Sessions & Speakers

Keynote Presentations

Candor, Kindness & Core Emotions

In building the EF Adventures brand from the ground up, the in-house agency at EF World Journeys combined an emotionally connected brand with a process that promotes candor and kindness, resulting in an environment where risk-taking and rapid decision-making thrive. By combining core emotions like empathy and trust with internal dynamics and external brand storytelling, this team hit on a process that fuels the development of creative journeys that resonate with communities, inspire action, and strengthen bonds between teams, customers, and brands. With these principles, creativity moves from an individual pursuit to a collective force that drives real, meaningful impact.

Raphael Campos, VP of Creative, EF World Journeys, EF Education First

What started in São Paulo in the digital-boom era, evolved into a career comprised of a multitude of interests, skills, and successful projects delivered to some of the biggest brands in the world: Beats by Dre, Dyson, Coca-Cola, Lotus F1, Nike, Royal Bank of Scotland, Tesla Motors, Unilever, and more. Raphael is a specialist in end-to-end brand narration in the digital age, with ideas formed from fresh and sharp human insights, executed with precision and delivered to the right audience at the right time no matter what platform, media, country, gender, or race. He is also a champion of healthy and positive creative cultures and mentoring young talent.

Creativity Is Contagious

How did a call with a doctor result in a prescription to cure clogged creativity? With just the right mix of curiosity, accountability, and bravery the in-house agency at Teladoc addressed their pain points—and they’ve never felt better. In this contagious keynote, we’ll hear what the company that invented telehealth did to solidify bonds among remote creatives. We’ll see how fitting in with the company’s higher purpose leads to stand out work. And we’ll hear how they achieved the in-possible: emotional storytelling with winning results. Enjoy this examination of success and failure on the road to creativity and find your team’s healthier ever after.

Jeremy Kinder, VP, Brand and Creative, Teladoc Health, Inc.

Part creative director and part creative technologist, Jeremy turns conventional marketing barriers on their heads and finds new ways to inspire customers to engage with clients. Jeremy has had creative adventures in New York, Philadelphia, Miami, Washington DC, London, Holland, and Belgium on behalf of clients such as Citibank, Coca-Cola, Dannon, Levi Strauss, Nikon, Subway, and United Airlines. No matter the size of the challenge, Jeremy approaches every project the same way—with optimism, ambition, and a commitment to create something new.

How Creativity Can Transform Business

With today’s ever-evolving consumer landscape, creativity isn’t just part of a brand’s identity, it’s a critical driver of business transformation. As companies face increasingly complex challenges, the very nature of creative thinking has expanded to become an essential tool for overcoming complex issues. Whether it’s reimagining consumer experiences, innovating solutions to eliminate roadblocks, or elevating brand relevance in a crowded marketplace, the power of creativity is reshaping how companies think, act, and compete. This compelling keynote explores how bold creative approaches can shift the trajectory of a brand, driving measurable growth and meaningful change.

Christi Lazar, Director, The Lab, BlueTriton Brands

Bio coming soon!

Radical Readiness

Radically ready teams don’t just survive uncertainty, they thrive in it. They’re the rock stars, the ones who pull off the impossible, who consistently generate added value with the people and resources they already have. What’s their secret? Combining the horizontal and vertical. Horizontal development is about competencies—skills, knowledge, and expertise. Though essential, horizontal development alone isn’t enough for today’s complex challenges. Vertical development is about expanding capacities—for creativity, resilience, and navigating uncertainty with confidence and clarity. All of this can be taught, practiced, and implemented immediately. When sufficiently cultivated, people thrive, and organizations prosper.

John Morley, Principal, johnmorley.co

John is a seasoned intrapreneur and innovator adept at navigating change and uncertainty. He works with people, teams, and organizations to bust through gridlock, supercharge engagement, and generate brand-new value with the people and resources they already have. John partners with innovators, creatives, and healthy-human systems experts who help teams tap into their deep-rooted consciousness and creativity to flourish. Their collective mantra is, “Where people thrive, organizations prosper.” Prior to launching his practice, John held leadership positions in customer engagement and marketing with Dell, Symantec, Cisco, and Hitachi. He also served as a founding advisory board member for Catalyst Constellations.

