WPP CEO Mark Read will open the Media Leaders Awards’ results ceremony at next week’s awards ceremony, with a fireside chat about leadership with The Media Leader’s editor Omar Oakes.

Lee Brown, head of advertising business & platform at Spotify, speaks to Omar Oakes about how the global audio giant hopes to significantly grow its advertising revenue in response to founder Daniel Ek’s “20% challenge”.

Richard Shotton, the author of ‘The Choice Factory’ and ‘The Illusion of Choice’, discusses his new book and what marketers can learn from studying psychology.

In brief: Homebase has inked a nine-month-deal with Global’s Heart to sponsor its weekend programmes hosted by JK & Kelly Brook and Zoe Hardman.  

Sir John Hegarty will lead a heavyweight lineup of UK advertising and marketing experts at this year’s The Future of Brands conference, which will feature in-depth conversations about media measurement and marketing effectiveness.

The Media Leader’s new columnist Nicola Kemp joins Omar Oakes to talk about the progress women have made in making media a more equitable career and the barriers which still remain.

In brief: BBC Studios has launched a bespoke in-house global advertising sales function to drive revenue across its branded social media platforms.

The awards feature 16 categories; the winners will be announced on 11 May at a ceremony in London.

As well as devising this publication’s rebranding as The Media Leader, Scaffardi has launched event brands such as Future of Audio Europe, the Future of Gaming and the Future of Media, as well as evolving The Future of Brands.

In brief: By his own admission, Elon Musk has driven the value down of Twitter to less than half of what he paid to acquire it last year.