Making Sense conference

13-14 November, RARA (Tõnismägi 2, Tallinn)

A marketer must constantly position themselves in the past, present, and future. They need to know what happened, what is happening, and – most importantly – what is going to happen. It is said that a marketer must be one step ahead. No. In fact, they must be several steps ahead.

Estonian Marketing Association’s conference Making Sense will take place this year on 13-14 November at the Estonian National Library (Tõnismägi 2) and will explore what the role of the marketer will be in the future. The two days will offer an inspiring space for joint discussions and shaping new ways of thinking.

We will focus on how a rapidly evolving world, technological innovations, and continuous innovation shape the future of marketing. We will discuss what skills, mindsets, and strategies are truly needed in a world shaken by technology and how best to prepare yourself to stay competitive both in Estonia and internationally. Marketers from both agencies and brands are welcome.

At the Making Sense 2025 conference, you will learn how to be an effective, flexible, and future-oriented marketer. You will gain international experience, practical advice, and valuable contacts. All this to really make use of your knowledge and capabilities, whether your focus is on brand work, agency work, or collaboration between the two.

13th of November

12.00-13.00 Arrival and lunch

13.00 Opening Words by Estonian Marketing Association’s CEO Anniken Haldna

13.10-13.40 Will Gilroy (Director of Communications and Strategy at the World Federation of Advertisers, WFA)

Topic: “Top Global Marketing Trends Every Marketer Needs to Follow”

Will Gilroy takes the stage from the very heart of the global advertising alliance and will reveal the background and trends shaping marketing communication in 2025 and beyond. What does the future marketer look like in a world where the rise of technology and digital marketing is far from over?

13.40-14.10 Riku Vassinen (CEO, hasan & partners)

Topic: “Stop Innovating, Start Creating”

Our industry has always been obsessed with what’s next. Yesterday it was the metaverse and augmented reality. Today it’s AI. Tomorrow? Something new and equally buzzwordy. But in our constant chase for the next big thing, we’ve started losing the plot. We talk more about tools than ideas. We celebrate technology, not creativity. We optimize everything, except effectiveness. 

To make ourselves truly relevant again, we need to go back to the future. Back to the basics of what makes advertising work. Back to great ideas. Back to great craft. Back to making people feel something. 

Less about how we make ads. More about making great ads. In this talk, Riku explores what has changed, but more importantly, what hasn’t. And why a truly great ad matters now more than ever. 

14.10-14.40 Karolina Lapinaite (Head of Media, Precis)

Topic: “Did We Optimize the Brand Out of Marketing?”

Brands don’t lose to competition. They lose to sameness.

Technology gave us speed, scale, and access like never before, but it also pushed everyone toward the same strategies, the same channels, and the same voice.

The real challenge now isn’t choosing between performance and brand — it’s bringing creativity and distinctiveness back into a system built for efficiency.

14.40-15.10 Natalja Piiskoppel  (Senior Strategy Partner at WPP Media Global Consultancy)

Topic: “Ready to Lead or Be Left Behind: Why Sustainability Will Make or Break Your Brand”

Natalja will challenge the myth that sustainability is a “feel-good extra” and prove it’s the smartest business move you can make. Is your company ready to turn sustainability into its ultimate growth engine — or risk being left behind? She shares fresh research and practical examples of how brands can use their initiatives not just for self-promotion, but to genuinely make an impact on society.

15.10-15.30 Coffee break

15.30-17.00 Award Ceremony of Tulimust

18.00 Afterparty at Initiative Media Agency (Paldiski mnt 20)

The conference ticket includes entry to the afterparty Alibi. To attend only the networking party, please register separately HERE.

14th of November

9.15-10.00 Arrival, coffee

10.00-10.30 Ørnulf Johnsen (CEO at &Co.)

Topic: “Creative Storytelling –– How Emotions are the Path to Growth”

In this keynote, Ørnulf will challenge the traditional boundaries of the advertising industry and show how our core skills can add extraordinary value beyond our self-imposed limitations.  

10.30-11.00 Anna Kuulmann (Head of Strategy at dentsu Baltics)

Topic: “The Future Marketer: From Storyteller to Strategy Orchestrator”

Anna Kuulmann explores how the marketer’s role is rapidly transforming — from communication expert to strategic orchestrator of data, processes, and technology. Drawing from her experience at dentsu and Estonia’s digital transformation journey, she illustrates how marketing leaders can leverage AI, econometric modeling, and martech innovation to predict impact, optimize investments, and connect data and creativity with measurable business growth. Expect a thought-provoking session blending strategy, innovation, and a demo of an AI-driven consumer dialogue. A glimpse into how tomorrow’s brands can think, learn, and engage in real time.

11.00-11.30 Ada Mockutė Jaime (Chief Marketing Officer, Nordcurrent)

Topic: “Rest in Pixels: The Death of the Specialist Marketer”

As algorithms evolve faster than job titles, the age of the specialist marketer is coming to an end. The future belongs to globalist thinkers — those who connect data with empathy, creativity with technology, and strategy with community. In a world that shifts overnight, success will come not from mastering one narrow craft, but from listening widely, adapting boldly, and creating meaning in the noise.

