About Anubha

Anubha Sahasrabuddhe is a global consumer leader having led some of the world’s most loved brands from Coca-Cola and M&M’s through to Australian icons like Toohey’s and XXXX. Anubha has extensive experience cross-culturally in both emerging as well as developed markets with a high speed of change and volatility.

After more than 20 years away from her native Australia, in 2021 Anubha joined Lion Beverages as CMO and has recently taken on the role of CGO bringing strategy, consumer brands, ventures, data, analytics, and core technology together to drive growth.

Prior to joining Lion, Anubha held senior leadership roles at The Coca-Cola Company and Mars Wrigley.

Anubha’s passion is business transformation through a creative, cultural, and technology lens and she has a track record of leading turnaround businesses through a consumer-led growth agenda and building high-performing diverse teams.

For 137 years and counting, Coca-Cola has created and told timeless stories. Whether the story of a bottle, secret formula, or masterpieces coming to life, these are stories that have kept the Coca-Cola brand consistently refreshing and vibrant. Join The Coca-Cola Company’s Matthias Blume, Vice President Marketing ASEAN and South Pacific, as he discusses how Coca-Cola reinvents itself every day to recruit the next generation of drinkers.

About Matthias

Matthias is a highly driven marketing executive with 20+ years of experience in local, regional and central roles with Coca-Cola & Danone. He is a team player and builder, culturally and geographically adaptable, with love for recruiting and developing talents to build world class teams.

He is experienced in mature, emerging & developing markets with proven success leading high-profile brands and portfolios from vision and strategy through to execution and delivery.

Key Skills include team development, cross functional collaboration and influence, brand and portfolio management, media agnostic communication development, touch-point strategy incl. shopper activation, product innovation & renovation and revenue growth management. 

Andy is rated in the Top 100 CMOs globally and had developed high-performance marketing organisations and brands for the world’s largest and smallest companies. Discover how marketing’s key principles remain as true today as they ever have been and how to apply them in the context of new media and consumer needs.

Andy will close this year’s Brand Summit with an incredible keynote challenging us all to rethink what a brand really is and why mental, physical and digital availability matter more than ever – whether you’re a B2B or B2C brand, big or small.

• How to develop high-impact brands and rally employees around them 
• Why marketing leaders must balance managing and making
• How innovators are deploying new methods to drive advantage
• How to connect marketing and brands to customer experience
• Why all consumers and businesses buy infrequently and how to meet them in the buying moment
• The new role of data in marketing and how to deploy efficient and cost-effective marketing technology
• How to build effective marketing ROI and attribution models

About Andy

Andy Lark is a globally recognised and awarded marketer and leader in social and digital technologies. For the past two decades, he has worked alongside CEOs and their leadership teams to define – and then attain – digital and brand greatness for their institutions.

During his career he has worked and lived in the majority of the world’s major markets and developed a reputation as a highly creative executive, marketing turn-around specialist, entrepreneur and authority on social media. He is a prolific writer, blogger and speaker on marketing, technology and Web 2.0.

Andy is the chief marketing officer the Foxtel and Chair of Group Lark as well as Simple the Marketing Performance Platform. Prior to being appointed to Foxtel, he held the positions of chief marketing officer of New Zealand technology company Xero and Chief Marketing and Online Officer for Australia’s leading financial institution, the Commonwealth Bank.

He previously held senior positions at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Dell, LogLogic, Sun Microsystems, Nortel Networks and Fleishman-Hillard International.

Andy has spent more than 25 years across business-to-business and consumer sectors building successful businesses and leading award-winning marketing programs and teams for Fortune and Times 100 companies, global technology brands, start-ups and the world’s hottest advertising and communications agencies. Andy drove the marketing strategies for Commonwealth Bank, Dell, and Emirates Team New Zealand during his tenure. For Commonwealth Bank, he and his team were responsible for the eWallet for smartphones and Facebook as well as the ‘Can’ Campaign, one of Australia’s largest brand campaigns.

