Main Sessions

Peter Fisk is a global thought leader in strategy, innovation and marketing. He is a bestselling author, expert consultant and keynote speaker, helping business leaders to develop innovative strategies for business and brands.

He is a thinker, advisor and practical entrepreneur. He is Professor of Strategy, Innovation and Marketing at IE Business School, one of the world’s top ranked business schools, whilst also founder and CEO of GeniusWorks, a boutique consulting firm.

He features on the Thinkers 50 “Guru Radar” as one of the world’s top business experts.

As CEO of the world’s largest marketing organisation, the Chartered Institute of Marketing, he became a global authority on what’s best and next in business and markets.

Finding his own space, he founded GeniusWorks, with offices in London and Istanbul.

Peter’s new book “Gamechangers: Are you ready to change the world?” explores the next generation of brands, shaking up markets, innovating and winning in new ways. Based on 100 global case studies, it explores the challenges of new markets, changing customers, brand building, new business models, real-time marketing, harnessing social media, inspiring leadership and positive impact. It has been nominated for Marketing Book of the Year 2015.His other book “Marketing Genius” is translated into 35 languages. It was followed by five others – “Business Genius” on leadership and strategy, “Customer Genius” on building a customer-centric business, “People Planet Profit” on sustainable innovation – and most recently “Creative Genius” defining what it takes to be Leonardo da Vinci in the 21st Century.

Peter was described by Business Strategy Journal as “one of the best new business thinkers”. His advice is sought after by business leaders around the world, he adds specialist expertise to key projects, combining new ideas with practical action, inspiration and impact. Helping you to find your own space, to be leaders of change – to be bold, brave and brilliant.

With bestsellers like The Daily Stoic and Ego Is the Enemy, RYAN Holiday is a motivational speaker on everyone’s mind. The New York Times calls him “a sought-after guru to NFL coaches, Olympians, hip-hop stars and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.” And in his latest book, Perennial Seller, he proves once again why he’s a marketing maverick—explaining how to create products that actually stand the test of time.

Ryan Holiday is a young, smart, marketing powerhouse turned motivational speaker who has attracted fans from every imaginable discipline. When it comes to movitation, Holiday makes readers—and listeners—take stock of their lives and careers through the timeless lens of an ancient philosophy, stoicism. His book The Daily Stoic distills the ancient wisdom of the stoic philosophers into 366 practical meditations, each meant to enrich and enliven our daily lives—at work, on the field, and in our relationships. In Ego Is the Enemy—an instant Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and international bestseller—he explains how “the battle against ego must be fought on many fronts,” and provides helpful examples of major figures who’ve achieved success by escewing the spotlight and putting the greater good above their own vanity. And in the now cult-classic The Obstacle Is the Way, he shows us how to turn even the most insurmountable obstacles into advantages, inspired by an agelessd set of philosophical principles used by icons from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart, Richard Wright to Steve Jobs. Forbes calls it “an inspiring read for anyone faced with adversity” that can “save years of future angst.” Publishers Weekly argues that “Holiday’s performance is commanding and optimistic, sure to inspire readers to take new perspective on their apparent obstacles.” It has so far been translated into over 20 languages and has sold over 230,000 copies.

But Holiday is also a premier marketing speaker, and the renowned media strategist behind celebrity authors Tucker Max and Timothy Ferriss. The former Director of Marketing at American Apparel, his campaigns have been studied by YouTube, Twitter, and Google. After dropping out of college at 19 to apprentice under the strategist Robert Greene (The 48 Laws of Power), he went on to advise many bestselling authors and multi-platinum musicians. His latest book marks a resounding return to the world of marketing and publicity. Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work That Lasts explores iconic products, artworks, artists that achieve longevity in our disposable age. To The Financial Times, it outlines “how to create lasting success in a world of flash-in-the-pan hits and how to extend the proverbial 15 minutes of fame to a decade or even a century.” It’s a book Inc. says “every entrepreneur should read” and an FT book of the month selection. His book Growth Hacker Marketing: A Primer on the Future of PR, Marketing, and Advertising explains how multibillion dollar brands are built without spending a dime on ‘traditional marketing,’ and frames the overnight success of companies like Dropbox, Facebook, AirBnb, and Twitter. Porter Gale, Former VP of Marketing at Virgin America, says: “This book is a wake up call for every marketing exec in the business. And a tutorial for engineers, IT, founders and designers. Read it.”