11.30-12.00 Kristjan Korjus (Co-Founder and CTO, Pactum AI)

Topic: ”Humans Defining Humans While Everything Changes”

Investigating the role of technological development in how humans define themselves. As artificial neural networks handle text and image creation and increasingly pass various exams and entrance tests, what can be considered uniquely human seems to be shrinking. It appears we are in an existential crisis.

12.00-13.00 Lunch

13.10-13.35 John Schoolcraft (ex-Global Creative Chief Officer of Oatly)

Topic: “Twelve Years Without a Marketing Team — Sheer Madness or Pure Genius?”

There was a time when the world had no idea that something like oat drink even existed. Oatly gave John Schoolcraft the chance to turn everything taught in business school or practiced at big corporations and ad agencies upside down. He was free to build a world-class brand by removing all the usual obstacles — brand awareness studies, target group analyses, short-term ROI reports. At Oatly, there was no marketing department, only the Department of Mind Control. Twelve years without a marketing team — sheer madness or pure genius?

13.35-14.00 Fireside chat with John Schoolcraft

14.00-14.30 Jyrki Poutanen (Co-founder and Creative Director of agency United Imaginations) 

Topic: “How to Build Agency for Success?” 

Jyrki will share the growth story of his agency. In three years, the team has grown from six people to 37 members, at a time when many agencies are shrinking. We will learn how teams and structures must change to prepare an organization for rapid growth and implementing new trends.

14.30-14.50 Coffee break

14.50-15.20 Export Module: From Estonia to the World

Kadri Gröön (EISi ekspordiosakonna turundus- ja kommunikatsioonijuht)

Topic: “Building Bridges for Estonian Companies”

Kadri will share practical insights from recent export campaigns and discussing how targeted communication can help Estonian businesses connect with international audiences and grow abroad.

After the presentation, several Estonian companies will briefly share their export stories, followed by a panel discussion.

15.20-16.10 Export Module: From Estonia to the World: Stories of Estonian Companies

16.10-16.30 Export Module: From Estonia to the World: Panel Discussion

Stories and Panel by:

Andrus Kõresaar (Koko Arhitektid)
Anti Jürgenstein (Optimist Grupp)
Maris Altsoo (Milestone)
Tõnu Kõva (Age Creative/TULI export working group)
Katriin Hunt (Kagu_the_ Agency/TULI export working group)

The first speakers are:

• John Schoolcraft (ex-Global Chief Creative Officer, Oatly)

It’s hard to find a marketer who hasn’t heard of Oatly – and for good reason. In 2012, John Schoolcraft stepped in as Creative Director of the oat drink company and, together with CEO Toni Petersson, built a brand that became both legendary and fearless. John started by doing the unthinkable: scrapping the traditional marketing department and creating Oatly’s Department of Mind Control”, where creatives developed a distinctive voice that challenged the role of companies and brands in society.

Oatly soon became instantly recognizable for its boldly consistently inconsistent approach, inspiring people to take small steps to improve their own lives and the sustainability of the planet. John officially left Oatly in the summer of 2024 but continued as an advisor for several months, leaving behind one of the most influential brand legacies of our time.

• Karolina Lapinaite (Head of Media, Precis)

Karolina is the Head of Media at Precis, where she leads media strategy across international markets. With a career spanning roles at LinkedIn, Adform, Mindshare, and OMD, she brings a unique blend of strategic insight and digital expertise to the evolving landscape of modern marketing. Karolina focuses on smarter, more human-centred marketing and helps brands scale without losing their identity.

• Will Gilroy (Director of Communications and Strategy, World Federation of Advertisers, WFA) 

Will was previously WFA Director of Policy and Communications and held regional responsibilities for Latin America and Asia-Pacific. In 2012 he set up WFA’s regional presence in Singapore where he lived until 2016. 

Before joining WFA, he was a journalist for a number of publications, including The London Times. He is a graduate of Modern Languages from Oxford University. 

• Riku Vassinen (CEO, hasan & partners)

Riku Vassinen has 20 years of experience in advertising across three continents (Africa, Asia, Europe). Before returning back to native Finland to lead Finland´s leading independent agency hasan & partners, Riku was three years at Ogilvy Africa, based in Nairobi and seven years in Singapore working in R/GA & JWT. His clients have included Google, Nike, Netflix, Unilever, Coca-Cola. Diageo, Nokia, Philips, HSBC, Uber and J&J. 

He has led agencies and teams that have won in all the major awards including Cannes, D&AD, LIA, Clio, Webbys, Spikes, Eurobest, Golden Drum etc. Riku has written four books about marketing and the latest “Greenwashing Economics” came out in 2024. 

He is a father of three young daughters, so he does not have any hobbies.