Andy, a Kiwi, is a passionate supporter of NZ and Australian entrepreneurs and he has won over 100 awards for work in building brands and creating online capabilities. His work was recognised with the NZ Government’s prestigious World Class New Zealander Award, the Flying Kiwi Award for outstanding contribution to technology and the Facebook Studio Award for the Commbank Community seeds.

Andy leads Group Lark – a global consultancy driving brand and digital transformations for the world’s leading countries and enterprises. Group Lark helps great ideas flourish in a digital world – and great brands design their future there.

Andy’s blog – thedailylark – is in the Top 100 ranked marketing blogs globally and his book The Connected Customer is being published worldwide. He is a regular columnist for AdNews and is also recognised as one of the most powerful influencers on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Colin Lewis is one of the UK’s leading experts in eCommerce, Marketplaces, and Retail Media. He has worked as CMO for some of Europe’s biggest brands as well as in Australia, France, Ireland, Singapore, and China. He now advises brands such as Colgate, L’Oreal, Ferrero Rocher, Glanbia, Barilla, Superdrug, Migros, Samsung, PepsiCo, and Bayer on marketing strategy, marketing effectiveness, e-commerce, and retail media. 

We are delighted to bring Colin to New Zealand to share his extensive experience with the attendees at this year’s Brand Summit. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear Colin’s eye-opening insights on how brands around the world are tapping into the insane worldwide growth of retail media platforms to build global brand presence and reach huge new consumer markets.

• What’s happening around the world in the retail media space and why it’s now an economically significant space in the marketing and advertising ecosystem.
• Why retail media isn’t just another performance marketing channel.
• Real-life examples of how brands from small nations like NZ are finding success on these international platforms.
• The opportunities for NZ brands and how to take the first step.

About Colin

Colin Lewis has worked as CMO for some of Europe’s biggest brands over the last 25 years as well as having worked in Australia, France, Ireland, Singapore, and China.

Colin advises both brands and retailers in Europe on their retail media strategy. He is one of the UK’s leading experts in eCommerce, Marketplaces, and Retail Media. He is the author of six Best Practice reports on Retail Media, including Amazon Advertising, Walmart Connect, Target Roundel, Kroger Precision Marketing, and Instacart as well as eCommerce Best Practice and Marketplaces Best Practice Reports.

Colin is a Marketing Week Magazine columnist - since 2015, as well as being a columnist for WARC with a focus on Retail Media.

Colin is an advisor, educator, and consultant to brands such as Unilever, Philip Morris, Samsung, Superdrug, De Beers, Bayer, L’Oreal, Sofidel, Kerry Group, Migros, Glanbia Performance Nutrition.

On stage with Georgia Mahaffie

Experience the popular Black T-Shirts podcast live at the Brand Summit! This time, podcast co-host and founder of Thinkerbell, Adam Ferrier, will be chatting to Georgia Mahaffie, Head of Brand & Marketing at One New Zealand. In his usual entertaining style, Adam gets behind the scenes of this year’s biggest rebrand and won’t be afraid to ask the hard questions. Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to hear what it took to bring the One New Zealand brand to life!

• Finding our new brand identity
• The challenges of going live with a big new brand launch
• Tackling the initial backlash with humour
• The positive impact on the team and culture
• What’s next?

Panel: Reimagining B2B Brands
Panellist

We have invited a panel of creative thinkers and B2B marketers to tell us how they’d radically reimagine and disrupt B2B branding, what they would do if they were put in charge of a B2B brand, and who they rate as the most exciting B2B brands in the world.

Don’t miss this fun and energetic discussion as creative ideas fly across the floor, mixed with strong opinions, and lots of personality.

• Don’t rewrite the B2B marketing playbook, throw it out!
• What’s currently missing in B2B marketing?
• What characterises the world’s most exciting B2B brands and campaigns?
• What’s the one thing you’d change in your approach to B2B marketing?
• Why you don’t want to look like the competition.

