Branding speakers

Allan Leighton is an English businessman, former CEO of Asda and former non-executive Chairman of the Royal Mail. He is currently the CEO of the Danish jewellery company Pandora.

Andrew McMillan spent 28 years working for the John Lewis Partnership, starting as a management trainee to becoming responsible for customer experience across the department store division. Andrew's aim is to make individuals and organisations happier and more fulfilled through a sense of collective purpose, so they engender trust, loyalty and advocacy from their customers while becoming more productive and, as a consequence, more profitable. He helps organisations join up their own internal dots to create their unique link between employee engagement and consistently great customer experience.

BJ Cunningham is a serial entrepreneur and council member of Business Superbrands. He demonstrates through experience and knowledge that authentic branding is vital to building and retaining customer loyalty.

As Chairman of Asos and CEO of Amazon UK Brian has been at the forefront of digital retail. He led Amazon through a period of extreme growth, oversaw the acquisition of LoveFilm and the launch of Amazon Prime, and was instrumental in launching T-Mobile’s direct web and telesales customer-facing business. He now looks at how ecommerce businesses have grown, how to best engage with customers, and at lessons in leadership and change from Amazon and IBM.

Bruce delivers world-class speeches to corporations around the globe. He compares the challenges of operating in the world of rock music and commercial aviation with those in the business world; from teamwork, forward planning and the ability to learn from setbacks and move on successfully. Bruce’s speeches are a whirlwind of ideas and inspiration that will energize and intellectually refresh listeners with a world-class delivery of the spoken word.

Cate’s experience of setting up two successful businesses in her twenties led to her being named a Future 100 and Startup 100 entrepreneur. She’s been quoted 4 times in Forbes magazine and is a RetailWire BrainTrust expert. LinkedIn named her one of the top 15 most listened to professionals in the UK. Vend ranked her as the world’s 26th most influential professional in retail.

Christian Majgaard is best known for gifting the world with LEGO as the companies Senior Director. Christian was responsible for their global brand, product and campaign development of their core business (toys) as well as their Theme Park and Media divisions. Acclaimed by Fons Tompenaars as one of 21 leaders for the 21st century, Christian is a highly respected figure in marketing and innovation. At Lego Christian's 25 year career with the company took in positions including Head of International Market Research and Head of EU Marketing. Christian now divides his time between creative and brand consulting, non-executive roles, writing and speaking.

Clare Bailey, The Retail Champion, is one of the most well-known and respected retail experts in the UK. Clare is renowned for her quick thinking, and an ability to backup her arguments with facts and figures. With unrivalled knowledge in retail, high streets and consumer matters, she offers unbiased and independent content.

Until late 2014, Dan spent over 8 years at Google. For the last three years he was Managing Director, UK & Ireland – the biggest market for Google outside the US and the most advanced major country in terms of e-commerce and online advertising spending.

Beckham is an athlete of immense talent and success. Having played in leagues across the world, for teams including Manchester United, Real Madrid, A.C. Milan, L.A. Galaxy, and P.S.G., Beckham is one of the biggest names in football. He went on to be the first English player to play in 100 Champions League matches and to win 4 league titles in four different countries.

In July 2017 David was appointed by Warner Bros and the Blair Partnership (agents for JK Rowling) in what is set to be a landmark role leading digital innovation across the Wizarding World franchise, including Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts. Prior to that David was Managing Director of Membership, Marketing and Consumer Revenue at the Guardian, responsible for all reader revenue. David played a key role in two of Britain's most high-profile campaigns: Director of Marketing at the London 2012 Olympic bid, and Director of Commercial and Marketing at the England 2018 FIFA World Cup bid.

David Rowan was the founding editor of WIRED UK until 2017 and has spent time with the founders of WhatsApp, LinkedIn, BuzzFeed and Spotify to name just a few. He has since invested in more than 60 early-stage tech companies, including two that become billion-dollar ‘unicorns’, and is an adviser to Lakestar, one of Europe’s largest venture-capital funds.