Holiday is a media columnist for The New York Observer, and his other writings—published in 28 languages—appear in Forbes, The Huffington Post, Fast Company, Thought Catalog, and The Columbia Journalism Review, among others. Holiday’s first book, Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator, a tell-all expose of modern online journalism, is a Wall Street Journal bestseller and an Amazon Editor’s Best Book of the Month. The Financial Times called it an “astonishing, disturbing book.” To The Big Picture author Edward J. Epstein, “Ryan Holiday’s brilliant expose of the unreality of the Internet should be required reading for every thinker in America.” His seventh book, coming in March 2018, is ​Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue​.

Tom Goodwin’s main role is the EVP of Innovation at Zenith Media, his role is to understand new technology, behaviors and platforms and ideate and implement solutions for clients that take advantage of the new opportunities these make possible.

Tom’s focus is leading the innovation and content wing within Zenith, unleashing the power of emerging platforms, content and influencer programs, new media and devices and new technology to product robust business results.

Tom is also voted the #1 voice in Marketing by LinkedIn with over 550,000 followers on the platform, he is also one of 30 people to follow on Twitter by Business Insider and the top two people in Advertising to follow by FastCompany.

An industry provocateur and commentator on the future of marketing and business, he's a columnist for the Guardian, TechCrunch and Forbes and frequent contributor to The World Economic Forum, GQ, Ad Age, Wired, Ad Week, Inc, Quartz and Digiday. He features on Global TV as a regular guest on i24News’s “Cutting Edge” section about the future. 

Tom frequently speaks around the world at conferences and to Clients about business transformation, technological disruption, innovation in advertising and the future of entertainment, retail, mobility and finance. Tom is currently working on a commissioned book by Kogan Page, titled Digital Darwinism and is a founding member of the Wharton Future of Advertising program.

Born in England, Tom earned a degree in architecture and structural engineering from the University of Sheffield, combining his love of the arts and design with an interest in measurable results and building things. He lives in New York.

The Boston Consulting Group Senior Advisor Dr. Antonella Mei-Pochtler has held many different leadership positions within The Boston Consulting Group. She was head of the Consumer Goods practice in Germany from 1990 to 1997. She opened BCG’s Vienna office in 1997. From 2005 to 2013, she headed the firm’s European and then global marketing function. She was a member of the global Executive Committee from 2006 to 2010 and the global leader of the media department from 2011 to 2015. Antonella received Lifetime Achievement Award at Consulting Magazine’s Women Leaders in Consulting Awards in 2013. She was also named one of Top 25 Consultants by the magazine in 2008. 

For more than ten years, Antonella has organized the Brand Club, the top branding and media-focused conference for CEOs in Germany.  She also co-created “Europe's 500—Entrepreneurs for Growth” – an association of fast-growing companies. She is also highly engaged in knowledge dissemination with many conference presentations and strong publishing activity.  She is serving on the boards of various non-profit organizations like the German Bone Marrow Association (DKMS), BCG’s education project business@school (for which she earned the German president’s Freedom and Responsibility Award in 2002), Phorms Education (a network of high quality bilingual schools in Germany) and also Teach for All (a global nonprofit dedicated to educational equity). She has written many articles on a wide range of topics and a selection of essays has been published in her book "Acupuncture for Management".

Max is the best-selling author of The Strategy Book, #NOW, and Adaptability is an expert in strategy, leadership, innovation and how to create a better future. He is a renowned strategist, psychologist and leadership coach for some of the most successful global corporations and brands. He is also a sought-after keynote speaker and a social scientist with an MBA and PhD from Warwick Business School, a member of the British Psychological Society and a fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts.

