in marketing, Laura previously worked at the NSPCC creating impactful behaviour change and brand campaigns. Laura is an accredited coach and is passionate about helping people grow and achieve their full potential.

Lottie is a dynamic brand marketing leader with over 19 years of global experience spanning digital, content, customer experience, media, and PR. She has a strong track record of scaling brands and cultivating engaged communities through bold campaigns, strategic platforms, and impactful storytelling.

As the head of The Travel Corporation’s Tour Brands Marketing Lab, Lottie drives marketing innovation and cultural relevance across multiple iconic travel brands, including Contiki. She thrives on creating strategies that spark conversation, fuel engagement, and leave a lasting impact.

Madeline Riley is a highly experienced marketer with a passion for creative that blends culture, storytelling and audience insight. Before joining Tinder, Madeline was the EMEA Marketing Manager at Meta, and established her career working with in ad agencies across brands such as Audible, BMW, Mentos, and The Times. Madeline is also the host of 'To Whom it May Concern', a podcast centred on navigating career milestone and moments of failure.

Martyna Hobson, Strategic Partnerships Manager at Awin, has been immersed in the world of affiliate marketing for over 5 years. As a Tech Partner Consultant, she's all about finding and implementing game-changing tech solutions for brands. Martyna is passionate about helping brands stay ahead of the curve and connect authentically with young audiences.

I guess you need to know how I got here. I have 12+ years of experience <insert big list of brand names here to show off and brag so you might think I’m a big thing>. I'm not a Forbes 30 under 30; I have not been named 'Top Marketing Influencer' by some random agency looking to PR for new business. At Ryanair, I ran its social media. I let my work do the talking (most of the time), and I think I'm doing ok at it. You can call me the Aldi version of Gary Vee. Now it’s time to speak Frankly.

I am a Girlguiding Advocate, alongside being a Ranger and Brownie leader, and I have been a member of Girlguiding for 13 years. I am passionate about eradicating period poverty and ending violence against women and girls. I joined the Advocate panel to speak up about these issues and empower girls' voices. I am interested in how social media can be used as a positive tool for advocacy work!

I’m Molly, a Girlguiding Advocate, and I am interested in emphasising the significance of responsible marketing to young people, especially girls and young women. I believe in creating safe, empowering messages that inspire confidence and positive role models for and within young people.

Nora is an award-winning marketeer. Her well rounded international career spans across all key marketing verticals: creative agency (Ogilvy & Mather Singapore @ Unilever Pond's), brand (FOREO, Lottie London to name a few) and now tech and media while pioneering discovery commerce at TikTok Shop.

Passionate about engaging with Gen Z consumers, Nora is known for insight-led creative and disruptive digital activations that cut through noise and deliver business and brand growth. You can often see Nora on stage sharing her insights and forward thinking around the latest marketing, digital and e-commerce trends that shape the industry.

Oliver is an entrepreneur, speaker and founder of cocreatd - a venture studio for the creative industries.

Cocreatd invents, incubates and invests in marketing companies. Finding talent with big ideas and backing them with everything they need to succeed - money, support, and a community platform.

Previously Oliver served as CEO of Flight Story, the global marketing and innovation group he founded with Steven Bartlett. Exiting that business in 2023.

For over a decade, Oliver has been at the forefront of marketing and technology, helping guide the management teams of many of the worlds most successful companies including: Amazon, Apple, Coca-Cola, TikTok, Google, Disney & Uber to name just a few.

Paul is the Founder of PR Communications Agency Here Be Dragons, working with clients such as Greggs, Beavertown and Disney to create brave earned media work.

Perla Bloom is a dynamic global marketing strategy leader, passionate about the intersection of tech, creativity, and culture. She builds brands, creates connected experiences for audiences that solve a problem to reach specific objectives. She currently leading comms planning for content, editorial and entertainment at Expedia Group, and before that was at EA Games writing global marketing strategies for iconic games like Battlefield, The Sims, Need for Speed and many more. Before that she was agency side, and has expertise spanning various sectors, from FMCG to fintech, to Luxury.

