Up North
Up North Speakers 2025
Up North features 30 sessions across two stages. We’ll be joined by speakers from F*ck Being Humble, Expedia Group, The Sidemen, TikTok, Google and more. You can find out more about our speakers and their sessions below.
Talk
F*ck Being Humble: Be brave and leave a legacy
Stef Sword-Williams is a TEDx speaker, founder, and author of F*ck Being Humble—an empowering movement and consultancy dedicated to inspiring individuals to embrace their achievements unapologetically and conquer the fear of self-promotion. Recognised as a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree in Europe, Stef’s impactful talks have reached audiences in over 50 countries and have been sought after by global brands including Apple, Unilever, Google, Nike, Adidas, Microsoft, and The BBC.
Her debut book, ‘F*ck Being Humble: Why self-promotion isn’t a dirty word,’ has resonated with thousands, selling over 10,000 copies. Stef’s TEDx Talk on why the world needs to shed its humility has further solidified her position as a thought leader in self-empowerment and personal branding.
Named among the Top 50 Workplace Leaders in the UK, Stef has cultivated a loyal online following of over 170k individuals. Her work has been featured in esteemed publications such as Vogue, BBC World News, The Financial Times, and Forbes.
In a world saturated with sameness, where industries recycle trends, brands echo each other, and marketing becomes a race to the middle, there’s a crisis of originality. We’re producing more than ever, yet creating less that truly matters. This talk is a bold call to marketers, creators, and brand leaders to break free from the gravitational pull of safe ideas and short-term wins.
As marketers, we possess the rare ability to shape culture, steer conversation, and ignite change, but only if we’re willing to be brave. This session will challenge attendees to rethink what they produce, why they produce it, and who they’re really serving. It’s time to stop playing it safe and start moving things forward. Legacy isn’t built by blending in, it’s built by standing up, standing out, and daring to do what others won’t.
Join TEDx speaker, founder, and author of F*ck Being Humble, Stefanie Sword-Williams for an uplifting and interactive talk that will leave you wanting to take action for all the right reasons.
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Audience, innovation & entertainment: What modern comms needs right now
Perla Bloom is a dynamic global marketing strategy leader, passionate about the intersection of tech, creativity, and culture. She builds brands, creates connected experiences for audiences that solve a problem to reach specific objectives and is a sought-after international speaker at industry events and on podcasts. She currently leading comms planning for Innovation and entertainment at Expedia Group, and before that was at EA Games writing global marketing strategies for iconic games like Battlefield, The Sims, Need for Speed and many more. She also has expertise spanning various sectors, from FMCG to fintech, to Luxury. Whatever the project she has worked on, she is always committed to providing fully integrated, truly creative campaigns, with a focus on innovative multi touchpoint experiences in a human-centric and culturally resonant way.
Today’s communications landscape demands more than clever campaigns – it requires deep audience understanding, cultural relevance, and the courage to innovate. In this fireside chat, Perla Bloom shares how to approach comms planning by putting audience insight at the heart of strategy. She’ll explore how to build campaigns that resonate, how to create space for experimentation and innovation, and why leaning into entertainment-style storytelling is becoming essential for modern brands
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TikTok Shop: Unlocking discovery commerce
Broghan Smith is an award-winning digital sales expert delivering success across Key Account Fashion Retailers for TikTok. Broghan is instrumental in shaping and developing TikTok as a platform as TikTok look to ignite social commerce and lead into a space of true innovation and excitement within the global ecommerce market.
This session will highlight how brands and creators are using content to drive real-time product discovery, engage new customers, and convert audiences directly through TikTok. Platform insights, success stories, and practical steps for tapping into the next generation of Discovery Commerce.
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Once upon a time, your content flopped
Mercy is a digital marketer and designer with over five years of industry experience, and specialising in content and social media marketing.
She was recognised as a Top 24 Marketer of 2024 by the Girls in Marketing community. Over the years she has worked with a range of business owners and organisations to help them elevate their brand.
