The most powerful stories in business aren’t the ones we tell. They’re the ones we make true.
Matt Jones has spent almost thirty years studying what makes people believe, choose and act. His career has taken him from economics, military intelligence, speechwriting and political campaigns in the UK to global brand and experience strategy in Sydney and New York, where he worked with organisations including IBM, Microsoft, Qantas, Sony, Samsung and Volkswagen as Jack Morton Worldwide’s first Chief Creative and Strategy Officer.
Then he put his theories to the test. In 2013, Matt co-founded Four Pillars Gin. What began with a $30,000 crowdfunding campaign became the largest craft gin business in the Southern Hemisphere and a brand named the world’s best gin producer three times.
For Matt, Four Pillars was a decade-long experiment in what really drives growth: clarity of purpose, obsessive craft, distinctive experiences, a powerful internal culture and a community of customers willing to carry the story themselves.
Today, Matt advises founders, CEOs and leadership teams on the stories they are trying to make true, helping organisations create clarity, make better decisions, build stronger cultures and grow. As Matt says, “Story is the original technology of understanding”.
He is also the author of Lessons From Gin, a practical exploration of the lessons behind the Four Pillars journey, and the creator and host of StoryWork, a podcast where he explores how story shapes strategy, leadership and belief. He is also a regular writer and commentator on business, brand, marketing, technology and growth.
Increasingly, Matt’s work examines what happens as AI changes not just how organisations operate, but how people discover, judge, trust and choose. Just as he has been studying how human behaviour and decision making works for decades.
On stage, Matt combines intellectual rigour, entrepreneurial experience, energising storytelling and engaging warmth. He brings the credibility of something who has built something extraordinary. And the insatiable curiosity of something who didn’t stop learning after one success story.
Matt’s central belief is simple. Story is the most important human advantage we have. But the most powerful story isn’t merely one we tell. It’s one we make true.
Talking Points
A Story of Growth
Five things every organisation must get right to keep growing.A Story of Growth
Every organisation has a growth story. The harder question is whether the business is making it true. Matt Jones spent years advising some of the world's largest organisations on that problem, then tested it himself, turning a $30,000 crowdfunding campaign into Four Pillars Gin. What he found is that durable growth comes from getting a lot of fundamentals right repeatedly, not from one brilliant idea. He gives audiences the five chapters every growth story needs: Clarity, Craft, Credit, Community and Change.
Audiences will leave with
• A structure for working out which chapter their organisation is getting wrong.
• Tools for creating clarity and making faster, better decisions.
• A sharper answer to what they do better than anyone else.
• A method for protecting what matters while changing what has to change.
Best suited to: leadership conferences, CEO and executive events, entrepreneurial audiences, company offsites, transformation programs and organisations entering their next stage of growth.
A Story of Leadership
How leaders create clarity, make better decisions and bring people with them.A Story of Leadership
Leadership becomes visible through decisions. What we do, what we don't, what matters now, what can wait, what gets protected and what has to change. Matt Jones has made those calls where ambiguity carries a cost: political campaigns, global businesses and the founder's chair at Four Pillars. His argument is that a leader's most important job is building an organising story clear enough to guide decisions throughout the business. Purpose stops being a statement on a wall and becomes a filter for choosing between competing options. A decision is only finished when people can act on it.
Audiences will leave with
• A practical test for using purpose as a decision-making tool rather than an aspiration.
• A way to separate the decisions leaders need to own from the ones they should give away.
• Techniques drawn from speechwriting and storytelling that help hard decisions land.
• Better language for explaining unpopular choices, and for holding conviction while staying open to changing your mind.
Best suited to: CEO and executive audiences, leadership conferences, senior management programs, founder communities and organisations moving through significant change.
Human Behaviour in the Age of AI
What changes when machines start choosing with us, and sometimes for usHuman Behaviour in the Age of AI
Economics taught Matt Jones how people are supposed to behave. Political campaigns taught him how they actually behave. Brand taught him what to do about the difference. Now a new participant is entering that relationship, as people ask AI agents to search, compare, filter, recommend and eventually act for them. Matt works from a deliberately practical definition, that a brand is positive bias, and asks what happens to preference and loyalty when an algorithm sits between the organisation and the customer. A talk about people and choice, not about technology.
