Gerd Leonhard, Futurist, CEO of Media Futures Group, Author & Blogger

The Wall Street Journal calls Gerd ‘one of the leading Media Futurists in the World’. Gerd is considered a leading expert on topics such as social media, mobile content and mcommerce, innovation and entrepreneurship, UGC and peer production, copyright, licensing and IPR issues, next-generation advertising, marketing and branding, digital content strategies and the development of next-generation business models in the content, communications & technology industries.

Since 2002, following a decade as digital media entrepreneur and start-up CEO, Gerd travels around the globe and speaks at conferences, events and think-tanks on the Future of Media, Content, Technology, Business, Marketing & Advertising, Branding, Telecom, Communications and Culture.

Gerd's keynotes, speeches, presentations and think-tank appearances are renowned for his hard-hitting and provocative yet inspiring and motivational style. With over 300 engagements in 29 countries during the past 7 years, Gerd has addressed over 25.000 executives and professionals, and is considered a key influencer. 

Gerd is the co-author of the influential book ‘The Future of Music’ (2005, Berklee Press), as well as the author of ‘Music2.0’ (2008) and the blog-book ‘The End of Control’ (www.endofcontrol.com, 2007). Gerd's background is in music; in 1985 he won the Quincy Jones Award and subsequently graduated from Boston's Berklee College of Music (1987).

Find out more and read his blog at www.mediafuturist.com, follow him on Twitter @gleonhard and see his videos at www.gerdtube.com. And of course, hear his keynote at the Future of Digital Marketing 2010!

Econsultancy comment on why we asked Gerd to speak and his topic:
Quite simply because a number of us at Econsultancy have seen him speak and think he's excellent. So if you haven't seen him yet, come and find out for yourself why he's so popular. Or check him out online / on YouTube etc where you can see previous stuff he's done. But it's all new and unique for Econsultancy. This is a synopsis of the talk he'll be giving:

A broadband culture revolution: digital marketing foresights and future scenarios 

It is now dawning on us that a truly connected world is indeed a radically different world. Watch | Think | Feel: mobile devices vs computers. Social media vs mass media. Search and page-rank vs real-time 'find me'. Open networks vs walled gardens. 'The Networks' vs 'The Networked'. Apps vs ads. Conversation vs. monologs. Context vs copy. Connectors vs. Directors. Broadband culture but... narrow-band minds? Zooming back and forth between the 50.000 foot 'pie in the sky'- level to the 50 foot 'action item'- level, Gerd's presentation will show examples of mildly to bloody futuristic marketing and advertising concepts and implementations from around the world, and outline the key trends and opportunities for the next 3 years. If brands are publishers and advertising is content; is marketing ... media? What does the future hold, and how can we adapt to it?  Gerd will tell all he's got, injecting some of his findings from his upcoming 'socially-mobile' book, "Broadband Culture".

>> Read our blog Q&A with Gerd on why social media beats search

Rowan Gormley, Founder, Naked Wines

Rowan is the founder of Naked Wines, a group of 20,000 wine lovers, who sponsor independent winemakers to make exclusives wines, at preferential prices. Before Naked, Rowan founded and was CEO of Virgin Wines and Virgin Money, and before that he spent 7 years losing other people’s money in private equity, and failed miserably at being an accountant...

Econsultancy comment on why we asked Rowan to speak and his topic:
Rowan is a very smart and successful businessman and amazing at marketing (check out Naked Wines for a taster - there's some very clever, very social stuff going on there). He's built a number of very successful online businesses. And he's got warehouses full of wine.. what more do you want? It's all very well banging on about 'social media' but we wanted to hear from Rowan what it really means to create a truly 'social business'; we want to hear from a business person what the power of social really is. And Rowan almost *never* speaks publicly so catch this rare chance while you can.

Maz Nadjm, Online Community Product Manager, Sky

The Sky Portal has over 1 billion monthly page impressions and many millions of unique visitors. Maz works closely with each Sky site, providing on-going technology and strategy assessment within the context of the competitive landscape and Site needs.

In addition to his role at Sky, Maz launched the new Times Online commenting system and has advised a number of News Corp units and partners, News International, Star TV, Sky Italy, Fox TV Channels and Chelsea Football Club.

Econsultancy comment on why we've asked Maz to speak and his topic:
We've know Maz for years. We follow him eagerly on Twitter. He's been actively doing 'social' for a *long* time. He co-founded what must have been one of the first social media consultancies (rareface.com) and co-founded InfieldParking.com, a social networking platform for NASCAR fans in the US. Read up more on Maz's LinkedIn profile. Obviously Sky is a pretty big media player (and News Corp more broadly) with a fair few users so we've asked Maz to give his 15 min take on the future of social media / networking / online communities and how these will apply to business. 

