Conference 2025

INDEPENDENT BRAND STRATEGIST

Jo spent the first part of her career as a planner at agencies in London and Singapore including J Walter Thompson, TMW and Mindshare leading strategy for clients including Virgin Atlantic, Jaguar Land Rover, and Unilever. 

Jo then moved client side to lead brand and marketing for Macmillan Cancer Support, Lloyds Banking Group and Poppy's, before coming full circle as an independent consultant helping select clients wrestle with big brand challenges.

CO-FOUNDER, UNITEDUS

Luke is the co-founder of the award-winning branding agency UnitedUs, where he’s led the team for over 13 years, building standout brands with clients including LEGO, Google, Goodwood and Wagamama. UnitedUs champions the space where creativity meets commerce, working with clients to build brands that change the game.

Alongside the agency, Luke and his co-founders are creative entrepreneurs and investors, with businesses across the sports, legal and commercial property sectors in the UK. He’s also a published photographer with a passion for storytelling through imagery.

BRAND CONSULTANT AND CREATOR

Following almost a decade in advertising sales at brands including Sky & Netmums, Lauren moved client side at companies such as Benefit Cosmetics & MADE; where she led social and influencer marketing.

Lauren’s career path took an unexpected turn when she documented her challenges navigating the job market and she grew a following of over 85,000 followers.

Named as a changemaker by Marketing Week, Lauren advocates for improved hiring practices and salary transparency in the marketing industry.

Alongside her content creation she works as a brand consultant; Lauren now guides lifestyle & retail brands across a breadth of social projects including strategy, resourcing, implementation and creative output.

CREATIVE DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER, IN DEVELOPMENT

Ross is a co-founder and creative director of In Development, a creative and design studio based in Norwich. He studied film and communication at Anglia Ruskin University and Royal Holloway before getting his start in advertising at Stink.

With more than a decade in the advertising industry, Ross and his team are proud to have developed campaigns and projects for established brands across a wide range of territories, sectors and scales. These include the likes of Apple, Google, Meta, Amazon, Gucci, McDonalds, Lego and Coca-Cola.

Focusing on building relationships with emerging talent and regional businesses, Ross is now extending their offering and skills to include branding, comms, marketing collateral and social asset design.

HEAD OF NOT W+K

Anika joined W+K London in 2022 to head up NOT W+K, the Branding and Design part of W+K London. Bringing with her 12 years experience of working at leading brand strategy and design agencies plus a MSc in Brand Leadership 

Before W+K, Anika spent the last 5 years at Interbrand, leading brand transformation, brand valuation and brand identity projects for Estée Lauder companies, Unilever, Randstad, Monotype, Cartier and successfully launching a new logo and visual identity for the UK’s Great Campaign. While also setting up an inclusive design practice, leading on EDI strategy for the London office. 

At W+K she helped to launch NOT W+K and has led projects for Malibu, Kahlua, Upwork, Re:Chemistry and Eurovision. 

FOUNDER, BIRDY COMMUNICATIONS

With years of senior communications experience and a background in social impact, Sophie delivers strategic branding projects that help impactful organisations communicate who they are and what they do.

Sophie began her professional career in publishing, working closely with psychology authors from around the world and overseeing their projects from proposal to publication. She transitioned from publishing into communications, which ultimately led her to the social impact sector.

Before founding Birdy Communications, she played a key role in the Skoll Centre’s senior management team and led the centre’s rebranding project from 2022 to 2023.

BRAND & MARKETING DIRECTOR

Paula is brand and marketing leader with over 20 years’ experience building and revitalising some of the UK’s best-known brands. Starting out in FMCG with Heinz and Weetabix, she developed a strong grounding in brand building, product development and commercial marketing skills that have shaped her career across sectors including retail, travel, energy and financial services.

 She’s since held senior roles at Tesco, The National Lottery, British Gas and Virgin Atlantic, where she’s led go-to-market strategy, brand transformation and customer insight programmes. Her work focuses on bringing together brand, product and customer experience to deliver marketing that’s both meaningful and commercially effective.