Audiences will leave with
• A working definition of brand as positive bias rather than awareness or identity.
• Why stated preferences and actual behaviour diverge, and the role emotion plays in decisions people later call rational.
• A model for thinking about AI agents as a new layer between organisations and customers.
• A way to separate what AI actually changes from what stays stubbornly human.
Best suited to: marketing, customer, technology and innovation conferences; boards and executive teams; future-of-business programs; and organisations confronting the commercial implications of AI.
Marketing's New Story
A primer on brand and demand creation, for everyone (even people who don't call themselves marketers).Marketing's New Story
Matt Jones came into marketing sideways, through economics, military intelligence, political strategy and speechwriting. That left him less interested in marketing as an industry and more interested in a simpler question: what actually makes someone choose? His first years in brand strategy coincided with the smartphone and social media reset. Another one is underway, as generative AI, conversational interfaces and autonomous agents change how people search, discover and decide. His argument is that organisations now need to move past storytelling and into storydoing, building businesses whose actions give other people a story worth telling.
Audiences will leave with
• The marketing ideas leaders need to understand, without the jargon.
• Why greater complexity makes strategic clarity more important, not less.
• Why the strongest brands build brand worlds rather than brand guidelines.
• Why the brand story that counts is the one other people tell when the organisation is not in the room.
A Story of Experience
Designing the moments that turn awareness into preference.A Story of Experience
People experience a business as a sequence of moments, and a few of those moments carry far more weight than the rest. Matt Jones spent much of his career helping global organisations rethink brand experience before building one of his own, and the challenge he kept returning to was identifying which moments matter, then designing them deliberately. This Keynote takes experience design out of the world of large consumer budgets and makes it useful for service businesses, B2B organisations, member bodies and internal teams, using Matt's own model of the four experience archetypes.
Audiences will leave with
• A practical definition of experience design that works for B2B, services and internal teams.
• How to find the few interactions that shape memory and preference.
• How to build experiences people remember without a large budget.
• How AI experiences a brand differently to a human, and what that changes.
A Story of Culture
What people do when nobody is directing them.A Story of Culture
Culture is what people do when nobody is directing them. Community is what customers do when nobody is rewarding them. For a decade at Four Pillars, Matt Jones watched those two systems feed one another, with curiosity and ownership working as hiring filters, meeting habits and operating principles until they showed up in the product and the community around it. Then growth applied pressure. New people, new leaders, more process, and what once happened instinctively had to become deliberate. This Keynote covers how culture actually forms, and what a scaling business should protect.
Audiences will leave with
• How to tell whether a stated value is operating or only written down.
• How behaviours like curiosity get built into rituals, hiring and meetings.
• The link between employee culture and customer advocacy.
• The early signs that culture is drifting, and what to protect as the organisation grows.
In Conversation with Matt Jones
Ask Matt Anything!In Conversation with Matt Jones
From his professional background as a strategist and facilitator to his experience as a podcaster and storyteller, Matt is a hugely engaging and intelligent conversationalist about business and growth. Matt works with his clients to tailor a bespoke ‘in conversation’ session that can combine fireside chat with ‘ask me anything’ opportunities for the audience. The result is candour, intimacy and a truly unique experience and conversation.
MC with Business Benefits
Matt has one of the fastest and sharpest minds in the business. With a professional background as a creative strategist and a huge capacity to make sense of content and ideas in real time, Matt brings a unique set of skills to facilitating conferences, summits and events. Matt’s style and abilities particularly suits events with manager, leader or owner audiences, where there are clear thematic threads to be pulled through across the day or days. Over the past decade, Matt has been the MC of choice for one of Asia’s fastest-growing insurance providers, FWD, facilitating their annual leadership summits. Matt takes a hands-on role working with the internal business team to help develop the content flow and add bespoke value. He is now offering this service more broadly through Saxton.