Vincent Sider, Strategy Specialist, BT

Vincent is a telecom and internet professional with 11 years of experience. He joined BT in 2006 after 6 years as CEO of an internet and mobile company providing white label fixed and mobile social software services to telcos and medias in France.

At BT Wholesale, Vincent's role as Strategy Specialist focuses on gaming, online communities and augmented reality, and he is responsible for identifying opportunities and recommending the 3-5 years growth strategy in those areas.  Lately he has also taken over the role of strategic growth investment manager (“Wiseman”), on behalf of Strategy & Portfolio - BT Wholesale.

Econsultancy comment on why we've asked Vincent to speak and his topic:
We're excited about gaming and game theory and how it applies to (digital) marketing. Just look at the *massive* success of games like Farmville on Facebook. Watch this presentation by Carnegie Mellon University Professor, Jesse Schell, and see what we mean. But who could talk about where social media meets game theory in the UK...? Vincent. As "Head of strategy: social media, gaming, augmented reality and presence" at BT he's ideally placed to give us his 15 min vision for where this could go.  

Shilen Patel, Co-Founder, Independents United

Shilen Patel has over 15 years experience in consumer goods marketing. During that time he has operated client side (ex Marketing Controller for Guinness in Ireland), and as a freelance consultant working with some of the biggest brands in the world. More recently Shilen moved over to the agency world and is now running his own marketing agency - Independents United with creative partner Frank Lampen.

Across all these roles Shilen has sought to bring good strategic thinking, consumer understanding and awareness of new trends together in order to develop new and more effective ways of marketing.

During the past 4 years, Independents United have won work from some of the world's biggest brands and helped them step change their ability to engage and communicate with consumers all over the world. Projects for brands as wide ranging as Smirnoff, Johnnie Walker, CNN and Kelkoo have demonstrated IU's ability to drive significant return on investment through a heady mix of good strategy, insightful creativity and innovative marketing. IU has also leveraged the entrepreneurial streak in all its employees to launch a number of its own ventures including the world's first consumer-generated book called Festival Annual. Shilen has also begun to bring to life his vision that marketing can be a powerful force for good through IU partnerships with RockCorps and Cancer Research.

Econsultancy comment on why we've asked Shilen to moderate:
It's a shame we can't have Shilen speaking as well... A long time ago, when Shilen was still working for Diageo (Guinness), we spoke to him and he told us all about his vision for "experiential marketing" and how this might apply online. And it's only now that others are starting to cotton on to this. In the meantime Shilen founded his own marketing agency (Independents United) and created the world's first 'user generated book' (see Festival Annual) as an experimental multi-channel project. 

Tom Savigar, Strategy & Insight Director, The Future Laboratory

For the past decade Tom has been tracking consumer trends and helping brands to anticipate the future, He has a particular passion for the emotional connection people form with brands, products, retailers and services, and how brands can better resonate with consumers accordingly. During this period, Tom has also taught fashion textile students at the University of Brighton how to identify and use trend insights in their designs. He is also on the assessment board for the Fashion Futures degree at the University of East London.

Tom is a partner at The Future Laboratory and joined the business in 2005. He is director of the company's bespoke client projects and services. The Future Laboratory is a UK-based consumer insight, trend forecasting and brand strategy agency whose clients include American Express, Louis Vuitton, Laurent-Perrier, Absolut, BMW, Lamborghini, Chivas, New Look, Miss Selfridge, British Airways, Marks & Spencer, Standard Life Bank, HSBC and Condé Nast. 

Previously, Tom was co-founder of Sense Worldwide for six years, where we focused his trend insights on strategic projects for the likes of MTV, IDEO, Nokia, Hewlett Packard and SCJohnson.

Econsultancy comment on why we asked Tom to speak and his topic:
We've seen Tom speak a number of times both at Future Laboratory events and keynoting elsewhere and he's always great. Whereas Gerd (see above, our other keynote) is focusing more on 'media', Tom is focusing more on 'commerce' and where it's going. Tom is lucky to have access to such great research, and pioneering brands, to inform his talks and we love the deep social / behavioural insight behind them. This is what Tom will be talking on:

Beyond Retail
As the push for convenience, online retail and value-for-money branding dominate retail agendas around the world, retailers are tackling the attention economy with initiatives that redefine accepted ways of consumer engagement. Get ready for magtailing, blogtailing, augmented retail, exporiums, learning shops, kiosk vending and social network selling, where brands are sold by consumer-created consortiums that act as wholesalers, retailers, consumers and brand marketers.

Brandtocracies
Twitter, social media, 3G brand grazing, freenomics and the rise of crowdtelligence have all impacted on the way we ‘do’ brands, and the way brands, in turn, do business. From digital care directors to social media assistants and CBOs (chief blogging officers), our global team charts the rise and shape of tomorrow’s new brand DNA.

