StudioVerse 2025

A marketing festival for the brave, the bold, and the brilliantly independent.

On a sunny Thursday afternoon at London’s iconic OXO Tower, over 100 marketers and creatives came together to explore the future of brand, tech, and talent. StudioVerse 2025 wasn’t just our biggest event of the year - it was a full-sensory celebration of marketing’s potential when the right people are in the room, and on the platform.

From the opening welcome to the final drinks, the message was clear: we are entering a new marketing age - and it’s time to do things differently. We kicked things off with a welcome from our co-founder and CEO, Pete Sayburn. The OXO Tower itself set the scene beautifully. Originally a power station, it was bought by a company called LemCo in the 1920s to store and distribute their beefy stock cubes. They wanted to advertise on the facade, but were blocked by the authorities - so they embedded the letters O-X-O into the brickwork, which lit up at night and became one of the first examples of brand design as architectural rebellion.

It’s fitting, then, that we gathered there to celebrate marketing at its most imaginative and subversive. To challenge the status quo. And to look ahead. Before unveiling our latest platform updates, Pete introduced the premiere of a brand new short film created by Common People and Future Creatives, two of the brilliant agencies on StudioSpace. Titled ‘The Marketing Age,’ the film traced the story of marketing from the Mad Men era to today, Ink to Innovation - a poetic, punchy reminder of just how much our industry has evolved.

But behind the gloss, and digital fame, came bloated retainers and more of the same. Enter StudioSpace, precise and proud, a platform of progress, lean, not loud.

The creative team over at Common People began by writing the poem, which was then guide-read by AI and used for pacing and timings. It was later recorded with Darron from London to ensure that the team could direct all the little nuances to tell the perfect story. The FUTURE CREATIVES team sketched some characters and trained AI models on them so that there was a level of consistency in every scene. Once everyone was happy with the individual scenes, FUTURE CREATIVES (with 20 years’ post experience) added the finishing touches using traditional post techniques to bring it all to life. The music was also created using an AI platform!

A Changing - and Challenging - Industry

Marketing has long been one of the most powerful cultural forces in society, shaping taste, inspiring action, and fuelling economic growth. And if you’re reading this, chances are you’re someone who takes immense pride in working in this space. We certainly do. But let’s be honest: the industry we love is facing some serious headwinds.

Political and economic volatility, rising pressure on IP ownership, and the blurring of creative value in the age of automation are just the start. As Pete pointed out in his welcome, the threat is real - and it’s systemic. Recently, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg openly pitched a future in which CMOs could plug their budgets into an AI model and let the platform do the rest. No human insight, no creative spark, no differentiation. Just a race to the bottom, automated.

At the same time, consolidation among holding companies continues at pace. Two of the ‘Big Four’ just announced sweeping job cuts - and for all the financial upside for investors, we know the real cost: creativity, culture, and quality are often the first things sacrificed.

But here’s the good news: a new era is already taking shape. In fact, the very fallout from those network mergers has sparked something beautiful - a new wave of indie agency founders, specialists, and creative entrepreneurs breaking away to build something better. This is the golden age of the independent. And it’s not just a reaction to the past - it’s a blueprint for the future.

These are the types of agencies you’ll find at StudioSpace. Built on tech, but powered by soul. Passionate, curious, and endlessly creative. Agencies with the depth to think strategically and the agility to deliver fast. Our dream? That every brief lands in the hands of the team who is truly best placed to answer it. That CMOs get to meet talent they didn’t even know existed, and that the work becomes better, braver and more effective as a result. That’s why we launched StudioSpace in 2022, and what we celebrate at StudioVerse. Common People put it pretty perfectly:

5 working days from brief to deal. 10,000 creatives - ready and real. Built on tech, but powered by soul, A smarter model with a bigger goal.