MC with Business Benefits
Video
Matt Jones | Brand and Growth Keynote Speaker | Saxton Speakers
Matt Jones on brand, growth and craft, drawn from building Four Pillars Gin into the number one selling craft spirit in Australia. Watch how he works a room before you put him in front of yours.Matt Jones | On Stage - Lessons From Gin | Saxton Speakers
Matt Jones is a highly sought-after speaker known for his ability to engage audiences with impactful stories, fresh perspectives, and actionable insights. With a natural charisma and a gift for connecting with diverse audiences, Matt has delivered keynote presentations and facilitated events across industries, always leaving a lasting impression. Whether you're planning a corporate event, conference, or industry gathering, Matt brings an energetic presence that enhances any occasion. His expertise spans a wide range of topics, from leadership, innovation, and teamwork, to resilience, personal growth, and success in business. As an MC, Matt seamlessly guides events with professionalism, ensuring a smooth, engaging, and memorable experience. If you're seeking a speaker who can captivate your audience, inspire change, and deliver high-impact messages, Matt Jones is the perfect choice. Book Matt today to elevate your event to the next level.Matt Jones | On Stage - Branding | Saxton Speakers
Looking for expert insights into branding from a unique perspective? In this video, Matt Jones dives into the world of branding, personal growth, and professional experiences, sharing his journey from an economist to a brand strategist. Jones unpacks powerful lessons learned from industry giants like Apple, explaining how successful brands create strong emotional connections through consistent storytelling, purposeful design, and unforgettable experiences.Matt Jones | The Power of Story - Keynote Speaker | Saxton Speakers
Story is the original technology of understanding. Matt Jones has tested that across military intelligence, political campaigns in the United Kingdom, brand strategy in New York and the founding of Four Pillars Gin. His Keynotes treat story as business architecture rather than a communications layer.Matt Jones | StoryWork Podcast | Saxton Speakers
What actually drives growth, and what does it cost when the story is not clear? That is the question Matt Jones puts to nine Australian founders and leaders on his podcast StoryWork. Watch the trailer, then listen in full on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube.Matt Jones | Introduction | Saxton Speakers
Matt Jones is a renowned Creative Strategist and Co-founder of Four Pillars Gin. With a background in economics and politics, Matt transitioned into brand experience, working with global brands like IBM, Microsoft, and Qantas. In this introduction, he shares insights into building purpose-driven brands, the significance of storytelling, and the role of craft in business success.Matt Jones | Lessons From Gin | Saxton Speakers
Join Matt Jones—co-founder of Four Pillars Gin and acclaimed brand strategist—as he shares the remarkable journey of transforming a small Australian craft distillery into a globally recognised gin producer. In this insightful talk, Matt delves into the pivotal decisions, creative strategies, and brand-building principles that propelled Four Pillars to international acclaim. Key Takeaways: - Harnessing creativity to drive business growth - Designing a brand narrative that resonates with consumers - Building customer loyalty through authentic experiences - Leading with purpose and cultivating a passionate team culture Whether you're an entrepreneur, marketer, or business leader, Matt's experiences offer valuable lessons on building brands that people trust and cherish.Matt Jones | Distilling the Moment | Saxton Speakers
Matt Jones, acclaimed brand strategist and co-founder of Four Pillars Gin, delves into the art of building brands that resonate. In his insightful keynote "Distilling The Moment", Matt shares his journey from political advisor to brand experience leader, culminating in the creation of Australia's leading craft gin. Discover how purpose, storytelling, and customer experience intertwine to create brands that not only sell but inspire. Key Takeaways: -The significance of defining your brand's purpose. - Crafting compelling narratives that connect with audiences. - Leveraging customer experiences to build brand loyalty. - Insights from the success story of Four Pillars Gin. Whether you're an entrepreneur, marketer, or business leader, Matt's experiences offer valuable lessons on brand building in today's dynamic market.Matt Jones | In Experiences We Trust | Saxton Speakers
