Line//Up

The Human Touch

You can spot it a mile away - the double hyphens, the mishmash of words into sentences that don't quite make sense, the internet being awash with daft videos of huge waves ridden by giant octopus destroying New York City - and now 'AI slop' has been revealed as the Macquarie Dictionary's Word of the Year (narrowly beating Ozempic Face).

MAD//Fest London’s 2026 theme is…drum roll…'The Human Touch'.

We're bringing together the best humans in the business to reclaim what sets us apart, and explore how to leverage the best tech + innovation to gain a marketing edge, rather than serve up generic slop.

2026 Stages

2026 Speakers

Louis Theroux

// Journalist + Broadcaster

Dr. Julia Shaw

// Criminal Psychologist & AI Futurist

Sir Martin Sorrell

// Executive Chairman & Founder, S4 Capital

Adam Swan

// Creative Partner, Derek & Eric

AJ Coyne

// Chief Marketing Officer, Monzo Bank

Alec Barr

// Head of Behavioural Science, OLIVER Agency

Amy Cheyne

// Senior Content Manager, NICE Drinks

Ben Bradley

// Head of Commercial Partnerships, England Cricket (ECB)

Ben Carter

// Chief Customer, Marketing + Media Officer, Carwow

Ben Fox

// Chief Marketing Officer, McDonald's

Bridget Hirst

// Brand Director, DASH

Carina De Oliveira Azevedo

// Senior Environment Lead Grocery, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners

Catherine Loftus

// Brand Director, Bird & Blend

Charlie Rudd

// Chief Executive Officer - Creative Practice, Publicis Groupe

Charlie Morgan

// founder, Au Vodka

Charlie Smith

// Chief Marketing Officer, Nothing

Charlotte Pearce

// Founder + CEO, Inkpact

Charlotte Ford

// Senior Director of Brand, Content & Partnerships, Monzo Bank

Charlotte Tonry

// Head of Social and Influencer, M&S

Christina Habib

// Chief Insights Officer, Unilever Beauty + Wellbeing

Chris Delahunty

// Head of UK Marketing, Top Cashback

Claire Sadler

// Chief Marketing Officer, British Heart Foundation

Danielle Lee

// Brand and Marketing Director, Metro Bank

Daniel Blumer

// Chief Marketing Officer (EMEA), Restaurant Brands International

David Murdin

// Chief Marketing + Experience Officer, Warner Hotels

Dawn Paine

// Founder and CEO, Aurora

Diego Osorio

// Founder, Lobos Tequila 1707

Dr. Cecilia Dones

// Founder, 3 Standard Deviations

Ellie Norman

// Chief Marketing Officer, Formula E

Emily Heath

// Global Brand Director, Rexona / Sure

Fin Wallace

// Lead Producer, The Sidemen

Gareth Maritz

// Executive Vice President of Marketing, Dazn

Geoff Bull

// Chief Marketing Officer, Confused.com

George Sullivan

// CEO, The Sole Supplier

George Dingle

// Account Director, SAMY

Ginger Johnson

// Drag Queen + Winner of RuPaul's Drag Race UK

Henrietta Corley

// Global Business Lead, AMV BBDO

Hugo Inglis

// Olympian and Founder, High Impact Athletes (HIA)

