Highlighting just a small selection of presentation topics and themes we are eloquently able to address:

The Majority Report: Media Opportunities in 2030

In a disinter-mediated world, where 50% of today’s jobs will have been automated, what will the role and relationship of brands, agencies and publishers be? How will we humans survive and succeed in the future where technology prevails across all media and processes? Will we all be left to fend over a Universal Basic Income or will we raise the bar in our human capability to adapt? If you want to be viable beyond the next decade, it will take a radical rethink in contextually relevant creativity. Presented in an engaging format that challenges perceptions and beliefs, Jonathan and Dean turn different lenses to today’s bleeding-edge developments in technology, business and society to unearth the possibilities of tomorrow. Join us on a journey beyond…

Themes: Media / Future / Vision / Creativity / Sociology

Future Leader: An Anatomy of Inspiration

As the world evolves deeper and deeper into the Gig Economy, the old forms of good leadership are melting away. Accepting this change and maintaining enthusiasm for the very changes that are inevitable within every company is key to leading employees who will need to be creative, adaptive and flexible. The successes of the future will not be about the corner office or the ways in which hierarchies are firmly maintained. And, unlike in the past, pure vision won’t get leaders over the hill either without the proper tools. Gain the upper-hand by understanding the tendencies and practices of future leaders who harness the core components of the modern workforce and have fathomed the depths of Millenial mindsets. Jonathan and Dean challenge you to spend an hour with us to learn the tools that will guide you to inspire, educate and release others toward success.

Themes: Leadership / Environment / Strategy / Business / Transformation / Vision

Human Technology: Nature, Nurture or Neurons?

Some of the biggest developments in history began with the question, ‘What If?’ And, many paradigm-shifting examples of the response bordered on the absurd. As technology gets bigger and stronger, for many the fear is that it will simply replace humans altogether. Yet, within exponential growth, there is a huge opportunity for us in moving beyond computing as we know it, if we could just see ourselves as the progenitors of change. The answer lies in becoming even more intrinsically ‘human’ and ties back to how we tell stories and make connections where they might not otherwise be seen. Showcasing examples where human capacity and technology interact: to de-construct challenges; stretch them to the absurd; and, recognize what is required to break through, forms the core of what Dean and Jonathan use to convey the creative possibilities that exist if we’d just ‘get out of our own way’.

Themes: Creativity / Technology / Branding / AI / Sociology

Tomorrow’s Audience: Tech Specs of the Future Consumer

Which of today’s technologies should we consider when planning for our audience of tomorrow? As challenger brands become “big-time huge” and then become practically non-existent over the course of a few quarterly earnings reports, what are manufacturers, financiers, retailers and other consumer-facing entities to do in order to not be stuck like a deer-in-the-headlights? Ultimately, there are core “tech specs” that dictate the roadmap for the product development, strategic partnerships and systems interfaces that will turn your reliant endeavour into a future money maker. Dean and Jonathan highlight the relevant feature sets and rules of assessment that will enable you to maintain relevancy with your corporately-conscious consumer – regardless of the unicorn they rode in on.

Themes: Consumers / Strategy / Innovation / Future / Development / UX

The Trust Factor: Storytelling in a Ubiquitous World

The next wave of commerce will pave the way for a sensor-based economy that embraces genetics as much as Artificial Intelligence. Fuelled by a desire for content-on-demand and ease-of-transaction – it culminates in Hyper-Psychometric Personalisation that is set to connect everyone and every touch-point, everywhere. Neuromarketing sits poised to offer unparalleled data, addressable technology seeks to attract hyper-qualified consumers, and hidden within this emerging digital world is the utopian promise of personalised storytelling – across all media – with a familiarity reminiscent of traditional local shopkeepers. Dean and Jonathan ask how do we manage brand storytelling, whilst protecting consumers from being commoditized, within such a transparent society?