Making What's Radical Mainstream

Educating clients and colleagues to not only expect radical creativity but to embrace it is an ongoing pursuit at Loblaw. That’s why internal partners attend Cannes and spend each and every day in creative seminars and innovation sessions. This compelling keynote explains how to make radical thinking mainstream, how it works for leading brands, and how to encourage it on your team. We’ll hear why Loblaw Agency always offers at least one disruptive option, breaking the brief with breakthrough ideas that challenge convention and stimulate consumers. And how their clients have grown to accept radical creativity as the norm.

Jim Wortley, Executive Creative Director, Loblaws

Jim is a multidisciplinary creative director with an eye for strategy, innovation, and brand building. Having spent his career straddling external agencies in Europe and North America (Ogilvy, TBWA, Saatchi & Saatchi, and JWT to name a few) as well as in-house teams for Mackenzie Investments and IG, Jim currently leads Loblaw Agency—the internal agency for Loblaws in Canada. Though his skillset is broad, his expertise centers on interactive design, storytelling, brand identity, in-store signage, digital and experiential content creation, AI, and print/OOH. Jim’s wish is to combine his experience in all areas to deliver the most stand-out creative for his clients and consumers.

PANEL: Future-Proofing Creative Operations

Explore how teams can harness radical creativity and transparency while strengthening in-house operations, integrating technology, and optimizing processes. Gain actionable insights into how internal and external resources can collaborate more effectively, avoid common pitfalls, and drive growth. This panel discussion will empower you to harness the potential of humans and AI. Join us to hear how to adapt to the new realities of creative operations and strategic partnerships. Discover best practices for scaling effectively, selecting the right partners, and maintaining efficiency. Brought to you by our title sponsor, Brainrider.

Scott Armstrong, CEO & Founder, Brainrider

For more than two decades, Scott has led teams to deliver award-winning marketing for ambitious companies that seek trusted advisors and flexible partnerships. In 2010, he set out on a mission to create a better marketing agency, providing deeper client collaborations and increased value. Thirteen years later, Brainrider partners with high-growth companies to fill capacity and capability gaps with a flexible resourcing model that scales up or down based on client workloads.

Katelyn Kennedy, Senior Director, Integrated Production, Keurig Dr Pepper

Katelyn is a seasoned leader in creative and studio operations, with a wealth of experience from three major in-house agencies: Keurig Dr Pepper, Wayfair, and Reebok. Before transitioning in house, Katelyn honed her skills as an agency and freelance producer, working with top production and post companies in LA and NYC. Passionate about innovation, Katelyn drives production strategy upstream and champions the art of the producer, consistently seeking the next generation of talent and infrastructure to elevate the creative landscape.

Melanie Manghinang, Director of Creative Operations, Hinge Health

Melanie has been in program management and creative operations for nearly two decades. Her early career was spent on the bustling New York ad-agency scene where she collaborated with teams at DDB, MRY, and Iris Worldwide on brands like State Farm, JetBlue, and Adidas. From there, she took the leap in house, leading creative ops at the University of Phoenix, Pandora, Instacart, and now Hinge Health. With a knack for complex workflow mapping, Melanie enables creative teams to do their best work and have fun doing it.

Thomas Stilling, Digital Strategy & Transformation Leader

Thomas is a technology and product leader specializing in transforming complex digital journeys into impactful customer experiences. With senior leadership roles at Forrester Research and 20th Century Fox, he has driven digital transformation, led global teams, and shaped strategies for content distribution and media production. Thomas is a sought-after consultant and thought leader as well as an instructor at Rutgers University where he designs courses on AI, digital asset management, and creative operations.

Lightning Talks

Amplifying Human Ingenuity with AI

If AI produces middle-of-the-road outputs that are broadly pleasing to the majority, can it also be useful to develop work that shocks, outrages, and excites? How might teams use AI to push creativity to new places? And what role might AI play in acts of creative progress that at first might be shocking or unpopular? In this Lightning Talk, we’ll hear how AI can be a net-enabler of radical acts of creativity— generating more fertile environments by giving teams access to a richer set of creative tools and by integrating AI into workflows to catalyze innovative thinking.

