From big brands and agencies to marketers and mindfulness experts, hundreds of advertising and marketing professionals gathered at the AdNews Media + Marketing Summit.
Held at Randwick Racecourse, the day opened with Visa APAC marketer Jacqueline Phillips, who among other topics, called for a stronger push for gender equality in the industry.
Carat CEO Paul Brooks then took the stage and spoke with Phillips about marketers “obsession with digital”, as well as the industry’s “illogical” approach to media planning.
The first panel, 'Recalibration: big ideas and creative flair', saw IAG, TBWA, HCF and UBank take to the stage and discuss what ‘brand’ means.
Next up, the 'Will a robot steal your job' panel questioned the progression of artificial intelligence and spoke about how to combat the automation of the advertising industry.
After lunch, professor Mark Ritson detangled the nine areas of digital marketing he finds fault with through the lens of Dante’s Inferno.
Speaking on the topic of social media, Ritson wasn't afraid to toot his own horn, proclaiming: “It turned out I was totally f*cking correct. It's all a load of cock”.
Afterwards, Maxus director of innovation Tom Kelshaw opened the 'Innovation: gimmick or genuine driver of growth' session with a look at porn and purity. He was then joined by speakers from Mindshare, Maxus, AFK, Disruptor’s Handbook and Fairfax.
The 'data and analytics in a post-truth world' panel, which included Stimulate Media, GroupM, Facebook, RadiumOne and ADMA IQ discussed ad tech tax and more.
The summit’s final discussion saw heavyweights Google Australia MD Jason Pellegrino and News Corp chief digital officer Nicole Sheffield joined the stage for the Fireside chat.
They spoke at length about brand safety, said the media and marketing industry has been “terrible” at selling the benefits of marketing and talked about the curse of transparency.
Check out all the photos from the day below and for those of you in Victoria, secure your tickets to the Melbourne Media + Marketing Summit here.
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