Themes: Positioning / Consumers / Branding / Targeting / Commerce / Analytics

2020 Television: Evolution or Revolution?

Fragmented. Expensive. Inflexible. Disingenuous. Obese. That’s reality TV for the new millennial viewer. The simple pleasure of our audiovisual viewing has been hijacked – and we are all being held hostage. Television has evolved into paying huge amounts for bargain basement content, hidden behind ridiculous fire-walled interfaces, with the caveat you can watch it on a mobile with insanely irrelevant advertising that is neither interesting nor targeted – it’s totally and utterly unsustainable. Technology was supposed to make our lives simple! Maybe it will, but first we need a revolution. And it needs to start now… So take this as ‘A call to arms to create clarity and choice for the 21st Century TV consumer’.

Themes: Television / Media / Gaming / Vision / Engagement / UX

It’s always enjoyable to get feedback from brands and agencies around the world who have afforded the time to attend the various sessions – especially from those whose English is not their native tongue. So don’t take our word for it; here is a selection of what others are saying:

“Maybe I’m just less conversant with the future than I should be, but in several years of attending knowledge conferences around the world (including Cannes Lions), this session [on Future Media] by Jonathan Tavss & Dean Donaldson is one of the best I’ve seen!”
Narayan Devanathan, Group Strategy Officer, Dentsu APAC

“You were fantastic! Feedback we’ve had has been amazing and so many people have commented on how entertaining, thought provoking and inspiring the session was.”
Lester Mordue | PromaxBDA Director, Europe

“Digital visionaries who makes you instantly re-think strategy and approach with solid facts and information. At a recent presentation you invigorated my will to make further changes within the business at Activision. Truly inspirational!”
Mark Cox, European Digital Marketing Manager, Activision, UK

My whole team was impressed by your ability to see and communicate the big picture. Along with your confident
strategic vision and technical understanding, this was a key factor in the success of many collaborations.
Michael Schwalm | Managing Director, PSM&W Media, Frankfurt, Germany

“An outstanding and thought provoking presentation on the Internet of Things, helping people practically understand the impacts of Near Field Communication upon the media world. The highlight of our Samsung Developer Day 2013!”
Erin Ericson, Senior Business Development Manager, Samsung Media Solutions Center Europe

“‘What an impressive guy!! That presentation was a real kick in the butt. Is he available to speak to clients? They need to hear this stuff!’ I wanted to share just a few comments resulting from your outstanding presentation to the Digitas Chicago staff. We have speakers come in all the time who are leaders in the industry and experts in their field. But rarely do we have the pleasure of listening to a true evangelist who combines compelling storytelling with a real vision of where we need to be headed to help our clients be successful. I can’t thank you enough!”
Colleen Whitney, SVP / Media Director, Digitas Chicago

“It’s always well appreciated to get a macro perspective on forward thinking where the focus is on the shift, so that the right fundamentals get laid down for the minute things turn… as we all know, things tend to happen overnight and then you find yourself late in the game. Being cognizant of these changing trends will be critical as we continue to plan ahead and really, for the shift in engagement. Thanks for the great presentation… you could tell we were all very engaged.”
Kat Chung, Associate Director, Digital, Initiative LA

“On behalf of the whole EGTA team, I wanted to thank you for your participation in the MediaConnect. Your input really contributed to the success of this event. We had very positive feedback from the ‘VIPs’ of the European Commission who were present, and they appreciated very much the concrete examples and business insights you provided them with – and are very confident that it will help them in the revision of the Green Paper on Connected TV and generally, the legislation of our industry.”
Anne-Laure Dreyfus, Communications Manager, EGTA – Association of Television and Radio sales houses

“All the comments we have received from the EU Ministers for Culture after the meeting are so positive and your participation was of the key importance being it successful.”
Laimonas Ubavicius, Attache for Media Policy, Audiovisual and Copyright, Permanent Representation of Lithuania to the EU

“An interesting debate in the EU Council about converged media with a real futurologist, showcasing the digital future for connected citizens and what’s ahead of us…”
Alexandra Ekkelenkamp, Press Officer, EU Council Press

