Future Media Forum 2025 | Ashton Media | 12 March 2025 | Royal Randwick Racecourse, Alison Rd, Randwick NSW 2031, Australia

In the ever-evolving world of advertising, success hinges on staying ahead of the curve. That’s why this Forum is here as your essential guide to navigating the shifting sands of modern paid media. This event is proudly brought to you by Ashton Media, the producers of The Programmatic Summit, The Marketing Tech Symposium, and the Agency Leaders Symposium.

Forum is designed for the key communities in our media landscape: Enterprise Brand Marketers, Agencies, Media Owners and Technology professionals. Bringing together 300+ of the industry’s most influential media executives and the next generation of leaders, and showcasing international keynotes and local pioneers, this Forum will be split into two distinct content tracks:

‘‘Strategic Vision’’ tailored to industry leaders who drive business direction and commercial strategies, and, ‘‘Tactical Execution’’ tailored to experienced media professionals and emerging leaders who are currently building and implementing media, brand, and marketing plans.

Alongside the conference will be the “Experiential Marketplace” allowing partners to utilise clever onsite activations to engage attendees in memorable and impactful ways throughout the day.

Join us as we delve into the future of digital advertising, guided by an unobstructed vision and a commitment to excellence. This Forum is your opportunity to shape the media landscape of tomorrow, one idea at a time.

Key Content Themes
Exploring the intersection of marketing, advertising, technology, and digital media this event will address:

For Brands:
• State of the AU Nation from a Media lens
• Leveraging Your First-Party Data – Gaining a More Holistic View of Your Customers for More Sophisticated Advertising
• Bringing Your Media Team in House: When Does it Make Sense? Why Are We Seeing More Brands Go Down this Road?
• Retail Media – What Potential Do Walled Gardens Offer Brands?

For Agencies:
• The importance to plan for declining TV spend in a segmented way – The Art of Planning
• The Need to Evolve Agency Team Structures and Business Models
• What Legislative Changes Does Your Team Need to Be Across and Bridging the Education Gap To Clients
• Efficiency and Automation in your Agency – Removing the Grunt Work

For Media Owners:
• How Do You Master the Management of New Distribution Channels CTV, DOOH, Retail Media and Audio?
• Optimising in RealTime?
• How do we define and quantify attention in a world saturated with digital content and short attention spans?
• With metrics complement or conflict with attention as a primary metric? How does attention correlate with long-term brand-building and customer loyalty?

Here’s what you can expect
• Inspiring Speakers
International and local speakers have been hand selected by an experienced Advisory Board of your peers
• The Industry’s Elite
The adtech conference attracting most the influential minds
• Simply the Best in Adtech Content
Find out the latest in adtech and get an idea of what the future holds
• A Forum for Brilliant Ideas
Create the spark that only comes from great content meeting amazing networking

2025 Speakers

Ruth Haffenden
Former Chief Marketing Officer, Boody & Marketing Academy Alumni

Sarah Sorrenson
Global Head of Media, Diageo

Fiona Bateman
Head of Brand and Media, Menulog

Roger Dunn
Global Retail Media Lead, Diageo

Alessandro Cusmano
VP Performance Marketing, American Express

Louise King
Telecommunications, Media and Technology Industry Leader & Many Hats Lead Partner, PwC Australia

Willem Paling
Head of Analytics, IAG

Georgia Thomas
Director of Brand, Media and Comms, THE ICONIC

Cat Douglas
Head of Digital and Media, Haleon

Melody Townsend
General Manager – Group Marketing, Bank of Queensland Group

Carolyn Baveystock
Head of Media, Digital & Tech, PepsiCo

Greg Kearney
Executive Manager, Media (Marketing), Suncorp

Chris Gartside
Director of Data and Analytics, PepsiCo

Paayal Dharmani
Head of Digital Marketing, Sydney Opera House

Kate Roscrow
Brand and Media Manager, Forty Winks

Benjamin Malfatti
Digital Media Manager, Menulog

Sian Whitnall
Co-CEO, OMD Australia

Jason Tonelli
CEO, Zenith

Marelle Salib
Chief Investment Officer, OMD

Paula Malysevaite
Head of Digital, PHD Sydney

Taylor Svarc
National Head of Transformation, OMD Australia

Elizabeth Baker
Chief Investment Officer, Zenith

Josh Hover
Group Digital Director, PHD Sydney

Nikki Rooke
Director of Sales – Total Television, Nine

Jess Cheng
Head of Marketing, The Lottery Office

Peter Wilson
Head of Digital, Nunn Media

Stephen Leeds
CEO, The Media Store

Andrew Pascoe
Head of Product, Hatched

Lauren Thornborough
Client Partner, UM Australia

Thomas Bates
Head of Digital Media & Transformation – Westpac Group, Spark Foundry

Vibhor Kapoor
Chief Business Officer, Adroll

Michael Levine
Head of Advertising Sales ANZ, Uber Advertising

Christopher Eden
Head of Programmatic Media, Australia & NZ, Google

Udara Withana
Director, Research & Insights, APAC, Ogury

Helen Girdlestone
Head of Agency Development, LinkedIn

2025 Sponsors

• Google
• TheTradeDesk
• Nexxen
• AdRoll
• Agury
• Meta
• Uber Advertising
• Linkedin
• Realstate.com.au
• Magnite
• PubMatic
• Acast
• The Marketing Academy
• IMAA
• UnLtd
• The Village