PR Masterclass: AI in PR - Agenda

Speaker

Andrew Bruce Smith

founder, Escherman

Andrew Bruce Smith, FCIPR, MPRCA, is a well-known expert in artificial intelligence and its applications in PR and communications. With a foundational education in Philosophy and Mathematical Logic from the University of Edinburgh (1981-1985), he developed a keen interest in AI early in his career. Andrew further honed his skills in AI programming languages in the late 1980s, a time when AI was still nascent.

Pioneering the adoption of AI content tools such as Wordsmith in the early 2010s, Andrew has consistently stayed at the forefront of technological innovation. This, coupled with his leadership as the Chair of the CIPR’s AI in PR panel, makes him a much sought-after speaker and commentator on the impact of AI.

Andrew is the co-author of 'Share This' and 'Share This Too' (publisher: Wiley), best-selling handbooks that reflect the evolution of media.

Andrew’s commitment to digital innovation is evident in his early adoption of communication technologies such as e-mail (1990), the World Wide Web (1994), and Twitter (2007). Known as the "de facto godfather of PR blogging", Andrew continues to influence the industry with his insights on the confluence of PR, social media, search optimisation, and AI.

Speaker

Harriet Meyer

financial journalist, AI trainer, AI for Media

Harriet Meyer is an award-winning financial journalist, editor and creator of AI for Media, with more than two decades of experience writing for national newspapers, magazines and websites. She contributes to Times Money Mentor, The Guardian, The Sunday Times and The Sun, among others. Alongside her journalism, Harriet works with PR, news and content teams to help them adopt AI with confidence — streamlining workflows, boosting creativity, and staying competitive. She recently joined the British Society of Magazine Editors’ panel on making AI your friend, sharing how media organisations can embrace its opportunities. Harriet has also appeared on BBC radio, TV and podcasts to demystify topical money issues and talk about the future of media.

Speaker

Nathan McDonald

co-founder and former group CEO, We Are Social

Nathan co-founded the global socially-led creative agency We Are Social in 2008. They grew from a small team in London to a global network of 1200 people in 20 offices. Along the way they did groundbreaking work, won awards, hired incredible people, worked with the world’s biggest brands, published reports read by millions, collaborated across markets, were acquired by BlueFocus, launched some other brands, evolved our services, made acquisitions, survived a pandemic, were acquired by financial investors, wrangled consultants, merged our US business with a complementary agency, developed our employer brand, implemented AI, developed new services, evolved our leadership structure, grew revenue and EBITDA, and helped re-shape the advertising industry.

Speaker

Priti Mhatre

chief AI & product officer, Hogarth/WPP

With background in Tech & management consulting and a Post-graduate degree in AI from Oxford, Priti leads our AI strategy and is passionate about driving growth through technology & innovation. She is spearheading Hogarth’s Technology & AI strategy building industry-first suite of production AI service portfolio with successful track record of implementing it for global clients.​ Priti leads our Global Marketing Transformation practice & AI strategy. With over two decades of experience in digital transformation consulting and technology, she works with clients to create innovative solutions that combine production, technology, and data. ​She has successfully implemented global delivery models and established Hogarth's Marketing Transformation practice, which develops maturity and transformation strategies aligned to client challenges. ​

Speaker

Darryl Sparey

managing director & co-founder, Hard Numbers

Darryl is MD and Co-Founder of Hard Numbers, the AMEC, PR Moment, PRCA DARE, CIPR and UK Agency of the Year Award winning, performance-driven communications consultancy. Hard Numbers marries killer creative with commercial acumen to create campaigns that drive a demonstrable return on investment. Unlike many agency founders, Darryl spent much of his career in business development. After ten years running sales and marketing for Precise (now Onclusive), he moved into digital marketing, running the London office of a Search Engine Marketing agency. He then moved into PR as a board director of Hotwire. Darryl is a Fellow of both the PRCA and CIPR and is a CIPR Chartered Practitioner and member of AMEC, but his most important job is that of father to his children, Hudson and Halia.

Speaker

Effie Kanyua

founder, LILA Assistant

Effie Kanyua is founder of We Are Warriors PR and ethical AI business tool, LILA Assistant. She is a multi-award-winning former Director of PR & Comms for Hearst UK and Communications Director and Bauer Media where she led its broadcast and then publishing arm. And she has recently won awards for her work in developing ethical AI technology winning at Campaign’s Inspiring Women Awards and named as part of PRVoke Media’s Innovator 25 EMEA List and she is part of Barclay’s Eagle Labs Female Founder 2025 cohort. She started her career at the BBC working as a journalist and has led teams at many leading global communications agencies and has worked with some of the world’s biggest tech, media, FMCG, beauty, luxury and healthcare brands. She is a mentor for WIPR and Creative Access and has been an award’s judge for CIPR, PR Moments, The Drum, PR Week and PRCA and speaks regularly at events and conferences throughout the media industry.

She launched We Are Warriors PR at the end of 2023, a corpsumer PR agency powered by bespoke custom built AI solutions. She then went on to launch LILA Assistant in February 2024, an ethical AI writing and content creation tool for the creative industries and announced in October, a partnership with The Dyslexia Association as its AI partner, to support its work at supporting neurodivergent and dyslexic individuals within the workforce.

Speaker

Luke English

lawyer - media & technology, English Media

Luke English is a lawyer, who specialises in Media and Technology. He runs his own law firm English Media.

Luke has been in the media and tech industry for over 26 years and has worked for some of the biggest companies in the world, such as, Walt Disney, Sony Music and the BBC, advising on intellectual property.

Luke guest lectures on media and tech including at; Future Echoes in Sweden, Pro-Weekend in Spain, The Great Escape in Brighton, BPP law school in London, Bournemouth University, Arts University Bournemouth and Solent University in Southampton.

Luke's clients in the technology world have included; subscription models for dog food to high end cosmetics, software for hip replacements, ticketing to diary farms, Apps for Lego Star Wars games to playgrounds and terms and conditions for Hollywood FX companies to music festivals.

As a media and technology lawyer, for his client's, Luke has to stay up to date with the current A.I companies and the services they provide, against the background of English law and protecting intellectual property.

Speaker

Allison Spray

EMEA chief data & intelligence officer, Burson

Allison Spray is the EMEA Chief Data & Intelligence Officer at Burson. In her role, she is responsible for leading multi-disciplinary data & intelligence teams, bringing together the right talent and technology across EMEA to solve client challenges.

She is a respected industry figure and has spoken on data and insights at numerous conferences, including PR360, ICCO Global Summit, and the AMEC Global Summit, and in 2024 was recognised as Data Professional of the Year for EMEA in the SABREs.

In 2022, Allison was awarded a postgraduate diploma with distinction from the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, in artificial intelligence for business.

Speaker

Dan Bird

global head of innovation & AI, Fight or Flight

Dan is an experienced PR practitioner specialising in top tier media relations. He has managed strategic B2B communication programmes for brands including IBM, Ericsson, Expedia and LinkedIn.