“Totally inspiring. We simply need a deck like that!”
Carl Fremont, Global Media Director, Digitas New York

“Just wanted to thank you properly for your great innovative presentations in Tokyo yesterday! You ROCKED! Despite of early Monday morning session, you two got the Japanese audience excited with your energetic and fun speech.”
Ayumi Ai, Microsoft Advertising Trade Marketing, Japan

“You were a moderator’s dream! I would like to tap your insights about other trends and issues sometime in the future.”
Anna Maria Virzi, Executive Editor, The ClickZ Network

“Well this has been remarkable. Definitely one of the better presentations we’ve seen in a long time.”
Matt Wood, Manager of Media Development, Razorfish Seattle

“Thank you again for making the trip out to our corner of the country – the presentation was well received and I’ve had very positive feedback since the event!”
Meagan Minus, Sr. Media Project Manager, Ad Products, Revenue Operations & Strategic Services, Disney Interactive Media Group, Seattle

“Thank you an inspiring seminar in London this Monday/Tuesday.”
Lars Høngaard, Marketing & Publicity Manager, Sony Pictures, Denmark

“ALMOST goes without saying how much you were appreciated at this first-year conference.  The compliments are pouring in and you are at the top of the list of admired keynotes we had. You’ve got a great spot there and I’m sure thankful to have you as an asset, spreading the good word.”
Shawn Rorick, Event Chair, Digital World Expo, Las Vegas

“Thank you again for your speech at the partner engagement event in Hungary. It was a brilliant speech – as always!”
Anita Geiger, APS Marketing Lead CEMEA, Microsoft Advertising

“Many thanks for your participation at our digital video meeting yesterday. It was in fact the perfect set up for our day, we referred back to your presentation many times.”
Joe Barone, Managing Director, Digital Ad Operations, Group M New York

“It was a pleasure meeting you at last week’s Pushing Boundaries: Connecting digital media trends happy hour and I wanted to thank you again for your participation as keynote speaker. Your presentation was highly informative and engaging, and we’ve been receiving wonderful feedback! We hope that you enjoyed the event as well and would love to have you back for another Pushing Boundaries.”
Katie Sinnett, Integration Manager, FRWD Co., Minneapolis 

“I just wanted to reach out to you to thank you again for speaking at our meeting. The presentation was perfect! You blew everyone’s mind and overwhelmed them. It was exactly what we wanted to do. It was a pleasure meeting you.”
Steve Muscato, Brand Marketing Manager, Bridgestone Retail Operations, LLC, US

“Great presentation!! Should you be visiting Munich again and have time, we would appreciate you coming by!”
Gregor Abt, Geschäftsführer, mailandsale GmbH, München, Germany

“It was great seeing you last week in Miami and terrific presentation!  I can’t tell you how many comments I heard and have seen since the summit about how well you can work a room and put together a powerpoint.”
Jason Haffar, Director, Sales, iMedia Communications, Inc., Laguna Hills, CA.

“I wanted to say thanks again for an awesome presentation yesterday. I left inspired with some great take aways and some pretty good talking points as well.”
Garrio Harrison, President dblthink, Minneapolis

“Just a quick note to say thanks so much for coming in yesterday – your talk was terrific. I’ve had lots of positive feedback from people, so I hope you didn’t take the absence of questions as an indication of anything other than stunned silence And don’t think it went unnoticed that the book having its barcode scanned on one of your slides was Snowcrash – nice touch ;)”
Ben Lunt, Head of Hypermedia, London

“Thanks again for everything today. Great deck and you’re a terrific presenter. You definitely drew a healthy response in attendees for the breakfast, plus another 15 or so on the web conference.”
Lisa Kerr, VP, Market Development, Online Publisher’s Association, New York

“I’ve gotten really good feedback so far and I definitely think we will want to have you in again – potentially for a client engagement.  I thought it was really a compelling presentation with lots of dots connected in a way that should help our teams start thinking in a different way.  Thanks again for coming.”
Kevin Hartbarger, Midwest Regional Director, Digital, OMD Chicago