Paul Barnes-Hoggett, CTO & AI Optimist

Paul builds technology that makes the world more equitable. A serial entrepreneur, his work focuses on innovation in the finance world to drive change. He launched the first trans-affirming checking account in the United States and put tens of millions of dollars into the pockets of hourly workers by expanding access to benefits. Previously, Paul was with the Technology + Experience Innovation team at Adobe where he reimagined what’s possible for clients like Nike, Verizon, and the World Economic Forum. Today, he is exploring AI’s potential as a force multiplier for good, bridging innovation and inclusion in product development.

The Virtues of Virtual Idea Generation

Conventional wisdom suggests that remote creative teams can’t match the creativity or productivity of in-person collaboration. After 14 years of research, data indicates that this belief is largely exaggerated. In fact, virtual idea generation often outperforms traditional methods in surprising ways. As companies push for employees to return to the office, let’s talk about how working remotely can actually enhance creativity. This session reveals key insights that challenge the myths of remote collaboration.

Will Burns, Founder & CEO, Ideasicle X

First launched in 2010, Ideasicle X is a virtual idea-generating company, and Will is a generator of ideas. Prior to founding Ideasicle, Will crisscrossed the country for over 20 formative years experiencing the best creative agencies in the world: Wieden & Kennedy, Goodby, Mullen, and Arnold Worldwide. As Director of Business Development at Arnold, his teams won over $1 billion in new-business billings. It was at these agencies that he met the Ideasicle Experts, who work virtually to generate ideas for clients. From 2011-2020, Will was also a Forbes Contributor, writing about “creativity in modern branding.” Today, he regularly guest-lectures at Boston University, Boston College, Emerson, and Endicott.

The Art of Daydreaming

When was the last time you daydreamed at work? Audacious goals and aggressive timelines often mean we’re pressed to pay attention. Stay focused. Concentrate on the task at hand. Though some of the best ideas spring from minds that wander. How do we build and bolster corporate cultures where creativity rules? Where ideas conceived in the in-between spaces transcend the ordinary? We do it by embracing productive daydreaming. We empower our teams to be bold while also being intentional. We encourage minds to wander with purpose. And from there, we let the sparks fly.

Emily Koehler, Creative Director, Fortune Brands Innovations

Since joining Fortune Brands, the parent company for Moen and 19 other brands, Emily has played a pivotal role in building the company’s internal creative team, Creative X, from the ground up. Known for her passionate, future-forward leadership and team-first ethos, Emily fosters a curious, questioning approach to cross-disciplinary design and compelling brand content across Fortune Brands’ three core segments: water, outdoors and security. Previously, Emily was an art director with Findaway, the audiobook distributor acquired by Spotify in 2021.

Weaving Better Brand Experiences

The team at 1888 Mills has gained a reputation for pushing the boundaries of creativity as they continue to transform the home-textile experience through inventive showroom design, unique packaging, and brand identity development. By crafting immersive, interactive physical and virtual showrooms that engage the senses, designing sustainable, story-driven packaging, and evolving their pro-social and digital storytelling, this team is challenging the norms of traditional home textiles. Not only is 1888 Mills “weaving a better world,” but their internal agency is creating experiences that inspire, engage, and foster meaningful connections with their customers.

Timi Majek, VP, Marketing & Visual Merchandising, 1888 Mills

Timi is a seasoned creative director with extensive experience with both external agencies and in-house teams. Currently overseeing global visual merchandising at 1888 Mills, she has worked with major retailers like Walmart, Target, and Hilton, leading advancements through innovative packaging strategies and award-winning designs. With a proven track record of driving process improvements, launching digital media initiatives, and fostering scalable business growth, Timi finds joy in creating engaging, immersive brand experiences that resonate with consumers worldwide.