She is a Real Role Model and a mentor for DigitalHer, an initiative by Manchester Digital that aims to empower and inspire women and girls from all over the country that are working in tech.
A common mistake that people make with content is ditching it completely if it doesn’t work the first time. Quality content deserves to be seen. If it’s not seen by enough people the first time, there are other ways you can reach a wider audience. I’ve got the case studies to prove it. This session will focus on the power of repurposing content and helping marketers figure out where to start. One post that underperformed doesn’t equal the end of the story.
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Beyond the buzzword: Building real community through organic social
Naomi brings 9 years of industry experience in the social media and influencer space. Working for both brand and agency, her move to CLOUD NINE over 3 years ago sees her leading the global team for all things social and influencer, from strategy through to execution (and everything in between) for the global haircare brand. Launching CLOUD NINE as the first hair electrical brand on TikTok Shop back in 2023.
In today’s fast-moving digital landscape, building an authentic and lasting community is more important than ever before. In this fireside chat, Naomi Horan, Social Media & Influencer Manager at CLOUD NINE, will share how they bring community to life across platforms like Instagram and TikTok. From activating your customers to decoding the metrics that matter, you can learn about the creative mindset behind Cloud Nine’s social success. Whether you’re navigating shifting algorithms or scaling brand love, this session is packed with real-world insights on organic social, building a community and how to report back to the business.
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Thursdays only: Disrupting dating and building a brand that breaks the rules
George Rawlings is Co-Founder of Thursday – the biggest IRL dating brand in the world.
In a world saturated with dating apps and digital fatigue, Thursday is flipping the script and bringing people back to real-world connection. In this fireside chat we’ll uncover how Thursday’s innovative approach to modern dating, saw them pivot away from the traditional dating app model to create a global network of weekly IRL meetups.
We’ll explore the rising wave of dating app burnout and how Thursday’s community-driven approach is resonating with singles worldwide. Learn how the team has built a magnetic social media presence, engineered viral marketing moments, and strategically partnered with complementary brands to amplify reach.
We will also explore George’s founder journey – growing a company while building a powerful personal brand on LinkedIn. This session is a must for anyone interested in tech, community, marketing, or the future of social connection.
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The power of purpose: Building community in tech as a female founder
Nicola is a serial entrepreneur who built and sold her first company within three years and is the Co-founder & CMO of CLIQ, a social networking and community app on a mission to bring real-world connection back to the digital space through interest-based communities and IRL events.
She previously founded MY REV, a beauty booking platform that was named one of the fastest-growing beauty tech start-ups in 2021 and was acquired by Revolution Beauty in 2022.
With a deep passion for community building, Nicola is committed to reshaping the way we connect online by creating safe and engaging spaces that drive meaningful, offline interactions.
Join us for an inspiring conversation with Nicola, exited founder of beauty-tech startup My Rev and current founder of the fast-growing community app, CLIQ. Nicola shares her entrepreneurial journey from launching a marketplace for freelance beauty professionals to identifying a global loneliness epidemic and building a solution rooted in real-world connection.
This session will dive into the process of building and selling her first business, the motivation behind CLIQ, and how she built the now thriving community of meet ups.
We’ll also explore how brands are shifting from influencer-led marketing to authentic community engagement and where CLIQ fits into this new landscape. We’ll close out the discussion with Nicola sharing her personal insights on what it means to be a female founder today, and how building a business aligned with purpose has transformed her journey.
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There’s only one YouTube: Where creative brilliance meets Google AI
Andreas Stefanou is an EMEA YouTube Product Lead at Google, responsible for driving the commercialization strategy for Google’s ads business and helping shape product roadmaps for Google’s diverse group of advertisers. With 13+ years experience in digital advertising, he has worked across various roles in Greece and Ireland, driving digital transformation and accelerating agencies’ & brands’ business growth.
The presentation will cover how to utilise YouTube to grow your business with Google AI-powered campaigns and building the right creative assets to drive business outcomes across the funnel.