About Adam

Adam is one of Australia's leading creative strategists, and a consumer psychologist. Adam began work life as a criminal psychologist, before becoming a cool hunter (and completing his masters in psychology in ‘Identifying the Underlying Constructs of Cool People’) and then co-founding Naked Communications APAC. Naked was a wild trip and became one of Australia’s most audacious and successful agencies, embracing a strategically focused behavioural change model. Following that, Adam co-founded Thinkerbell - where they practices 'Measured Magic' - bringing together marketing science and hardcore creativity. After just 3 years Thinkerbell was officially recognised as Mumbrella’s 2021 Creative, Full Service, and PR Agency of the Year - the first time one agency has won all three awards, and is the 2021 B&T PR Agency of The Year
 
In other news Adam is also the author of two books “The Advertising Effect” (Oxford), and 'Stop Listening to the Customer' (Wiley). Adam co-hosts the potentially multi-awarding winning podcast ‘Black T-Shirts’, and is a regular media commentator on Sunrise and The Project (and served his time on the panel of Gruen for 6 years). Adam is married to Anna and has two sons Asterix and Arturo (like the Kardashians but with an ‘A’).

Globally and locally the radio and audio advertising sector continues to develop, with strong audiences complimented by a proliferation of platforms and audio content.

Whilst radio in particular has long been recognised for its strength in areas such as retail, radio and the wider audio market can also effectively support in building and sustaining strong brands.

In this session, a panel will discuss a range of questions and topics with regard to the relationship between audio and brands and how marketers should be thinking about leveraging the opportunities that audio presents.

Moderated by Alistair Jamison, CEO of the Radio Broadcasters Association he will be joined by advertising industry leaders Simon Vicars and Murray Streets and Sin Howard and Brook Gibson from George FM.

About Alistair

Alistair joined the Radio Broadcasters Association in early 2023. Prior to this, he had a long career working for Publicis, starting with Saatchi & Saatchi and finishing as the CE of media agencies Starcom and Zenith Media. In that time he has worked with a wide range of iconic NZ brands across pretty much every industry sector. He now applies that experience to the commercial radio market with a focus on advocacy and supporting growth.

Globally and locally the radio and audio advertising sector continues to develop, with strong audiences complimented by a proliferation of platforms and audio content.

Whilst radio in particular has long been recognised for its strength in areas such as retail, radio and the wider audio market can also effectively support in building and sustaining strong brands.

In this session, a panel will discuss a range of questions and topics with regard to the relationship between audio and brands and how marketers should be thinking about leveraging the opportunities that audio presents.

Moderated by Alistair Jamison, CEO of the Radio Broadcasters Association he will be joined by advertising industry leaders Simon Vicars and Murray Streets and Sin Howard and Brook Gibson from George FM.

About Simon

Simon is New Zealand’s most globally awarded Creative. His 16 year career started in Aotearoa and then took him to London, where he led Virgin Media, Mars petcare, and adidas football at the global hotshop adam & eve DDB. His work has won Grand Prixs in effectiveness and creativity, and has resulted in two people getting tattoos. He is currently Chief Creative Officer at Colenso BBDO.

On stage with Adam Ferrier

Experience the popular Black T-Shirts podcast live at the Brand Summit! This time, podcast co-host and founder of Thinkerbell, Adam Ferrier, will be chatting to Georgia Mahaffie, Head of Brand & Marketing at One New Zealand. In his usual entertaining style, Adam gets behind the scenes of this year’s biggest rebrand and won’t be afraid to ask the hard questions. Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to hear what it took to bring the One New Zealand brand to life!

• Finding our new brand identity
• The challenges of going live with a big new brand launch
• Tackling the initial backlash with humour
• The positive impact on the team and culture
• What’s next?

About Georgia

Before One NZ Georgia worked for a decade at VCCP helping the likes of T-Mobile, O2, easyJet, Google, Sonos, and Transport for London challenge the category or themselves.  She is a passionate and proud kiwi, who feels incredibly lucky to work with an awesome team every single day.

Globally and locally the radio and audio advertising sector continues to develop, with strong audiences complimented by a proliferation of platforms and audio content.

