LONDON, July 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

The first round of conference speakers has been announced by ad:tech London. The show, taking place 19-20 September at the National Hall Olympia, connects the digital media community for two days of purposeful learning and networking.

In the first round of speaker announcements, ad:tech London presents: MailOnline, foursquare, Sony Music, American Airlines, LivingSocial, Hotels.com, Last.fm, MoneySupermarket.com and the BBC. These speakers and many more will be present to share strategy, case studies and give the industry answers to controversial and urgent questions.

The theme of this year's conference is: 'Digital is The bigger picture: When will brands catch up?' According researchers at the Boston Consulting Group , 23 per cent of all purchases will be executed online by 2016. The UK web economy is predicted to expand at a rate of 11 per cent year for the next four years, reaching a total value of £221bn by 2016. This will make it a stronger industry than the healthcare, construction or education sectors.

Facts like those above appear in the media and in reports on a regular basis, and yet many brands still show very little real understanding of the digital environment in which they're operating. Large companies are particularly at risk of falling behind and failing on the expectations of their consumers.

ad:tech London is an opportunity to make improvements for all business operations and maximise exposure to future profitability. How can brands, particularly large, encumbered enterprises, begin the path to transformation? What can be learned from start-ups and SMEs? How can uninhibited infrastructure (e.g. cloud services) assist? And how can agencies, partners and providers assist & support them along the journey?

Based on all this, the ad:tech London conference programme is put together by the industry, for the industry. ad:tech works in consultation with a number of key industry thought leaders, including: Google, Unilever, Millward Brown, The Drum and Manning Gottlieb OMD. ad:tech London aims to connect professionals from different sectors of the market based on feedback on previous work and recommendations on the hottest companies and names the event should be partnering with.

This year, the first round of ad:tech speakers include:

• Martin Vovk, Sony Music, insight manager
• Martin Clarke, MailOnline, publisher
• Amanda Farnsworth, BBC, project executive for London 2012
• Phillip Easter, American Airlines, director of mobile apps
• Christelle Chan, Hotels.com, marketing director
• Tom Curtis, MediaCom, creative director and head of MediaCom Create, MediaCom Beyond Advertising
• Charles Eklund, LivingSocial, head of product and business operations
• Omid Ashtari, foursquare, business and development director for Europe
• Matthew Hawn, Last.fm, VP for product    
• Andy Mihalop, MoneySupermarket.com, head of digital
• Chris Schaumann , Nokia, global director for digital and social capability development  
• Justin K Small, Detica, head of digital strategy
• Bertie Stephens, Flubit, CEO & co-founder
• Matthew Willcox, Draftfcb, executive director at the Institute of Decision Making

For a full list, please visit: http://www.ad-techlondon.co.uk/speakers

To register for the show, please visit: http://www.ad-techlondon.co.uk

Notes to Editors:

ad:tech London is taking place at Kensington Olympia, National Hall, London, 19-20 September 2012.

Now in its eighth year, ad:tech London consists of an exhibition and a conference. The free exhibition includes 70+ educational seminars and 200+ exhibitors. The conference includes panel discussions, summits and workshops.

About ad:tech London

The strategic conference digs deeper, with your chance to question brands such as foursquare, Sony Music, the BBC and more. The conference addresses the most pertinent industry challenges and opportunities.

Summits are standalone programmes are tailored towards the absolute need-to-know topics for this year. These are limited capacity to provide an intensive learning and networking experience for all attendees.

Workshops are extended sessions (approximately 2.5 hours), which provide delegates with the chance to gain an in-depth education. Targeted towards advertisers and publishers the workshops provide education on how to take big picture thinking & strategic direction and formulate it into actionable plans for the business, product & campaign.

ad:tech keynotes are presentations which bring together some of the brightest minds, pioneering brands and cutting edge ideas to London. Open to all attendees and broad in their marketing, advertising and technology appeal, the keynote presentations feature international content as well as the best of British.

Seminar theatres are positioned on the vibrant ad:tech exhibition floor, the seminar theatres showcase latest updates, announcements & applications from industry specific technology providers. With a focus on sharing tips & tricks, the seminar theatres equip visitors with actual 'how to' information to take back to their office.

Headline theatre  New for this year! The main stage on the exhibition floor will trumpet the latest announcements and the hottest debates from the biggest names in the industry.

Part of a global network, the ad:tech London show has established itself as the third largest of the eight events globally and the largest in the EU region. Comprising an exhibition, educational seminar programme and a thought leadership conference, ad:tech London is underpinned by leading digital companies and agencies, such as the BBC, the MailOnline, Twitter, Google, McDonalds, LBi and GroupM.

ad:tech conferences currently take place in New York, San Francisco, London, Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo, Melbourne and New Delhi. ad:tech will continue to expand globally in order to provide online marketing communities with great opportunities to network, share best practices and ideas everywhere in the world.

http://www.ad-tech.com

About dmg :: events

dmg :: events is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT, http://www.dmgt.co.uk), one of the largest media companies in the United Kingdom. dmg :: events was founded in 1989 and in 20 years has managed Exhibitions, Conferences and online platforms for many industries in 25 countries. dmg :: events produces more than 300 market-leading trade exhibitions, consumer shows and fairs each year and publishes 45 related magazines, newspapers, directories and market reports. dmg :: events employs more than 700 people and maintains a worldwide presence through more than 30 offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, the United Arab Emirates, India, China and Australia. dmg :: events is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Daily Mail and General Trust plc (DMGT), one of the largest and most successful media companies in the UK. For more information on dmg events please visit http://www.dmgevents.com.

To enquire about conference tickets, contact:

Neill Wightman t. +44(0)20-3180-0861
Delegate sales executive
neillwightman@dmgevents.com

For further information and to request a press pass, please contact:
Catherine Thurtle t. +44(0)20-3180-6594
Editorial and PR manager
catherinethurtle@dmgevents.com

SOURCE Daily Mail Group and ad:tech