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How to create a successful SEO roadmap
Gus Pelogia is a journalist turned SEO professional, currently a Senior SEO Product Manager at Indeed, the #1 job site in the world. He’s spoken at events such as BrightonSEO, LondonSEOXL and MB Summit. Gus is also a contributor to Moz, Wix and other well-known industry blogs. Working in cross-functional teams including content creators, UX designers, engineers, data scientists, product managers and other teams, he aims to make SEO accessible and easy to understand. His work is focused on impact, buy-in and processes from ideation to release and measurement, avoiding staying in the SEO bubble. He’s Brazilian-born but built his SEO career abroad, working in-house and for agencies in Argentina, The Netherlands, and Ireland since 2012. His work has awarded him and his clients industry awards such as The Drum Search Awards and Irish Content Marketing Awards.
There’s always a new shiny thing in SEO. Whether it’s a new speed metric, a new structured data type, or a new acronym, we don’t run out of things to try. How do we separate what is just shiny from what can yield high impact?
In this talk, I’ll show you how to create a strong roadmap and get proper buy-in before you start executing your SEO strategy.
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Cutting through the noise: Media, talent & storytelling in a saturated world
Adam leads the team at News UK that delivers commercial, branded content on behalf of talkSPORT, Virgin Radio, Times Radio and Piers Morgan Uncensored. He is responsible for producing and publishing video-first shows and campaigns onto digital platforms, working with high-profile talent, commercial partners, and a team of skilful digital creatives and has previously worked in producer roles for NBC and beinSPORTS.
Full talk details to be announced soon.
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Gifted & trusted: The new realities of influencer marketing panel
Tom Higgins is the founder of GIFTA, the UK’s leading influencer gifting and seeding company. GIFTA is redefining influencer marketing by prioritising authentic storytelling and empowering creators to share their unique narratives free from brand control, fostering deeper connections with communities.
Offering a fully integrated solution for influencer campaigns, GIFTA handles everything from product personalisation and fulfilment to performance tracking and are the first in the UK to distribute chilled and frozen products to influencers, unlocking unique opportunities for food and beverage brands. GIFTA’s client roster includes global brands such as Unilever, Sainsbury’s, L’Oréal, Adidas, and Heinz.
Full talk details to be announced soon.
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The SERPs are shifting: Here’s how to evolve your organic strategy with it
Elle has over nine years of marketing experience, creating and implementing SEO and content strategies for clients in a range of industries including fashion, travel, property, and finance. As our Head of Content Strategy, Elle manages a team of strategists and writers, ensuring that on-page content strategies are devised and implemented, to increase our clients’ rankings, traffic, and conversions.
From AIOs to video previews, forums to social search, and most recently, organic product listings on ChatGPT: it can be hard to keep up with the ever-evolving SERP landscape. In my talk, I’ll uncover exactly how you can adapt your organic strategy to stay ahead of the curve, and ensure your brand gets seen across the channels your customers are actually consuming content.
Tom Lanaway is an innovation-focused Product Manager at Connective3, where he leads digital solutions that bridge human creativity and artificial intelligence. Passionate about futurism, neuroscience, and the mindful integration of technology, Tom specialises in designing products that enhance human potential, deliver rich insights, and drive meaningful change. When not imagining new possibilities, you’ll find him behind a camera lens, exploring the outdoors, and living the #vanlife.
Artificial Intelligence has moved beyond the hype, it’s now a magic that helps people do a lot more with a lot less effort.
In this talk, Tom will take you on the journey of building Connective’s proprietary AI, Merlin and the lessons, failures, and unexpected opportunities gathered along the way.
Beginning with a look at the possibilities AI holds, we’ll quickly transition to tangible advice that empowers immediate action. Discover how you can effectively integrate AI into your daily work, transforming it from a tool into a dynamic teammate.
You’ll learn to spot valuable AI opportunities, persuade your stakeholders to invest, and then build seamless AI-powered solutions that empower you, not replace you.
Come ready to take notes, become an AI advocate, and unlock the magic within the machine.
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How SEO & PPC can be married at first sight
Dan is the SEO Manager at Channel4 – full bio coming.
