Agenda

What to expect?

In a fiercely competitive market, Aldi Ireland stands out with a clear, purpose-led approach to social - proving that relatable, values-driven content makes an impact. Amy Lynch shares practical examples of how Aldi communicates its brand values through storytelling, maintaining a consistent tone and personality across every touchpoint to bridge the gap between online and offline.

Key takeaways:

1. How Aldi Ireland uses relatable, purpose-led content to stand out in a competitive market.

2. Practical ways to communicate brand values through storytelling

3. How to plan a social strategy that keeps pace in a fast-moving landscape.

What to expect?

Why do some posts stop you mid-scroll while others disappear unnoticed? Phill Agnew, host of the UK's #1 marketing podcast Nudge, draws on behavioural science to reveal the cognitive biases shaping how people really respond to social content, and shows how marketers can put these same principles to work to capture attention and drive engagement.

Key takeaways:

1. Why your posts get overlooked despite your best efforts, and what behavioural science reveals about how to craft posts that actually earn your audience’s attention

2. Real examples of behavioural science at work in social content that performs

3. A repeatable approach for applying these principles to your own social media marketing.

What to expect?

Not every brand can be funny, risky, or reactive, but that doesn't mean they can't be engaging. This session looks at how brands in serious or heavily regulated spaces, from charities to public sector organisations, can create content that connects, stays culturally relevant, and earns attention without compromising on credibility.

Key takeaways:

1. How to turn serious or sensitive subject matter into engaging content

2. How to be culturally relevant and jump on trends when there's a long approval chain

3. Practical tactics for charities, public sector, and other highly regulated brands to build strong social presences within real constraints.

What to expect?

Dr. Alex Connock explores how agentic AI - systems that plan, decide, and act autonomously, is transforming the way brands communicate, content gets created, and audiences are reached. This session offers a view of what's already shifting, what's coming next, and how to position yourself and your organisation ahead of the curve.

Key takeaways:

1. Understand the fundamental difference between generative AI and agentic AI, and what that distinction means for brand strategy, content pipelines and campaign planning.

2. An understanding of how autonomous AI agents are beginning to influence content discovery, audience targeting and the creation and distribution of content, and what that means for creative professionals in practice.

3. Challenge your perception of where the competitive advantage lies and how that's changing everything for content and marketing teams designing, supervising, and collaborating with AI agents.

What to expect?

This is a uniquely challenging public‑sector campaign where the Senedd had to find their voice and purpose as a non‑biased organisation. Their central question for months was: What’s our call to action when we can’t tell people what to do? What are we saying? What’s our role?

Key takeaways:

1.  Tactics for making complex public service information accessible and engaging

2. Balancing risk and reward working with creators, influencers and humour as a public sector organisation

3. How to build a campaign strategy around purpose when a direct call to action isn’t an option

What to expect?

This is a uniquely challenging public‑sector campaign where the Senedd had to find their voice and purpose as a non‑biased organisation. Their central question for months was: What’s our call to action when we can’t tell people what to do? What are we saying? What’s our role?

Key takeaways:

1. Tactics for making complex public service information accessible and engaging

2. Balancing risk and reward working with creators, influencers and humour as a public sector organisation

3. How to build a campaign strategy around purpose when a direct call to action isn’t an option

What to expect?

For the broadcasting and streaming industry, social media has become one of the most powerful and most demanding marketing channels they own. This panel brings together leading voices from ITV Studios, 4Studio and S4C to explore how social content has evolved into a critical tool for driving audiences to commissioned programming, building talent profiles and sustaining viewer engagement across an entire series run, but also how social media viewing is now just as valuable as traditional TV viewing.

The panel will discuss the formats working hardest on social right now, how broadcaster expectations around companion content are rising, and where the boundary between marketing content and original digital commission is starting to blur.

Key takeaways:

1. The volume of social content required to support a modern broadcast commission is substantial. The panel explores how that expectation is being built into briefs, budgets and workflows from the outset.

2. Hear how ITV Studios, 4Studio (Channel 4) and S4C are using platform-native content to drive tune-in, build audiences and extend the life of commissioned programming, and which formats and approaches are delivering results right now.

3. Where the line is drawn between marketing content and original digital commissioning. 

What to expect?

For the broadcasting and streaming industry, social media has become one of the most powerful and most demanding marketing channels they own. This panel brings together leading voices from ITV Studios, 4Studio and S4C to explore how social content has evolved into a critical tool for driving audiences to commissioned programming, building talent profiles and sustaining viewer engagement across an entire series run, but also how social media viewing is now just as valuable as traditional TV viewing.

The panel will discuss the formats working hardest on social right now, how broadcaster expectations around companion content are rising, and where the boundary between marketing content and original digital commission is starting to blur.

Key takeaways:

1. The volume of social content required to support a modern broadcast commission is substantial. The panel explores how that expectation is being built into briefs, budgets and workflows from the outset.

2. Hear how ITV Studios, 4Studio (Channel 4) and S4C are using platform-native content to drive tune-in, build audiences and extend the life of commissioned programming, and which formats and approaches are delivering results right now.

3. Where the line is drawn between marketing content and original digital commissioning. 

What to expect?

