PANEL DISCUSSION
The Culture Playmakers: Media, Sports & Brands Changing the Game
Some brands follow culture. Others create it. This panel brings together leaders from media, sports, and marketing who know how to spark movements, own the spotlight, and turn bold ideas into moments everyone talks about. Fast, fresh, and a little unpredictable — this is where the real game-changers share how they keep brands at the center of culture.
Latvia
Vadims Barisons / Managing Director at OMD Latvia (PANEL DISCUSSION HOST)
About: Vadims Barisons is a marketing and media leader with a passion for brands that shape culture. As Managing Director at OMD Latvia, he’s spent over a decade helping companies and brands grow, innovate, and connect with audiences in fresh ways. At the Baltic Brand Forum, Vadims brings his curiosity and strategic mindset to the stage, guiding conversations that spark ideas and inspire the industry.
Lithuania
JONAS ŽALA / HEAD OF MARKETING, BALCIA INSURANCE
About: Jonas leads marketing at Balcia Insurance in Lithuania, blending sharp strategy with unstoppable energy - and just enough wit to keep everyone on their toes. Driven by curiosity and passion, he transforms bold ideas into campaigns that make people stop, look, and care. With a talent for spotting opportunities others overlook, Jonas fuses creative spark with a razor-sharp mind, proving that marketing can be both smart and fun - while delivering real impact and driving the business forward. Jonas is not only a driving force within the marketing team, but also has one foot in employer branding, sales, and other areas where people and business meet. This broader reach makes his role far richer than a traditional marketing manager’s - shaping culture and strengthening connections.
Lithuania
Ignas Vyšniauskas / Žalgiris Marketing & Communication director
About: BC Žalgiris Kaunas is one of Europe’s most iconic basketball clubs, combining 80 years of sporting tradition with bold, modern brand innovation. Competing in the EuroLeague from its smallest market, Žalgiris has become one of the league’s most engaging and commercially successful teams — achieving 50 consecutive sold-out games, 30% annual revenue growth, and landmark partnerships with brands like eBay and UBS. Leading this transformation, Ignas Vyšniauskas has driven the club’s largest rebrand, digital expansion, and merchandise growth, ensuring Žalgiris remains both a sporting powerhouse and a cultural brand.
Latvia
FLOW team
About: The Flow team is joining BBF! The creative collective behind the Oscar-winning animated film Flow is among the Baltics’ most successful creators. With over 50 international awards, they will share their experience, challenges, and the story behind building that standout success.
Ukraine
Nika Selega / CGO at Bickerstaff.734
About: Bickerstaff.734 was named Independent Agency of the Year 2024 by GOLDEN DRUM and ranked among Europe’s Top 15 Most Effective Agencies. The agency created “Nearest Bomb Shelter” for the Ukrainian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and the “Not for Sale” concept for Expo 2025.
Alongside her creative work, she has a strong background in cultural management and public communication—leading the cultural and educational departments at the President’s Office and previously running the public speaking school “Aristotle.”
Estonia
Michael Burich / Founder & Creative Director of Maison Beast
About: Michael is a serial entrepreneur that is coming for a prolonged background in hospitality (Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne) to now founding and building one of the hottest European streetwear brands, Maison Beast. Michael has an obsession with freedom of self-expression and believes that a sense of humor can make every aspect of life better.
Maison Beast is one of the hottest premium streetwear brands to come out of Europe (Estonia). In the past two years, it has been invited to show at New York Fashion Week and Milan Fashion Week, and has been worn by superstars like The Game, G-Unit, Taylor Momsen, and many more. Maison Beast believes in storytelling and bold, honest communication.
Lithuania
IEVA DAVYDENKO / SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER AT GO VILNIUS
About: Ieva is a part of the Go Vilnius team, where she leads the city’s most prominent international-facing events. Go Vilnius created the signature Vilnius Pink Soup Fest, an inventive celebration to boost the city's visibility abroad. The festival grew from 15,000 to 93,000 visitors in just three years—a testament not only to the strength of the idea but also to Ieva’s ability to build it into a large-scale cultural phenomenon.
Denmark
Nikolaj Voulfsbach / Head of Research & Team Manager, Norstat Denmark
About: Nikolaj Voulfsbach is Head of Research & Team Manager at Norstat Denmark and brings over 20 years of experience in market research. He is one of Denmark’s most experienced experts in research methodology, data collection, and analysis design, with deep expertise in both quantitative and qualitative methods. At Norstat, Nikolaj leads a team focused on delivering high-quality, data-driven insights through different methodologies including CAWI and CATI. His career spans leadership roles at major research firms, where he has been responsible for innovation, execution, and commercial development of research solutions. Nikolaj leads the ‘Norstat Quarterly Data’ initiative which offers comparable consumer insights from Norstats 15 European market.
Lithuania
Gailė Bučiūnaitė / Head of Business Development at Sons & Daughters ID
About: Proven expertise in managing comprehensive 360° branding and advertising campaigns, as well as design and web development initiatives.
Experienced in full-scale branding and advertising campaigns. Gailė is committed, and genuinely passionate about producing meaningful work.
Estonia
Anti Jürgenstein / Cofounder and Creative Strategist at Optimist Creative
About: With more than 20 years of experience, Anti Jürgenstein has crafted marketing strategies not only in Estonia, the Baltics and Scandinavia, but also across nearly every continent. He is the cofounder of Optimist Group and Optimist Creative, Estonia’s most internationally awarded creative agency, renowned for its outstanding creative and strategic work.
Latvia
Aigars Tukāns / Strategist at WIT Consulting & MAGIC Agency
About: At WIT Consulting, where marrying data with creativity is a daily practice, Aigars uses both sides of the brain - diving into creative briefs and working on the largest brand and lifestyle research in the Baltics, Brand Capital. He thrives on working with creatives and spotting cultural shifts through data, observation, and curiosity.
Lithuania
Urtė Daknytė / the Head of Digital Marketing at Go Vilnius
About: Urtė Daknytė drives the city’s brand across all things digital—including social media, website management, brand awareness, and performance campaigns—while also playing a key role in creative strategy development.
Passionate about the intersection of data and creativity, Urtė thrives on crafting proactive marketing strategies that drive growth and engagement. After spending half a decade working in London, she now brings her international expertise back to the brand she loves most—and proudly calls home—the city of Vilnius.
Estonia
Saile Mägi / Tartu 2024, Head of International Marketing
About: The biggest buzz in Estonia last year was European Capital Tartu 2024 — a year-long celebration that filled Southern Estonia with more than 1,600 events and drew 1.1 million visitors. Saile is happy to open up about the journey — from thousands of kisses to falling cats, and sauna raves as part of the “arts of survival.” With years of experience promoting creative ideas in the Baltics and Europe, she knows what it takes to make a region stand out across borders.
ESTONIA
GUNNAR HUNT / Co-Founder of KAGU_the_agency & Board Member of Estonian Marketing Association
About: Co-founder of Estonia’s first fully on-demand creative agency, which has transformed the local market and opened new doors to collaborative creativity across industries. With a format-free creative philosophy, he has built a versatile track record in advertising, branding, event marketing, and publishing. One of his most recent projects, the “0% Bureaucrazy” campaign for the e-Estonia Briefing Centre, has been widely recognized for its bold tone, clarity, and unimaginable ROI.
Beyond his agency work, Gunnar actively contributes to Estonia’s creative community as a Board Member of the Estonian Marketing Association (TULI), where he helps shape the future of marketing through effectiveness advocacy and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