Don’t let your organic traffic be boganic. In this talk Dan will look at how Channel 4’s search strategy has evolved to make paid and organic search work holistically, saving money and increasing reach.
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Cutting through the noise: Media, talent & storytelling in a saturated world
Holly brings around 15 years of experience across music, live events, and marketing. She now leads a brilliant team at Co-op Live. Her focus is on growing demand, creating memorable fan experiences, developing artist recognition, and helping shape the venue as a must-visit destination for live entertainment.
Holly has worked on a global scale delivering events including the London 2012 Olympic Games, MTV EMAs and Sir Paul McCartney. Along the way, she’s worked across performing, production, ticketing, and sales – spending time at Ticketmaster and at music-education startups focused on empowering the next generation of talent. She’s turned a personal passion for live performance into a well-rounded career, combining creativity, commercial thinking, and a strong understanding of audiences.
Today, Holly’s approach blends storytelling with strategic insight, helping Co-op Live stand out in a competitive global market while staying true to its community-first values.
Full talk details to be announced soon.
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In my revenue era: How Taylor Swift helped me make $200k
Sophie Smith is a content executive with five years of SEO content experience. With a passion for pop culture and experience in the fashion and cosmetic sectors, she understands how essential it is to keep your content relevant to the world around you, from silly TikTok trends to the wider political climate.
When Taylor Swift wore a tinsel jacket on stage, seven girls in the Nasty Gal office knew they had to take this opportunity as far as they could possibly stretch it. In this talk, listeners will learn about how jumping on a brand moment and keeping it fresh can continually drive revenue and keep your brand relevant.
The audience will learn:
- How to jump on a moment, despite its virality
- How to align with other channels to increase coverage and activations
- How to keep your content fresh to keep your brand relevant to the moment
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Beyond the click: Building brands that drive real growth
Claire has over 20 years of digital marketing experience and knows how to navigate the complex digital landscape to deliver incremental bottom line growth for clients. Campaigns and activity are planned with strategic creativity to generate cut through, action and results.
Full talk details to be announced soon.
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Magnetic marketing – The laws of brand-attraction
Helen brings over two decades of experience in building and operating large-scale businesses across the UK and internationally. Having worked with diverse teams and brands, she understands that culturally relevant content doesn’t happen by accident – it requires curiosity, creativity, collaboration, consistency, and above all, passion! As a speaker, Helen often shares how these core values have shaped her career and the businesses she’s led, helping them achieve profitable, and meaningful impact.
What do vision boards and brand plans have in common? More than you might think…
In this motivational talk, we’ll explore the unexpected parallels between the world of Manifestation, Mental Health and the practice of Marketing – from the power of intention to the art of emotional resonance, and the unshakeable belief that what you put out into the world will come back to you.
This isn’t about magic – it’s about mindset. It’s about clarity, consistency, and connection. And it’s a reminder that behind every successful brand strategy is a little bit of faith, a whole lot of energy, and the courage to see a future that hasn’t happened yet.
From this talk, you’ll walk away with:
• A fresh perspective on how manifestation principles can inspire more meaningful marketing
• Tools to reframe brand challenges as opportunities to attract, align and amplify
• A renewed sense of creative confidence – because belief is half the battle
Talk
CTRL+P for impact: Turning digital-first campaigns into real-world experiences with Print.com
Cadie is all about people, print, and bringing big ideas to life. Having just under a decade of relationship building across various different industries, she’s well known for building long lasting relationships with energy, whilst keeping things running smoothly behind the scenes.
Now at the forefront of launching Print.com in the UK, She’s passionate about helping Brands, Agencies and Creatives rediscover the magic of print—offering inspiration, guidance, and hands-on support throughout every step of their print journey.
In a world dominated by pixels and platforms, print is your secret weapon. This session explores how tactile, playful, and high-impact print can elevate digital campaigns—anchoring your brand in the real world. By creating multisensory experiences, print enhances marketing effectiveness, sparks emotion, builds trust, and boosts ROI. Discover how print isn’t just still relevant—it’s essential.
