Toby Barnes

Product strategy director, AKQA

Toby has built an international reputation for delivering innovative digital and mobile experiences. He is Product Strategy Director at AKQA where he leads the conception and creation of branded content and services.

Since 1995, Toby has been creating digital products and services: working in many roles through publishing, production and development. His career has spanned across a number of key industry leaders including: Emap, Virgin, MTV Networks, and Two Way TV Games. He has also worked with a numerous global clients, including: Microsoft, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, SCEE, Electronic Arts, RSC, Channel 4 and Mattel.

Most recently Toby was one of the principals at the Mudlark Production Company: a multi-platform production company focussed on ‘Making Life Playable’. As Executive Producer on Chromaroma, he launched and ran the online multi-player game that uses Oyster Cards and Barclays Bike Key as players travel round London.

Toby is frequently invited to speak at major events, such as Playful, SXSW, Games Developer Conference, and Interesting on playful design, cheating, cities, play and open data. He is an advisor to the Greater London Authority, and the Mayor of London on a range of digital issues. He has spoke on playful design, cheating, urban design, Internet of Things and open data. He is an advisor to the Greater London Authority, and the Mayor of London on a range of urban digital issues.

Alberto Barreiro

Head of experience, Online and On Demand, ITV

Alberto is an Experience Design Director and an innovator with a background on Arts and Design. He joined Yahoo! In the year 2000 as part of one of the first UX teams in Europe.

Among other things he was responsible of the design of the global Yahoo! Front Page in 2004 and acted as Product Strategist for Yahoo! Mobile.

Just after leaving Yahoo! Alberto founded Webjam, an start-up company that developed an award winning Social CMS. Webjam was sold in 2010 and since them, Alberto has been in charge of the product and experience design direction of the digital products of ITV, the largest commercial broadcaster in the UK.

Paul Chard

Managing partner, MediaCom

Paul entered the media industry in 1980 as a research executive at Granada Television Sales.

After a few years in research Paul moved into Client Sales where he stayed until 1990 and thereafter helped to create Granada’s first broadcast sponsorship offering.

By 1995 Paul had risen to Commercial Director at Granada Sales looking after all aspects of TV Sponsorship, Advertiser Funding and Licensing. He was responsible for Cadbury’s association with Coronation Street.

In 1996 he moved to Viacom, where he became Vice President of Sales with responsibility for Licensing and Merchandising, Barter, International Programme Sales and Syndication

In 1998 Paul joined Showtime, a Viacom owned pay-tv offering, again as Vice President of Sales. Here Paul set up from scratch the company’s advertiser sales and sponsorship offering.

In June 2000 he moved to MediaCom to set up SponsorCom, the agency’s dedicated sponsorship division. As MD of SponsorCom, and a Managing Partner of the main agency Paul took SponsorCom from being a purely media based company to a full service sponsorship agency, delivering solutions for clients across all disciplines from media to music and sport, event creation, management, evaluation and consultancy.
Advertiser funded solutions included Nokia and Fashion House, Europe’s first ad funded reality show, Oracle and The Players, Transmission with T Mobile on C4 and The Nokia Green Room.

In 2009 Paul joined the MediaCom Global board to become the agency’s first ever Global Head of Content,working across media sponsorship, sport, branded entertainment and advertiser funding, social media and emerging platforms.
2010 saw Paul broker the successful “Got Talent” format into China with backing from P&G and saw it become the biggest foreign reality show ever screened in the country.

Graham Hodge

Head of branded content, LBi

Graham Hodge heads the Branded Content practice at global digital agency LBI, where he leads content initiatives for clients like Sony Mobile, Virgin Atlantic and Grolsch.
Prior to joining LBI Graham ran numerous content initiatives for Bacardi Global, including its award-winning global digital music programme, for the creative agency Espionage, where he also worked on content projects for Dolby, Oxfam and Channel 4.
Before that he spent six years at Capital Radio, where he led numerous initiatives, including the Ricky Gervais and Adam & Joe podcast series, the launch of 97.7 Xfm Manchester, and the Xfm Show, a TV joint venture with BSkyB fronted by Lauren Laverne.
And before that, Graham did time at Forrester Research and was Lara Croft’s publicist.

Rich Coggin

Digital creative director, Archibald Ingall Stretton

Richard is a highly experienced, award winning creative director who, over the past 17 years has been all over the advertising industry in above-the-line, below-the-line and through-the-line. Along this path Richard has won many awards in these areas including a Cannes Golden Lion, a London International Gold and three Creative Showcase awards, to name but a few.

