About — Melbourne Marketing Forum

Taking on a new identity:
The Melbourne Marketing Forum

2002

Previously known as dm Forum, this beloved marketing event was started in 2002 by Frank Chamberlin, direct marketing specialist and director of writing consultancy Action Words.

2022

20 years on, Frank has handed the networking baton to the creative team at ANGRYchair. Come along to check out a new era in one of Melbourne’s favourite marketing events.

Recent Events

20 May 2025

Jacqui Solly

Loyalty Manager

Australian Red Cross Lifeblood

Jacqui Solly is a self-confessed marketing nerd. She spent over 15 years in different marketing roles to discover that Customer Strategy and Loyalty are the most interesting parts of Marketing. She's worked across the lifecycle, performance digital, customer strategy, and MarTech in start-ups, small businesses, and corporations and most recently took on the new role of Loyalty Manager at Australian Red Cross Lifeblood.

Jacqui is passionate about providing and amplifying customer value through value exchange and experience. Especially in our current landscape, our savvy customers expect their loyalty to be acknowledged and rewarded. She is known for galvanizing teams across functions to create customer magic and brand success.

Dave Collins

Executive Producer

ANGRYchair

Dave Collins is the founder and Executive Producer of ANGRYchair, a Melbourne-based video production company. With a background in a range of Roles in TV production, from swinging the fluffy mic to series producing, Dave transitioned to creating authentic, compelling videos for businesses and organisations. Under his leadership, ANGRYchair produces impactful content for clients around the world, focusing on storytelling that resonates authentically with audiences across a huge range of platforms. Known for his collaborative approach and passion for visual storytelling, Dave leads a creative team dedicated to delivering high-quality, refreshingly authentic video content.

18 March 2025

Dr Maria Camacho

Principal of Maria Camacho Design Thinking Consultant

Dr. Maria Camacho is a globally recognised expert in design thinking and strategic innovation with 30 years of experience across academia, industry, and consulting. With a PhD in Design Thinking and a decade-long partnership with Stanford University's flagship programs, Maria has helped shape innovation practices at global companies and institutions, including Frog, the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care, Westpac, European group Sonae, and several large organisations in Latin America.

Maria's career spans founding and directing award-winning academic programs, mentoring teams to embrace human-centred approaches, and delivering impactful workshops and keynote speeches around the world. Known for her evidence-based methods, she empowers leaders and teams to tackle complexity with creativity, empathy, and humanity.

Today, Maria runs her independent practice as a speaker, corporate trainer, and mentor, inspiring organisations to foster cultures of innovation and collaborative problem-solving. Her work blends deep academic insights with practical tools, enabling clients to navigate uncertainty, drive meaningful change, and create solutions that are both impactful and human centred.

Lisa Farfour

Head of Marketing, Leading Marketing for Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein for the MEA + markets.

Lisa Farfour is a seasoned Marketing Leader with over 15 years of experience crafting transformative brand strategies across the sports, fashion, and beauty industries. Throughout her career, she’s worked with global brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, VANS, The North Face, and Timberland, as well as multi-brand destinations like Sun & Sand Sports, Harvey Nichols, and Bloomingdale’s.

Lisa has led marketing efforts in over 20 countries across the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe, and has recently relocated to Melbourne to take the next step in her career. As a strategic advocate for long-term brand growth and consumer loyalty, Lisa specializes in blending creative direction with data-driven insights to fuel both brand equity and business performance. She’s known for leading cross-functional teams, shaping unique brand identities, and crafting compelling consumer experiences that foster lasting brand affinity.

29 October 2024

Chris Jonker

National Marketing Manager
Ritchies

Justin Kabbani

AI - Powered Marketer

27 August 2024

Mia Bowyer

Founder
One Earth Marketing

Mia Bowyer is an award-winning entrepreneur who harnessed social media to address environmental and humanitarian crises. She founded One Earth Marketing, was awarded Young Entrepreneur of The Year finalist, and is a social media thought leader.

Mia has worked internationally at the forefront of pressing social and environmental crises we face – among them tackling plastic waste, refugee support, and bushfire support – bringing humanitarian marketing strategies to support some of the places and causes that needed it most.

