19 November 2025 | The Londoner, Leicester Square
Speakers
Dexter Fletcher is a British film director and actor. He has appeared in Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, as well as in television shows such as the comedy drama Hotel Babylon and the HBO series Band of Brothers and, earlier in his career, starred as Spike Thomson in the comedy drama Press Gang. His earliest acting role was playing Baby Face in the 1976 film Bugsy Malone.
Fletcher made his directorial debut with Wild Bill (2011), and also directed Sunshine on Leith (2013) and Eddie the Eagle (2015). He replaced Bryan Singer as director of Bohemian Rhapsody, a biopic about the band Queen, released in October 2018; due to DGA rules, he received executive producer credit. In 2019, he directed Rocketman, a biographical film based on the life and music of performer Elton John.
As an attorney, Steve advises APA members on contracts, copyright and production issues. Under his leadership, the APA has built on its core functions to provide members with new services, including marketing advice and opportunities to connect with new markets locally and internally through the APA Show and The Future of Advertising.
He also founded the Masterclass; a course that trains 110 producers per year. In addition, he has developed business initiatives and ensured the APA is a respected and effective advocate for its members’ interests.
Steve is a member of the APA Council, of the board of the Advertising Association and Vice President of the CFPE, as well as one of the founders of the World Producers Summit.
Jonny Parker joined VCCP in 2006 as Creative Director following stints at Farm, PD3 and indie-shop Devilfish, working on accounts including Smart Car, Heinz and Sega. 16 years later, and together with Chris Birch, he now leads the 60-strong creative department as Joint Executive Creative Director of VCCP London.
Since joining forces in 2013, the duo have created work for some of the agency's biggest clients and are renowned for work 'Mum's birthday', Cadbury Twirl Presale, and Dairy Milk's 'Donate your words' and have brought generosity back to the heart of Britain's most loved chocolate brand, Cadbury.
As a celebrated creative, Parker is also highly awarded and has won numerous D&AD Pencils, Creative Circles, Cannes Lions, Campaign Bigs, Kinsale Sharks, and even the odd Best Trolley Ad. Parker is also passionate about the next generation of creatives and leads by example, prioritising his time for workshops for junior creatives and prospective students.
Eliot has extensive experience in agency, in-house and client-side production. Since joining the IPA, the UK trade body for advertising and media agencies as Head of Production, he has been giving advice on production matters to member agencies and developing policy and best practice within the industry.
Eliot runs the IPA’s:
Production Policy Group
Business Affairs Group
Integrated Production Group
Agency Production Company Group
And takes a particular interest in Sustainability, DE&I, fair and ethical dealings with all talent and suppliers, raising the value and profile of agency production and improving the welfare of everyone involved in making advertising.
Private Island is a London-based Mixed-Media Production Paradise.
We direct, produce and post unconventional commercials for the world's best brands, agencies and platforms.
Over the last eight years, Director Chris Boyle and EP Helen Power have established PI as an (occasionally) serious contender in comedy-driven, VFX-heavy commercials, delivering films for Adobe, Bud Light, Ikea, Call of Duty, FIFA 22, Alienware, Pokémon, and Nike.
Most importantly, we created our own brand of PI Rum (and a Christmas Album).
PI studio has been an early adopter of AI, delivering commercial campaigns using Deepfaking and LLMs for Wieden Kennedy and Machine learning animation for Uncommon Creative Studio and Saatchi and Saatchi.
Our viral AI experiments have had tens of millions of views, been featured in the New York Times, and lovingly described by the global press as 'A hallucinogenic nightmare!', 'What hell looks like!' and 'Joyful monstrosities!'
Despite, or in fact because of this, Private Island remains committed to seeing AI as a tool that, when used ethically and creatively, can supercharge the future of moving image.
Amy Charlotte Kean is a bestselling author, poet, creative sociologist, public speaker, diversity activist, futurist, cult leader, experimenter and rampant people pleaser. Hey, it works.
She’s also founder of Six Things Impossible, a creativity and culture company. If you need fresh ideas, creative experimentation, brand prominence and a recharged company culture that lets imaginations flourish… Six Things Impossible is the only place you should go. I’m not even joking.
Simon Connor is a Creative Director at VCCP London. A writer with a design degree that seemed to fall into the ideal career 20 years ago, he has created work for BBC, The National Lottery, Honda, O2 and many more. He counts the copy on the back of millions and millions of Walkers crisps packets as a career highlight (it's still there) as well as Ad of the Year for Cadbury 'Garage' and Best Commercial for Cadbury 'Speakerphone' amongst others.
He turns up the TV in even numbers and gestures too much with his hands. He has winched a piano into a cave and flooded a living room all in the name of work. He founded an award winning beer brand that gives all profits to Prostate Cancer UK, hijacked The Bank of England vote to make Raheem Sterling the new face of the £20 note and Elton John complained about his poster and made him take them all down.
Rich Adkins is currently co-Head of Production at W+K London where he ensures a consistent quality of craft for the work and helps evolve the agency into a creative company with new areas of output, most recently helping lead W+K's foray into longform entertainment. He started his career 18 years ago at BBH, producing anything from ad-funded TV programming to early virtual reality and content production for brands including Johnnie Walker, Vodafone and Burberry. After several years at BBH, his focus shifted towards film craft, freelancing in the world of TV commercials at various agencies. He's been at W+K London for the past 10 years, producing global, award-winning productions for Three Mobile, Sainsbury's, Warner Brothers, Nike, TK Maxx, and Malibu before becoming joint Head of Production in 2022.