In the past ten years, Rich has immersed himself in the digital world and became Creative Director at Grand Union in 2005, Greenroom Digital in 2007, Momentum in 2009 and now Creative Director at AIS. In this time, his focus around ‘social media storytelling’ has helped him to develop successful campaigns for clients such as Sony Pictures International, Microsoft’s Xbox, Nestle/Rowntree’s, Sony PlayStation Europe and SYCO Entertainment.

Justin Cooke

Founder, Fortune Cookie

Justin is the Founder of global, digital agency Fortune Cookie and the current Chair of the British Interactive Media Association. A Manchester University drama graduate who majored in Computers and Theatre, Justin’s early career included creative roles with BBC Films, Universal Music and United News and Media. Justin now spends his time running an agency across 4 continents working with a global client base that includes AEGON, American Express, BP, Canon, CIMA, De Beers, Fitness First, NetJets, RICS, Rio Tinto, Small Luxury Hotels of the World and UEFA. In 2010 New Media Age ranked him the third most influential person in UK digital, two places above Martin Sorrell.

Chris Gorell Barnes

CEO and founder, Adjust Your Set

For the past decade Chris has acted as a prominent Investor and Entrepreneur in a range of new-media business start-ups. Now a recognised leader in the future of multi-channel retail and online video communications, Chris is currently Founder & CEO of Adjust Your Set and a Non Exec Director of Eagle Eye Solutions.

Adjust Your Set is an award winning full service multichannel video agency which provides branded content channels for companies such as, M&S, Thomas pink, Debenhams, M&S Money and Liz Earle. Eagle Eye Solutions are the leaders in mobile vouchers and coupons for retailers.

Chris is also the Executive Producer of the award winning documentary The End of The Line and the co-founder of the Blue Marine Foundation, a body set up to fund the creation of a global network of marine reserves and to provide private sector solutions for marine sustainability.

Yifat Fouchs

Managing director, Screenz Europe

Yifat is the managing director of Screenz Europe. After earning her bachelor’s degree in communication and Management Yifat worked on News and entertainment shows in various Israeli productions with experience in both on and off camera. Soon after Yifat joined “The Box” a content company that specializes in the creation of compelling content for broadcast entertainment and advertising. At the Box Yifat was head of business development working alongside international companies such as Nike, Orange, and Coca Cola to name a few. Last year Yifat relocated to London. In 2011 Screenz was founded. Screenz is a joint venture between two leading companies in their field, The Box and Keshet Broadcasting. Screenz’s main purpose is to create digital assets for the TV industry. Currently, Yifat is the managing director at Screenz and is in charge of the UK office of the company.

Nick Hajdu

Chief operating officer, Adjust Your Set

Nick began his career in 1998 at News Corporation where he worked for five years in a number of digital roles. During his time there he was promoted to Head of Contract Syndication for The Times, Sunday Times, News of the World, The Sun, and Page 3, negotiating long-term relationships between global media brands, both online and offline.

He joined Seb Bishop’s Paid-for-Placement Search Engine, Espotting, in 2003 where he was responsible for centralising Account Management and maintaining publisher relationships at a European level. Following the sale of Espotting in 2005, Nick left to join video technology company ROO (rebranded to KIT Digital in 2007) where, as Head of Account Management, he helped launched their UK office.

At the end of 2007 he met current business partner Chris Gorell Barnes. The pair founded Adjust Your Set in January 2008, combining their respective experiences to form a new kind of agency; an agency creating intelligent video content for multiple platforms.

Claire Heys

Director, Brand Partnerships & Licensing, Endemol UK

Claire is one of the UK’s leading practitioner at the forefront of advertiser related content deals over the last 7 years, having shaped content strategies for GSK, Camelot , Orange, J&J, Cow & Gate, General Mills, The British Army, Waitrose, Levi’s, Malibu, Motorola, Nintendo and Australia Tourism.

Claire currently heads up all advertiser related business for Endemol UK, comprising brand partnerships, product placement, licensing, sales promotions, live events, publishing, advertiser funded programming, sponsorship and merchandising across Endemol UK group and its production companies, including including Initial, Remarkable Television, Zeppotron, Tiger Aspect, Darlow Smithson and Tigress.

She has already worked in partnership with Channel 5 on a number of commercial partnerships for Initial’s production of Big Brother. These include the deals currently on-air with Morrisons as the Big Brother Shopping Partner and Swarzkopf’s sponsorship activation content deal, as well as last year’s product placement deal for Disney’s release of ‘Fright Night’, which saw the movie screened inside the house to housemates accompanied by the cast; a licensing deal for Domino’s Pizza that saw a pizza created by housemates available for order that day as ‘The Domino’s Big Brother Pizza’ exclusively via Facebook; and the forthcoming world premier of Paranormal Activity 3, staged at the Big Brother house on 19th October.

