Festival Agenda

Secure your spot today to join us…

Explore the Northern Marketing Festival Agenda

Epic speakers, bold ideas, and a plethora of insights and top tips to help take your marketing knowledge to the next level. What’s not to love?? View the full agenda for the week below and get yourself a ticket! But hurry, spaces are filling up fast…

If you have any questions or want to find out how you can get involved, please contact us on [email protected]

09:00 - Arrival, registration & pick up your badge

09:30 - Welcome from Host Prolific North, Poke & Automated Analytics

09:40 - Playing for change: How Alder Hey used "Play" to advocate for children's healthcare equality

Want to see a campaign that truly moves decision-makers? Nicola Docking from Poke reveals the bold strategy behind Alder Hey’s Top Trumps initiative. Learn how they tapped into the power of “play” to raise awareness of critical inequalities in children’s healthcare and compel action from politicians. Nicola will share tips on how to transform complex issues into engaging campaigns that drive real-world impact.

Presented by:

Nicola Dorking, Managing Director at Poke

10:15 - Reimagining a law firm: Weightmans' brand success story

Can a 200-year-old law firm become a branding innovator? Absolutely. Discover how Liverpool-founded Weightmans, now a top 40 UK player, reimagined their brand by putting their people at the heart of everything. Weightmans’ Sarah Walton, their first female Managing Partner, shares the inside story of their brand transformation.

Panellists

Sarah Walton, Managing Partner of Weightmans
Dr Catriona Wolfenden, Director of Innovation at Weightmans
Valerie Bounds, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy & Creative Officer Aurora

Hosted by Dawn Paine, Co-Founder & CEO Aurora

10:45 Networking Break

11:15 - From scroll to Sale: Mastering engaging content for social selling 

In today’s fast-paced digital marketplace, engaging content is key to social selling success. During this session, you’ll hear about the tools and techniques for creating compelling content that converts followers into customers. You’ll also learn about tailoring your creativity for the different platforms and leveraging the power of the TikTok shop.

Speakers:

Harriet Tuite, Head of Paid Social at Embryo

Chris Grimes, Managing Director of Novaro

11:45 - How to Fuel Brand Growth

Vision One unveils a powerful new way to measure brand success—backed by data, designed for growth. Discover how this all-in-one metric fits into your strategy, why it matters for attracting new audiences, and how tapping into different markets can breathe new life into your brand. We’re talking real insights, real impact, and real evidence. Smart, sharp, and seriously useful – don’t miss it.

Speaker: Tony Lewis – CEO of Vision One & Author

12:15 - Driving change: Chester Zoo's brand evolution and the power of ambitious marketing

Join Anna Babilinski-Barker, Senior Brand and Marketing Manager at Chester Zoo, for a 30-minute fireside chat exploring the zoo’s remarkable rebrand journey. With 16+ years of experience in visitor attractions and charities, Anna will reveal how they’ve transformed Chester Zoo into a UK renowned hub of conservation. Learn how bold strategies, a “Northern Grit” attitude, and innovative campaigns have delivered measurable results and propelled this iconic brand to new heights.

Fireside chat with Anna Babilinski-Barker, Senior Brand and Marketing Manager at Chester Zoo

12:50 - Lunch & Networking Break

14:00 - Liverpool's Creative Powerhouse: amplifying growth through music, film, and gaming

Liverpool is renowned for its vibrant cultural scene, and this panel discussion celebrates how the city’s music, film, and gaming sectors are not just cultural assets but powerful engines of economic growth. Featuring key figures from these dynamic industries, his session will explore how Liverpool’s unique ‘Northern Grit’ and innovative spirit have fostered a thriving creative ecosystem.

14:30 - Session details to be announced

We’re keeping a few surprises up our sleeve… This session will be revealed soon and promises to bring fresh insight, bold thinking, and practical takeaways to your Festival experience. Keep an eye out…

15:00 - Session details to be announced

15:30 - Session details to be announced

16:00 - Drinks Reception & Networking

09:00 - Arrival, registration & pick up your badge

09:30 - Welcome from Host Prolific North, Poke & Automated Analytics

09:40 - Session details to be announced

10:20 - Session details to be announced

10:45 - Beyond Likes: What does social media success look like in 2025?

