DAY 1 - 8 April 2024

After specialising in advertising and comic licensing in the first few years of her career, Yulia is now leading the global film licensing team and the merchandising licensing team for non-Asian territories at KODANSHA. KODANSHA is one of the biggest publishing houses in Japan with over a century of history. 

Thierry is the co founder of pan European video game catalyst Spielfabrique based in Germany. They develop European professionalization programmes for indie video games studios and help them to get to the next level. Thierry has been an expert in financing the creative industries for the last 25 years and has been involved in many cross sector projects involving public and private funding. He holds an MBA from Bocconi university.

Elena Favilli is a global bestselling author living and working in NYC. She is the co-creator of the New York times bestselling series Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls and the co-founder of Rebel Girls.

Fée's career in licensing has included managing rights for hit properties such as Mr Men, Ninja Turties, Hello Kitty and Smiley. Her holistic approach to brand management and consumer products is the result of her time spent as both a licensor and a licensee across several categories including FMCG, fashion and publishing. No stranger to fandoms, Fée now uses her expertise in the world of video games heading up indie publisher Devolver Digital's global licensing and partnerships team. Recent successes include Fall Guys's high profile fashion collaboration with sportswear brand Champion, and the launch of the Cult of the Lamb comic book and licensing programme in the US. 

With enthusiasm for developing brands and crafting innovative partnerships, Tadeja Irmančnik is a go-to brand strategy expert. Hailing from gaming – the cutting-edge sector igniting all the hot conversations in entertainment – her perspective on brand development is fresh and distinctive. Leveraging her extensive journalism, PR, and marketing background, she seamlessly blends storytelling with business acumen. For the past five years, Tadeja has been co-shaping the future of Outfit7's Talking Tom & Friends franchise. This iconic brand is at the forefront of a transformative movement, leading the charge for mobile game IPs to evolve into entertainment properties.  

Ludvig Kullander, Licensing Manager at the Astrid Lindgren Company, has a long experience and knowledge of working in the publishing industry. For the past two years, he has been dedicated to the product licensing business within the company. Astrid Lindgren’s stories about strong girls (such as Pippi Longstocking and Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter) are more relevant than ever. The Astrid Lindgren Company licenses Astrid Lindgren’s beloved characters in a variety of categories. 

Samantha Loveday is group editor at Max Publishing, with direct responsibility for trade publication Licensing Source Book and online hub LicensingSource.net. She has 25+ years experience working in sectors including character, entertainment, brand and lifestyle licensing, toys, preschool and video games. 

Gianluca Marani was born in Castel San Pietro (BO) in 1980, he graduated in Computer Engineering in Bologna; and in 2007 he began his career in the video game industry working as a developer and QA manager for the Californian company Javaground.
In 2009 he co-founded JUST FUNNY GAMES S.R.L., a video game development studio based in Imola (BO), where he held the role of CEO.
In 2023 JUST FUNNY GAMES and his sister company DIGITAL TALES merged into FUNNY TALES and Gianluca serves as CEO of the resulting company.
In FUNNY TALES, Gianluca designs, produces and develops multiplatform video games, both for original and third-party IPs, for Mobile, PC, VR, XR and Console platforms.
Over the past 17 years, FUNNY TALES has self-produced and released over 20 proprietary games and developed more than 70 B2B titles, reaching tens of millions of users worldwide.
From 2015 to 2017 he held the role of developer representative and vice president of the AESVI association (now IIDEA).

Gary began his career as a school teacher leading an English department before becoming a learning designer for a change management consultancy. He co-founded Kids Industries in 1999 and today leads the agency as CEO to find answers to the most challenging problems in the family market.
With a number of industry accolades under his belt, Gary has created and executed award-winning marketing campaigns for numerous FMCG brands, hotels, global learning programmes, theme parks, private island destinations and globally recognised, best-in-class digital products. He is the recipient of a BAFTA for the Co-creation of the Disney Channel Kids Awards, two Institute of Practitioners in Advertising Special Awards for Strategy (Glaxosmithkline and Aquafresh) and a Webby award for a campaign with Peppa Pig.
A firm believer in furthering education and increasing marketing campaign success rates, Gary is an advisor to The Children’s Media Conference and a guest lecturer at multiple academic institutions - including Bauhaus and Oxford Universities. As a result of his campaigning work - to get children’s voices heard - Gary was appointed Children’s Ambassador by Products of Change in 2021, to represent the views, needs and wants of children. 

Based in London, Ben Roberts is the EMEA content director for License Global, the thought leadership platform for the brand licensing and extension industry, specialising in gaming, fandom and data-driven forecasting.

Alan Vele is a producer of audiovisual, movies and videogames, founder of Al-One. He worked for outstanding international brands from early 2000 such as Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Fox Int. Channels USA, National Geographic and A + E Networks. In 2020 he started producing the first feature animation of a trilogy about environment, TRASH, about waste recycling, released in Italy with more than 320 screens and currently in worldwide distribution. He is now producing the second project of the trilogy, FOREST, about deforestation. In 2022 he founded Al-One Interactive, born from the parent company's claim, Games for Movies & Movies for Games, with the goal of making high-quality videogame products using the feature animations’ assets.