Blending art, science and powerful real world experience, Dr Max  is famed for his original and entertaining presentation style, which involves a huge white Idea Canvas to allow everyone, from senior management teams to audiences of thousands of people, to think, create and learn together from his vast knowledge in the fields of adaptability and innovation. In addition to Adaptability, Max is also the author of the ground-breaking Unshrink, and The Truth About Innovation. Two of his books have been shortlisted for the CMI Book of the Year, Amazon Business Books of the Year, and continue to gain popularity for his remarkable ability to make complex ideas useful in the real world. 

After graduating from Galatasaray High School and Boğaziçi University’s Management Department, Fatih Uysal started working in Danone in 1999. Uysal worked at Danone’s Turkey office, handling various responsibilities for the company’s many different brands. He was assigned to the Danone Group Head Office as Global Marketing Manager in 2006. There, Uysal mentored approximately 40 countries in establishing and applying new marketing strategies. Fatih Uysal spent the last year of his overseas placement in Holland, as the Global CRM Director responsible for the Middle East, Europe and Latin America. After returning to Turkey in 2010, Uysal started working as the Marketing Director of Vodafone and led the launches of several different segments and projects. In February of 2017, Fatih Uysal became General Manager & CEO at Kariyer.net, the biggest online Human Resources Platform in Turkey.

Tanyer Sönmezer trained in mechanical engineering at MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, but he never practiced his profession. After receiving an MBA and a master's degree in marketing, he attended several training programs, such as "Effective Management of Boards of Directors" at HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL, "Leadership" at the OXFORD LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE, "Innovation" at MIT, "Change Management, Design Thinking" at STANFORD and “Making Innovation Happen” at LONDON BUSINESS SCHOOL. However, he is a CONSULTANT who has learned about life working at an AMUSEMENT PARK.

His roles as chef, magician, pilot, photographer, and conference speaker aside, he prefers to be an ordinary HERO for those he loves. Sönmezer is the CEO of the Management Centre Türkiye (MCT) Group, consults to all prestigious companies in Turkey.

He wrote two best-selling books: “Yöneticinin Sırt Çantası” (Backpack of a Manager) and “Yöneticinin Beslenme Çantası” (Lunch Box of a Manager).

Mike Dover is a leading authority on social media, popular culture and the economic and social impact of technology.

Dover is the author of Dante’s Infinite Monkeys: Technology meets the 7 Deadly Sins and co-author of Wikibrands: Reinventing Your Company in a Customer-Driven Marketplace. Wikibrands won the Silver Medal for Marketing Book of the Year for 2011 by Expert Marketeer and was named one of the top ten Business Books by Booklist Magazine. He is a Professor of Marketing at Humber College in Toronto and the Managing Partner of Socialstruct Advisory Group, a boutique research firm.

Mathew is Principal of Marketing Insights for Salesforce.com, and regarded as one of the top minds on the future of Marketing. A consummate researcher and thinker, Mathew’s work is often cited leading publications such as Mashable, VentureBeat, PCWorld, CMO.com, Information Week, Forbes, and Huffington Post, and numerous others. Mathew is a frequent speaker at conferences around the world and routinely works with the worlds largest and most well respected brands including: NATO, MIT, UPS, HomeDepot, NASCAR, Verizon, and Dell.

A consummate writer, he authors a columns for multiple publications, such as Moz, Mashable, DemandGen Report and his work is often quoted in books including “The Digital Marketer”, “The ReTargeting Playbook”, and wrote the forward to “The Complete Guide to B2B Marketing”. Mathew also is the author of Marketing Automation for Dummies, with his next book “Context” due in Q2 of 2017 published by Harvard.

Named by PPC Hero in 2016 as the #1 most influential PPC Expert in the world, Purna specializes in SEM, SEO and the future of search. With over fifteen years in the business, she is a regular keynote speaker at conferences across the globe such as MozCon and INBOUND and is a columnist for Search Engine Land and Moz.   

An award-winning former journalist, Purna was the CEO of Purview Marketing prior to joining the Bing Ads team. In her spare time, she’s an avid traveler, aspiring top chef and amateur knitter. Say hello @purnavirji

Didem Dinçer Başer is the Executive Vice President of Garanti Bank in charge of Digital Banking, Customer Solutions and Experience, Corporate Brand Management and Marketing Communications and is leading the digital transformation of the Bank. She has  been an EVP of the Bank since 2012, she is also a Board Member of Garanti Pension and Life, Garanti Payment Systems and Garanti Technology subsidiaries.

