About Caroline

Caroline assumed the role of Country Director for Google New Zealand in 2017, and in this role she is responsible for driving Google’s overall business operation and is focussed on helping NZ businesses grow and transform in the digital age.

Prior to joining Google, Caroline served as Marketing and Product Director for Latitude NZ (previously GE Capital) as well as Brand Director for their broader AU/NZ region. Before her return to New Zealand in 2013, Caroline worked as the Regional Marketing Director for Philips Royal Electronics across the Middle East, Turkey and Africa.

When she's not helping customers, Caroline spends her time chasing two young children around the parks and beaches of Auckland. She also loves tennis and is an enthusiastic skier.

About Renee

With 20 years’ senior marketing experience in FMCG, financial services and building products driving business outcomes for iconic brands in NZ and the UK, I pride myself on my ability to lead teams combining strategic thinking, creative excellence with a strong commercial bent.

I’m a natural connector – whether it be people or ideas and love finding solutions and leading teams to solve complex problems.

I get the best out of people by creating alignment on a clear direction and then empowering and motivating them to deliver.

About Tony

Tony works with private and public organisations to grow their leaders and teams. He develops leaders by growing their leadership skills and their ability to lead people in authentic, influential ways. He coaches teams to high-performance by developing their collective skills, behaviours, and processes.

Tony draws on global research, proven processes, tools and skills, and over 20 years personal senior leadership experience in New Zealand and APAC including General Manager, Chief Executive and governance roles.

About Jason

Jason is the CEO of One New Zealand, formerly known as Vodafone New Zealand.

He is a proud New Zealander, family man, and One NZ Warriors supporter with terrible dress sense.  He says his love of technology has helped shape his career.

Jason is passionate about enabling a better future for New Zealanders and New Zealand businesses.

About Carl

Carl is one of New Zealand’s best-known social scientists. His long and distinguished career in research stretches over 30 years and includes stints as an academic, practitioner, and author. He has crafted an enviable reputation for his expertise in consumer psychology, research design and behavioural change. Carl is the author or editor of ten books about research practise in New Zealand and he is the past Chief Commissioner for the Families Commission. These days Carl is the Head of Insight at Research First and he is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Canterbury.

About Frankie

Frankie Coulter serves as the Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Growth Marketing & Category for Goodman Fielder in New Zealand. Recognised for his impactful leadership in marketing, Frankie was awarded the 2024 Marketer of the Year at the NZ Marketing Awards, highlighting his success in upskilling his team and fostering innovative campaigns that have significantly boosted brand engagement and growth. His work with Goodman Fielder, a leader in food manufacturing with iconic brands like Meadow Fresh and Vogel's, underscores his role in enhancing the company's market presence and strategic growth initiatives

About Colleen

It’s been a tough few years, and it’s not over yet. Is being playful or humorous a risky strategy? Should brands stand back? Yet, to be memorable, brands need to tap into our emotions.

The current narrative is that humour is a powerful emotional device. When a punchline is the difference between being cringeworthy or a crack-up, getting it wrong can be costly. But being playful, however, is de-stressing and lightens the load – if your audience is in the mood for it.

With so much at stake, we sent our finest research minds into the field to find out. They chatted with a couple of thousand New Zealanders and Australians and mulled it over with comedians, brand owners and creative types. Then they spent hours analysing this research to uncover the uncommon truth.

Join Colleen Ryan and special guests, comedians Tom Sainsbury and Brynley Stent, stars of Silo’s upcoming show Camping, for a barrel of humorous insights into the findings.

About Colleen

Colleen Ryan is recognised in the international research industry for her notable contributions to innovation in research. Together with Wendy Gordon, she co-founded The Research Business International (TRBI), lauded for its pioneering role in the methodologies of insight gathering and application, and creating the boutique research category in the UK.

Over the last decade, Colleen has played a pivotal role at TRA as a partner, steering thought leadership and innovation strategies within TRA's operations across Sydney, Melbourne, and Auckland.

Her expertise is extensive and multifaceted, encompassing brand strategy, cultural sociology, cognitive psychology, behavioural science, applying these disciplines to continuous innovation in research and its application to marketing.

