A behind-the-scenes look at how great creative work gets made, and how to find the story before you try to tell it (or brief it).

Ever briefed a creative team and got back something that completely missed the mark?

The problem usually isn't the creative. It's the story that was never fully formed before the work began.

In this talk, Gael Piñeiro Beiras takes us behind the scenes of her creative process; from the stories her father told her as a child that she still carries today, to the mind mapping and visual references that shape how she approaches every brief.

Her argument is that the most memorable stories don't come from invention. They come from the angle you take, from provocation, and from seeking the unexpected in what already exists.

For founders, in-house marketers, creative directors, and anyone who has ever commissioned creative work and wondered why it didn't land.

Speaker:

• Gael Piñeiro Beiras, Associate Creative Director (formerly Adobe and TikTok)

How game designers and urban designers create stories you can live in, and what marketers can learn about immersive brand experiences.

From Monument Valley to modern cities, the principles are the same: great world-building creates experiences people can move through, believe in, and remember.

Game designers and urban designers have been doing this for decades. Both disciplines shape behaviour and emotion through space, balancing aesthetics with function and guiding how we experience the world around us.

As brands invest in immersive experiences, IRL activations and multi-sensory storytelling, this conversation asks: what can marketers learn from the people who build digital and physical worlds, and how do those lessons shape our thinking about brand experience?

For CMOs, design studios, architects, event producers, built environment experts, and anyone building experiences that need to exist beyond a screen.

Speakers:

• Danny Gray, Chief Creative Officer and Game Director, ustwo games

• George Wade, Principal, Transit Architecture and Placemaking Lead, Arcadis

• Moderator: Maryline Esteves, Strategist, Placemaker and Destination Marketer, Cura

How stories travel across generations, and what brands miss when they only chase younger audiences.

Who shapes the stories we pay attention to, and how has that changed over time?

From oral traditions to digital platforms, storytelling has always been cross-generational. But today, many brands treat the creator economy as a Gen Z game, focusing on platforms and trends while missing the deeper patterns that make stories resonate across age, culture, and context.

YouTube is now the #1 platform across all age groups, and more than half of Gen X audiences engage with influencer content weekly. Yet most brand strategies still skew young, overlooking how influence actually travels.

This panel brings together a publisher, a creator economy strategist, and an influencer marketing expert to explore what brands can learn from storytelling across generations, and what gets lost when we flatten that inheritance into a demographic bracket.

For marketers, creators, content strategists, brand leads, publishers, and anyone whose audience is broader than they think.

Speakers:

• Bibi Bakare-Yusuf, Co-founder and Publishing Director, Cassava Republic Press

• Abi Gyimah, Senior Creator Community Partner Manager, YouTube

• Pete Bamforth, Head of Creative Strategy (Influencer), PMG formerly Digital Voices

• Moderator: Marianne Olaleye, Founder, JAIKU