Brands&Culture Event Launches in New York

​Brands&Culture started in Cannes with an electric launch. Our mission, to help brands meaningfully make, shape and move culture forward resonated with marketers and agencies. Then, B&C made waves in London, sparking conversations and connections that shaped culture-led marketing. Now, Brands&Culture is heading to the beating heart of creativity and ambition - New York City - on April 2nd, 2025.

The evidence is clear: brands will better cultural currency build business equity. And yet, so many marketers struggle with how to engage with culture. In fact, according to a report from Dentsu Creative, while 84 percent of CMOs believe brands must be culturally relevant, 86 percent struggle with effective integration. Clearly, there is a huge learning gap.

Brands&Culture is based on the premise that some brands ignore culture, some brands imitate culture, some brands react to culture, but the best brands shape culture. This requires deep work and a meaningful commitment to be a part of culture rather than exploit or hijack culture. 

Speakers confirmed so far include:

• Josh Dean, vice president Johnnie Walker and Buchanan's, Diageo
• Devin Colleran, director, global brand, Tinder
• Damon Jones, chief communications officer, P&G
• Kelly Buchanan Spillers, global VP, head of digital and social, CeraVe DMI, L’Oréal
• Josh Penny, director of social impact, Hinge
• Jackie Widmann, VP, head of marketing and commercial, Bero
• Carly Zipp, global director of brand marketing, Amazon Ads
• Gemma Craven, CMO, Everand, Scribd, Slideshare
• Rebecca Lupesco, brand marketing director, Duke's Mayo
• Zara Mirza, chief brand officer, TIAA
• Jameka Pankey, head of experiential for artist, Amazon Music
• Michael Lee, EVP and creative director, Oatly
• Jinal Shah, GM and CMO, Zip US
• Ana Andjelic, author, "Hitmakers:How Brands Influence Culture", former CBO, Esprit  
• Shibani Potnis, CMO, Norseland, former VP - enterprise marketing excellence, The Campbell’s Company
• Rob Mayhew, content creator
• Jim Lesser, chief brand officer, ServiceNow
• Dario Calmese, founder and creative director, The Institute of Black Imagination
• Chrysi Philalithes, chief purpose officer, Es Devlin 
• Dr. Marcus Collins, advisory chairman, TripTK
• Dan Salkey, strategy partner, Small World 
• Lach Hall, executive chair marketing, Vacation Inc.
• Ramon Soto, senior vice president, chief marketing and communications officer at Northwell Health and President, Northwell Studios
• Joey Zeelen,  managing director EMEA, STRAT7 Crowd DNA
• Kirsten Ludwig, co-founder, In Good Co
• Chris Danton, chief of ideas, In Good Co
• Cheryl Miller Houser, founder, Creative Breed
• Maeva Bambuck, producer, Storyteller

Topics the event will explore include:

• How your brand can make a meaningful (non-exploitative, non hijacking) impact in culture
• Why you should play the long-game, why is patience key and how to sustain momentum  in cultural endeavours
• What 'good' cultural intelligence really means and how to spin insights into gold
• How you can get business buy-in to what might be perceived as 'risky' or non-traditional marketing activities and convince internal stakeholders of a financial and brand payoff
• Why misfires are inevitable, how can you mitigate them, and what you can learn from those who have been there, done that
• How to measure the impact of culture-led brand activities 
• Arts & Entertainment tapping into the power of reading culture:The Everand Everything Club​
  

The team behind B&C are ex-Cannes Lions and Contagious execs who saw a clear need for an event of this kind.

For more information about the event email here.