• Anna Kuulmann (Head of Strategy, dentsu Baltics)

Anna is a visionary strategist and marketing leader with double Master’s degrees in Technology Governance (TalTech) and Marketing (RMIT University, Australia). As former Managing Director of the e-Estonia Briefing Centre, she helped shape Estonia’s global digital success story. Now Head of Strategy at dentsu Baltics, Anna empowers brands to connect creativity, data, and technology for measurable growth.

A passionate public speaker with over 1000 presentations and 60+ keynotes, including a TED Talk, Anna inspires global audiences to embrace digital strategy, purposeful innovation, and human-centric technology.

• Jyrki Poutanen (Co-founder and Creative Director, United Imaginations) 

Named by Adweek as one of the ‘100 Most Creative People in the World’, Jyrki is the co-founder and creative lead of United Imaginations, one of Finland’s most awarded young agencies. He brings more than 25 years of experience helping corporate, nonprofit, and public sector clients navigate change, build meaning, and stand out — across strategy, campaigns, content, PR, and design.

Since founding United Imaginations in 2022, Jyrki has guided work that has gained international recognition for both creativity and impact. Over his career, he has earned 10 Cannes Lions, including 2 Golds, alongside awards from Eurobest, One Show, Epica, D&AD, Clio, Effie, Red Dot, and leading national shows.

Earlier, he held senior creative and executive roles at Ogilvy, McCann, and TBWA, shaping high-profile campaigns for both local and global brands.

• Natalja Piiskoppel (Senior Strategy Partner, WPP Media Global Consultancy) 

Natalja is advising global brands including IKEA, Mastercard, Amazon, and Nestlé. Based in Copenhagen, she combines hands-on experience with leading global brands and sustainability expertise from the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, while teaching Sustainable Strategy at the Estonian Business School.

• Ørnulf Johnsen (CEO, creative agency &Co./NoA)

Ørnulf has about 30 years of experience in the creative industry, primarily as a strategist, challenging perspectives, chasing human insights, and driving extraordinary results through world class creativity. He’s always been motivated by pushing the boundaries of the creative industry, from bringing creativity to media planning as a managing partner at Naked Communications in the 2000s, to championing creative storytelling as a business strategy accelerator presently. Ørnulf is CEO at internationally acclaimed creative agency &Co./NoA in Copenhagen, leading the agency to win Campaign’s Global Creative Agency of the Year, Agency of the Year at Epica and 2 consecutive Grand Prix at the WARC effectiveness awards/Cannes Lions.

• Kristjan Korjus (Co-Founder and CTO, Pactum AI)

Kristjan Korjus is co-founder and CTO of Pactum. Pactum helps companies improve commercial agreements, by automatically negotiating them on a massive scale. He was previously head of AI at Starship Technologies, which has the largest fleet of self-driving delivery robots. Furthermore, Kristjan led a successful GitHub project, replicating DeepMind’s famous Atari playing AI, and is a co-author of the best-selling book in Estonia, “Bedside Reading About Mathematics”. Kristjan holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Masters in Mathematics.

• Kadri Gröön (Head of Marketing and Communication, Enterprise Estonia’s Export Department)

Kadri Gröön is head of marketing and communication in the export department at Enterprise Estonia. Over the past two years, she has led the development and execution of strategic export campaigns, helping Estonian companies gain visibility in international markets. Her work focuses on sector-specific storytelling, measurable impact, and cross-channel communication.

Kadri brings over six years of prior experience in tourism marketing, where she worked on international media relations, food tourism promotion, and destination branding. She has led creative campaigns and built diverse teams to strengthen Estonia’s visibility abroad.

• Ada Mockutė Jaime (Chief Marketing Officer, Nordcurrent)

Ada Mockutė Jaime is the Chief Marketing Officer at Nordcurrent, the largest Baltic video game development and publishing studio. With over a decade of marketing leadership across finance, tech, and consumer goods, she brings a data-driven and community-focused approach to gaming. Previously, she led marketing and customer intelligence at Luminor Group and served as CMO at Citadele Bank, driving brand growth in competitive markets. At Nordcurrent, Ada is focused on strengthening the company’s global brand, fostering player-driven content and communities, and expanding in key markets like Asia, North America, and Europe. She is passionate about championing diversity and inclusion in gaming.

• Moderator: Liis Laisaar (Head of Growth, Holini)

We will announce the next speakers soon.

We will also focus on export: a representative from EIS and three companies will share their inspiring experience stories. The Estonian Marketing Association’s export group will present their pilot export strategy idea.

Estonian Marketing Association member ticket 225 €+VAT
Student ticket (with a valid student card) 225 €+VAT
General ticket 270 €+VAT

The ticket will include snacks, coffee, lunch, and the award ceremony of the effectiveness competition Tulimust which will be held at the end of the first day. The conference ticket includes entry to the afterparty Alibi. To attend only the networking party, please register separately HERE.

The conference is co-financed by the European Union.Within three financial years, every Estonian company has the right to apply for up to 300,000 euros of state aid. For one company participating in the conference, up to 800 euros of minor aid is calculated which is reduced from those 300,000 euros. Read more.