Breakout Sessions

Harnessing Workflow to Unleash Creativity

Does your creative team have time to be creative? Or are meetings, chats, and emails holding them back? Communication overload is often a function of poor workflow. It’s hard to get projects off the ground, to see who has capacity, and to know how best to prioritize. The good news is that a handful of teams have tamed these issues, for environments that encourage creativity and enable measurable results. Designing a simple system of intake, tiering, resourcing, and review will not only save your team time, it will clear the headspace for them to be able to double down on creativity.

Joel Caracci, Workfront Architect, LeapPoint

Joel launched his creative operations career in an unconventional way, with a degree in jazz composition and performance. Writing hundreds of pieces for ensembles ranging from trios to orchestras helped him understand how to form frameworks that strike a balance between process efficiency and creative freedom. With 15 years of experience in companies like JLL, RR Donnelley, Life Fitness, and Wolters Kluwer, his mission is to make creatives’ work lives a little easier and a little more fun. In his free time, you’ll hear Joel plinking away at the piano and enjoying the many cultural and culinary gems of his home in Chicago.

Embracing Change

Since 2015, the team at DraftKings has evolved from a creative-service hub to a full-service agency that produces award-winning work and delivers over 40,000 assets annually. Today, the group manages channel strategy, creative and production, strategic partnerships, brand partnerships, and original-content production, all while working cross-functionally to achieve business and brand goals. What’s constant about this team is their appetite for change—deliberately embedding change in their culture, hiring, and performance management practices not to mention re-evaluating and refining their model every six months. Embracing change has fueled radical creativity and growth at DraftKings. It can for your team, too.

Sarah Juselius, Senior Director of Creative Operations, DraftKings

Sarah is a dynamic creative operations leader, currently guiding the function and team at DraftKings. With a passion for building curious, results-driven organizations, Sarah excels at empowering creativity while maintaining operational excellence. A strong collaborator and creative problem solver, her experience spans both agency and client side, including positions at Arnold Worldwide and LogMeIn. Sarah is also a champion for diversity, helping establish key business resource groups at her company. Beyond work, Sarah enjoys being active in her community and spending time outside with her family in the Boston area.

Using Research to Drive Creativity

When you think of creativity and data, what comes to mind? Oil and water? For a lot of people, that’s true. Designers want to brainstorm without boundaries, and data is perceived as a restriction to that. Meanwhile, clients and account folks love connecting the dots—believing that meaningful insights lead to masterful ideas. This session reconciles all of that. Learn how to ask questions to fuel the creative process. See examples of creativity driven by consumer insights. And hear how research can drive ROI. At the end of the day, your creative teams and researchers just might be friends!

Katharine Kelly, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Inquisitive Insights

Katharine has been asking questions professionally for over 20 years. Her curiosity and storytelling skills have been put to use as a brand strategist, retail innovation leader, and strategic communicator for iconic brands including Target, Whole Foods, Dell, and King Arthur Baking Company. In 2021, Katharine co-founded Inquisitive Insights, a research-driven brand consultancy that partners with clients to explore customer preferences, attitudes, motivations, and buying behavior through consumer research.

Jodi McGee, Founder and Chief Insights Officer, Inquisitive Insights

Jodi is a lifelong learner with a passion for asking questions. Today, she channels her curiosity into helping brands understand what their stakeholders and customers think—as co-founder of Inquisitive Insights. Throughout her career, Jodi has used insights from qualitative research to build strategic plans, shape marketing and communications efforts, and guide senior leaders at growth companies.  With specialties in retail and hospitality, Inquisitive Insights helps brand leaders make better decisions.

Find Your Brand’s DNA

In a sea of marketing mayhem where bullsh*t flows like cheap beer at a frat party, your brand’s DNA can be at the heart of radical creativity that drives business results. So, what is in this magical DNA cocktail? It’s a potent mix of your brand origin story (even if you’re the new kid on the block), a mission that actually means something, core values that aren’t just corporate mumbo-jumbo, and a brand vision that’s more than just dollar signs in your eyes. In this breakout, we’ll explore the power of unearthing your brand’s DNA to unleash radical creativity from it once you have found it.

