cartoon-powered keynote talks on marketing, innovation, and digital transformation

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Tom Fishburne uses his hand-drawn cartoons to give inspirational keynote talks with a unique blend of humor and insight. He speaks regularly as a Marketoonist at conferences, summits, and corporate events on the topics of marketing, innovation, business, and digital transformation. Tom is consistently ranked one of the top keynote speakers at events around the world. Please contact us if you’d like to add a cartoon-fueled talk to your or your client’s next event.

Tom’s cartoons not only engaged and amused, but landed important lessons that stuck with people long after the day was done. He was – by a sizeable margin, our highest rated speaker. In fact, we’d run this event for many years prior, and been collecting speaker evaluation metrics since 2005 — and he was actually our highest rated speaker ever.

- Jennifer Nelson, Johnson & Johnson

Tom is a tremendously engaging speaker who not only delighted our audience with his witty insights, but also provided clear advice on what makes ‘marketing worth sharing’. We were hoping that Tom would excite and inspire our audience, and he did not disappoint. We were thrilled to have him and so was our audience!

- Sarah Neels, Google

Tom was by far the best speaker we have had on our programe to date. His wealth of experience in the world of Marketing and brand building coupled with his infectious enthusiasm made for an unforgettable presentation. To sum-up in a word it was inspiring.

- Phil Edelston, Dylan

Tom was the inaugural featured speaker at the Nestle CMO meeting and he set the benchmark very high. Through the use of insightful, clever cartoons, Tom challenged the group to be the David in the Goliath and market like a challenger brand. His engaging style coupled with real life practical experience made for a truly inspirational dialogue.

- Patricia Erb, Nestle

Tom provided the perfect mix of humor combined with company case studies and real-life examples that resonated with our audience, despite the fact that we had scientists and researchers as well as management and marketing executives in the crowd. The hands-on drawing workshop was also a big hit.

- Ellen Schutt, GOED

Tom recently presented to over 200 PepsiCo marketers and it was absolutely fantastic! It was exactly what we needed to get motivated and to become better marketers: some humor, drawing exercises, and one truly engaging speaker. Tom’s message and enthusiasm was well received by the entire audience as the positive feedback continues to roll in.

- Russ Fliegler, Pepsi

Tom Fishburne is by the far the best keynote speaker we’ve ever had. Tom has elevated our future expectations by making his presentation inspirational, insightful and very engaging. Tom was able to keep the audience captivated with genuine examples, funny tone and interacting with the crowd in a fluent way.

- Pierre-Luc Paiement, Bombardier

insightful, funny, and visual keynote talks

Tom uses cartoons to parody situations in marketing that we've all experienced and then shares unexpected case studies that help audiences think about marketing differently. Following is an example 20-minute keynote at EngagePrague. You can also read highlights and see full-length videos of past keynote talks from TED, Lithium's user conference, The Financial Brand Forum, Invoca, CableLabs, Integrated Marketing Week, Google, Game Marketing Summit, Bombardier Recreational Products, and Deutsch.

a sample of keynote topics

Tom speaks on a wide range of marketing and innovation topics and addresses startups, established companies, and industry conferences. Each talk is customized with a selection of road-tested modules of cartoons of cases studies. Following is a small sample of his speaking topics. Please contact us to share more about your event so that we can recommend an approach that will inspire your audience.

Marketing Worth Sharing

The best marketing doesn't feel like marketing. There has never been a better time for brands that can tell a story well. Yet, most brand building is not marketing worth sharing. Marketing has evolved and Don Draper is no longer in charge.

Overcoming Idea Killers

The creative process shouldn’t end after the brainstorm, yet ideas often suffer a thousand cuts in the process of bringing them to life. Tom sheds light on the path of transforming ideas into new products and frame ways to build a cuture that champions creativity and overcome idea killers.

David Within Goliath

Thinking like a challenger is a state of mind, not a state of market. Whether you are David against Goliath or David within Goliath, thinking as a challenger brand can create success against insurmountable odds.

Visual Storytelling Workshops

Tom often incorporates visual storytelling workshops into his talks to add an energizing hands-on aspect to events. Doodling is the simplest form of prototyping and a great way to unlock creativity. This includes shorter 90 minute sessions as well as longer interactive exercises such as a two-day innovation workshop for Samsung in Dubai.

Custom Event Cartoons and Prints

Tom can create custom marketoons that can be used as mementos for the event. We work with a talented fine art printer in San Francisco and can produce museum-quality giclee prints of event cartoons.