Mia Bowyer will be presenting at our next event, in our lineup with BrandScent's Suji Sanjeevan, sharing with us the power people and organisations have to foster collective action for our world's most pressing issues with strategic marketing and social media use.

Suji Sanjeevan

Co-Founder and Director
BrandScent

In 2015, Suji Sanjeevan and her husband Jeeva Sanjeevan, co-founded Light & Glo Designs Pty Ltd, an Australian fragrance house, which consists of two key operational arms - Light & Glo and BrandScent.

With a mere investment of $237 Light & Glo began as a product-based business. Having bootstrapped all the way through, the success has been built on delivering feelings and emotions through senses and scents.

BrandScent followed shortly and offered a service-based option to what is conventionally thought to be product-based. It focuses on scent marketing and creating a signature scent for brands.

Think of it as an olfactory logo.

BrandScent has forged partnerships with American Express, Mimosa Homes Pty Ltd, Four Pillars Gin, and Arnotts to name a few and was named APPA Australian Boutique Supplier of the Year 2020.

26 March 2024

Natasya Rallios

Commercial Partnerships & Events Executive
The Lume Melbourne

Natasya started her career working in various marketing roles in tertiary education before moving into the sports industry for five years where she specialised in major sporting events. During this time she also facilitated workshops for over two thousand young people, created her own startup specialising in career education, completed her postgraduate degree in Journalism, and had her work published in The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, SBS, ABC and Channel 31.

Caitlin Stonehouse-Penny

Senior Internal Communications Manager at Sportsbet

Caitlin is a strategic and creative communications leader, who has spent the last seventeen years guiding global and national brands on how they can authentically tell their stories and communicate even better than before. She has worked across a wide range of sectors, spanning from Australia’s most diverse broadcaster, SBS, through to Vanguard, one of the world's most respected investment managers.

29 August 2023

String Nguyen

Chubbiverse
Founder & Managing Director

Meet String Nguyen, the CEO of Chubbiverse, an NFT brand, and a 4x Top Voice on LinkedIn. With a decade-long experience in marketing and community growth, String brings her innovative approach to explore the intersection of creativity and community. She's always on the lookout for the latest trends in AI and how it can revolutionise businesses.

Vikki Maver

Refresh Marketing
Founder & Strategic Director

Vikki Maver is the Founder and Strategic Director of Refresh Marketing (RM), Australia’s longest running copywriting agency. Based in Melbourne, RM writes marketing copy, develops brand voices and creates content strategies for a diverse client base.

30 May 2023

Meg Rayner

GMHBA
Head of Corporate Communications

Meg has worked in corporate communications with organisations such as the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, and for the past six years as National Media Manager for Coles.

She has a particular knack for crisis management, having led media responses during bushfire, flood emergencies, train derailments, needles in strawberries and numerous product recalls. She was responsible for managing media and stakeholder relations for Coles during the COVID pandemic, (who could forget the Great Toilet Paper Panic), and for driving positive PR of the Coles’ brand in the eCommerce and data space.

Ross Summers & Kale Duncan

Smith Brothers Media
Digital Marketing Strategists

Marketing platforms are changing faster than anyone realises. As veterans of the digital marketing landscape, Ross and Kale have seen brands and agencies lose more and more control over marketing campaigns, as platforms are giving more power to algorithms to make strategic decisions. Learn to master the emerging principles of data handling for machine learning, while synthesising that with foundational brand positioning and communication.

4 April 2023

Ed Frame

Founder of Exemplify

Ed has devoted over a decade to his work to helping businesses provide the best possible customer experience. He knows how just how crucial it is to ensure that the experience a person has of being customer of your brand something that they’ll never forget.

Tim O’Neill

Co-Founder of Time Under Tension

Chat GPT is just the tip of the iceberg. Tim is co-founder of a consultancy focused on how generative Artificial Intelligence can benefit marketing and customer experience teams in agencies and brands. He’ll cover the basics of what you can do with AI, and show you the tools to create effective marketing with it.