Dumi Oburota is the Nigerian-British entrepreneur credited for engineering Patrick Okogwu AKA Tinie Tempah's rise to stardom. He is also attributed to being behind strong acts like WizKid and asides music, he boasts a clothing label under his "Disturbing London" company. Now he is on a mission to make Disturbing London "a stamp of coolness for millennial, urban culture".

Duncan is CEO of Pareto Systems, a leading business development firm for professionals and corporations in knowledge-for-profit industries. Duncan is also an industry author and has published several books including the best-seller: BREAKTHROUGH Business Development, Take Your Business to The Next Level. As a speaker in high-demand, Duncan travels extensively throughout North America and around the world, conveying dynamic and fact-rich presentations. Duncan has a way of leaving his audience excited about implementing his processes that have been proven to pave the way to meaningful and measurable results in both their personal and professional lives.

Ellis has headed a national newspaper business, turned around the Greyhound Bus operation in the US and ran Simon Cowell’s Syco Corporation before he took charge of Scottish media group DC Thompson, steering them into the digital age with interests from local newspapers to cloud computing. Highly engaging speeches, full of original thinking and humour, Ellis shows how to deal with disruptive forces, create a positive culture and inspire enthusiasm throughout the organisation.

After overseeing Eurostar’s move to St Pancras, Greg Nugent took on the enormous challenge of marketing London 2012 – with 60 million stakeholders and media waiting to pounce on every slip. He initiated a regular dialogue with the public and 23,000 local community leaders, renamed volunteers Gamesmakers – and supervised thousands of branded items.

A true rags-to-riches story, Herman Mashaba created the cosmetics brand Black Like Me. He started by selling his products from the boot of his car, and it mushroomed into the multimillion Rand enterprise it is today. Recently, he has also started up operations in the UK.

James speaks with passion about entrepreneurialism, brand development and chocolate. James made his name in chocolate, founding Gü Chocolate Puds and turning it into a £30m business. The idea for Gü came from living in Brussels where James was inspired by patisseries and chocolate shops. He formed a joint venture with a patisserie company back in London and developed the company’s first three products: two chocolate mousses and a chocolate soufflé in glass ramekins. James sold the business in 2010 (circa £30m) and has since continued to nurture and support future entrepreneurs.

Jean-Christophe was born in France where he left school at the age of 14 to become a baker. From there, Jean-Christophe has excelled to the top of the culinary world. Becoming a professional chef at the age of 20, winning his first 2 Michelin stars as Chef Patron at the Gordleton Mill. Jean-Christophe now owns restaurants all around the world, and has opened his own cookery school to pass on his gift to others.

Jo Wimble-Groves is a successful business woman, runs a blog called 'guilty mother’ which has over 26,000 followers, she’s a writer, featured in numerous magazines and newspapers and she’s a key note speaker who’s recently joined forces with former England Women’s Rugby captain Catherine Spencer to create Inspiring women workshops to encourage women to have the confidence to succeed in business.

Joe McEwan is a knowledgeable keynote speaker who tells the inspiring story of his journey from a university student to the Head of Digital and Communities for Innocent smoothies.

John was instrumental in Starbucks’ growth from a single premises in Seattle to a colossal global brand. He then headed marketing at Whole Foods Market. Given the value of word-of-mouth to any successful brand, John emphasises the need to use social media to engage fully with your customer base.

John Petter is the head of BT’s Consumer division and specialises in consumer proposition development, marketing and commercial strategy and call centre management.

Josh Littlejohn MBE is the co-founder of Scottish social enterprise Social Bite, a national chain of sandwich and coffee shops, which shot to global fame when Holywood A-lister George Clooney visited an outlet in 2015. Another Oscar winner Leonardo Di Caprio then visited the social enterprise in 2016.