Luke Perkins, Group Director, Creative Strategy, The Coca-Cola Company

As an experienced creative director, Luke has a proven track record of building brand loyalty through emotional storytelling. Currently, he leads Creative Strategy for The Coca-Cola Company’s diverse portfolio of hydration and tea brands. His role involves crafting compelling narratives and innovative campaigns for household names like smartwater, Gold Peak, vitaminwater, Dasani, Topo-Chico and more. By tapping into the power of emotional connections, Luke and his team transform everyday beverages into beloved lifestyle choices, turning consumers into passionate brand advocates.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Radical Round Zero

Imagine a world where your in-house agency reviews externally produced work and helps shape it before the client sees it. Mind blown? That’s what Heart Haus, the internal agency at CVS Health, achieved when they created Round Zero. This bold approach to creative collaboration ensures alignment and elevates the success of the all-important first client presentation. By collaborating in development and strengthening partnerships, Round Zero redefines agency/client dynamics and fosters stronger creative outcomes. This session explains how this innovative process, led by the in-house agency team, drives more effective, impactful work for the brand.

Jay Williams, Executive Creative Director, CVS Health

At CVS Health, Jay’s guidance has led to Heart Haus being named a two-time finalist for IHAF’s In-House Agency of the Year award. Considered a writer’s writer, he has also been fortunate to win virtually every advertising award out there including two Emmys and four EFFIES (for those who are results oriented). In fact, several of Jay’s commercials and films are featured in the permanent advertising collection of The Museum of Modern Art. In addition to industry accolades, Jay has earned a reputation as an exceptional mentor—someone with an innate ability to grow and develop creative talent.

PANEL: The Future of Image Creation with GenAI

This panel discussion offers a behind-the-scenes look at Deloitte’s QR Code Gallery, featuring images from famed AI artist and photographer, John Huet. Not only is this innovative art experience an example of the evolution of photography, it’s the ideal backdrop to explore new ways of working—agency, artist, and machine. Listen in as our panelists candidly unpack the thinking and processes that brought the idea to life along with the myriad obstacles they surmounted along the way.

Mark Chamberlain, Group Creative Director, Deloitte Services LP

Prior to leading the experience design team at Deloitte, Mark joined the in-house ranks as an ECD at Boston University. Before that, he spent two decades with external advertising agencies including Saatchi Los Angeles, Mullen, and Digitas where he created integrated campaigns, social activations, and branded content for global brands like Toyota, Samsung, General Motors, Timberland Pro, Orbitz and Dunkin’. Mark’s work has been recognized at Cannes, One Show, Clios, Webbys, and London International Awards.

John Huet, GenAI Artist & Photographer, ELEMENT

John is a visionary photographer and AI artist known for blending human artistry with cutting-edge technology. With over 35 years of experience, he has captured the passion and intensity of athletes, creating iconic images for the Olympic Games and other major events. His work, including the acclaimed “Soul of the Game,” has been exhibited in prestigious galleries. With a unique vision that seamlessly integrates art and technology, John’s collaborations with AI bring futuristic themes to life, creating innovative, multi-platform campaigns.

Micah Whitson, Associate Creative Director, Deloitte Services LP

Micah’s first commercial design was for Athens, Alabama's 1995 homecoming dance. Since then, he's been tapped as an art director, creative director, and chief creative officer, founded a letterpress print company, co-founded a brewery, and redesigned the Mississippi flag. His work has been awarded by The One Show, D&AD, Cannes, MITX, Communication Arts, Print, How and Graphis. Suffering from recent adult-onset athleticism, Micah podiumed in sprint and Olympic triathlons, finished a half Ironman, and is chasing a BQ. All of the races have better shirts than the homecoming dance.

Alicia Wise, Group Brand Director, Deloitte Services LP

Most people think B2B is boring, but Alicia knows it doesn’t have to be. She knows people are people and not the jobs they do. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated this by championing work that is relevant to B2B audiences while also resonating with who they are as human beings. One of Alicia’s greatest skills is understanding that connection, recognizing it through an insight or the work, and bringing it to fruition to ensure the Deloitte brand is always clear, always confident, and always human.