Whilst radio in particular has long been recognised for its strength in areas such as retail, radio and the wider audio market can also effectively support in building and sustaining strong brands.

In this session, a panel will discuss a range of questions and topics with regard to the relationship between audio and brands and how marketers should be thinking about leveraging the opportunities that audio presents.

Moderated by Alistair Jamison, CEO of the Radio Broadcasters Association he will be joined by advertising industry leaders Simon Vicars and Murray Streets and Sin Howard and Brook Gibson from George FM.

About Murray

Murray has spent over twenty years working in the marketing and advertising world, first in the UK and then in Aotearoa.

He has led teams as a Chief Strategy Officer at FCB and Saatchi & Saatchi, and until the beginning of 2023 as the Managing Director of Dentsu Creative New Zealand. He’s had the privilege and pleasure of working with many clients in many sectors on highly effective marketing and advertising.

In March 2023 Murray launched his own venture - filament - applying the power of human insight to better connect brands, businesses, and people, including leadership and team connection.

We have invited a panel of creative thinkers and B2B marketers to tell us how they’d radically reimagine and disrupt B2B branding, what they would do if they were put in charge of a B2B brand, and who they rate as the most exciting B2B brands in the world.

Don’t miss this fun and energetic discussion as creative ideas fly across the floor, mixed with strong opinions, and lots of personality.

• Don’t rewrite the B2B marketing playbook, throw it out!
• What’s currently missing in B2B marketing?
• What characterises the world’s most exciting B2B brands and campaigns?
• What’s the one thing you’d change in your approach to B2B marketing?
• Why you don’t want to look like the competition.

About Peter

Peter Vegas is the Co-Chief Creative Officer at FCB and he’s been practicing the dark arts of advertising for over 30 years. In that time he has made penguins waterski, helped teach dogs to drive cars and an octopus to use a camera. 

Peter’s work, with and without animals, has been awarded at the world’s fanciest advertising shows including Cannes, One Show, AWARD, D&AD. When not engaged in the ongoing battle to capture the attention of consumers, Peter writes books and spends time wondering why bios are always written in the 3rd person.

In September 2022, Fonterra took another step in implementing its strategy to be a leader in nutrition science and innovation with the global launch of a new wellbeing solution brand, Nutiani.

This new business-to-business brand is targeted at the multi-billion-dollar medical and active nutrition markets. Powered by innovation and science, Nutiani aims to partner with customers to accelerate their brands innovation pipeline, launching winning products at pace, delighting consumers and enhancing their wellbeing with quality nutrition.

It is not every day New Zealand B2B brands are launched at this scale, and this presentation shares an overview of the strategic inception of this B2B brand, as well as the channel mix and learnings behind executing a global launch both internally (to Fonterra’s 20,000 staff) and externally to customers in over 100 countries to build brand equity and recognition. 

About Paige

Paige is a global B2B marketer in the nutrition, food & beverage industry. Currently a Global Marketing Manager for Fonterra’s Active Nutrition unit, Paige’s primary focus is enabling the success of Fonterra’s global protein and specialty ingredients portfolio by developing and executing marketing strategy and working closely with regional marketing, sales and innovation teams across 7 continents. Ultimately striving to ensure Fonterra’s world class ingredients connect with world class brands around the globe.

We have invited a panel of creative thinkers and B2B marketers to tell us how they’d radically reimagine and disrupt B2B branding, what they would do if they were put in charge of a B2B brand, and who they rate as the most exciting B2B brands in the world.

Don’t miss this fun and energetic discussion as creative ideas fly across the floor, mixed with strong opinions, and lots of personality.

• Don’t rewrite the B2B marketing playbook, throw it out!
• What’s currently missing in B2B marketing?
• What characterises the world’s most exciting B2B brands and campaigns?
• What’s the one thing you’d change in your approach to B2B marketing?
• Why you don’t want to look like the competition.

About Sobia

An impactful Marketeer with a dash of academic-nerdiness (and mega coffee snob).

