How Gary Neville's 'throwaway' comment inspired a new global Manchester festival

A massive marketing festival is coming to the North for the first time – and its founders say they chose to bring it to Manchester after a throwaway comment from Gary Neville that showed just how creative the city is.

MAD//Fest has been held in London since 2018 and attracts 12,000 people to hear speakers from the world’s biggest brands talk about advertising and marketing.

Now the M.E.N. can reveal that MAD//UpNorth will be coming to Aviva Studios in February after organisers Ian Houghton and Dan Brain realised they needed to celebrate the thriving creative businesses in Manchester and the North of England. But they say this won’t be a “regional show” – they want it to become a global event that just happens to be in the North.

Dan said: “Nobody would think twice if there was a US marketing event based in Chicago or L.A. or Miami. Why not have a flagship international marketing event that is based outside of London?

"What we're trying to do isn't a regional show. We're going to be giving a platform for businesses based across the north to talk, to share their work. But the vision really is to create something that can hold its own amongst the elite of international events.”

Ian said: “London has 12,000 people that come over the three days. And for MAD//UpNorth, we are projecting 4,000-plus delegates for year one. That will be the biggest marketing and advertising event that has ever happened for the north. From day one.

“And we can see MAD//UpNorth becoming as big as, if not bigger than, London over the course of the coming two or three years. That’s a very significant, wonderful opportunity to create something that's genuinely inspiring for everybody who comes.”

Speakers are set to include John Roberts, founder and