A BAFTA Games Awards judge, former marketer and serial entrepreneur, Jude Ower founded her gaming-for-good company Playmob in 2011. The startup works with games studios like Niantic, EA, and Rovio to engage millions of players to take positive social action. The London-based company has raised millions for charities and non-profits like WWF, Oxfam and The Cybersmile Foundation. Jude was Awarded an MBE in 2016 for services to entrepreneurship

Ken Segall is an advertising executive and the man who put the 'i' in iPad. He worked side-by-side with Steve Jobs for 12 years as the advertising creative director of both NeXT and Apple.

As a CEO, chairman, founder and investor Kevin has enjoyed success in sectors including automotive, data, technology, manufacturing, brand marketing and professional services. He has repeatedly led teams to achieve extraordinary performance in companies ranging from 7 to 7,000 employees. One recognised as the best private equity investment of the year, another nominated as the World’s 7th most innovative company. Passionate about the development of leadership skills he is frequently sought to reinvigorate teams and companies.

In 2006, Levi became a Dragon Slayer; he won the heart and investment of Peter Jones with his Reggae Reggae Sauce pitch. Since then, the sauce has become a nationally loved product, seeing Levi venture into releasing cook books and recipes with his new-found culinary acclaim.

When thinking of Lord Alan Sugar it is difficult not to imagine the dreaded words ‘you’re fired’. However, it’s good to learn that although he doesn’t mince his words and definitely doesn’t suffer fools gladly, Lord Sugar is actually a considerate man and a philanthropist. He says what he means and can come across as abrupt at times, but his sense of humour is evident, as is his genuine desire to improve both the business and life experience of others.

As a leading figure in private equity and the man behind several instantly-recognisable high street brands, Luke Johnson is one of the few entrepreneurs whose speeches resonate with on-man-band businesses and Sunday Times readers alike.

Maria Kempinska is an award-winning businesswoman, a mother of two and a tireless charity worker.

The former Marketer of the Year now advises other rapid growth consumer businesses. Mark advocates outsourcing to increase speed, investing in brand as opposed to machinery. He also argues that nobody should be afraid of niche markets.

Mark van Rijmenam is a highly sought-after international public speaker, a Big Data strategist and author of the best-selling book Think Bigger - Developing a Successful Big Data Strategy for Your Business.

Retail expert Mary Portas is probably the UK’s foremost authority on retail and brand communication. As founder of one of London’s most respected retail & brand communication agencies, Yellowdoor, Mary is recognised throughout the trade as the Queen of Shops.

Matt Goss was the lead singer of 1980s pop group Bros alongside his twin brother Luke. Matt is currently performing at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

Author of The Ten Principles Behind Great Customer Experiences, winner of Management Book of the Year 2014. Author of The Grid: Decision-making tool for every business, published in 2017 and shortlisted for 2019’s Management Book of the Year.

Professor Merlin Stone is one of the UK's top experts in marketing, customer management and customer insight. After a long career in management, research, management consulting and universities, he now runs his own consulting, research and training practice.

Former IKEA Creative Director Michael looks at the lessons the furniture giant can teach from embracing creative thinking and simplicity to maintaining a customer focus.

Michelle Mone is the creator of Ultimo, the UK's leading designer lingerie brand. Listed as one of the top 3 female entrepreneurs in the UK, Michelle has built a hugely successful career on an incredibly simple concept: giving today's women what they want. 2009 was a giant milestone for Michelle professionally; not only was Ultimo the first UK lingerie brand to debut on the catwalk at New York Fashion Week, but she opened 20 'shop in shops' within Debenhams in key cities throughout the UK and landed a mammoth deal with Tesco clothing to develop, design and manufacture 'Diamond Boutique' lingerie.

Minter Dial is the President and founder of the boutique agency, The Myndset Company.

Randi Zuckerberg is an American businesswoman. She is the former Director of Market Development and Spokeswoman for Facebook, and a sister of the company's co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Richard Reed is the co-founder of Innocent drinks, the UK’s fastest growing food and drinks company and the no.1 smoothie brand in the UK.

Rita Clifton CBE has been called ‘Brand guru’ by the Financial Times and ‘The doyenne of branding’ by Campaign magazine. She is a writer, keynote speaker, conference chair & practitioner on all aspects of brands, branding and business leadership.