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CTRL+P for impact: Turning digital-first campaigns into real-world experiences with Print.com
Fiona Robinson brings over 20 years of experience in the print and creative industries, combining deep technical knowledge with a strong background in design, product development, and marketing. A passionate advocate for the power of print, Fiona began her career at a time when campaigns were print-first. In today’s digital-first landscape, she is on a mission to inspire and educate marketers and creatives on the lasting impact and effectiveness of reintroducing print into their strategies.
Her career has seen her lead the launch of print solutions and brands on an international scale, delivering innovative, results-driven campaigns with strategic precision. Fiona has played a pivotal role in shaping and scaling several major players in the print space, known for her clear vision, operational excellence, and creative approach.
In 2024, she took on the challenge of launching Print.com in the UK. Originally founded in the Netherlands and already a leading name across mainland Europe, Print.com blends cutting-edge technology with a premium platform tailored for agencies, brands, and creative professionals.
In a world dominated by pixels and platforms, print is your secret weapon. This session explores how tactile, playful, and high-impact print can elevate digital campaigns—anchoring your brand in the real world. By creating multisensory experiences, print enhances marketing effectiveness, sparks emotion, builds trust, and boosts ROI. Discover how print isn’t just still relevant—it’s essential.
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Personal branding panel
Jennifer has 20+ years of experience as a Marketing Executive with a focus on B2B SaaS and venture backed tech, helping them to scale from idea through to exit. As an entrepreneur, she has a passion for building; startups, tech, communities, brands and most importantly, high performing teams! Jen is the Founder & CMO of Unstoppable, a female founder focused movement aiming to provide access to resources, networks and capital these founders need to scale high growth businesses. In addition, Jen is also a fractional CMO and growth advisor for several early stage startups across Europe.
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Personal branding panel
Clair Heaviside is a creative force and strategic leader. She is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Serotonin, a multi-award-winning digital agency founded in 2019, based in Manchester and London.
Outside the agency world, Clair is a passionate ultra-runner who brings the same grit and endurance to business as she does to the trails. She is an ambassador for SheUltra, advocating for greater female representation in endurance sports. She speaks regularly on her resilience-building framework, The Endurance Mindset, and recently launched Create Brave, a podcast exploring courage, creativity and perseverance through the lens of athletes and entrepreneurs.
Clair’s drive for impact goes beyond business and sport. She founded the social justice charity Odd Arts in 2004, delivering creative workshops in prisons across the UK and South America, and has spent over five years as a Trustee for domestic violence charity Haven. Recognised as Business Woman of the Year at the 2023 Women of the Year Awards, and one of The Telegraph & NatWest’s Top Ten Female Entrepreneurs to Watch, Clair continues to lead with heart, purpose and an unwavering commitment to doing things differently.
Full talk details to be announced soon.
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Embracing disruption, through AI, team and you
Kate has over 20 years of experience leading global teams in the Market Research industry. Her career, which includes building teams across the globe and living in countries such as Argentina, Japan, and South Africa, has shaped a deep appreciation for cultural intelligence and the transformative power of diversity. She believes that when teams and leaders are empowered to challenge how they work and disrupt the norm, extraordinary results follow. A TEDx speaker and publisher, Kate now coaches and mentors organisations and leaders on embracing self-leadership, unlocking the power of teams, and harnessing change to drive performance.
True disruption today is driven by a powerful triad: harnessing the capabilities of AI, cultivating self-leadership, and unlocking the power of teams.
AI is no longer a future concept; it’s the new team member that’s here to stay. In this talk, we’ll explore how to welcome AI into your organisation as an unbiased and tireless teammate, how to embrace AI as a collaborator and not a competitor, and to harness it to drive team performance and decision-making.
But disruption doesn’t start with technology; it starts with self-leadership, and the mindset and traits that empower individuals to lead themselves, spark a multiplier effect, and transform good teams into unstoppable forces.