Sobia brings over 12 years of experience in the tech, education, and services industries, making her a seasoned marketing pro. As the B2B Marketing Manager at Trade Me, she blends her passion for Product Marketing and Revenue Growth Marketing (aka RevOps) to drive results.

With a digital marketing mindset ingrained in her very being, Sobia lives and breathes go-to-market strategies and initiatives measurable growth. She's a proud nerd who dives deep into consumer behaviour literature and data to back up her marketing approaches with valuable insights for messaging.

Sobia's academic prowess extends beyond her marketing acumen. She's presented her research papers in Portugal and Germany, and earned her the esteemed Best Paper Award at a top-notch Macro-marketing conference.

Sobia's ultimate mission is to make a positive impact on people's lives. She achieves this by volunteering, empowering others, and currently serving as the Co-Chair of the B2B Marketing Association's Special Interest Group.

About Bridget

Consumers want brands to take a stand on social causes, but marketers and brands are increasingly finding themselves exposed if they do so. This year’s Bud Light brand crisis showed the volatility of brand boycotts and even some New Zealand organisations have found themselves in the firing line.

Anything from LGBTIQA+ rights to climate change, the use of te reo and the upcoming election can polarise your customers and you’re just one social media post away from alienating one group, or both!

If this hasn’t already happened to you, then assume it will and you need to be prepared for it. It’s time to have those uncomfortable internal conversations on what your brand truly stands for when push comes to shove, and which social conversations you do (or do not) want and need to be part of.

Our panellists have all been in the thick of it and understand the critical issues brands face. Don’t miss this honest and open discussion with lots of practical advice and examples.

• What feels authentic for your organisation?
• Does your organisation have the social license to join the debate?
• Balancing the tension between cultural expression and commercial drivers.
• How to handle a social media backlash and why you don’t want to backpaddle.
• Is it sometimes better to say nothing?

About Tom

Tom is a Strategy Director at Principals with 13 years of experience at some of the most regarded design, advertising, and digital agencies across South Africa and New Zealand. He's even won a few Gold Effies and creative agency of year titles along the way. From brand strategy to experiences and communications, Tom is passionate about the rigor strategy provides, the creative potential it unlocks, and the commercial value it drives. He’s worked on brands like Netflix, Heineken, Farmlands, KiwiRail, ASB, and the Ministry for Social Development.

Consumers want brands to take a stand on social causes, but marketers and brands are increasingly finding themselves exposed if they do so. This year’s Bud Light brand crisis showed the volatility of brand boycotts and even some New Zealand organisations have found themselves in the firing line.

Anything from LGBTIQA+ rights to climate change, the use of te reo and the upcoming election can polarise your customers and you’re just one social media post away from alienating one group, or both!

If this hasn’t already happened to you, then assume it will and you need to be prepared for it. It’s time to have those uncomfortable internal conversations on what your brand truly stands for when push comes to shove, and which social conversations you do (or do not) want and need to be part of.

Our panellists have all been in the thick of it and understand the critical issues brands face. Don’t miss this honest and open discussion with lots of practical advice and examples.

• What feels authentic for your organisation?
• Does your organisation have the social license to join the debate?
• Balancing the tension between cultural expression and commercial drivers.
• How to handle a social media backlash and why you don’t want to backpaddle.
• Is it sometimes better to say nothing?

About Anna

Anna is a Corporate Affairs, Marketing, and Communications leader with global expertise and experience. She joined the leadership team at The Warehouse Group in October 2022 in a newly created role as Chief Corporate Affairs Officer. Prior to TWG, Anna was General Manager Corporate Affairs at BNZ, as well as Director of Communications for Nokia China and APAC based in Beijing, and Head of Communications for Nokia & UK based in London.

We have invited a panel of creative thinkers and B2B marketers to tell us how they’d radically reimagine and disrupt B2B branding, what they would do if they were put in charge of a B2B brand, and who they rate as the most exciting B2B brands in the world.

Don’t miss this fun and energetic discussion as creative ideas fly across the floor, mixed with strong opinions, and lots of personality.