In 2010, she partnered with Mediacom, and their client, GlaxoSmithCline, to bring Cook Yourself Thin fully funded to C4 in a daytime slot running for three weeks – which doubled it’s slot average.

The year before, she brought Britain’s Best Brain, with funding from Nindendo and GroupM Entertainment to prime time Channel Five.

Previously Claire was Controller of Commercial Partnerships at Virgin Media Television and UKTV. Her role was the first time a UK broadcaster had hired someone specifically to work in the area of branded content. She was previously Head of Business Development for Initial, part of Endemol UK.

Claire has international TV experience as she spent four years in Hongkong as the Channel Manager of Channel [V], STAR TV’s music channel.

Claire Higgins

Online marketing manager, Selfridges

Claire is the Online Marketing Manager at Selfridges, where she is head of the digital marketing team and responsible for all acquisition and retention marketing activity.

Prior to joining Selfridges, she was Head of Marketing & Content at vtravelled.com, the social travel website launched by Virgin Atlantic.

She has also held a consultancy role at Glam Media and was Head of Marketing for Hearst Digital, the online division of The National Magazine Company for five years

Matt Holt

EU Social Lead, SapientNitro

Matt is responsible for SapientNitro’s social offering in Europe. Prior to SapientNitro he was a business partner at Kinship Networking, a specialist social mechanics agency helping companies solve business problems using social. Before that, he worked in strategy and client service in digital, social, advertising and direct marketing for a number of agencies including TBWA, Ogilvy and Stephens Francis Whitson, across a wide range of clients including BT, O2, Vodafone, Sky, and Harvard Business School.

His mission (beyond trying to be a professional footballer even though he won’t admit his dream was dashed long ago) is “to apply some rigour to the wibbly-wobbly world of social”. .

Ben Hooper

Client service director, Holler Digital

Ben Hooper is Client Service Director at Holler Digital, working on clients such as Mercedes-Benz, innocent drinks and Alfred Dunhill. With a background in communication, Ben has worked at a number agencies including Freud, Shine and Ogilvy before moving to an in-house role at Red Bull. It was in the position of Communications Manager for Sports, Events and Corporate Comms at Red Bull that he worked as a client with Holler on the highly acclaimed Danny MacAskill’s Way Back Home International project. With extensive experience and knowledge across branded entertainment, content, marketing, PR and digital, Ben brings a unique mix to one of the fastest growing agencies in the UK.

Katrina Howell

Digital creative director, Red Bee Media

Kat has created multi-screen innovations for clients including BBC, CBBC, UKTV, iTV, ESPN, Disney and FOX, winning such awards as Cannes Lions, NMA, and Broadcast Digital Awards.

Some recent innovations include:

The first ARG experience incorporating Augmented Reality for a UK commission; one of the first shoot’em up games as a YouTube takeover for Primeval on Watch; setting a new benchmark in personalised video experiences in Facebook apps, and achieving the UK’s first use of audio watermarking technology in a companion app, both for FOX’s The Walking Dead.

Prior to joining Red Bee Media, Kat was Interactive Creative Director at RMG Connect, the worldwide integrated, digital marketing network of JWT, driving
award-winning digital work for HSBC, Shell, Mercedes-Benz and Vodafone.

Kat’s passion is introducing ideas to new audiences in pioneering, digitally led ways, where the innovation and originality receives as much debate as the
product itself.

Krane Jeffery

Head of Yahoo! Studio

Krane joined Yahoo! at the start of 2011 and is head of Yahoo! Studio which he launched that year. In this role, he leads the division focused on creative media solutions for the UK and multi-market that fuse editorial and advertising to deliver fully integrated, brand-building content experiences. Overseeing a team consisting of planners, strategists, designers and project managers, the team works with a wide variety of high profile, multi-national brands across all industry sectors.

With over 13 years experience in the advertising and marketing industries, Krane joined Yahoo! from Carat, where he was Sponsorship Director. In this role he led a team that delivered best in class association marketing programmes across all media and event/experiential. Prior to this, Krane held roles at Bates Y&R, specialising in Advertiser Funded Programming and as a TV buyer at Universal McCann having started out at Flextech TV in airtime sales. In his spare time, Krane tries – unsuccessfully – to balance his love of wine and sport with running around after his little girl and newborn son!

Chris Jefford

Founder and strategy director, Hometown

Chris Jefford is Founder and Strategy Director at Hometown, London’s newest ad agency.

His background includes an Economics degree, a penchant for programming, an interest in existential psychotherapy, and a love of the books of Murakami and the rapping of Chuck D.

Over the past 8 years, Chris has worked at agencies large and small, working strategically on brands such as the BBC, Virgin Atlantic, Channel 4, The V&A, Microsoft, and The Home Office, bringing award-winning ideas to life by seeking to use digital less as a platform, and more as a brilliant opportunity for brands to be relevant in audiences lives.

