Arron Shepherd, Co-founder, Goat

Arron is a serial investor and entrepreneur with years of experience in the digital marketing industry. After working client side Arron discovered the power of influencer marketing to drive real value for brands, this drove him to establish The Goat Agency and scale this value to a wider market. 4 years later and Goat has over 120 staff, 3 international offices and runs global campaigns for the likes of Malibu, Lidl, Nivea, Uber and more. Arron’s industry experience has not only given him insight into what is required to deliver fast growth, but with his experience as an Investor, Founder and Agency Director he is uniquely positioned to offer insight on all aspects of entrepreneurship and influencer marketing.

Chris Stokel-Walker, Freelance Journalist

Chris Stokel-Walker is a journalist for the BBC, New York Times, Economist and Wired, and author of YouTubers: How YouTube shook up TV and created a new generation of stars, published by Canbury Press in May 2019.

Danny Rogers, Editor-in-Chief, PRWeek UK

Danny Rogers is one of the UK’s pre-eminent journalists covering the world of advertising, PR, marketing and media. He has edited PRWeek and been deputy editor of Marketing. Danny has also been a contributing editor to the Financial Times and the Guardian. He has won Editor of the Year at the British Society of Magazine Editors and been twice shortlisted as Editor of the Year by the PPA. Danny is also a frequent contributor to broadcast and print media, including a regular column in the Independent.

Dominic Payling, Head of Planning and Insights, MSL UK

Dominic has 20 years’ in-house marketing, market research and agency-side planning experience including global corporate and consumer brand campaigns and CR programmes. He heads up the strategic planning, insight and measurement team at MSL London. Dominic is an award winning insight and creativity expert who learnt his craft working for P&G, Audi, Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Disney, Nestlé, Philips and Rolex. He leads MSL’s influencer marketing offer including its proprietary tool, Fluency which helps brands to identify partnerships and manage, activate, measure and amplify influencer campaigns at any scale. MSL have this year won a host of awards for their first of its kind, year-long influencer campaign, #BehindCarDoors for Renault. The authentic and hilarious dash cam series fronted by Mother Pukka and Father of Daughters is now also nominated for a PR Week Award after it shifted brand perception of the All New Renault Scenic and saw unprecedented engagement with influencer branded content.

Dom Smales, CEO and Founder, Gleam Futures

Dominic Smales set up Gleam Futures in 2010 initially to help online communities connect for mutual benefit. This evolved quickly into managing ‘Digital First Talent’, a term coined to describe entertainers and content creators who have used social media platforms as the first place to build an audience. Gleam has become the biggest Digital First talent management company in the world. Gleam Futures develops the careers of its roster across all forms of media and entertainment including; publishing, film, TV, Licencing and merchandising.

Edward Brittain, Social & Influencer Planner, MSL UK

Edward has worked across every aspect of social media. From organic strategies during his time at Electronic Arts for some of the largest games in the world (FIFA, Apex Legends, Sims) to paid social in a planning role at MediaCom (P&G, EY, Indeed). Analytical in nature with social listening, data science and API experience through to creative strategy and campaign ideation. Alongside this diverse range of social skills Edward has been involved in influencer campaigns as the industry has boomed in the last few years. Finding micro influencers to test mobile phones or represent Skype at Lady Gaga concerts through to voice over celebrities.

Jason Freeman, Legal Director, UK Competition and Markets Authority

Jason Freeman is a Legal Director at the UK Competition and Markets Authority, having previously been a Legal Director at the OFT. He has particular experience of litigating consumer enforcement, online technology and investigations, cross border enforcement and analysis of markets. Currently he has been working on enforcement which secured £2.3m of redress for consumers in the care homes sector, development of guidance for care homes, celebrity endorsements on social media and a Supercomplaint on loyalty penalties.

Lisa Targett, UK General Manager, Tribe

Lisa Targett is UK General Manager of TRIBE, the self-serve marketplace that connects brands with everyday people to celebrate them through beautiful content. After working for some of the world’s leading publishers (Telegraph, Daily Mail, Microsoft, Channel 9), Lisa saw the opportunity to take part in solving the industry’s biggest challenge: delivering increasing amounts of content, quickly in a cost-effective way. In her first two years at the helm, TRIBE has partnered with some of the world’s biggest brands like Waitrose, Rimmel, Amazon, TikTok & Unilever - attracting a new round of investment and the attention of the world’s most decorated marketer Keith Weed (ex-CMCO Unilever) when he came on board as an investor himself.

Nichole Izzo, Head of Marketing for North West Europe, Logitech

Dr Sarah-Jayne Gratton - Founding Partner, The Influencers

Dr Sarah-Jayne Gratton is a founding partner of London-based agency, The Influencers. She is a leading technology influencer and futurist, specialising in emerging technologies and covering trends in artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT, and mixed reality. Her clients include global technology giants Siemens, Ericsson, IBM, Vodafone and Oracle.