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.
Stages
From AI, attention + analytics to content creators, creativity + culture marketing, this year’s festival is packed with cutting-edge content + communities where industry leaders can tackle the big issues of the day.
Annabelle Cordelli
// Senior Vice-President Marketing, Virgin Atlantic & Virgin Holidays
Annabelle Cordelli is Senior Vice President Brand & Marketing at Virgin Atlantic where she is responsible for customer insight, new brand propositions, brand strategy, comms, media, creative, design, B2C and B2B marketing and effectiveness. After joining Virgin Atlantic in January 2019, Annabelle led the global repositioning of Virgin Atlantic, including creation of the masterbrand strategy which led to the integration of Virgin Holidays marketing to create a centre of excellence. As travel remerged from the pandemic she spearheaded efforts to define and launch the global brand platform “See The World Differently” which has been nominated for ‘Campaign of the year’ by several prestigious awards including The Marketing Society Awards, The British LGBT Awards and Burberry British Diversity Awards. The campaign was also crowned IPSOS Ad of the year for Creative Excellence. Prior to Virgin Atlantic, Annabelle spent 20+ years marketing global lifestyle, luxury and FMCG iconic brands including Dom Pérignon, Perrier-Jouët, Moët & Chandon, Jacobs Creek, Pepsi, Gatorade, 7up, J20, Britvic, Tango, Fisher-Price, Matchbox, Hot Wheels & Barbie. Annabelle has a BB & BA from University of Swinburne, Australia. She lives in London with her husband and two boys.
AJ Coyne
// Vice-president Marketing and Growth, Monzo Bank
Charlie Smith
// Chief Marketing Officer, Nothing
Munnawar Chisty
// Chief Marketing Officer, Carlsberg Britvic
Sarah Barron
// Chief Marketing Officer, Dominos
Sarah joined Domino’s in January 2021 as Chief Marketing Officer, where she leads a team of 120 people across Marketing, Innovation, Digital, Data, Communications and Commercial Trading.Since joining Domino’s, Sarah has overseen the digital and data transformation to maximise the return from the brand’s 13 million active customers base, with 75% of customer orders now coming from the app. Under her leadership, brand love and consideration have both spiked driven by the launch of the ‘Domin-Oh-Hoo-Hoo’ yodel brand campaign, new sponsorship deals including ITVX and Channel 4 streaming services as well as with award-winning creative PR and social.She has nearly 30 years’ experience across retail, consumer and hospitality industries, working for international market-leading brands such as Boots, Cadbury and Green & Blacks. Until 2020, Sarah was Chief Growth Officer of Costa Coffee, responsible for the Global Marketing and Growth team. Sarah sits on the Advisory Council of ISBA, and she is also the Chair of The Partners Foundation - an independent charity that provides help for Domino’s colleagues who may be experiencing personal hardship or need financial assistance.Outside of work Sarah enjoys long distance running and can often be found clocking up the miles doing marathons and ultramarathons. Most recently she completed the 2025 London Marathon, where she proudly supported Teenage Cancer Trust.
Diego Osorio
// Founder, Lobos Tequila 1707
Pete Harbour
// Chief Marketing Officer + Head of Global Condiments, Unilever
Rajeev Sathyesh
// Marketing Director (CMO), Heineken
Ellie Norman
// Chief Marketing Officer, Formula E
Ben Fox
// Chief Marketing Officer, McDonald's
Michelle Marks
// Chief Marketing Officer, Trinny London
Michelle Marks is the Chief Marketing Officer at Trinny London, a global, digital-first beauty brand on a mission to help customers fearlessly feel their best self. In her role, Michelle leads the company’s global marketing strategy, driving brand awareness and customer growth as it expands into new markets, including the US.Michelle has extensive experience in marketing and creative leadership. Prior to joining Trinny London, she was Director of Creative Strategy for EMEA at Meta, and Global Director for Digital Brands at Charlotte Tilbury. Her work has been recognised with a place on The Drum’s Rebel 50 list of top CMOs.
David Murdin
// Chief Marketing + Experience Officer, Warner Hotels
Tom Fenwick- Smith
// Creative Director, Three Mobile
Joanna Gerhold
// Brand and Communications Director, HelloFresh UK
Johanna heads up Brand and Communications at HelloFresh, bringing the magic of delicious homemade dinners to tables up and down the country. Throughout her career, she has honed her craft at making brands successful. A Comms Planner at heart she started in the media agency world working on clients like Honda and Nokia before moving to Google for 11 years in a number of commercial, strategy and marketing roles. To complete the holy trinity of agency, media owner and client side, she now heads up Brand Merketing teams - starting with a stint at Candy Crush (King) and now at HelloFresh.
Sam Kelly
// Chief Experience Officer, Virgin
Matt Stone
// Senior Director - Creative, Design & Experience, Kimberley-Clark
Matt Stone leads Creative, Design and Experience for Kimberly-Clark’s Global portfolio of Family Care & Professional brands. Prior to his time at KC, which has spanned all sectors, Matt started his career in the agency world, working across a range of brands and industries. Matt loves brand-building, using creativity to drive business growth…and his family (not in that order).
Geoff Bull
// Chief Marketing Officer, Confused.com
Danielle Lee
// Brand and Marketing Director, Metro Bank
Claire Sadler
// Chief Marketing Officer, British Heart Foundation
Kate Dale
// Director of Marketing, Sport England
Emily Churchill
// Head of Marketing, NICE Drinks
Emily Churchill is Head of Marketing at Nice, the B Corp female-founded, modern wine company built to liberate drinkers from wine headaches. Whether it’s inflexible packaging, confusing labels or next day regret, Nice exists to give people better ways to wine. She leads brand strategy, trade marketing and creative activation, helping Nice stand out in an industry that often takes itself too seriously.Emily has spent over a decade in food and drink, with senior roles at Caleño Drinks and Rude Health, where she worked on bold campaigns and drove brand growth and awareness. Starting her career in PR and agency roles, she’s worked with household names across FMCG and built her reputation on bringing personality and cultural relevance to the brands she champions.She’s particularly passionate about breaking category conventions, connecting with consumers and leading with creativity.
James Tyler
// Co-Founder, Drink Local
James Tyler is the Founder and Head of Marketing at Local; the beer brand on a mission to make lite beer cool.James spent 15 years in creative roles across TV, advertising & branding; creating award-winning work for beer brands like Budweiser, Stella Artois and Camden Town Brewery. Local was born after a 5k run made him realise he'd just jogged the pounds off… only to pile them back on in the pub.
George Sullivan
// CEO, The Sole Supplier
Swagat Choudhury
// Global Director - Digital Commerce, Mars
Radha Davies
// Marketing Director: Brands & Creative, Sainsbury's
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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