Ian Russell MBE

// Molly Russell’s Dad, Co-Founder, Molly Rose Foundation

Iesha White

// Director of Intelligence, Check My Ads Institute

Imme Ermgassen

// Co-founder, Botivo

Jake Dubbins

// Co-Chair, Conscious Advertising Network

Johnny Winn

// Head of Advertising, Virgin Media O2

John Vincent

// CEO + Co-Founder, LEON Restaurants

Jono Yates

// Owner, Only Scrans / YRDS

Julia Linehan

// CEO & Founder, The Digital Voice

Kate Dale

// Director of Marketing, Sport England

Katie Evans

// Chief Marketing Officer, Burger King UK

Katie Jackson

// Chief Marketing Officer, Channel 4

Kelly Chandaria

// Vice President, Bloom

Kim-Lin Capes

// A&I Community and Loyalty Manager, NYX // L'Oreal

Laura Jordan Bambach

// Co-founder & Chief Creative Officer, Uncharted

Laura Pinnell

// VP, Consumer Group, Europe & Middle East, NBA

Lee Bokfin

// Chief Executive Officer, Global Street Art

Luciana de Azevedo Lara

// Senior Global Communications Manager, Essity

Lucie Leverton

// Head of Partnerships Development, Harrods

Lucy Litwack

// Owner and CEO, Coca de Mer

Margaret Jobling

// Group Chief Marketing Officer, NatWest Group

Mark Lester

// Co-founder + CSO, Squint

Mark Brown

// Chief Marketing Officer, Hovis

Mark Denton

// Executive Creative Director, COY! Communications

Mary Keane-Dawson

// Chair, BIMA

Matt Bulcroft

// Marketing Director, Global Brands

Mays Elansari

// Marketing Director, Wasabi

Mollie Kmita

// Founder, The Powerhouse Project

Naomi Walkland

// Chief Marketing Officer, Motorway

Natalie Tyre

// ex Meta

Nathalia Amadeu

// Global Brand Director, Vaseline

Ndidi Oteh

// Chief Executive Officer, Accenture Song

Nick East

// European Head of Retail Media, MARS

Nina Bibby

// Group Chief Marketing Officer, Barclays

Patrick Williamson

// VP of Performance Marketing, MPB

Paul Stafford

// Head of Very Media Group, The Very Group

Pete Harbour

// Chief Marketing Officer + Head of Global Condiments, Unilever

Radha Davies

// Marketing Director: Brands & Creative, Sainsbury's

Rajeev Sathyesh

// Marketing Director (CMO), Heineken

Rani Al Hajji

// Chief Growth & Transformation Officer, Unilever Personal Care

Rebecca Ferguson

// MARS

Rebecca Rowntree

// Founder, Get Sh*t Done

René Hisserich

// Senior Director Media, Content & Digital Marketing, MARS

Rory Sutherland

// Vice Chairman, Ogilvy UK

Rosie Kmita

// Founder, The Powerhouse Project

Sally Barton

// Director, Marketing Growth Strategy, Mondelez International

Sally Henderson

// High-stakes leadership mentor

Sam Kelly

// Chief Experience Officer, Virgin

Saskia Jones

// Deputy CSO, BBH

Shamil Thakrar

// Founder, Dishoom

Sharry Cramond

// Marketing Director Fashion, Home & Beauty; Director of Loyalty, M&S

Shona Campbell

// Chief Marketing and Growth Officer, Ottolenghi

Sophie O'Brien

// President, Bloom

Sophie Giddings

// Marketing Director, Little Dish

Swagat Choudhury

// Global Director - Digital Commerce, MARS

Thom Elliot

// Co-Founder, Pizza Pilgrims

Tim Ovadia

// Global Vice President, Stella Artois / AB InBev

Tom Johnson

// Head of Marketing & Commercial Director, Ascot Racecourse

Tom Goodwin

// Founder, All We Have Is Now

Tom Fenwick- Smith

// Creative Director, Three Mobile

Tony Barr

// Managing Director Commercial, Wasabi

Tony Cortizas

// Chief Marketing Officer, Sandals Resorts

Vicki Maguire

Wilkin Lee

// Head of Marketing UK & Ire, Motorola (Lenovo)

