Re-design your life with purpose. Connect with impact.

Profile

Damian Madden is a globally recognised brand and experience strategist, keynote speaker and creative leader working at the intersection of culture, design, technology and human behaviour.

A two-time Australian CX Leader of the Year, Damian has spent over 15 years helping some of the world’s most ambitious brands rethink how they create relevance, meaning and growth in periods of rapid technological and cultural change. For nearly a decade, he has led and delivered AI-driven and data-led projects in market, long before AI became a boardroom buzzword, giving him a grounded, practical perspective on how emerging technologies actually reshape decision-making, behaviour and experience for both customers and staff.

Damian has led and advised award-winning work across luxury, automotive, fashion, technology, retail and entertainment, collaborating with global brands including Adidas, Pernod Ricard, Jacquemus, Daniel Ricciardo, Tesla, Yohji Yamamoto, the Foo Fighters and Prada. His career spans senior global roles, board-level advisory and hands-on leadership across brand, digital, commerce and customer experience.

At Pernod Ricard, Damian worked closely with the CEO and executive team during a successful private-equity transaction, helped scale a premium direct-to-consumer business to sustained double-digit growth and contributed to more than USD $17 million in incremental revenue through customer-led experience redesign.

He is also the creator of proprietary strategy systems and physical card-based tools used by leaders and teams to cut through noise, navigate complexity and make clearer strategic decisions.

On stage, Damian is known for combining sharp strategic thinking with cultural insight, real-world technology experience and practical frameworks audiences can apply immediately. Having spoken in eight countries, his keynotes challenge leaders to rethink how brands, technology and creativity shape human experience and why clarity, attention and presence are becoming critical leadership capabilities in an increasingly automated world.

Alongside his commercial work, Damian is the co-founder of A.SINGLE.PIECE, a contemporary art gallery that shows only one artwork at a time, an experiment in attention, perception, and focus.

Expertise

Talking Points

Beyond the Touchpoint: Designing Connected Brand Worlds

Most CX programmes still treat each interaction as a silo. In this session Damian shows how to stitch those moments into a single, living “brand world” that customers (and employees) can step into anywhere—online, in-store, pop-up or post-purchase. Drawing on two decades of global activations—from secret Foo Fighters gigs to F1 pop-ups—he unpacks the Experience Compass framework and the data behind it. Attendees learn how connection, not frequency, drives lifetime value.

Key Takeaways:
- A practical blueprint for mapping & linking every CX, EX and marketing touchpoint
- Metrics that matter: moving from NPS & clicks to “dwell, depth & downstream” revenue
- Check-list to de-risk product launches, pop-ups and sponsorships before dollars are spent
- Inspiration cases your team can lift and run with tomorrow

The Future of CX: From Funnels to Flywheels

CX is no longer a post-sale service function—it’s the business model. Damian explores the macro shifts (AI personalisation, blended channels, employee activation) redefining experience in 2025 and beyond. He demonstrates how leaders can evolve from linear funnels to self-propelling “experience flywheels” that compound loyalty and reduce acquisition spend.

Key Takeaways:
- A forecast of five CX trends that will reshape budgets in the next 24 months
- A “flywheel canvas” to spot leakage and turn service costs into revenue loops
- Proven tactics to align marketing, ops and HR around one experience KPI
- Benchmark data to justify investment to the C-suite

Experience Architecture Playbook: De-Risking High-Stakes Activations

Pop-ups, flagships and sponsorships promise buzz but often burn cash. As an Experience Architect, Damian reverse-engineers celebrated activations and reveals why others flop. Attendees receive a step-by-step playbook that balances creative vision with technical, operational and financial rigour—turning “one-and-done” events into long-tail brand assets.

Key Takeaways:
- A four-phase activation checklist covering concept, flow, tech and scale-down
- Hidden budget traps and how to avoid them (backed by real cost data)
- Methods to capture and re-deploy activation content across digital channels
- Templates to calculate projected ROI before signing the venue contract

The Busyness Illusion: Re-Design Your Workday, Reclaim Your Life

“Busy” has become the badge of worth—but it’s crushing creativity and wellbeing. Damian shares science-backed insights and personal stories of overcoming burnout, ADHD and perpetual motion. Audiences learn a simple redesign framework to trade frantic activity for high-value presence, boosting both productivity and personal fulfilment.

Key Takeaways:
- A diagnostic tool to identify “performative busyness” in teams
- Time-blocking and micro-ritual techniques that raise focus by up to 30 %
- Strategies to reduce burnout-driven turnover costs
- A personal “24-hour redesign worksheet” employees can use immediately

Design Like You’re Dying: Unlock Urgent Creativity in Your Team

If today’s project were the last thing you ever shipped, would you be proud? This provocative talk reframes deadlines as lifelines, teaching teams to channel urgency into bolder, faster, more meaningful work. Damian blends art-school drills with corporate case studies to show how constraints catalyse innovation.

Key Takeaways:
- A rapid-ideation method that cuts concept time in half
- Mindset shifts that move staff from risk-avoidance to calculated experimentation
- Tactics to embed “creative sprints” inside existing agile cycles
- Morale boost: teams report higher purpose and engagement post-session

The Experience Compass™ for Teams: From Silos to Shared Purpose

Great CX begins inside the building. Using his proprietary Experience Compass, Damian guides employees to align personal values with organisational purpose, breaking down functional silos. The result: cohesive teams that think like experience designers, not departmental operators.

Key Takeaways:
- A common language that unites marketing, operations and HR around one north star
- Workshop tools to surface and solve cross-team friction points
- Increased internal NPS and reduced project hand-off time
- A roadmap for ongoing Compass “check-ins” without external consultants

Working With the Machine: Creativity Lessons from Nam June Paik & AI

The Korean pioneer who fused art and technology in the 1960s offers timely guidance for today’s AI era. Damian juxtaposes Paik’s playful experiments with current generative tools, showing leaders how to embrace tech without losing their human spark.

Key Takeaways:
- A mindset model for “co-creation” instead of “man vs. machine” anxiety
- Practical guardrails for ethical, brand-safe use of generative AI
- Ideation prompts that merge human insight with algorithmic speed
- Inspiration that fuels an innovation culture beyond the keynote