A passionate marketer, creative and brand leader Rachel has over seventeen years marketing experience, with the last ten spent spearheading youth brand marketing at Contiki.

Rachel is passionate about creating brand storytelling that’s purposeful, emotive and entertaining – ensuring Contiki remains on the pulse when it comes to targeting savvy Gen Z audiences. Her expertise lies in leading creative teams to conjure world class branding, campaigns and partnerships.

Rachel is Contiki’s Diversity Equity & Inclusion lead and is a passionate sustainability ambassador. Under her leadership Contiki has been recognized and received numerous DEI & Sustainability awards.

Richard heads up events at Pion and over the past 10 years he has scaled the Youth Marketing Strategy event across the globe. Richard's passion for bringing communities together, youth marketing and all things brand is what has given the YMS event its unique positioning. Richard’s love of storytelling is what has kept the YMS event relevant year on year.

Serena runs the Brand Innovation practice at Co:Cubed bringing together startups and brands expanding into new business models, audiences and revenue streams.

A YMS regular, she has led growth, business development, strategy and innovation at BBC and Sky, building partnerships with emerging ventures in the gaming, ad-tech, metaverse, social media and AI spaces.

She was previously Chief Commercial Officer and Co-Founder of BritBox International – a global digital entertainment service, bringing TV shows like Luther, Doctor Who and Line of Duty to a worldwide audience.

Sheeva is Content Strategist at Pion, responsible for delivering a full-funnel user experience to Student Beans through engaging campaigns and exciting brand partner activations. With over 10 years' experience working in editorial, campaign production and content marketing for global publishers and brands - including Vogue, Net-a-Porter and more recently, LOOKFANTASTIC - she is at the forefront of understanding what content makes savvy consumers tick.

Sonia Harrach leads GENgage, JCDecaux UK's Gen Z-focused program, at the world's largest Digital Out-of-Home media company. With expert insight into Gen Z behaviours and media consumption, she collaborates with brands to create meaningful connections with this influential audience. By harnessing the power of Out-of-Home media, Sonia helps brands amplify awareness, engagement, and action for brands like Jimmy’s Iced Coffee, Nakd & Modibodi. Through strategic partnerships, she ensures brands not only reach Gen Z but also resonate with them, driving growth and competitive advantage in an ever-evolving market.

Tariro is a User Researcher with over 5+ years of experience helping teams design experiences that truly work for people. She’s worked with various brands, turning research into ideas that make a real impact. Passionate about tackling tricky problems, she loves finding creative ways to make research fun and easy to understand. When she’s not digging into user insights, Tariro enjoys connecting with others who share her excitement for great design and solving real-world challenges.

Tigran is a curious Data Scientist specializing in network science, complex adaptive systems and social network analytics, with a passion for uncovering patterns and insights into human behavior and online interactions. Tigran excels at analyzing social networks, identifying trends, and mapping connections to drive data-informed strategies. His work focuses on understanding the dynamics of social networks, transforming intricate data structures into actionable insights that bridge the gap between technology and society.

Tony is the visionary CEO and founder of Vision One, the award-winning strategic insight agency he launched 25 years ago. As a thought leader in the industry, he's the author of Brand Momentum, a groundbreaking new book that flips the script on how brands grow. With a fresh perspective for marketers, Tony introduces a powerful new force and metric that reveals the real engine behind successful marketing: It's not just about communication—it's about energy.

As a Marketing Consultant, specialising in Higher Education, Vicky delivers and implements effective and innovative strategic solutions to overcome marketing and recruitment challenges for universities. She has led on a variety of consultancy projects during her 8 years at SMRS, including a Sales Funnel Review incorporating journey mapping for University of Portsmouth, Persona Development projects for University of Glasgow and Loughborough University and a Portfolio review for Birmingham City University.

Vicky has over 10 years’ experience as a marketer in higher education, including working client side as a Marketing and Recruitment Manager at the University of Hertfordshire. She has an excellent understanding of the sector and brings patience and resilience to everything she works on. She focuses on elevating the work a client is currently doing and providing the tools and frameworks necessary to build on what is already in place and help them change for the better.