We will delve into the key traits that make a team truly disruptive through challenging conventional thinking and offering fresh perspectives for today’s ever-changing marketing environments.
You will leave this talk inspired to embrace disruption through self-leadership, reimagine team dynamics, and unlock the incredible synergy possible when human creativity and AI work in harmony!
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Borderless growth: Navigating international expansion through marketplaces
Tom founded FordeBaker, a leading marketplace agency dedicated to helping consumer brands thrive on platforms, like Amazon and TikTok Shop. He leads a talented team that supports retail businesses, including beauty, fashion, home & garden, and pet supplies sectors.
With expertise in Amazon Seller and Vendor Central, Tom helps clients set up, optimise, and scale sales in the US, UK, and Europe. FordeBaker services cover vendor-Amazon relations, product page optimisation, sponsored ads, promotions, and forecasting—all tailored to the unique needs of each business. The business also offers TikTok Shop services and creator management, helping brands tap into new audiences and drive sales through social commerce.
Marketplaces serve as the conduit to geographic expansion, providing businesses with infrastructure and an audience that needs to be captured. With platforms like Amazon and TikTok Shop—now live in eight countries—companies can explore opportunities outside their home country with a low barrier to entry.
Our talk will dive into the theoretical mental model of international expansion, weighing the pros and cons of marketplaces versus direct-to-consumer (DTC) strategies like building a website, managing customer service, and generating an audience.
Our insights will provide a framework to help businesses decide between Amazon’s established e-commerce infrastructure and TikTok Shop’s growing social commerce potential.
We aim for attendees to have the information they need to weigh up their options and confidently navigate international growth via marketplaces
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Gifted & trusted: The new realities of influencer marketing panel
With experience in both talent management and influencer marketing, Molly offers unique insights and expertise into all things influencer marketing. She has worked with top names in the creator industry, gaining expertise across fashion, beauty, FMCG, gaming, and technology sectors. Molly is adept at developing and executing influencer campaigns that prioritise your brand and goals, ensuring impactful and successful results.
Full talk details to be announced soon.
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How to uncover hidden opportunities: using Friction Mapping to take action at pace
Karl is a UX & design leader specialising in human-centred design, strategic direction and innovation, with over 20 years of experience spanning UX, interaction design, product development, design psychology and leadership.
Karl’s expertise lies in driving impactful, human-centred experiences by aligning strategic planning with creative problem-solving, focusing on the profound effect design has on people, whether empowering teams within organisations to make a difference or crafting meaningful products and services that resonate with users’ needs and aspirations.
Having collaborated across a diverse set of industries, from global fashion and leisure brands to healthcare and the energy sector, Karl bring a deep understanding of designing for human behaviour and leveraging cognitive science.
Every customer experience has a story, whether it’s positive or not, and it often starts with the challenges they’ve faced. In this fast-paced session, we’ll break down how friction mapping helps teams to uncover the micro-moments where customers silently drop off, get frustrated or face sudden obstacles.
We’ll share how we’ve used this method to identify invisible blockers in digital journeys and then translate them into design and product wins. Expect real-world examples, practical takeaways, and a framework you can steal for your own team. Whether you’re in UX, product, or marketing, you’ll leave with a new lens for spotting (and solving) the moments that lose you money.
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Beyond the click: Building brands that drive real growth
With over seven years’ experience in digital PR, content creation, and social media, Rosa has worked across a variety of different projects, from stand-alone campaigns to long-term strategic roadmaps. She combines her analytical skills with her love of creativity to create concepts that work for a large number of industries, including e-commerce, finance, law, and travel.
Full talk details to be announced soon.
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Making the inbox hit like Instagram
Full bio coming soon.
Marketers put so much effort into creating scroll-stopping content for social media, so why do emails often feel like an afterthought? In this session, Alicia, Force24’s Senior Marketing Manager, will show you how to apply the same creativity, storytelling, and engagement techniques from social media to your email marketing. From visual thinking to hook-driven copy, learn how to make your emails stand out in a crowded inbox just like the best posts on Instagram.