At Hometown, he and his 3 partners have created an agency that seeks to demystify advertising, and create simplicity in a complex world for both the brands that they work with, and the audiences that they reach.

@cjefford76

Chris Kempt

Board member/founder, BIMA/Kempt

My name is Chris and I have spent too much time in front of a computer.

In 1998, armed with a degree in Fine Art and a book on HTML, I arrived fashionably late for the dotcom boom and I’ve been in a deep love affair with digital ever since! I worked in a variety of roles around the industry before starting Kempt, one of the UKs leading experts in branded games, in 2003.

As well as my Kempt role I’m very proud to be a board member of BIMA (British Interactive Media Association). For the last four years I’ve been heavily involved in the running of the BIMA Awards and BIMA’s schools activity. Earlier this year I was also privileged to be voted on to the board of TIGA – the UK Independent Game Developer’s Association.

James Kirkham

Managing Director, Holler

James Kirkham is Managing Director of Holler, the digital strategy agency he formed in February 2001 with business partner Will Pyne. Holler’s clients include Absolut Vodka, innocent Drinks, Mercedes Benz, Peroni, Red Bull and Revlon.

New Media Age listed Holler as ‘ones to watch’ in their Top 100 guide, and wrote that Holler has ‘one of the most impressive client lists in the UK’.

Holler was behind the critically acclaimed and award winning marketing for ‘Skins’ on E4, a ground breaking approach to marketing and media strategy that led to a host of awards including three prestigious IPA and Guardian awards. It was the first television show to be marketed in the UK using social media.

Holler also received two Interactive Marketing & Advertising Awards at IPA 2008, winning ‘Best Entertainment Category’ for Skins series 2 and the IMA 2008 Grand Prix. Their cross-platform expertise was recognised when they received a 2009 BAFTA nomination for social media project ‘Year Dot’.

Holler’s ‘Tweet & Eat’ campaign for innocent Drinks has already been shortlisted for 4 digital awards in 2012.

James is a highly-respected commentator on the digital marketing industry, speaking regularly at conferences including The Guardian Changing Media Summit, MIPCOM, MIPTV, co-chairing The Media Festival (2009, 2010), presenting at the ‘4 talent’ showcase, Promax and BETT education conferences and contributing to a range of publications including The Sunday Times, Broadcast and Creative Review.

Grant Little

Head of digital, Upfront

Grant develops and strengthens digital business for Upfront, drawing on his experience of working with well-known music industry brands such as YouTube, Shazam, Yahoo and Songkick. Upfront already have a track record of successful digital promotions with partnerships between The Times and high profile musicians and bands, such as Noel Gallagher, Blur and R.E.M. With a flair for entrepreneurial marketing and experience in building commercial global partnerships, Grant targets new business growth through developing digital marketing initiatives.

Grand joined Upfront from iTunes where his creative thinking delivered the world’s first music, TV and film ‘digital cover mount’ promotions with national newspapers: The Times, The Telegraph and The Observer. This digital promotion concept replaced the traditional methods of CD cover mount offers with iTunes download codes, which secured TV, online, radio and front page mastheads media space, which together valued over $18m.

His experience also encompasses online marketing and he was responsible for the launch, build, costing, marketing and updates of iTunesfestival.com, which spanned across 12 countries and 3 languages.

Anders Plyhm

Creative director, SapientNitro

Anders Plyhm joined SapientNitro in September 2011 as Creative Director. He is responsible for conceiving and delivering new ways for SapientNitro’s clients to connect with consumers and is creative lead on the Unilever account. Anders is a former Founder and Creative Director of the Stockholm-based digital hot shop Farfar, creating award winning work for clients such as Nokia, Adidas, Absolut Vodka and Diesel among its clients. Prior to SapientNitro, Anders worked at Agency Republic as Creative Director for O2 and Sony PlayStation. There after as a freelance creative working with Wieden + Kennedy on the Nike business, and Fallon on its Cadbury account.

Jadis Tillery

Head of social media – dot.talent

As Head of Social Media at dot.talent, a company that harnesses the social power of celebrity for talent, broadcasters and brands, she develops strategic ‘Word of Mouth’ campaigns that authentically engage consumers through branded content, social applications and community management.
Specialising in branded content, social applications and social media, Jadis has an MA in Digital Culture and Technology at King’s College, with her groundbreaking dissertation focusing on the reflexive relationship between Digital Natives and the web.
Jadis spent 10 years in advertising and marketing before focusing exclusively on social media in 2008. She has worked with clients including MediaCom, ITV, Channel 4, Siemen, WWF and ActionAid as well as some of the UK’s top celebrities. Jadis is also a regular guest lecturer at UK Universities.