Let’s be honest, proving social ROI can feel like a constant battle, right? Naomi Horan from CLOUD NINE gets it – she’s been in the social and influencer world for over 9 years, on both the agency and brand sides. If you’re keen to figure out what real social success looks like in 2025 (and the metrics that actually prove it), this is your session. We’ll be diving into:

Strategic content: where the magic starts
Reporting: tracking what actually matters
Community: showing the ROI

Speaker: Naomi Horan – Social Media & Influencer Manager at CLOUD NINE

11:10 Networking Break

11:40 - Search Reimagined: The New Organic Playbook

The rules of organic search strategy are being rewritten, and in this session, we’ll explore what it’s going to take to futureproof your brand in an AI-powered, culture-driven, digital landscape. We’ll unpack the new pillars of SEO and how the evolution of the audience has caused this shift. It’s no longer enough to build rankings, you need to understand your audience so that they choose you. Whether you’re brand or agency-side, this talk will give you actionable tools to reimagine your approach and create a stronger organic presence.

Speaker: Jess Atkinson, Head of Organic at Embryo

12:10 - Beyond The Click: reclaiming paid media as a brand builder

Paid media isn’t just for quick wins. In this sharp and strategic session, Wolfenden’s Matt Robson explores how rethinking paid as a brand-building tool – briefed better, integrated smarter, and measured differently – can unlock serious long-term growth. With insights from WARC’s Multiplier Effect and a real-world case study, this session will change how you see performance marketing.

Speaker: Dan Pratt, Solutions Director at Wolfenden

12:35 - Session details to be announced

13:00 - Lunch & Networking Break

14:00 - Session details to be announced

14:30 - Magic & Logic: Using technology to fuel brand creativity

In today’s fast-paced market, speed and efficiency are critical for brand success. But how do we achieve this without sacrificing creative excellence?

Sun Branding’s ‘Brand Catalysts’ will explore how they’re tackling this challenge by integrating proprietary technology with their creative process when it comes to branding and packaging. This session will delve into practical strategies for leveraging tech to accelerate creative workflows.

Discover how Sun Branding balances the ‘logic’ of technology with the ‘magic’ of creative innovation to drive tangible business results for global brands and retailers. We’ll examine real-world examples and discuss how you can implement similar approaches to supercharge your own brand development.

Speakers:

Caroline Kaye – Design Director at Sun Branding

Robert Quigley – Technical Director at Sun Branding

15:00 - Session details to be announced

15:45 - Drinks Reception & Networking

09:00 - Arrival, registration & pick up your badge

09:30 - Welcome from Host Prolific North, Poke & Automated Analytics

09:40 - Future-proofing your paid media strategy: Adapting to the unknown

Don’t let the evolving digital landscape leave your paid media strategy behind. Join experts Callum (Embryo) and Stephen (Roland DG) to discover how they’re leveraging emerging opportunities and adapting to change. Get practical takeaways and real examples of winning campaigns that have achieved results both in the UK and internationally.

Speakers:

Callum Leonard, Paid Media Strategy Director at Embryo

Stephen Davis, EMEA Marketing Director at Roland DG

10:10 - Session details to be announced

10:35 - Session details to be announced

11:00 Networking Break

11:30 - The Digital Difference: The Brand-Performance Sweet Spot

Driving traffic is easy. Making it count? That’s where the difference lies. This session talks about how to build a digital experience that delivers long-term impact. Learn how aligning your brand’s personality with performance marketing can reshape your content strategy to boost engagement, reduce drop-off and drive conversion without wasting budget.

Speaker: Andy Beckwith – Creative Director at Tall

12:00 - Why “Traditional” Search is Not Enough in Modern Marketing

In 2015, we would have never envisaged a Search world that wasn’t dominated by Google. Fast forward a decade, we’re in 2025, searching in more ways than ever before. But what does this mean for Search Marketers now that Search means so much more than Google?

Join Claire and Nick as they provide actionable insights on how to grow your search beyond Google to keep competitive in the wider search landscape in 2025. Learn how to leverage AI to understand patterns and get ahead of the competition in the new world of search.

Speakers:

Claire Elsworth – Strategy Director, Impression

Nick Handley – Head of Paid Media Performance, Impression

12:30 - Session details to be announced