The StudioSpace 2025 Release

Before we delve into the rest of the day’s events, at StudioVerse we announced a few super exciting developments to the StudioSpace platform. In line with our mission to protect indies, deliver transparency, and reward collaboration, we bring you the StudioSpace Summer Release:

• A redesigned marketplace experience

  With a new carousel, easier access to your favourite agencies, tailored categories, and smarter, AI-enhanced profiles;

• New enterprise features like Dashboards

  Giving full transparency and control across spend, agency performance and marketing supply chain data;

• The launch of StudioCredit

  A new way to earn and reinvest marketing spend, turning loyalty into cash rebate credit for future projects.

We can’t wait for you to get your hands on it and to hear your thoughts!

StudioTalks: The Voices Shaping What’s Next

Throughout the day, we hosted a series of StudioTalks - lightning talks from some of the most progressive agencies on the platform.

• GH05T x HSBC UK

  In Why Social Media Deserves a Seat at the Table from Conception, Joe Battimelli (COO at GH05T) and Kristy McCready (Head of Advertising & Marketing Communications at HSBC UK) unpacked the case for involving social teams at the very start of campaign planning. Using the HSBC Premier UK launch as a case study, they showed how inter-agency collaboration, early creative exploration, and native-first thinking drive better, bolder outcomes.

• eight&four - Big Brain Energy

  Head of Creative Technology Sam Glyn Davies delivered a high-octane presentation titled Big Brain Energy, diving headfirst into how artificial intelligence mirrors - and diverges from - human thinking. Rather than unpacking technical jargon, Sam used a clever dinner-planning analogy to contrast how humans, traditional software, and AI approach decision-making. The second half focused on how AI "responds," drawing from Kahneman’s System 1 and 2 to highlight the speed and fallibility of generative models. With case studies from Sharps Bedrooms and HSBC, Sam made a powerful case for structured prompting, brand-aligned templates, and human oversight. More than a technical showcase, it was a humorous and insightful call to engage critically - and creatively - with AI.

• Untangld - Unlocking Clarity in a Cluttered World

  In Making Sense is the New Sexy, the team at Untangld challenged the idea that modern marketing needs to be louder to be better. Instead, they made the case for clarity as the ultimate competitive edge - cutting through complexity not just in communications, but in how brands operate and grow.

  Grounded in their research-based brand strategy approach, the talk showed how organisations can use clarity as a growth engine, internally and externally. From aligning marketing and product teams to shaping messaging that actually lands, Untangld unpacked why the brands that win are the ones that make it easy for people to understand them - and believe in them.

  It was a compelling reminder that in an age of noise, clarity is power.

• BearJam - Strategic Creativity in Motion

  In their StudioTalk, Tristan and James from BearJam unpacked the Jam Plan - their structured, strategic approach to video content that actually delivers. Rather than treating video as a standalone creative output, they showed how it can (and should) be directly tied to brand goals, audience insight, and long-term thinking.

  Drawing on their work with Osprey EV Charging, they demonstrated how shifting from ad hoc production to a strategic, end-to-end approach transformed Osprey’s entire video output. From briefing to delivery, BearJam proved that production doesn’t need to be chaotic or reactive - with the right framework, it becomes clear, consistent, and creatively powerful.

  Their session was a sharp reminder that great video isn’t just about the final cut - it’s about the thinking that shapes it.

• The Bang - Designing at Zero-to-One

  The Bang explored the power of design in turning early-stage ideas into impactful, market-ready products. In Zero-to-One projects, where ambiguity and risk run high, design brings clarity and momentum. Through their six-step process and use of diegetic prototypes, they help teams move from abstract concept to shared belief. With examples from JLR and Zoopla, The Bang showed how design can bridge the gap between strategy and execution - delivering products that not only work, but resonate from day one

• bbp x Beettoo x Just Group

  In this joint session, Just Group, creative agency bbp, and media partner Beettoo unpacked the bold B2B campaign that put Gen X at the heart of the retirement conversation. With deep segmentation and playful nostalgia, Just Ask the GenXperts was brought to life through cultural cues and precise targeting. The campaign exceeded engagement targets on LinkedIn and programmatic channels, all under budget - showing how powerful insight, creative bravery, and a great media strategy can shift a market narrative.

