Home » Rising Stars From Initiative, CHEP & Mindshare To Take On “Hot Topics” At MFA EX

26 July, 2023

Rising Stars From Initiative, CHEP & Mindshare To Take On “Hot Topics” At MFA EX

Seven emerging leaders from around adland are set to take to the stage to present Inspiration X at the Media Federation of Australia’s (MFA) EX conference in Melbourne and Sydney.

The presenters were selected following a pitch process to the MFA panel of curators after employees of MFA member agencies with less than 15 years of experience in the industry were invited to submit Inspiration X proposals.

The four-minute presentations are designed to present a new or provocative perspective, inspire the industry to change its thinking or behaviour and address the wide theme of the MFA EX conference: delivering greater effectiveness.

Taking to the state on 5 September in Melbourne are:

Jennifer Lohan, communications executive, Match & Wood
Eat risk for breakfast: Weird partnerships and why they work
Diesel and Durex? KFC and Crocs? In this inspiring session, Lohan will celebrate marketing’s weirdest partnerships that work and share three principles for partnerships that cut through – inspiring media planners across the country to try something different next time they pick up a media plan.

Toby Maclachlan, head of creative strategy, Initiative
[GOOD CHAT] how ai can [prompt] a more inclusive media industry_
Maclachlan believes we have an opportunity to co-create a future that’s more cheerful than fearful of ai innovation and re</write> the modern media script for good_. So at MFA EX Melbourne, he’ll be inviting everyone in the audience to join the conversation via the bots to demonstrate our industry’s purpose of We Are The Changers in the room in real-time_.

Brad Szmerling, associate investment director, media, CHEP Network
What can we learn from Ginger Spice leaving the Spice Girls?
Can exploring the reasons Gerri “Ginger Spice” Halliwell left the Spice Girls help us understand why people leave their media roles, allowing us to draw lessons from this cultural milestone to avoid burnout and minimise turnover? On the 25th anniversary of Ginger’s exit, Szmerling transforms his devastation into an enlightening presentation on one of our industry’s biggest pain points: talent turnover.

Speaking in Sydney on 21 September are:

Sophie Gallagher, senior strategist, Slingshot Media
Business Walrus: The key to supercharging your staff
We know that employee retention is increased through participation and employees feeling excited and engaged about their work. To get people thinking creatively and to ensure everyone feels valued, you too must think outside of the box. In this engaging presentation, Gallagher will introduce the audience to Business Walrus, an entrepreneurial, well-dressed mammal capable of supercharging creative thinking and elevating every voice in the workplace.

Elizabeth Gulliver, connections planning associate director, Mindshare
OK Boomer, maybe we are ageist
From the average age of media agency employees (32) to client briefs wanting to target people aged 25-54 (but no one 55 and over), you might say our industry has an ageism problem. Through audience participation and posing provocative questions, Gulliver will help attendees visualise the impact of ageism and personalise the outcome of not acting now.

Kate O’Loughlin, associate strategy director, Initiative & Leah Franco, strategy manager, Initiative
Planning for the unplannable: Lessons in improv
As an inherently fast-paced industry, we need to move quickly – which ultimately means we need to think quickly. How do we do that while avoiding the stress of time pressures and last-minute changes? Presented by Initiative’s rising stars Franco and O’Loughlin, two NIDA-trained presenters who undertake improv lessons in their spare time, this high-energy interactive session will walk the audience through tools and improv exercises to increase their quick thinking.

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