Easter Special: Why Thousands Of Big Brands Are Hopping Down To MAD//Fest
06 Apr, 2023
Big brands, beers, sushi, Dishoom and shiny disco balls - take a look at all the cool stuff for advertisers and agencies at MAD//Fest this summer before signing off for the Easter weekend.
If you've got young kids, congratulations - you’ve made it halfway through the Easter holidays intact and only have one more week of soft play, sugar-induced tantrums and ‘how the hell am I supposed to entertain them?’ moments before you can go back to work for a rest.
If you haven’t got kids, congratulations - you’ve made it to the Easter Bank Holiday, the pub is open, and you’ve got 96 hours to do whatever the heck you like (so long as you haven’t been foolish enough to organise a trip to the in-laws’)
As Easter is a time for new hope, to break the monotonous cycle of news about the world going to pot, (broken only by Trump getting done), we thought we’d share a quick update on all the cool brands to meet at MAD//Fest London on 4-6 July at The Old Truman Brewery.
Here’s 5 things to get you in the mood for MAD//Fest:
THE BRANDS ON-STAGE
We’re busy lining-up big brands and challengers to explore our 2023 theme, ‘Riders of the Storm’.
There are some serious people with serious marketing budgets on-stage at MAD//Fest this year as we boldly explore how big brands can survive choppy waters, embed growth and capitalise on huge shifts in technology, media and consumer behaviour.
But it wouldn’t be MAD//Fest without the lively addition of entrepreneurs, challengers and disruptors who want to rock the apple cart.
As well as the Hexagon stage, you can also look forward to our brand new Creativity + Experience stage on our Brick Lane Beach, (think seaside fun and real sand!) There’s also our awesome brand innovation stage where we connect brands and start-ups, as well as our ATTENTION!@MAD//Fest and DigiAds deep-dives.
Here are a few speaker highlights:
Alessandra Bellini, Chief Customer Officer, Tesco
Thomas Beahon, Co-Founder, Castore
Fiona Tomlin, CMO, PepsiCo (UK & Ireland)
Michael Gillane, Marketing Director, Heineken UK
Christopher Miller, Director of Global Activism Strategy, Ben & Jerry's
Emily Kraftman, Managing Director, UK + Europe, Who Gives A Crap
Rory Sutherland, Vice-chair, Ogilvy
Sir Martin Sorrell, Co-Founder, S4 Capital
Aparna Sundaresh, Global Chief Marketing + Digital Officer - ekaterra, the Tea Division, Unilever
Cat Daniel, Growth Marketing Director, Monzo
Rachel Swift, CMO, Tesco Mobile
John Vary, Futurologist, John Lewis
Claire Miller, Global Head of Strategy and Analytics, The LEGO Group
Bronwen Foster-Butler, CMO, Finisterre
David Clements, Senior Marketing Director, Mondelez / Toblerone
Mark Brown, Marketing Director, Europe + Australasia, General Mills
Jerry Daykin, VP, Head of Media, Beam Suntory
Simon Fone, Design + Shopper Experience Director, The Coca-Cola Company
Pete Markey, CMO, Boots
Michael Dean, Marketing Director, White Claw
Anton Soulier, Founder, Taster
Charlie Morgan, Co-founder, Au Vodka
Jonathan Petrides, Founder + CEO, allplants
Nikki Vadera, Marketing & Digital Director (Consumer Brands), Henkel
THE BRANDS TO MEET: THERE'S MORE AT MAD//FEST
We’ve been inundated with brands who are bringing their entire marketing teams to MAD//Fest this year - some are even hiring buses! We’re well on-track to there being 10,000 brands and agencies at MAD//Fest - so far we’ve had over 7,000 sign-ups, of which nearly 50% are top brands.
Not only is MAD//Fest the UK’s largest marketing and advertising festival - we’re also comfortably the largest gathering of brands to meet in Europe this summer!
So if you want to immerse yourself in the conversation, get to know like-minded marketers over a beer and build your little black book of contacts, you’d be mad to miss MAD//Fest!
THE BRANDS ACTIVATING: DISHOOM, STICKS 'N' SUSHI, HEINEKEN + MORE
Frankly when we were sketching out our hopes and dream for MAD//Fest back in 2018, little did we know that MAD//Fest would become a destination for cool brands looking to activate, bask in the good vibes and fuel an all inclusive event experience with their plentiful food and drink goodies!
2023’s roster includes brands like Dishoom, Heineken, Sticks'n'Sushi, White-Claw, Jägermeister, Accolade Wines + Au Vodka - an impressive line-up for any festival, let alone an industry event!
If you’ve got a MAD//Fest ticket, there’s no charge for food and drink so you can fill your boots with whatever you fancy. Turns out there is such a thing as a free lunch…
THE BRANDS INVESTING: MARS, BOOTS, E.ON + MORE
The Brand Innovation Stage is the place to be if you want to discover the most cutting-edge innovation and hear how top global brands are addressing the challenges of the day by collaborating with start-ups.
Hosted by Co:Cubed, MAD//Fest’s brand challenges will see players like Mars, e.on, Boots and Coca-Cola stage pitches based on their marketing challenges and collectively invest £120k of pilot funds.
Whether you’re a brand with similar challenges, an agency with its finger on the pulse of what’s hot, or a start-up with ambitious growth plans, the Brand Innovation Stage is essential viewing as we accelerate the innovation process and match-make big brands and cool start-ups!
THE BRANDS PARTYING: WE'RE GOING DISCO
Let’s face it, we could all do with the chance to let our hair down, get reacquainted with our peers after working from home in your pyjamas became the norm, and enjoy the magic that happens when the UK’s top brands and agencies get glammed up and have fun.
Following last year’s colourful homage to carnival culture, where one lucky punter bagged a trip to Rio thanks to our friends at AppsFlyer, MAD//Fest will be turned into a ‘Day of Disco’ featuring top house/disco DJs, bars, food, competitions, fancy dress and more. And if disco really isn’t your bag, head over to our new Brick Lane Beach for cocktails, chilled tunes and seaside fun and games in the city!
So don’t be a diva, grab your ticket, and look forward to good tunes, disco balls and bad dancing in the summer sunshine.