Global Hotshots To Jet In For Cannes In Cairns As First Wave Of Speakers Revealed!

More than 50 speakers have been revealed in the first wave of speaker announcements for Australia’s premier media, marketing and advertising festival Cannes in Cairns, presented by Pinterest.

Mainstage keynotes include Fernando Machado, the visionary global chief marketing officer at NotCo. Machado has earned a legendary reputation for himself and the brands he’s helmed over the years including Burger King, Unilever and Activision Blizzard.

Get your tickets for Cannes in Cairns 2024 — you’ll need to be snappy, they’re going fast!

Currently serving as the top marketer at NotCo, a unicorn startup valued at more than $AU2 billion, and dubbed the King of Cannes for clocking up more than 120 Cannes Lions awards over the years, Machado is set to enthral and inspire.

Fernando Machado

There are also a host of marketing leaders set to take the stage from brands including (deep breath):

• Jopa Malantic, global brand director, Pond’s
• Ally Doube, head of marketing Japan, Uber Eats & Uber
• Michelle Klein, chief customer and marketing officer, IAG
• Anubha Sahasrabuddhe, chief growth officer, Lion
• Vandita Pandey, CMO ANZ, Snacks & Beverages PepsiCo
• Eric Thomson, global marketing director/ CMO, Pernod Ricard Winemakers
• Ruth Haffenden, global head of brand and marketing, Boody
• Fiona Bateman, head of brand and media, Menulog
• Zoë Phillips, head of brand, Montu
• Robbie Bramall, director of marketing and communications, Museum of Old and New Art (MONA)
• Michael Apte, chief marketing officer, Guide Dogs NSW
• Ed Stening, chief marketing officer

And, believe us, there are plenty more to come.

Other keynote speakers include Walkley Awards winner Gemma Jones, editor of The Advertiser, in conversation with Douglas Smith, Indigenous Affairs reporter at NCA. The pair will discuss investigative journalism through a First Nations lens — zoning in on the award-winning podcast Dying Rose.

L-R: Douglas Smith, Gemma Jones

Don’t delay, get your Cannes in Cairns tickets now!

Co-founders of wellness empire Kic, Laura Henshaw and Steph Claire Smith, will also take to the stage. They also authored the book You Take Care and have been published in global media titles including Vogue, Women’s Health UK, Elle and Marie Claire.

The duo have both built successful businesses beyond Kic including FMCG firm Metro Food Co. They also authored book You Take Care and have been published in global media titles including Vogue, Women’s Health UK, Elle and Marie Claire.

L-R: Steph Claire Smith, Laura Henshaw

Attendees are also set to be wowed in the ‘Handing Over Creative Control: Inside Alone Australia’ session, featuring adventurer, writer, rewilding facilitator and winner of SBS’s Alone Australia in 2023, Gina Chick.

Marion Farrelly, producer of the world’s biggest TV shows including The X Factor, Q&A, Big Brother and Dancing With the Stars, is also set to enthral audiences.

L-R: Marion Farrelly, Gina Chick

Cannes in Cairns favourites including speaker, novelist and Walkey winner Jane Caro AM, Campaign Edge ECD Dee Madigan and Thinkerbell co-founder and chief thinker Adam Ferrier are also returning. Their sessions, as ever, are set to be unmissable.

L-R: Adam Ferrier, Dee Madigan, Jane Caro

As well as hearing from media moguls, creative geniuses and phenomenal leaders, we’ve entrepreneurs, production powerhouses, a marketing scientist, academics and more.

Attendees will get to hear fascinating insights from Gabriel Gasparinatos, filmmaker and director of Netfllix’s smash-hit documentary, ONEFOUR: Against All Odds, and New Zealand-based director and cinematographer Ray Edwards.

L-R: Gabriel Gasparinatos, Ray Edwards

But remember, this is simply the first round of speaker announcements for Cannes in Cairns 2024. There are plenty more to come — especially with a brand new third track debuting at Hemingway’s Brewery (just a hop, skip and a jump from the Cairns Convention Centre) on the city’s stunning harbourfront.

The in-demand space is set to bring a new dynamic and vibe to the festival and all will be revealed soon. So stay tuned.

You can check out the speaker lineup so far and keep an eye out for more speakers landing.

Ahead of the full agenda reveal, here’s a cheeky sneak peek at some of the sessions already locked in for 2024:

• Ethics And Advertising. Can They Coexist?
• Breaking Barriers: The Power of Inclusive Storytelling in Australian Media
• Effectiveness in an Age of Efficiency
• Elevating Creativity: The Impact of Art and Design in Advertising
• A New Era of Brand Building – WTF Does This Mean?
• It Is Not My Job To Be Interested In You – It Is Your Job To Be Interesting
• The Risk And Reward Of National And Local Pride In Advertising
• Metamorphosis. Agency Models in Flux
• Investigative Journalism Through The First Nations Lens
• Podcasting Power: Forging Deeper Connection Between Brands and Audiences
• AI Is Ripping Apart The Ad World, And Damn, Isn’t It About Time
• Disruption Circling & Navigating New Horizons
• Decoding Five Years of Total Video Transformation
• Sock It To Them: From Agency Failure To Unstoppable Force
• To Pitch or Not to Pitch – Wrong Fuckin’ Question
• Why Brené Brown Makes Me Frown
• Five Lessons Being A New York Stand-up Comedian Taught Me About Winning Pitches
• AM I OK?

Buy your Cannes in Cairns tickets now to avoid disappointment!

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