Mutinex’s annual conference on marketing effectiveness, Marketers & Money 2026, will open its main day with Professor Byron Sharp
as a keynote speaker.
Marketers & Money expands to two days this November after selling out in each of its first two years.
Sharp is Professor of marketing science and director of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute at Adelaide University, the world’s largest centre for research into marketing.
His first book, How Brands Grow, was named one of the most influential marketing books of the past decade by WARC and voted marketing book of the year by Ad Age readers.
His keynote opens the conference’s brand-focussed second day, on Wednesday 18 November, in front of an invitation-only audience of senior marketing and finance leaders — the people who decide where marketing money goes, and the audience his evidence is written for.
Marketers & Money runs 17 and 18 November at Showtime Events Centre on Melbourne’s South Wharf.
The first day is built for agencies, while the second brings together the marketers and finance leaders who set and defend marketing budgets, and closes with an evening event. Attendance is free but strictly by invitation.
Last year’s conference drew more than 300 attendees, with standing room only for its keynotes.
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The theme for 2026 is ‘The Outcomes Era: what happens to marketing when investment decisions get made on evidence rather than habit’.
Mutinex CEO Henry Innis said the keynote reflects what the conference has become.
“Marketers are making million-dollar decisions on models that can’t carry the weight. Byron has spent thirty years showing the industry what the evidence actually says about how brands grow. We’re excited for Ehrenberg-Bass Institute to continue to bring their standard of evidence based marketing to our industry community,” Innis said.
“We started this conference because the conversation about marketing and money was happening in two different rooms. As we enter tough economic times and more people look for growth, we’re excited to set the agenda around the Outcomes Era and how marketing increasingly plays a role in driving financial outcomes for businesses in the short and long term.”
Marketers & Money launched in Sydney in 2024. Past speakers include Mark Ritson, Domino’s Pizza Enterprises CEO Don Meij, Telstra CMO Brent Smart, Asahi Beverages chief growth officer Brian Phan, TPG Telecom Group CMO Bec Darley and Nine CMO Liana Dubois.
The full speaker line-up will be announced through October.