Asad is the Chief Executive Officer of The Unmistakables, an award winning consultancy that works with people & organisations with the ambition and desire to embed equity, diversity & inclusion in order to create long term impact.
The Unmistakables helps marketers and agencies increase their cultural confidence. They develop more inclusive agencies, brands, campaigns and communications through a considered combination of thought partnering, context-driven learning programmes strategy building and providing practical roadmaps, tools and frameworks and work with the likes of Cannes Lions, Unilever, HSBC, BBH, Mother and Penguin Random House.
Prior to founding the business in 2018, Asad led senior marketing and communications roles - both in-house and at Omnicom and IPG agencies. He has set world records, topped award lists and been named a changemaker by Oystercatchers, The Drum and The Dots. He previously volunteered as the director of communications for Pride in London and was a trustee of akt, a leading LGBT+ homelessness charity in the UK. He is currently a Fellow at the RSA.
Programme
09:00
Registration | Breakfast
Enjoy a coffee and a pastry with colleagues, friends, maybe do a little networking and make some new ones.
09:45
Welcome
shots editors Danny Edwards and Jamie Madge are excited to welcome you and open the day’s proceedings.
09:50
APA & IPA Together on Stage
This session promises to be a frank, funny and possibly fiery exchange about how the business of making ads is evolving. From producers fighting for fair budgets, creative freedom and recognition of the craft, to agencies wrestling with tighter margins, tougher clients and the need to keep ideas moving fast. Featuring an open-floor Q&A, giving the audience the chance to quiz two vital trade bodies on the issues shaping the future of commercial production.
Speakers: Steve Davies, APA and Eliot Liss, IPA
10:30
Airheads: when did
everybody become so stupid?
With deep fakes plaguing the internet, staged social content going viral, and ridiculous political rhetoric being accepted, technology has placed an illusionary layer over reality, and with AI replacing the mouths of millions, where are all the real voices? This session will investigate why it’s so easy to dupe the general population, what factors drive what we do and don’t believe, and what the rise of fake content means for creativity.
Speaker: Amy Charlotte Kean, Good Shout
11:20
No laughing matter: The serious business of comedy in advertising?
Against a backdrop of global misery and challenges, the role of laughter has never been more crucial, and advertising never more in need of humour. Amid the gloom, audiences crave moments of relief, making it essential for brands to embrace wit and playfulness in their storytelling. Humour doesn’t just entertain, it connects, disarms and reminds people of their shared humanity. In this session, VCCP’s CCO Jonny Parker, and creatives Simon Connor and Alice Goodrich, explore why comedy remains a powerful tool to cut through the noise, humanise brands and create connection. And, most importantly, they explain how we can infuse more comedy into our commercials.
Speakers: Jonny Parker CCO, VCCP, Simon Connor CD, VCCP & Alice Goodrich Creative, VCCP
11:50
Heads of Production (Ask Me Anything)
This session sees a panel of leading heads of production, discuss the state of the commercial production industry.
In this session, they will share key challenges shaping the business, covering topics from evolving working practices, the pitch process and the impact on production workflows.
A significant portion of this session will be dedicated to a Q&A, giving the audience the opportunity to get those big questions answered.
Speakers: Poppy Manning, Omnicom Production, Amy Cracknell, M&C Saatchi, Richard Adkins, Wieden+Kennedy London & Peter Montgomery, Droga5.
Chair: Eliot Liss, Head of Production, IPA
12:50
Networking Lunch
Enjoy the culinary delights The Londoners’ exquisite kitchen has to offer as part of your day pass.
13:50
The end of the beginning
AI’s first chapter was about discovery; this one’s where the real questions begin. Private Island’s Chris Boyle explores what happens when experimentation becomes expectation, and how creativity evolves when technology becomes part of the craft.
Speaker: Chris Boyle, Private Isand
14:20
What in the name of DEI is going on right now?
In 2025 DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) became the most divisive marketing TLA (three letter acronym) since CTR (click through rate).
It apparently caused plane crashes, forest fires and sparked a global battle of jeans advertising.
But what’s really going on under the surface? In this session Asad Dhunna, CEO of marketing consultancy The Unmistakables, unpacks whether DEI is really dying, or whether it’s morphing into something new in a fast-changing world. In this session Dhunna will share insights and data on how people really feel, and what the cost of sitting on the fence could be five years from now.
Speaker: Asad Dhunna, Founder + Chief Executive Officer, The Unmistakables
14:40
In conversation with Dexter Fletcher
From Lock, Stock to Rocketman, Dexter Fletcher has spent decades in front of and behind the camera, shaping some of the most recognisable moments in British film. An actor turned acclaimed filmmaker, his credits include Eddie the Eagle, Sunshine on Leith and Bohemian Rhapsody, each showcasing a sharp eye for storytelling, humour and performance; music and matters of the heart imbuing his films with warmth and feeling. In this on-stage Q&A, Fletcher will reflect on the lessons learned across his wide-ranging career: from his move from acting to directing, to his growing interest in the world of commercials through Curate Films. The conversation will also explore what draws him to the craft of shorter-form storytelling, and how he became the unmistakable voice of McDonald’s.
15:40
Close
This exciting day comes to a close and for those attendees wanting to continue to catch up, the main bar at The Londoner is the ideal place to continue.