For the broadcasting and streaming industry, social media has become one of the most powerful and most demanding marketing channels they own. This panel brings together leading voices from ITV Studios, 4Studio and S4C to explore how social content has evolved into a critical tool for driving audiences to commissioned programming, building talent profiles and sustaining viewer engagement across an entire series run, but also how social media viewing is now just as valuable as traditional TV viewing.

The panel will discuss the formats working hardest on social right now, how broadcaster expectations around companion content are rising, and where the boundary between marketing content and original digital commission is starting to blur.

Key takeaways:

1. The volume of social content required to support a modern broadcast commission is substantial. The panel explores how that expectation is being built into briefs, budgets and workflows from the outset.

2. Hear how ITV Studios, 4Studio (Channel 4) and S4C are using platform-native content to drive tune-in, build audiences and extend the life of commissioned programming, and which formats and approaches are delivering results right now.

3. Where the line is drawn between marketing content and original digital commissioning. 

What to expect?

For many organisations, the success of paid social isn't measured in straightforward sales or easy numbers - which makes proving its value a challenge. This session covers how to set meaningful objectives, what actually needs tracking, and how to report the true impact of paid social to senior stakeholders.

Key takeaways:

1. How to set meaningful objectives and measure the impact of paid social when success isn't only about sales.

2. How to report the value of your campaigns to senior stakeholders in terms they care about.

3. Meta wants AI to run your ads. What to do for organisations who can't afford to get it wrong.

What to expect?

While AI search is reshaping how brands get discovered, the credibility signals that build trust have always mattered: PR, social presence, reviews, and community conversation, and now LLMs and search engines are evaluating them together to decide which brands to surface. This session explores how to build genuine brand trust across all your touchpoints.

Key takeaways:

1. Why you shouldn't invest in social media in isolation - brand trust is built across channels

2. How LLMs and search engines read your social presence to judge brand credibility, and what that means for the touchpoints you prioritise.

3. Practical ways to strengthen your brand's trust signals across platforms so you stay visible as AI-driven search (GEO) becomes an important new gateway to discovery

What to expect?

Whether you're a student, just starting out, or weighing up your next move, building a career in social can feel uncertain - so who better to learn from than those who've done it and those who hire for it? This panel brings together a content professional who's worked her way up to top roles and an agency director who recruits and develops social media and marketing talent, for an honest conversation on how to get noticed, get hired, and get promoted.

Key takeaways:

1. What employers look for in new talent in 2026 - essential for anyone early in their social media career.

2. What it really takes to progress to senior roles in social, for ambitious marketers hungry for their next move.

3. Honest advice on getting noticed and going after the career you want, whatever stage you're at.

What to expect?

Working in social is a lot. Let's talk about it. This is an honest conversation about the real pressures of working in social: the always-on culture, the very public mistakes, the comparison, the burnout. Our speakers have been in the weeds of it and are here to share what they've learned, what helped, and what they wish someone had told them sooner.

Key takeaways:

1. Honest perspectives on the pressures unique to social media roles

2. The confidence that what you're feeling is shared, and that there are ways through it

3. Practical things that have actually helped - from people who've been through it

What to expect?

Working in social is a lot. Let's talk about it. This is an honest conversation about the real pressures of working in social: the always-on culture, the very public mistakes, the comparison, the burnout. Our speakers have been in the weeds of it and are here to share what they've learned, what helped, and what they wish someone had told them sooner.

Key takeaways:

1. Honest perspectives on the pressures unique to social media roles

2. The confidence that what you're feeling is shared, and that there are ways through it

3. Practical things that have actually helped - from people who've been through it

What to expect?

Creators consistently outperform brand accounts on engagement, which means working with them is no longer a nice-to-have, it's a core part of the marketing mix. This discussion cuts through the confusion with two perspectives - a creator and an agency who work with influencers every day - on what the process looks like and where brands most often go wrong. From finding the right fit to knowing what to write in the contract, this is the session that fills the gap between knowing you should do it and actually knowing how.

Key takeaways:

1. What a fair brief, budget and contract actually looks like - from both sides of the table

2. What a good creator - brand relationship looks like, and what to avoid

3. The ASA rules on disclosure and how to make sure your campaigns are compliant

What to expect?

Creators consistently outperform brand accounts on engagement, which means working with them is no longer a nice-to-have, it's a core part of the marketing mix. This discussion cuts through the confusion with two perspectives - a creator and an agency who work with influencers every day - on what the process looks like and where brands most often go wrong. From finding the right fit to knowing what to write in the contract, this is the session that fills the gap between knowing you should do it and actually knowing how.

Key takeaways:

1. What a fair brief, budget and contract actually looks like - from both sides of the table

2. What a good creator - brand relationship looks like, and what to avoid

3. The ASA rules on disclosure and how to make sure your campaigns are compliant

What to expect?

Three members of the community take to the stage to share their boldest opinions and biggest talking points in social, marketing, and creative. Expect honest disagreement, different perspectives, and a reminder that in this industry there's rarely a single right answer.

Key takeaways:

1. A range of genuine, differing viewpoints on the topics dividing the industry right now 

2. Hear the reasoning and considerations behind each side, so you can form a more rounded view of your own

3. Permission to sit with nuance - a reminder that good social and creative thinking rarely comes down to simple right or wrong