• ImpactSense - Brand Loyalty and the ReX Framework

  Veronica from ImpactSense brought brand loyalty to life through a deeply personal and humorous lens, using her own pantry of favourite products - from Kallo Veggie Cakes to Superkeen Cereal - as a metaphor for emotional brand attachment. These weren’t just purchases; they were expressions of identity and belonging. Contrasting this with more transactional brands like Pizza Express, she argued that traditional brand tracking often misses the mark by focusing on rational metrics.

  Drawing on Social Identity Theory, Cognitive Dissonance, and Emotional Branding, she explored how brand love is tribal, irrational, and deeply human. From Apple vs Android to the die-hard Dyson loyalist, these attachments go beyond logic. Veronica introduced the ReX framework as a richer way to capture emotional engagement - where brands don’t just earn share of wallet, but share of identity, emotion, and community.

• Butterfly - Leading with Emotion

  In their StudioTalk, the team at Butterfly explored why emotion isn’t just an output of great marketing - it should be the starting point. Drawing on the science of emotions and behavioural psychology, they reminded us that humans make around 30,000 decisions a day, most of them driven by feeling, not logic. And the stronger the emotion, the deeper the memory.

  Rather than treating emotion as an afterthought or creative flourish, Butterfly argued that it should spark strategy from the outset. That means identifying what truly matters to the people you serve - and building from there. When brands lead with emotional intelligence, not just audience insight, they create work that resonates more deeply and drives more meaningful action.

• Disrupt (Tomorrow Group) - Redefining Influence for a New Era

  In a keynote that challenged the status quo of influencer marketing, Stevie Johnson, Managing Director at Disrupt, introduced a fresh framework for the creator economy: Genuine Influence. Drawing from both his time as a creator and his experience leading one of the UK’s most progressive influencer agencies, Stevie made the case for a shift from surface-level metrics to substance.

  In a world saturated with content and shaped by changing consumer behaviours, traditional indicators like likes and reach no longer tell the full story. Instead, brands must begin to measure what really matters - trust, transparency, and real-world outcomes. Stevie also explored how creators influence not just awareness but every messy, nonlinear stage of the customer journey - and how their role will evolve further in an AI-driven landscape.

  His message was clear: to stay relevant in 2025 and beyond, marketers need to rethink how they define success - and demand more meaningful influence.

The Headline Event: Live Podcast Recording

Our headline event at StudioVerse was a recording of a live episode of Mark Evans and Ritchie Mehta’s ‘The Places We’ll Go Marketing Show’ podcast, featuring Lucky Saint’s Marketing & eCommerce Director, Kerttu Inkeroinen - recently named a Forbes 50 Top CMO.

It was one of those conversations that doesn’t leave you as soon as it’s over - it was warm, honest, and wildly insightful. Here are just a few of our favourite takeaways:

• Challenger mindset:

  Don’t just rip up the brand playbook - rewrite the category playbook. Lucky Saint’s shift from “passive pints” to “active lifestyles” shows what happens when you build from sharp, resonant insight.

• Modern leadership:

  Kerttu gives and receives two-way feedback from her direct reports every week. This makes her less of a lead-from-the-front “husky” and more of a lead-from-the-back “sheepdog”, creating space and allowing others to shine.

• Imposter syndrome as fuel:

  You don’t need to fix it. You need to harness it. Say yes and worry later.

If you’ve ever wrestled with vulnerability or visibility issues, or want to learn how to lead with heart and impact, this episode will soon be available for you to listen to. Watch this space!

Powered By Soul

StudioVerse isn’t a conference. It’s a catalyst. It’s about bringing the best of our industry together - and showing that there’s a better way to work. We left the OXO Tower feeling energised, grateful, and excited about what comes next.

Whether you joined us in the room or followed from afar, we’re grateful for your curiosity, your energy, and your belief in a new way of working.

Because we’re just getting started.