As the founder & CEO of Trunki, the brand behind the much loved children’s ride-on suitcase, his award winning company has pioneered a whole range of innovative travel gear and is fast becoming recognised as a global brand for families on the go After his famous rejection on BBC’s Dragons Den, Trunki is now widely regarded as ‘the one that got away’, having sold 3.5 million suitcases, exporting to 100 countries and winning over 120 awards. The Den was just one of the many setback’s Rob faced during his inspirational story to success. If you want a Keynote to motivate, inspire and entertain yet give audiences practical advice to empower, ask for the Trunki Daddy.

Rocco Forte is Chairman of Rocco Forte Hotels. Son of the late Lord Charles Forte, Sir Rocco founded the luxury hotel company in 1996.

An accomplished businessman and public speaker whose experience is unique having worked at a Director/CEO level in five global companies across multiple industries at times of rapid change. He has run businesses with turnovers between £400m and £2bn, with millions of customers and thousands of staff. Whilst at BBC, Roger delivered 3 successful businesses creating and adding over £750m of value to the BBC. He was also instrumental in the overall BBC wide change programme.

He is the internationally bestselling author of two major books on strategy and enterprise innovation, which have been published to date in over 20 languages. Rowan is co-founder of www.innovationexcellence.com – the online home of the global innovation community. The portal, which builds on an international group of around 5,000 members from over 150 countries, offers an arsenal of resources from today's innovation thought leaders and practitioners that is aimed at helping every company achieve innovation excellence.

Rupert Gavin is the former CEO of the Odeon Cinema Group, the largest cinema group in Europe. Prior to that he was head of BBC Worldwide, responsible for all their commercial activity whilst overseeing a huge and controversial programme of diversification.


Sally Preston, entrepreneurial mum of two, has revolutionised the baby food market globally with her award-winning baby food brands Babylicious and Kiddylicious. Sally previously worked at M&S as a food scientist for 11 years and understands the vital role that early food experiences play in a child’s development, and the effect it has on their attitudes to food for life.

Shaun Smith has developed some of the latest thinking and practice around this subject, helping organisations world-wide create a compelling customer experience that achieves brand differentiation and long-term customer loyalty.

Simon Mainwaring is recognised for his thought leadership on the impact that social media is having on brands and consumers, and ultimately how the new dynamics between them will alter the accepted paradigms of marketing, advertising, and even capitalism itself.

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is a British entrepreneur of Greek origin, resident in Monaco. Stelios is the founder of easyJet, a low-cost airline and the Stelmar shipping line. EasyJet's foundation in 1995 marked the beginning of a series of ventures marketed under the "easy" brand, managed by easyGroup and chaired by Sir Stelios.

Somi is a LinkedIn Top Voice giving talks and workshops internationally on the impact of technology on society, the business landscape, the future of work, developing thought leadership, and digital transformation both in marketing and in HR.

Working with the Vitabiotics for over 20 years, Tej Lalvani has worked his way through the company including as a forklift driver before getting the CEO position. He inherited the company from his father, Kartar Lalvani - who founded Vitabiotics in 1971 in India and still remains as chairman. Tej is also a Dragon is the BBC Hit Dragon's Den.

Timo Kiuru is a true global citizen having worked in cities as diverse as Seoul, Istanbul, San Diego, New York, Miami, Barcelona, Paris, Seattle, Tokyo, Helsinki, Abu Dhabi, London, Kazan, Stockholm, Porto, Toronto, Las Vegas, Tallinn, Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Tom Oliver has shared his secrets on leadership, innovation and creativity with Bono, Dalai Lama, Deepak Chopra and Richard Branson and is in high demand as a global keynote speaker and consultant.

With a career spanning four decades in the design industry, Wayne Hemingway has a fair few stories to tell and lessons to give - and people love to hear them. His talks are insightful, thought-provoking, inspiring, often hilarious and always truthful, warts and all.