• Don’t rewrite the B2B marketing playbook, throw it out!
• What’s currently missing in B2B marketing?
• What characterises the world’s most exciting B2B brands and campaigns?
• What’s the one thing you’d change in your approach to B2B marketing?
• Why you don’t want to look like the competition.

About Nadia

Women In Tech Award WINNER 2022 RISING STAR, 2021/22 TVNZ -NZ Marketing Awards Judge and Head of Business Operations at Umbrellar, Powered by Pax8.

An outgoing, entrepreneurial, performance-driven leader with a passion to embrace the changing face of our world and the relentless rise of evolving technology and business demands to drive better overall outcomes for all.

Previously heading up the marketing team taking Enlighten Designs to Microsoft Country Partner of the year, with a newly appointed change from Head of Marketing and Operations to Head of Business Operations at Umbrellar.

Championing the GTM strategy and operational business excellence across the Microsoft CSP Distribution, Cloud Operations and Advisory businesses, because everyone deserves the cloud done right! Living and flying the flag for the WFH free-range life as a proud mama of two boys, because work should be what you do not where you go.

We have invited a panel of creative thinkers and B2B marketers to tell us how they’d radically reimagine and disrupt B2B branding, what they would do if they were put in charge of a B2B brand, and who they rate as the most exciting B2B brands in the world.

Don’t miss this fun and energetic discussion as creative ideas fly across the floor, mixed with strong opinions, and lots of personality.

• Don’t rewrite the B2B marketing playbook, throw it out!
• What’s currently missing in B2B marketing?
• What characterises the world’s most exciting B2B brands and campaigns?
• What’s the one thing you’d change in your approach to B2B marketing?
• Why you don’t want to look like the competition.

About Nicky

Nicky Luis has been creating customer experiences locally and internationally for the past 20 years. For the past 7 of those she has been focused on B2B customers while working for Spark NZ. With a range of highly successful projects to her name, including the Spark 5G Lab, the Spark Innovation Studio and the IoT Roadshow, she has set about to educate and inspire customers and help them discover what is possible for their businesses.

She is also a mad keen archer, is currently ranked number one in New Zealand in her discipline and recently represented New Zealand at the Oceania Championships.

Consumers want brands to take a stand on social causes, but marketers and brands are increasingly finding themselves exposed if they do so. This year’s Bud Light brand crisis showed the volatility of brand boycotts and even some New Zealand organisations have found themselves in the firing line.

Anything from LGBTIQA+ rights to climate change, the use of te reo, and the upcoming election can polarise your customers and you’re just one social media post away from alienating one group, or both!

If this hasn’t already happened to you, then assume it will and you need to be prepared for it. It’s time to have those uncomfortable internal conversations on what your brand truly stands for when push comes to shove, and which social conversations you do (or do not) want and need to be part of.

Our panellists have all been in the thick of it and understand the critical issues brands face. Don’t miss this honest and open discussion with lots of practical advice and examples.

• What feels authentic for your organisation?
• Does your organisation have the social license to join the debate?
• Balancing the tension between cultural expression and commercial drivers.
• How to handle a social media backlash and why you don’t want to backpaddle.
• Is it sometimes better to say nothing?

About Simon

Simon is currently the GM of Marketing and Brand at Kiwibank leading the Brand, Marketing, Digital, Data, eComm, and Design studio functions. He’s most recently led the B-Corp-certified bank through its largest-ever brand repositioning as part of the bank's broader transformation program.

He has extensive experience growing businesses and brands across multiple industry segments including financial services, technology, healthcare, and automotive in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.  

Simon has worked in large complex organisations, including IBM, National Australia Bank (NAB), UK Department of Health and Hyundai with a strong a strong track record of delivering commercial outcomes through brand led strategies. He’s is passionate about working with great people and leading teams to deliver a balance of purpose and performance outcomes. 