She has been a part of Garanti since 2005, when she joined the Bank as the Coordinator of Retail Banking Business Line. Before joining Garanti Bank, she worked for McKinsey&Company global management consulting firm for 7 years and was as an Associate Partner there.

Didem Başer graduated from Boğaziçi University Department of Civil Engineering and earned her graduate degree from University of California at Berkeley, College of Engineering. She started her career in 1995.

Born in Berlin in 1974, Ergün Güler has started his career in Vestel in 1999 as Finance Specialist and has worked as Vestel Companies Group Assistant General Manager Responsible of Financial Affairs and Treasury between 2006 – 2012. Appointed as Zorlu Holding Corporate Risk and Treasury Coordinator in May 2012,  Ergün Güler has been carrying out the duty of Vestel Ticaret A.Ş. Inland Sales & Marketing General Manager since October 2012. Ergün Güler holds Dokuz Eylül University Management Bachelor Degree and Bilkent University MBA Masters Degree. He is married and has 1 child. He speaks English and German.   

Born in August 1971, Mr. Berkman has graduated from Syracuse University Economics Department (1995) and has made MBA in F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College (1996_1998).

He has worked in the areas of Marketing, Marketing Communications, Strategic Planning, Media and Business Development as Director and General Manager and also he is amongst the first licensed Angel Investors of Turkey.

He has worked, respectively;

Between 1998-2000, in New York, in Monitor consultancy company,

Between 2000-2003, in different companies within Koç Holding and between 2003-2007 in Arçelik as Marketing Group Manager,

Between 2007-2010, in Avea as Marketing Director,

Between 2010-2013, in Veritas/Arena as Media General Manager.

Since December 2013, he has been working in Vestel Ticaret A.Ş. as Assistant General Manager Responsible of Marketing.

He is a member of Endeavor Advisory Committee, İTÜ Core Entrepreneurship Consultant, GYİAD and 1907 associations. He is married and has one daughter.

İlke, with 12 years of experience in digital media, founded her own consultancy company, Refresh, and served as the VP of Sales for the top digital media platforms in Turkey such as Onedio.com, Publik LinkedIn Turkey, Publik Foursquare Turkey, Webrazzi, Move Mobile Advertising Agency. Previously she was the Head of Sales of Nokta, the leading local video network in Turkey. And before that İlke was the General Manager of Reklamz Internet Advertising Agency, now a Stroer Group Company. Prior to Reklamz, she worked as a defacto founder at Yonja.com, the largest local social network in Turkey. Before her digital media career, İlke was working as an Auditor at Ernst and Young. İlke is a graduate of Economics from the University of Istanbul and she studied Integrated Marketing Communications at UC Berkeley. She used to be a professional basketball player. She was in Turkey’s Young National Women Basketball Team and a National Gold Medalist

Girl Meets Dress started out whilst Anna was working for Hermes as Head of UK PR when she noticed there was a gap in the market for luxury clothing and accessory rental for women, she quickly jumped on the idea. Anna’s background is in Fashion, Journalism and PR with her degree in Fashion Promotion from London College of Fashion and her skill sets meant she could start up, generate worldwide press attention and launch Girl Meets Dress.
 
Since launching, the business has scaled to Europe, and the company raised funding from Rocket Internet's Oliver Samwer's new $200mn fund Global Founders Capital. Anna has been busy pioneering the way forward for rental as a new and exciting ecommerce category of its own.

Anna was chosen as Management Today's Top 6, 35 under 35 cover stars and has won many awards, including the Drapers Innovation Etail award, the Natwest Fashion Entrepreneur of the Year, and the Specsavers Everywoman in Retail Award as well as being in the ‘Online Fashion 100’, ‘Top 100 Web Start Ups’ and ‘Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year'. 