Mike Pearson

// Head of Creative, Media & Promotions, Wayfair EU

Ed Tate

// Senior Customer Success Director, Optimizely

Jan Schoenmakers

// Managing Director, HASE & IGEL

Rachel Pettit

// Director of Consumer Marketing, Bank and Borrow, Lloyds Banking Group

Sam Fletcher

// Director of Customer Insight, Planning & Effectiveness, Lloyds Banking Group

Max Ottignon

// Co-Founder, Ragged Edge

Jack Cully

// Marketing lead, Granola

Amanpreet Singh

// Global Digital Brand Experience Lead, Unilever

Jonathan Gustavii

// Director of Strategic Partnerships, The Gang

Jascha Bräker

// Senior Partnerships Development Manager, ESL FACEIT Group

Alessandra Di Lorenzo

// Digital Media Executive & Author

Hazan Aydin Yesilova

// Head of Baileys, Diageo GB

Holly McKinley

// Brand and Communications Director, WWF UK

Rahul Gursahani

// Marketing Lead, Ben & Jerry's

Jack Finger

// Co-Founder, Go Places

Sam Jacobs

// Co-Founder, Go Places

Eugene Knippel

// VP of Global Voices & Industry Relations, Kolsquare

Fiona Macpherson

// Global Head of Influencer Marketing, Free Soul

Laura Montarroso Daher

// Co Founder, CULTURD

Fouad Hammoud

// Co Founder, CULTURD

Sheeraz Gulsher

// Co Founder, People Like Us

Yasmin Ali

// Spoken Word Artist

Joy Osinloye

// VP of Customer Success, CreatorIQ

Jane Harper

// Communications and Digital Engagement Director, Shisedo

Jini Sanassy

// Head of PR, Space NK

David Schulman

// Global CEO, Havas

Claire MacArthur

// Landscape Architect

Can Akar

// Marketing Director, EMEA, Uber

Mark Sinnock

// Global Chief Strategy, Data & Innovation Officer, Havas

Lea Karam

// Behavioural Scientist, Founder + CEO, Mindscope

Hussain Manawer

// Poet, Author + Spoken word artist

Jordan Peters

// Senior Director, Marketing Partnerships, EMEA, Netflix

Nicky Bullard

// Founder, Elevator

Kenyatte Nelson

// Chief Membership & Customer Officer, Co-op

Elliot Moss

// Partner and Chief Brand Officer, Mishcon de Reya

Paris Parmer

Kyle Fiore

// Principal Brand Strategy,, Booking.com

Emma Sexton

// Founder, Inside Out

Jonathan Wicks

// Creative Director, The LEGO Group

Elfried Samba

// Co-founder + CEO, Butterfly Effect

Guillaume Furminger

// Executive Creative Director, Brand Potential

Rob Calder

// Chief Growth Officer, PREM Rugby

Brand Challenges

Want to see real brand challenges tackled in real time? Then you'll love our Brand Challenges. We'll be back with a fresh mix of challenges, pitches + pilots in 2026. In the meantime, here's 2025's line-up:

  • Given the increasing demand for content creation, how can we develop a scalable strategy that balances authenticity, platform relevance, consumer needs, and environmental sustainability, while fostering genuine engagement and relationships with both creators and consumers?

  • How do we help kids ‘graduate’ from LEGO DUPLO to the small system bricks (4+ sets) – how do we create that bridge in shoppers’ mind and excite kids to move from big bricks to small bricks?

  • Perfect city strategy: they target cities of high pop density, sampling, social, in-person activation - how can we win London and do stuff differently in this noisy city?

  • How might we use AI superpowers to double productivity and enhance our creative ideation and execution?

  • In a world of new entrants, how does Cano Water stay the brand that stands out and leads the pack?

  • How do we appeal to Gen Z / younger consumers whilst still maintaining the prestige brand reputation?

  • In a world where moderation and mindful consumption are key, how can Jack Daniel’s Flavours creatively drive to engage engage the next generation of LDA consumers?

MAD//Insight

Get your fix of news + views by visiting MAD//Insight + SUBSCRIBING HERE for our ‘Time for a MAD//Break’ weekly newsletter featuring commentary, insight + opinion from the industry’s key protagonists.

Got an editorial pitch? Email luke@madfestlondon.com

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