Event
28 September 2020
Most Contagious 2020 /
Get your ticket to the greatest marketing event of the year

Most Contagious delivers a year’s worth of insights and inspiration to leave attendees feeling inspired and equipped to create braver, better work.
Taking place on December 9th & 10th, the event will be a two-day virtual affair, live-streamed from our hot-pink studio. This isn’t another Zoom-a-thon. We’ve teamed up with event partners Lively to take Most Contagious 2020 to new virtual heights, with an interactive platform to give attendees a seamless event experience.
Attendees will learn the Contagious perspective on the most important trends for marketers, and discover the strategies, results and stories behind the world’s best campaigns directly from the creators themselves. It’ll give attendees a rapid understanding of how to create effective, modern marketing and steal a march on the year ahead.
Each afternoon will feature this year’s handpicked speakers, campaigns and themes, while the morning sessions will see us unlocking the Contagious vault with a curated selection of the very best talks from previous years, including Patagonia, Domino’s, Barbie and many more. It’s the adland equivalent of a Netflix binge.
How bingey, you ask? Well, check out the line-up below and prepare to be inspired. You can also see who’s speaking and when by viewing the full agenda here.
Campaigns at Most Contagious /
Discover the unvarnished behind-the-scenes stories of how these breakthrough campaigns were created, directly from the creators themselves.

Bodyform
Womb Stories /
From fluids to feelings: the team behind Bodyform’s taboo-busting Womb Stories campaign on what it takes to push past functional benefits and make work that your daughters will be proud of.

Burger King
Moldy Whopper /
Most Contagious meets Mean Tweets in this session as Fernando Machado, the man who made Burger King’s divisive Moldy Whopper campaigns, faces his harshest critics.

Samsung
Ad-within-an-ad-within-an-ad /
A ‘sea of sameness,’ a tough sales target, and three partners who just couldn’t quite get it together: Join us for a talk-within-a-talk-within-a-talk about how to make the complex look simple and how Adam&eveDDB created an ad that sold televisions, a movie and a gin.

Coca-Cola
Open Like Never Before /
How does the world’s biggest brand show up with some optimism in the crappiest of years? In the face of a health and economic crisis how do you demonstrate empathy without looking naïve – and back it all up with action as well as words?
Expert keynotes at Most Contagious /
Learn about the most important developments and shifts in business and culture that marketers should know about.

Will Skeaping -
Activist, Extinction Rebellion /
Covid-19 has consumed 2020, but advertiser-turned-activist Will Skeaping will be on stage to remind us why ‘the climate and ecological emergency is the new setting for all stories – the next big looming coronavirus-on-meth that will change everything in all our lives for ever,’ and what our industry should be doing about it.

Lucy Jameson, Nils Leonard, Natalie Graeme -
Co-Founders, Uncommon /
If we dished out awards at Most Contagious, Uncommon would get Agency of the Year. No contest. In this session, co-founders Lucy Jameson, Nils Leonard and Natalie Graeme, will explain how they built an agency that nailed the mood of 2020 with a succession of campaigns selling everything from telly to mental health to, well, nails.

Anuradha Chugh -
MD, Europe, Ben & Jerry's /
How the Criminal Justice System Has Failed Transgender Americans. 12 Ways You Can Help Eradicate White Supremacy. The headlines are direct and evocative, but the source might surprise you. In this session we’ll interview Ben & Jerry’s European MD on how a brand can use its voice to create ‘linked prosperity’ for suppliers, employees and customers.

Matías Muchnick -
Co-Founder, NotCo /
If you want to know what building the future looks like, a Chilean startup using AI to make plant-based alternatives to dairy and meat products is a great place to start. Join co-founder Matias Muchnick to find out what they do, how they do it, and what the success looks like for a company that’s tackling one of our biggest sustainability issues.

Tom Standage -
Deputy Editor, The Economist and editor of The World in 2021 /
Tom Standage, deputy editor and head of digital strategy at The Economist, will tell us what we should all expect from 2021: the macro trends that will influence business, brands and consumers in the year ahead.

Oriel Davis Lyons -
Founder, The One School /
In this talk, Oriel will discuss the creation of One School, the first online portfolio school for Black creatives that he founded this summer. He will pass on tips and advice to anyone thinking of starting their own diversity program and explain why the industry's lack of diversity starts at school.
Contagious Speakers /
The team interrogate the need-to-know consumer, tech and marketing trends for 2021, chock-full of inspiring case studies and insights.

Becca Peel, Strategist
Virtual Necessity /
With more and more brands compelled to push parts of their business online, we’ll look at the challenges and opportunities this presents: who’s making it work, and how have they made that happen? As almost every aspect of our lives now has a virtual equivalent, we’ll examine the implications for brands and their agencies.

Patrick Jeffrey, Head of Advisory UK
The Great (Adland) Reset /
In this session, we’ll look at the arguments fuelling concerns about rampant capitalism and ask: what must brands do next year to help drive positive change?

Amelia Markham, Strategist
Social Ecommerce /
The rise of social ecommerce has changed the way that people shop, and what was once a simple swipe up on Instagram has evolved to enhance the entire retail experience. In this session we’ll outline why social shopping is here to stay.

James Swift, Online Editor -
Is brand activism a good strategy? /
More brands are using their advertising to advocate divisive social and political issues, but do they really understand the effect these messages have on their customers and business? James Swift explores the burgeoning body of academic research for answers. Whether you think brand activism is a good citizenship or corporate conceit, this talk will help you weigh the risks and rewards.
Classics /
The ‘Contagious classic’ mornings will deliver behind-the-scenes insights from the CMOs and agencies responsible for some of the most talked about brands and campaigns from the Contagious archives. Presented by Contagious co-founder, Paul Kemp-Robertson.
- Patagonia / Promoting long-term solutions to environmental problems through activism and unwavering belief in its mission
- Domino’s / How the fast food chain evolved into a tech company 'that happens to sell pizza'
- Barbie / Lisa McKnight, Barbie’s senior vice president, on how to lead a brand through a marketing turnaround
- Microsoft / Why a technology company made a niche product the focus of its Super Bowl ad to spread a message about its values
- John Lewis / The insights and strategy behind the campaign that has been winning Christmas for over a decade
- Gillette / How questioning modern masculinity put a male grooming brand on the global stage
- Palau Pledge / Why a small island nation asked tourists to pledge to keep its natural resources safe
- Oatly / How a oat milk brand reinvented itself after abolishing its marketing department
- Axe / How Axe reinvented itself in order to appeal to the modern man
- Wendy’s / How a fast food brand engaged with gamer culture to stand out from its competitors
- Volvo Trucks / The success story of Volvo Trucks' Live Tests series, and how it was as much due to the client-agency relationship as Van Damme
- The New York Times / How showing the true value of journalism helped one news publication get millions of paid subscribers
Not based in the UK or Europe? /
This year, for the first time, we are hosting regional editions of Most Contagious. All events are open to everyone, we’ll just be hosting in a more friendly time zone, including select speakers and campaigns from those regions.
USA, 27 Jan, 2021 – Early bird tickets here
APAC, 24 Feb, 2021 – Early Bird tickets here
Our 2020 partners /
To learn more about how your company can become an official event partner for Most Contagious 2020, email [email protected]
Here’s what happened last year /
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