Steven is a bestselling author of business books. His latest book is called ‘When Digital becomes Human’. The books describes the need to digitize the customer relationship without forgetting the human aspect. Today’s world not only needs a digital transformation; the human side of business is also in need of a makeover. His two previous books (‘The Conversation Manager’ & ‘The Conversation Company’) are award-winning bestsellers with more than 50,000 copies sold.

Steven started his professional career as a research assistant at the Vlerick Business School, where he remains a guest marketing professor to this day. 
In 2001, Steven was one of the first employees to join InSites Consulting, a start-up in the online research industry. Over time he worked his way up to become one of the company’s managing partners and shareholders. Steven spent a total of eleven and a half years at InSites Consulting. During this period, the company grew from just 8 staff to 130 with branches in 5 countries. It was an amazing adventure.

In 2012, Steven started his own inspiration company called B-Conversational. He runs the company with his wife, business partner and best friend Evi and together, they inspire companies around the world. Most of Steven’s time goes to giving keynotes speeches and organizing workshops and business coaching sessions. In addition, they also help clients set up long-term inspirational programs to change the mindset and enrich the knowledge of their teams.

Omer Wilson is Senior Director of Marketing for Digital Realty’s APAC Operations. Mr. Wilson joined Digital Realty in 2011 at the Company’s regional headquarters in London as Director of Marketing for EMEA. Prior to joining Digital Realty, Omer was Head of Corporate Solutions Marketing for Jones Lang LaSalle across EMEA, based in London. In that role, Omer was responsible for leading the organization’s go-to-market activities and driving the strategy for competitive bid responses.

Omer has held a number of Marketing Management and Product Development roles within the IT, Consulting, Real Estate & Media industries. Trained originally as a Marketing Specialist by IBM via their Global Graduate Scheme with subsequent experience in company launch branding and development within PA Consulting Group’s ventures division in London. While at PA Group, Omer was part of the successful founding team of the ground-breaking eCommerce Venture Company, 'ProcServe'. Mr. Wilson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Kent at Canterbury and a Diploma in Marketing Management from Duke University’s Corporate curriculum. He is also an affiliate member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the United Kingdom.

Ferdi Alici is the Founder and Director of OUCHHH, a talented new media and motion design agency. A graduate of Istanbul Bilgi University’s Visual Communication Design Department on a full-scholarship, he has over a decade of experience functioning as a Design Director for motion graphics and new media industry.

Ferdi strives to find balance between art, science and technology in every work he creates. As a new media artist and designer, he believes that science inspires great art, thus their integration is vital to Ferdi’s approach. By immersing himself in the ideas of science, Ferdi gains new forms of understanding and develops new ways of interpretation in visualizing and creating his artwork; broadening his horizons where creativity and logic come together to a develop a unique artistic interdisciplinary philosophy. Ferdi believes in the power of data visualizations, bases his creations on mathematics, nature, geology and the works of particle physicists, inventors and architects.

Scientific research and scientific methods introduce a certain way of thinking that is usually not present in an artist’s mind. Ferdi’s exposure to these allows him to gain a completely different perspective towards life and design. Ferdi is a maestro at combining storytelling with visual design, talented in creating both branding and visionary content, and a specialist in motion design, new media arts, architecture and A/V installations. He creates award-winning outdoor A/V performances, video mapping projections, kinetic sculptures and immersive experiences that touch upon the belief in employing design principles based in nature and applying these to computational design.

Ferdi’s work has been featured in world renowned museums, organizations, publications and has worked with numerous international brands. He has also been selected as a jury for 2017 PromaxBDA Global Excellence Awards and PromaxBDA Europe Awards 2017. Collaborators include CERN (Switzerland), National Space Center UK, Mercedes Fashion Week (Turkey), Google USA, City University of Hong Kong, CODAworx (United States), MoMA (United States), Immersive Festival (Spain), santralistanbul Museum of Energy (Turkey), IdN Magazine, CNN, WIRED Magazine, Stash Magazine, Fubiz, The Creators Project, Nike, Vodafone and Vimeo (Staff Pick). He is also the recipient of a number of awards, including Ars Prix Electronica, FELIS Awards and Crystal Apple Awards.