Regan Savage is Head of Marketing for Southern Cross Health Society, NZ’s largest health insurer and a not-for-profit Friendly Society with 940,000 members. In recent years Regan has led marketing and communications functions at Unite Against COVID-19, Trade Me and Kiwibank, as well serving as a board member of the Marketing Association from 2018 – 2022. He is currently a trustee and board member of Ngā Manu Nature Reserve, a sanctuary in Kāpiti focussed on education, conservation and preservation of NZ’s native flora and fauna.

Globally and locally the radio and audio advertising sector continues to develop, with strong audiences complimented by a proliferation of platforms and audio content.

Whilst radio in particular has long been recognised for its strength in areas such as retail, radio and the wider audio market can also effectively support in building and sustaining strong brands.

In this session, a panel will discuss a range of questions and topics with regard to the relationship between audio and brands and how marketers should be thinking about leveraging the opportunities that audio presents.

Moderated by Alistair Jamison, CEO of the Radio Broadcasters Association he will be joined by advertising industry leaders Simon Vicars and Murray Streets and Sin Howard and Brook Gibson from George FM.

About Sin & Brook

George FM's dynamic drivetime duo. Sin and Brook are fast & loose, high-energy ravers - putting the fun in dysfunctional. Their weekday radio show and podcast gives them a first hand perspective on how to best integrate brands in the audio space. Getting people clued up on tunes, spreading the electronic gospel with plenty of fizz & laughs is also their superpower.

Globally and locally the radio and audio advertising sector continues to develop, with strong audiences complimented by a proliferation of platforms and audio content.

Whilst radio in particular has long been recognised for its strength in areas such as retail, radio and the wider audio market can also effectively support in building and sustaining strong brands.

In this session, a panel will discuss a range of questions and topics with regard to the relationship between audio and brands and how marketers should be thinking about leveraging the opportunities that audio presents.

Moderated by Alistair Jamison, CEO of the Radio Broadcasters Association he will be joined by advertising industry leaders Simon Vicars and Murray Streets and Sin Howard and Brook Gibson from George FM.

About Sin & Brook

George FM's dynamic drivetime duo. Sin and Brook are fast & loose, high-energy ravers - putting the fun in dysfunctional. Their weekday radio show and podcast gives them a first hand perspective on how to best integrate brands in the audio space. Getting people clued up on tunes, spreading the electronic gospel with plenty of fizz & laughs is also their superpower.

Consumers want brands to take a stand on social causes, but marketers and brands are increasingly finding themselves exposed if they do so. This year’s Bud Light brand crisis showed the volatility of brand boycotts and even some New Zealand organisations have found themselves in the firing line.

Anything from LGBTIQA+ rights to climate change, the use of te reo, and the upcoming election can polarise your customers and you’re just one social media post away from alienating one group, or both!

If this hasn’t already happened to you, then assume it will and you need to be prepared for it. It’s time to have those uncomfortable internal conversations on what your brand truly stands for when push comes to shove, and which social conversations you do (or do not) want and need to be part of.

Our panellists have all been in the thick of it and understand the critical issues brands face. Don’t miss this honest and open discussion with lots of practical advice and examples.

• What feels authentic for your organisation?
• Does your organisation have the social license to join the debate?
• Balancing the tension between cultural expression and commercial drivers.
• How to handle a social media backlash and why you don’t want to backpaddle.
• Is it sometimes better to say nothing?

About Huia

An award-winning marcomms consultant, Huia's passion lies in transcending traditional barriers and building channel-agnostic communication strategies anchored in purpose-driven cultural fluency. 

For more than 15 years Huia has worked across a range of local and global consumer business categories, and increasingly in te ao Māori. She has held senior roles in media publisher, client-side, and agency. Clients have included Uber, Unilever, Pernod Ricard, Whānau Ora, NZ Post, Auckland Transport, State, AMI, AWS, De'Longhi and Fonterra.

Huia has proven success empowering brands to find creative and authentic ways to stay relevant and cultivate connections in today’s ever evolving communities. She has recently launched communication consultancy, All Mighty and is a Principal Advisor to Social Impact agency MEA, helping to amplify the voice of Aotearoa's indigenous communities.