Wednesday, April 9

Day 1

9:00 AM – Online Only

CONFERENCE OPENS: OPENING KEYNOTE – SONIC BRANDING – DEFINING WHAT A BRAND SOUNDS LIke 

Sonic Branding touches every aspect of a brand’s sound – from its mnemonics and melodies that define a brand in the ears of customers to the ways brands work with music and work directly with artists. Join us for a conversation with for a discussion with Rajeev Raja, the founder of brandmusiq, the company that defines the sound for Mastercard, Toyota and man other global and regional brands on how Sonic Branding makes marketing and messaging more effective, more relevant and drives customer loyalty and sales.

10:10 AM – Online Only

Keynote: A conversation with the AKQA Agency’s Chief Creative Officer, Diego Machado

Diego Machado is AKQA’s Global Chief Creative Officer. In 2024, he was appointed Cannes Lions Jury President for the Innovation Lions category, becoming one of only two Brazilians to preside over a jury at this year’s event. Under his leadership, AKQA has been recognized for its creativity and innovation. In 2023 and 2024, the company received seven Fast Company Innovation by Design Awards and the World Changing Ideas award from the same institution. The network was also named Digital Agency Global Network of the Year at Campaign’s 2023 Global Agency of the Year Awards and was voted one of the world’s most loved workplaces by Newsweek in 2023. Diego works on shaping the future of creative agencies, encouraging co-creation with partners and artists. He has led projects for brands such as TikTok, Netflix, and Nike, and artists such as Usher, Elton John, and Lady Gaga. He also developed AKQA’s operations in Brazil with the launch of the AKQA Casa studio in São Paulo in 2014, conceived as an experimental creative laboratory for the network. Among the many awards received by the agency, Diego was named Young Innovator by Google & The Drum in 2017. In 2013, he was recognized as the most awarded Art Director at the Cannes Lions Festival and, together with Hugo Veiga, was recognized by Ad Age as ‘Creatives You Should Know’ (Criativos Que Você Deve Conhecer). The duo also won a record 23 Lions (for 5 different projects), including the first Titanium Grand Prix for Latin America with the Dove Real Beauty Sketches (Retratos da Real Beleza Dove) case.

11:15 AM – online only

What is the role of custom music houses?

Custom music houses that create music specifically for ads and branded campaigns are essential for successful messaging.  This panel focuses on the work that custom music houses do, how they work with agencies and brands, and how they work with musicians and writers to service their clients.

12:15 PM – lunch break

1:15 PM – online Only

What is the role of sync agencies and productIon music in advertising?

Sync agencies are one of the most important resources for ad agencies and brands for finding music for their projects.  This panel will discuss the role of the sync agency in providing music to projects, and how, by working with sync agencies music can be discovered and found for messaging and campaigns. 

2:30 PM – Online Only

How does music help make great creative?

Ultimately in the ad indsutry and at brands, we’re selling stuff –  a product, a dream, an aspiration, an emotion, a solution – and its the ads that are impactful, memorable and connect authentically with consumers that make a real impact.  And this is where great creative comes into play – the quality of the way music is used in advertising to inspire, suprise and connect with real emotion are the ads that are successful, create impact, sell product and win awards.  Join us as we discuss what makes an ad inspiring, aspirational, and how music can be the cricual element that creates a emotional conenct with a product and a brand. 

3:30 PM – online Only

Opportunities and usages of music for ads and brands in the international market

With a total population of almost 700 million spanning 21 countries, the Spanish-speaking market is the fourth-biggest on the planet is experiencing exponential growth and evolution in the usage of music in brand messaging and ad campaigns. And the Latin market is just one part of the international market for music – Canadian ad and brand production service both the US and Canadian market – and all of these companeis, agencies and brands need music for their projects.

4:30 PM – online only

Day One Concluding Conversation Maknig music for marketing film, tv and streaming

Let’s talk about the art of making and placing music for trailers and promos 🙂 

Thursday, April 10

Day 2

9:00 AM – online only

Opening Keynote: A biased Presentation on the history of Music In Advertising

We start day two with a conversation on the history of and the evolution of music in advertising with one of the people most responsible for shaping the way brands and agencies use music.  Joshua Rabinowitz is a musician, a producer, the former head of music at Young & Rubicam and Grey Advertising, an educator, and a musical innovator responsible for definining the music for over 10,000 commercials and projects.  Josh will lead you through example from the world of jingles to the usage of authentic music that excite and delight customers of some of the world’s biggest brands.

10:10 AM – online only

A Brand Case Study: How The Expedia Group Uses music in its branding and advertising campaigns

When a brand integrates music into the heart of messaging and how it connects with consumers, magic happens. Consumers connect better with the brand, its messaging leads to greater sales and loyalty and it all results in better creative quality.  Join us as we discuss how the Expedia has used music in its campaigns in the US and Mexican markets to create more effective outreach to customers, and the types of music used to create effective campaigsn and brand messaging.

11:15 AM – online only

who are the decision makers in advertising and at brands?

Compared to TV and film, discovering who the decision makers are in advertising music and at the brand level is far more difficult than in TV and film. Where in TV and film, you can easly find the music supervisor for a project, many times, it is difficult to know who the decision makers are in ads and at brands because much of the time, there are no music supervisors working on music decisions on the majority of ads.  So, beyond in-house music supervisors, who are the people making music decisions at agencies and brands?  That’s what we’ll discuss – from the brand manager to the creative director to the editor and producer – we’ll break it all down so that you know who you can build relationships with and make connections.

12:15 PM – online only

Lunch Break

1:15 PM – online only

The Evolving Role of Technology in Advertising music and brands

From AI to production environments to music databases and storage systems, technology has become integral to how we do business in the ad industry.  This panel will highlight and discuss how the rapidly array of technologies makes music more discoverable, creates effencies and you can use tech to connect and create.

This discussion will focus on the creation and usage of music for advertising. 

2:30 PM – online only

Using the power of music and artISts in advertising, branding and experiential marketing

Artsits not only create music, they are opinion shapers and bring their fan base with them to any campaign their music is attached to.  This goes across social media, experiential marketing, branding and advertising across all the ways a brand connects with a consumer – from concerts to brand activations, to popups, ads, eductional campaigns, online and in person promotions – all the touchpoints between the customer, artist, the brand and their products.  In this talk, we’ll discuss how artists work with brands and agencies to develop conenctions and experiences that connect ads, products and brands to fans.

3:30 PM – online only

Where are the opportunities in advertising and brands for your music, and who are the people that can help?

This is a discussion that focuses on how labels, sync agencies, production libraries, publishers, performance rights societies and other resoruces help artists, songwriters and producers connect their music to advertisers and agencies. This incldues a discussion with them on their work, who they work with – artists, agencies and brands – and how you can work with them to get your music connected to the industry.

4:30 pm – online only

Closing Keynote: The View from Havas

Join us as we have a conversation with the head of sonic branding of one of the world’s largest advertising firms for a conversation on  how Havas works with its clients and music to develop effective, award-winning sonic branding and advertising campaigns.