Sven Huberts, International Client Director, Marvellous

Sven Huberts is responsible for developing and implementing international digital strategy & innovation driven creative throughout Europe for Marvellous with a specialization in mobile. He has been with Marvellous since December 2007 where he launched Marvellous in Amsterdam. Previously a partner of Icemedia Group, a small brand activation and word of mouth agency, Sven carved out his status as new media enthusiast by developing tactical advocacy programs on behalf of local & international clients such as Electronic Arts, Microsoft, KLM, Universal Music & O2. Always attracted by new forms of technology led creative, his recent work includes brand-transformative experiences on mobile & social for clients such as Vodafone, Grolsch, Mattel & adidas. Sven also serves on the board of the IAB mobile taskforce. Likes: movies, drinking, games, stripey socks, green tea, fruit gums, clothes, sports & x-box. Dislikes: dog shit on pavements, murderers, people looking at me when they play sing star, people replying endlessly to threads on facebook & cold coffee.

Econsultancy comment on why we've asked Sven to speak and his topic:
We used to share offices with Sven when he worked for Icemedia in London. Now he's gone on to found the Amsterdam office of Marvellous. And if you know anything about mobile, you'll know how successful and pioneering Marvellous have been over the years doing some great creative work for world class brands. So good in fact that Marvellous were bought in June 2007 by media agency network Aegis for over £10m. We've asked Sven to spend 30mins talking about what the future holds for mobile...

Douglas Orr, Founder, Sccope

Douglas Orr founded Cogenta, the company behind Sccope, in 2005. Throughout his career, he has led a number of digital information companies from start-up through proof of concept and successful rollout. 

Douglas has led Cogenta to market leadership in providing market and online pricing intelligence to leading Tier 1 retailers with the Cogenta NetPrice SAAS service. Cogenta’s Sccope products for mobile phones and in particular the iPhone are enabling retailers to sell their total value proposition to consumers with a 7x24 engagement. Mobile Commerce for non-digital products is  now moving from planning to execution enabling a whole new retailer engagement with consumers. Mobile commerce is expected to explode from $1.6b in 2009 to $12b in 2015. Cogenta is working with its retail partners to deploy mobile commerce now. 

Econsultancy comment on why we've asked Douglas to talk and his topic:
We did a review of the Sccope iPhone app (a mobile shopping comparison service) and were impressed not only with the app but also with Douglas' grasp of the mobile applications space, mobile commerce, and the potential for this channel going forwards. So whilst Sven (see above) can give the agency / creative view, we've asked Douglas, as a pioneering practitioner, to spend his 15mins talking about mobile commerce and its future.

>> Read our blog Q&A with Douglas on mobile commerce.

Nick Gee, Mobile Director, Trader Media Group

With over fifteen years of digital publishing experience spanning search, advertising and location based services Nick has led multiple business disciplines including strategy, distribution, product innovation and project management. As Mobile Director at Trader Media Group since 2009, Nick has developed mobile strategy for Auto Trader Mobile including growth strategies, product launches and establishing the monetisation of the mobile platform. Before joining Trader Media Group, Nick was Product Director at Mobile People where he ran mobile search and advertising applications on a global scale. Prior to that Nick was Commercial Manager for Mobile at Sensis (Australia) where he was responsible for Sensis’ mobile strategy definition and implementation, marketing and distribution.

Patrick Mork, CMO, GetJar

Patrick joined GetJar in 2008 as VP of marketing and member of the executive team.  His primary role at GetJar is to develop the company’s overall marketing, branding, content and communications strategy. Patrick has been in the mobile content space since 2004 first at mobile games publisher I-play then subsequently at glu mobile. Prior to joining GetJar, Patrick was Marketing Director Europe at glu where he built up the company’s marketing team and was a key part of the European management team that helped take the company public on the NASDAQ in March 2007. With 15 years of marketing experience at leading companies such as PepsiCo and Diamondcluster, Patrick has worked in large multinationals and venture-backed start-ups in marketing, sales and general management. Patrick holds on MBA from INSEAD and a BS from Georgetown University.

Econsultancy comment on why we asked Patrick to be on our mobile panel session:
Apart from the fact that Patrick is a smart guy who knows a lot about the mobile sector, we think GetJar is really interesting as the world's largest independent app store, with over 50 million mobile application downloads per month, supporting 1800 phones. So whilst we get all excited about the iPhone, there is a huge non-iPhone market out there and GetJar are a major player in that app space. So who better to answer your questions about mobile opportunities outside the world of Apple?