About Dominic

Results-driven executive leader with 25+ years of international business experience, specialising in large, complex organisations within competitive markets. Recognised for a keen understanding of consumer dynamics and commitment to integrating the voice of the customer into business strategy. A forward-thinking strategist, adept at translating foresight into impactful business strategies, leading teams through unified change and implementation. Commercially astute practitioner with a proven track record in financial disciplines, risk management, and team leadership. I lead a team of 100 people with a globally benchmarked top-ranked team engagement.

As a founding member of Foodstuffs Precision Media startup, I showcase a pioneering spirit in developing and implementing a unique media proposition with dunnhumby, London. My entrepreneurial experience includes successfully architecting the digital landscape for optimal demand generation, democratising customer intelligence and insights, and establishing 'Centre of Excellence' teams for specialist services. This diverse skill set encompasses whole of business strategic planning, change management, strategic marketing, and insight-led innovation, contributing to significant revenue and share growth.

About Annemarie

Annemarie Browne is the Marketing Director at Lion NZ, where she leads the brand strategies for some of New Zealand's most iconic beverage brands. Known for her strategic vision and commitment to cultural relevance, she recently spearheaded Lion's partnership with PHD Aotearoa to enhance the brand’s market presence and cultural impact across New Zealand. Prior to Lion, Browne earned significant acclaim as the Chief Marketing Officer at Lotto NZ, where she was instrumental in developing award-winning campaigns like the Imagine series and LOST campaign, which increased social engagement and elevated Lotto's brand to new creative heights.

At Lion, Browne focuses on connecting the brand’s values with New Zealand audiences, aiming to support both brand innovation and community-centric initiatives. Her work is characterized by a dedication to purpose-driven marketing, balancing brand authenticity with dynamic consumer engagement.

About Matt

In his 13 years at ANZ Bank New Zealand, Matthew Pickering has led its brand journey from the lowest performing in market to clear category leadership. And the gap to the following pack continues to widen.

As the GM of ANZ’s powerhouse marketing team – one of the largest and most capable in New Zealand – he unites technical, data, campaign and creative talent to deliver real business impact.

Since joining ANZ in 2012, he has championed a customer-first, insight-driven marketing approach. He led the historic National Bank/ANZ merger campaign and helped rebuild brand trust from the ground up.

This change signaled the beginning of a transformation journey. It also marked a commitment to strategic marketing principles that have directly driven much of ANZ’s success. Today, ANZ stands as one of Aotearoa’s most recognised and respected brands.

About Luke

Luke Smith leads Spark’s CX Tribe, where he’s driving the transformation of one of New Zealand’s most iconic brands into a world-class, digitally empowered customer experience. With a career spanning marketing, digital, and customer strategy, Luke specialises in building experiences that are as frictionless as they are unforgettable -balancing commercial impact with human connection.

At Spark, he is spearheading initiatives that integrate AI, data, and design to deliver seamless omnichannel journeys, preparing the business for an AI-first world where intelligent agents are reshaping discovery, trust, and brand visibility.

About Carl

Throughout Carl’s 20+ year career as a brand planner, comms strategist, concept developer and researcher he has written hundreds of briefs. Those he’s most proud of have paved the way for ideas that became highly popular with the public and sustained long-term success for his clients. Along the way, his work has been recognised with several gold Marketing Awards, Effie awards, Creative awards, Media awards and a New Zealand Innovation Award. 

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’).

About Ahmad

After 16 years of using creativity to help brands around the world engage their audiences, Ahmad recently launched the creative practice at Deloitte NZ, to bring the power of creativity upstream in businesses, organisations and brands. 

Ahmad is passionate about big ideas, and drawn to the people and brands that fearlessly drive the world forward. In recent years, he discovered that their great differentiator was their sense of purpose and willingness to try creative and innovative ways to make a real impact.

Given the unprecedented challenges and pace of change that the world faces today, he believes that the key to strong and sustainable success in any business or organisation lies in an inspiring and enduring brand purpose. It unlocks the true impact of creativity, informs innovation, and helps organisations look beyond short-term reactivity to category trends and issues, and instead, carve out their own unique path of growth.