“We are excited to share with you that during the two days of IAB Conecta we had more than 900 participants. Among them, 400 eager marketers ready to learn about strategies and recent happenings in the Interactive Marketing industry. Your participation was key to the success of IAB Conecta 2010 and the Mexican Digital Marketing Industry. The feedback we received was amazing. Thank you for making this year’s IAB Conecta so special!”
Bianca W. Loew, Director General, IAB México

“I loved the presentation that you gave last week in Mexico at de IAB Conecta!”
Pablo Cortina, Supervisor de Cuenta, WebAr Interactive, Argentina

“I had the pleasure of choosing your Spotlight [at iMedia Florida] and loved your presentation. What I saw in your presentation is exactly the message I try to deliver to prospective clients… it was in my humble opinion, the best part of the Summit!”
Maryalice Peterson, Merchant Content, Localeze

“On behalf of Microsoft Advertising I would like to send a big thank you for taking part in our Rich Media Rock roadshows last week! It really was a valuable opportunity for both the audience and Microsoft Advertising to learn from your expertise and experience working with Rich Media. Feedback we’ve received from the audience shows they very much enjoyed your talk, which has in turn sparked other lively conversations about the topic amongst those in attendance.”
Vineet Gupta, Marketing Lead, Microsoft Advertising, India

“I really enjoyed your presentation during this week’s ClickZ event in New York… congratulations.”
Phillip Klien, Predicta, Brazil

“Thanks for a terrific presentation [at iMedia Entertainment Summit] last week!”
Brad Berens, Chief Content Officer, DMG World Media

“Just wanted to say thanks for coming in. The discussion was timely and very thought provoking. We all look forward to finding creative, relevant, and effective ways to reach consumers.”
Danisha Wright, Assistant Media Planner, AKQA San Francisco

“Just want to say a big thank you for the presentation to John Frieda. The client has been amazed by very high quality of the presentation. They are now very excited by all the creative opportunities available for them.”
Marie-Anne Garnier, Buying Manager, Zed Media, London

“I enjoyed the afternoon immensely! I found the ‘evolving nature of media’ you presented be very insightful and relevant to my current role. There was some great info in there. It gave us some excellent insight into the current digital landscape, current agencies/advertiser challenges, how this relates to a publisher as well.”
Andrew Prakash, Campaign Manager, ninemsn, Australia

“Thank you so much for speaking at Swirl today… many people came up to me after saying what an interesting talk it was and how great of a speaker you were. I do think the little Swirl sprockets were turning based on the information you provided in your talk and will provide food for thought starters going forward. All of your information was highly valid and current to the current atmosphere we find ourselves in.”
Annie Leuenberger, Director of Resource Management, Swirl San Francisco

“Thanks so much for taking the time today to come it and talk with us. It was truly an incredible presentation and Greg is going to be super bummed that he missed it! Thanks again and have a fabulous holiday weekend!”
Heather Jenkin, Senior Media Strategist, Swirl San Francisco

“Just wanted to say such a massive thank you for your chat today. Really sorry if it came across as though we were giving you a grilling – it’s just so interesting to hear industry’s perspective on this – I wanted to put the arguments we’ve heard to you so we could better understand your perspective. And I did! We’ve been developing a policy position on this over the last year or so, and have conducted various pieces of market research. Hearing how fast it is all progressing was a real eye opener. Would love to be able to chat with you further on all of this – and I’ll read your blog and thesis with interest.”
Georgina Nelson, In-House Lawyer, Which? UK

“I just wanted to say thank you very very much for this morning (especially after a heavy awards night)! I got an email from Which? saying how useful the session was and how much they really enjoyed it!”
Katie Hemus, interactive media manager, PHD Rocket, London