Jo Vertigan, Head of Digital, England 2018

Jo Vertigan is Head of Digital at England 2018, where he is responsible for leading and implementing the global digital and mobile strategy for England’s bid to host the FIFA World Cup. The bid website operates in twelve languages and has gained registrants from over 150 countries. Since May last year the Facebook group has grown from 0 to 125k fans. Mobile is a key platform for the bid where a short text code allows supporters to back the bid, a mobile site allows people to browse and an iPhone app that gets the latest news, video and images from the bid team.

Prior to England 2018 Jo worked in a number of senior management roles at Sony, running the Ecommerce business for UK and Ireland and building businesses with Amazon, Lovefilm, Photobox. He also developed the digital launch plans behind products such as the Sony Reader and VAIO by you. In the distant past he worked for Whitbread, Coca-Cola Enterprises and Pillsbury.    

Matt Isaacs, Founding Partner, Essence

Throughout his career Matt has enjoyed the variety and challenge of working with high profile brands.

Before launching Essence, Matt was CMO at Create Services, a subsidiary of Lloyds TSB Group that handled all of the bank's non LloydsTSB branded retail banking business including the Goldfish and the Create brands. Create Services was a serious organisation, managing income of £200m and marketing budgets of £25m per annum.  Create also established and managed an internal agency serving the rest of LloydsTSB.

Prior to that, Matt was Head of the UK Retail Financial Services Practice at McKinsey spin-off Mitchell Madison Group (MMG) and part of the core team that built MMG Europe from 14 consultants to 400. Matt also co-founded their Internet Strategy practice.

Econsultancy comment on why we've asked Matt to talk and his topic:
Essence are a smart bunch. They work for some pretty demanding and smart clients including Google, eBay, Expedia, betfair, eHarmony etc. In fact they're so smart and innovative they won Econsultancy's 2009 Most Innovative Digital Agency award. What's interesting about Essence to us is the unusual combination of business/commercial focus, with creativity, with a deep understanding of web technology, and commercial/creative power of data (e.g. APIs, analytics, syndication etc.). Take a look at the Google Export Adviser they did for Google, for example. So we've asked Matt to spend his 30mins talking about what excites him in terms of the future opportunities around using data / tech online for marketing and commerce. 

Angela Maurer, Senior Marketing Manager, Tesco.com

Angela is responsible for defining and implementing the customer facing development plan for the Tesco.com Food & Wine business. She sets the vision and strategy for both businesses working very closely with the IT technology team to ensure that Tesco understands the changes in consumer trends and technology so that they remain innovative and first for customers.

Econsultancy comment on why we've asked Angela to speak and her topic:
We're passionate about the marketing and commercial opportunities provided by the internet. We've talked for years about the commercial opportunities of 'atomising' your business online, 'federated commerce', 'going where your customers are', personalisation etc. Which is why we were so excited when Tesco.com announced their API allowing others to build businesses on top of their infrastructure. There are plenty of examples of media companies doing this (BBC, Guardian etc.) but very few big name retailers. And they don't come bigger than Tesco. So we wanted to hear from the horse's mouth about the vision behind this use of web technology, how it's going and where it might go.

Chris Gorell Barnes, CEO, Adjust Your Set

For over a decade Chris has acted as a prominent Investor and Entrepreneur in a range of new-media start-ups. Now a recognized leader in the future of multi-channel and retail experience, Chris is currently CEO of Adjust Your Set and a Non Exec Director of Eagle Eye Solutions. 

Adjust Your Set is a full service online video agency which provides branded content channels for companies such as Thomas Pink, M&S, Sotheby’s and Royal Opera House.  Eagle Eye Solutions is a mobile technology company providing a patented vouchering system that engages directly with retailers epos systems. 

In these roles, and as a New Media Angel Investor, Chris has become a leading voice in online video and the future of multichannel technology for retail and digital marketing.

In his spare time Chris is a keen fly fisherman and filmmaker – recently exec producing the film ‘The End of the Line’  - the world’s first documentary about the devastating effect of overfishing. The film, coupled with Chris’s passion and belief in bringing together big business and good causes to mutual benefit has already led to changed fish sustainability policies of major retailers including Waitrose, M&S and Pret-a-Manger. 

Econsultancy comment on why we've asked Chris to speak and his topic:
Chris has the 'graveyard' slot... but, luckily, he's going to be talking about video, and he's a great presenter. So that should help liven things up at the end of the day! Obviously video is hot news generally online and it can be used for all sorts of purposes. But what interests us most about what Adjust Your Set have been doing is the wide range of (dare we say 'holisitic'..) business purposes that they're putting video to use on, in particular driving commerce for big retail brands like M&S. We've asked Chris to spend his 15mins talking about his vision for the future of video on the web. 

>> Read our blog Q&A with Chris on online video for brands