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Ben Afia - Brand+AI Strategist & Keynote Speaker, Keynote Speaker

Ben Afia

Ben Afia Brand+AI Strategist & Keynote Speaker

Ben Afia - Brand+AI Strategist & Keynote Speaker, Keynote Speaker
Ben Afia's Biography

Ben Afia is a brand and AI strategist who has spent 30 years helping organisations stay distinctive through change, and now helps them stay distinctive through AI. Everyone is using the same AI models, so everyone is starting to sound the same. Ben shows marketing and leadership teams how to use AI to amplify what makes them different, not erase it.He brings hands-on AI capability rather than theory. Ben is leading a multi-year programme for a Fortune 500 life science company, turning their brand governance from 90 guidance documents nobody read into a team of AI agents marketers actually use. The programme is now rolling out to 400 marketers, backed by training and change management. He is an alumnus of SmarterX's AI Academy and a Fellow o

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Ben Afia Speaker Solutions

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Ben Afia Keynote Topics
The AI Efficiency Trap

What happens when AI makes every company faster, cheaper and exactly the same?


Your Next Hire Won't Be Human

How to redesign work, lead human-AI teams and decide what people should still own.


How to Stop AI from Erasing Your Brand

Protect what makes your business different while competitors disappear into a sea of sameness.


Stop Experimenting. Start Changing the Business

Turn scattered AI pilots into better performance, confident people and lasting change.


Train AI to Sound Like You, Not Everyone Else

Capture your culture, knowledge and judgement so your difference scales with AI.


From 90 Documents to AI People Actually Use

How to turn forgotten guidance into practical agents that help people do better work.

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Ben Afia Workshop
Brief. Build. Back.

A working session, not a talk. Teams write a real brief, build a working agent in the room, then bring the output back and pull it apart against their own brand standards. Laptops stay open throughout. People walk out having made something that works, and knowing why the first version didn't.

Ben Afia
Ben Afia's Biography

Ben Afia is a brand and AI strategist who has spent 30 years helping organisations stay distinctive through change, and now helps them stay distinctive through AI. Everyone is using the same AI models, so everyone is starting to sound the same. Ben shows marketing and leadership teams how to use AI to amplify what makes them different, not erase it.

He brings hands-on AI capability rather than theory. Ben is leading a multi-year programme for a Fortune 500 life science company, turning their brand governance from 90 guidance documents nobody read into a team of AI agents marketers actually use. The programme is now rolling out to 400 marketers, backed by training and change management. He is an alumnus of SmarterX's AI Academy and a Fellow of the Professional Speaking Association.

That capability rests on three decades of building brands and leading culture transformation for organisations including Vodafone, Aviva, Google, AirBP, E.ON, Boots, Aldermore Bank and Legal & General. His work has included transforming customer service for 1,000 Vodafone agents (raising NPS by 15 to 20 points), training 20,000 people across 28 countries for Aviva, and reaching 16,000 people through E.ON's culture transformation.

Ben is the author of The Human Business: How to Love Your Customers So They Love You Back, and has run his own consultancy since 2004. His keynotes and workshops, including How to Stop AI from Erasing Your Brand, Your Next Hire Won't Be Human and the hands-on workshop Brief. Build. Back., leave audiences clear on what to do about AI and confident enough to do it. He has spoken at leadership offsites, marketing conferences and CEO and board-level events across energy, finance, healthcare and telecoms.

Book Ben Afia to help your team get the benefits of AI while keeping what makes them different.

Ben Afia is ready to inspire your teams!
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Ben Afia testimonials

Dave James

Speaker Coach, Dave the Coach

I've had the pleasure of watching Ben speak on several occasions over the last few years, and every single time he does something that I believe is really important when it comes to speaking. He doesn't speak to an audience, he speaks with them. He is great at creating rapport, and there's a real natural warmth and workshopper's instinct that comes through in his delivery. Not only does he get that connection, but he also gives people something they can actually use. He brings genuine expertise around AI, but also a very human approach to it.

Dave Stevens

CMO, Baringa

Ben spoke for us at Business Marketing Club. He was careful to understand our audience and objectives, as well as the setting for the event. His presentation was brilliant, passionate on the topic of bringing the human into business, engaging with his audience throughout the presentation and Q&A. Recommended.

Simon McGuiness

Head of Customer and Broker Experience, Aldermore Bank

Ben helped us transform our organisation, elevating our customer experience and making us more human. Ben's incredibly engaging, knows what he's talking about and is a pleasure to work with. This has been cultural transformation which has captured the imagination of the whole organisation.

Dr Penny Woods

CEO, Asthma + Lung UK

Ben worked with our entire organisation, from trustees to frontline staff, to help us with our brand and tone of voice. He totally 'got' our personality through interviews and several workshops, which he facilitated wonderfully! As well as getting the output he needed, our staff found them one of the best team-building activities ever. Thank you, Ben, for everything!

Anja Turner-Schulz

VP Marketing, BCD Travel

Ben has a smart presentation style. He's a solid speaker with game-changing approaches to corporate and consumer communication. Ben helped BCD transform to a global communication engine, where our strategy and goals are understood and the messages are fun and easy to read.

The PA Hub

Event host, Newcastle

Such a fantastic session Ben, our Newcastle members took so much away from your talk. The way you broke down AI into real, practical applications for assistants made it easy to see how powerful these tools can be in day-to-day work. Thank you for delivering such an engaging and insightful evening!

The PA Hub

Event host

Thanks again for such a brilliant session, it really gave everyone plenty to think about and opened up a lot of new possibilities. We've had great feedback since, and many are feeling more informed and confident about exploring AI further.

Frequently Asked Questions About
Ben Afia

Ben Afia speaks about AI and brand distinctiveness, AI governance, AI-enabled marketing, human-AI teams and the move from AI pilots to lasting business change.

Contact Speaker Agency through the enquiry form on this page with your event date, location, audience and format. Our team will confirm availability and send a tailored proposal.

Leadership offsites, marketing conferences and CEO and board-level events, across sectors including energy, finance, healthcare and telecoms.

Yes. Brief. Build. Back. is a hands-on workshop in which teams write a real brief, build a working AI agent in the room and test the output against their own brand standards.

Fees depend on the date, location, format and length of the engagement. Contact Speaker Agency for a quote.

Keynote length is agreed with each client to fit the programme. The Brief. Build. Back. workshop runs as a separate hands-on session.

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