“I just wanted to say a huge thank you for coming along to the meeting this morning which we all found incredibly informative. I hope you didn’t mind that we went off on a tangent somewhat into wider discussions about privacy and the industries stance on this. It’ s an area that has been widely debated at Which? and it was so useful to hear your viewpoint as someone so actively involved and knowledgeable in this area. It would be really useful to keep in touch if possible to pick your brains as this debate develops. ”
Anna Hillier, Marketing, Which? UK

“A true digital evangelist who is bursting with enthusiasm. He has become an essential part of our client digital days and has a fantastic ability to imbue clients with his contagious digital passion!”
Le’Nise Brothers, Head of Interactive, PHD Rocket, London

“You seem to live and breathe digital advertising – One of the most driven and passionate people I’ve met with regards to his work and has lent a plethora of support to the Microsoft Advertising business over the past few years…”
David Pugh-Jones, Creative Strategist EMEA, Microsoft Advertising

“A rare breed of extremely passionate digital marketer/technologist/ideation master. When I need a fresh, challenging, assumptions-checking perspective on an industry issue or a business problem, you are always a great person with whom to talk it through. Well worth knowing and engaging.”
James Sandoval, Technology & Analytics Director, Neo@Ogilvy

“A true online advertising evangelist – who walks the walk as well as talks the talk. His grasp of the business is second to none and he’s able to really communicate his passion for the business to a non-geek audience. A great all rounder, he knows everything from the nuts and bolts right up to the more esoteric theories – highly recommended.”
David Burrows, Director of Ad Operations, Phorm

“An excellent public speaker who manages to translate the geeky world of online marketing into something that all marketers can relate to. His knowledge about the digital environment and his skills as an evangelist is extremely valuable for all companies operating within new media.”
Even Aas-Eng, VP Digital Media, McCann Worldgroup, Norway

“A passionate and super knowledgeable expert in the digital space. Always thinking creatively and relentlessly pursuing best digital solutions for clients and partners. It has been a fantastic experience working with you!”
Andy Chen, Digital Media Strategy Director, Isobar Global / Carat Global Management

“There is probably no one else in the Rich Media business who knows as much or is as passionate about the subject. One of those people that you know if he’s working with you on a project, innovative and reasonable decisions will be made, and things will work well when they need to, which is a rare thing in the online world…”
Alec McCrindle, Head of Interactive Advertising, Yahoo! Europe

“I would really like to take this opportunity to thank you for joining us in our event ‘The Connection 08’ & make it a huge success. I’m really very glad about how all the event was shaped & from the great presentation that you shared with us! I’m quite sure that everyone who attended the session share with me the same vision.”
Mohamed ElSayad, General Manager, MSN Arabia

“Quite an extraordinary character and a rare breed – a fiery, persuasive and energetic evangelist, a visionary mind and an inspiring creative with endless imagination and drive. More than that, he’s incredibly dynamic, being able to fit into any role, surmount any obstacle and rise to any challenge thrown his way. He is the guy every team needs to breath life and air into the day and bring it all together in time for the deadline. Reliable, courteous, eloquent, charismatic…you could carry on for a while. There simply is no stopping him.”
Alexander Cameron, Owner, Digital TX Limited

“Thank you so much for taking the time to come to Norway to do the roadshow to Carat, Mediaedge, Mediacom and Apt. Everybody enjoyed your presentation.”
Aksel Sørbye, Marketing Manager, Microsoft Advertising, Norway

“Thanks very much for your help with the campaign. Your insight broke down some barriers and I hope that we will have a better campaign as a result.”
Kelly Bennett, Global CMO, Netflix

“Clear, concise and professional. knows his stuff, knows his web.”
Daniel Robey, Managing Director, ThinkJam

“I am writing you an email to share with you the great work you has done the last 3 days in Oslo. The value of presenting the digital landscape and associate it to the our brand is so valuable. Believe me. I was very sceptical about this before I experienced the reaction from the crowd. The MSN team were so excited and positive. They literally told us that what we pulled in 3 days they never would achieve in such a short time period. Keep up the good work.”
Guy Makmel, Easy Concepts, Amsterdam