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Alison began her career at BMP DDB, then BBH working on accounts such as Channel 4, the Guardian and Nestlé. After 10 years in London she was lured to the US where she spent 3 years as VP Marketing for Pepsico working on the global Pizza Hut and the domestic Fountain Beverage Division.

After a brief ‘baby break’, she returned to the world of work in spectacular style as the President of Fallon New York, quadrupling the Agency's revenues and winning some fantastic pieces of business including L'Oreal, Pepsico, Timberland, Starbucks and MTV Networks to name a few.

After 5 years at Fallon, Alison worked as a branding and communications consultant providing both Agencies and Clients with advice on brand development, positioning and marketing for brands including Kraft, Motorola and Yahoo!

Alison returned with her family to London as JWT London CEO in February 2006.

Born 1929. 1954: trainee copywriter with J Walter Thompson in London, where he stayed until retirement in 1987. Successively writer/producer, creative group head and head of television; 1964 to 1975, head of the creative department; 1976 to 1987, chairman. 1981-1987, member JWT worldwide board and chairman of the Advertising Association.

1988 to 2001, non-executive director of the Guardian Media Group; 1988 to 2004, non-executive director of WPP. Currently member WPP Advisory Board. Past president of Nabs and current president of the Market Research Society. Columnist for Campaign, Management Today, Market Leader and The Guardian. Awarded CBE in 1985.

Publications: Another Bad Day at the Office? Penguin, 2001; Behind the Scenes in Advertising Mark III (More Bull More) WARC, 2003; Ask Jeremy, Haymarket, 2004; Apples, Insights & Mad Inventors, Wiley, 2006.

He has three grown-up children and lives with his wife Pamela in London and Wiltshire.

After stints at JWT, BMP DDB and Chiat/Day, John Grant co-founded the groundbreaking London advertising agency St Luke's in 1995, where he was also Head of Planning. As well as working with clients ranging from Brooke Bond to Boots and Oxo to HSBC during his agency career, John has also won an IPA Effectiveness Silver Award, and an IPA Effectiveness Grand Prix.

John is now a marketing consultant, with clients including IKEA, the Ministry of Sound, Diageo and Coca Cola. He is the author of ‘The New Marketing Manifesto’ which was selected as one of the Top 10 business books of 1999, and of ‘After Image’, named by Wikipedia in a list of the most popular business books in the world. John also writes articles for publications including the Financial Times and key industry journals. He is known for radical thinking and his work certainly live up to that reputation.

John is an infamous industry blogger, and since January 2008 has been asking planners from all over the world to contribute to the speech he will be making at Planning Begins At 40. Take look at:Planning Begins at 40: Crowd Source My Speech?

Jon Steel is an advertising strategist and writer, whose job is to provide strategic and creative direction to WPP Group clients and agencies alike.

Prior to joining WPP, he trained as an account planner at London agency Boase Massimi Pollitt, before spending ten years as Vice-Chairman and Director of Account Planning at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco. His client experience includes brands like Nike, Coca-Cola, Hewlett-Packard, The California Milk Processors (got milk?) Unilever, Sony, Major League Baseball, Porsche and Budweiser.

Jon has been profiled by Adweek as “West Coast Executive of the Year,” by Advertising Age as an “Agency Innovator,” and in 1995 he was inducted into the American Advertising Federation’s Hall of Achievement for executives under 40. (He would now be a little too old.) He is also the author of Truth, Lies & Advertising (1998) and Perfect Pitch (2006), both published by John Wiley & Sons, New York. His first novel, Parts Unknown, is edging slowly and painfully towards completion.

In addition to his current strategic role with WPP, Jon is responsible for WPP’s Marketing Fellowship programme, an elite recruitment and training scheme designed to attract top graduate talent from around the world to careers in marketing communications.

He lives in the south west of England with his wife, two children, and far too many animals.

Guy joined JWT in January 2007 as Worldwide Planning Director.

His primary role is to lead a world class Planning function at the Agency that invented Account Planning. He therefore treads gently in the footsteps of Stephen King. The role also involves developing the Agency’s strategy to achieve outstanding creativity in the new communications era. To that end he works closely with Craig Davis and Bob Jeffrey.

Prior to JWT, Guy worked for 14 years at BBH where he occupied a series of strategic roles; Regional Planning Director for Asia Pacific, Head of Planning for Europe, and lastly Deputy Chairman. In that final role he helped the Agency to two consecutive Campaign Agency of the Year awards. He has intimately been involved in the development of many blue chip international brands, including Audi, British Airways, Levis, Sony. His career began as a Trainee Planner at BMP in London.

Guy is a published author on the subjects of effectiveness and communication strategy, and has received numerous industry awards for his work. He is currently the Chairman of the IPA Strategy Group. Guy lives in London and treats himself to season tickets at the Arsenal Football Club.