Join Matt Jones, co-founder of Four Pillars Gin and acclaimed brand strategist, as he delves into the power of experiences in shaping brand identity and customer loyalty. In this insightful talk, Matt shares how intentional, well-crafted experiences can transform a product into a beloved brand. Key Takeaways: - The significance of designing experiences that resonate with customers - Strategies for integrating storytelling into brand experiences - Lessons from Four Pillars Gin on creating authentic customer connections - The role of purpose and clarity in brand development Whether you're a marketer, entrepreneur, or business leader, Matt's insights offer valuable guidance on building brands that people trust and cherish.Matt Jones | The Growth Cocktail | Saxton Speakers
In this engaging talk, Matt Jones—co-founder of Four Pillars Gin and renowned creative strategist—shares the key ingredients that propelled a local Australian gin into a globally celebrated brand. Drawing from his book Lessons From Gin: Business the Four Pillars Way, Matt delves into the 'growth cocktail'—a blend of purpose, storytelling, customer experience, and culture—that fuels sustainable business growth. Key Takeaways: - The importance of aligning brand purpose with business strategy - Crafting compelling narratives that resonate with audiences - Building a culture that fosters innovation and customer loyalty - Insights from Four Pillars Gin's journey to global recognition Whether you're an entrepreneur, marketer, or business leader, Matt's insights offer valuable guidance on building brands that people trust and cherish.Audio
We were looking for something to take the edge of the information download from the jam-packed program, and Matt added the extra flavour and spark to our closing lunch that we needed. A grea ... keep reading RIMPA
Overall excellent feedback on Matt, he was well prepared, connected with our values and messaging and the audience really leaned into his learnings. Thank you.
Matt’s keynote was a standout moment at the Hyundai event. His ability to weave his own engaging story with the journey of Four Pillars Gin—while seamlessly tying key learnings back to Hyundai—resonated with the audience. The session was incredibly well received, with the only feedback being that we didn’t have enough of his books to go around!
Matt was such an engaging speaker that our staff who were lucky enough to enjoy his presentation are looking into inviting him to speak at partner and client events. Thank you Matt!
Matt was an absolute pleasure to work with! From the briefing call, to the pre-event communications and interactions on event day. We're very appreciative of the time Matt took on the briefing call to understand our audience and customise his presentation to those in the room. He's a real professional and I would love to work with him again in the future.
Outrageously articulate, splendidly creative and profoundly pragmatic.
Matt was incredible, really prepared for our audience and was inspiring for all.
Matt joined us on an agency roadshow to share the story of Four Pillars Gin, and how the business used our platforms to establish its market position. Matt is a wonderful speakerfunny, insightful and highly engaging. His experience in marketing around the globe means he is a true marketing wizard who is able to share his magic with anyone who is interested in business or brand building.
We are always thoroughly impressed with Matt. He is easy to deal with, available when we needed him pre-event and onsite, and ensures his content is in line with the conference theme. Will be booking Matt again!
This is the second time we have used Matt Jones at one of our events and not surprisingly Matt was our most highly rated speaker on the day! We’d book him 100 times more if we could! He is an incredible storyteller combining great insights and a brilliant visual presentation, Matt takes the audience on a real journey while highlighting the importance of key steps along the way for them and their businesses.
Matt was a hit with the audience. I have had great feedback from his session.
Matt Jones delivered an inspiring and insightful session at our recent Sales Conference. His expertise in branding, storytelling, and consumer engagement resonated strongly with our team, providing valuable lessons on innovation and strategic thinking. A truly engaging speaker who left a lasting impact.
Matt had the audience in his hand from his first word (and their first sip!) - such a marvellous afternoon of connection and storytelling - the way Matt conveys his message is truly special. The Walker Wayland Australasia audience was captivated!
Matt gets 'it' before most people even know there is an 'it' to get.
Matt was the opening speaker for our annual Kick.Start.Smart. event, and I can honestly say he blew everyone away. Captivating the audience from the moment he hit the stage with his incredible energy, high-calibre-content and thought-provoking presentation. If you're looking for an authority on brand strategy, purposeful thinking and creative storytelling, Matt is your guy.
Matt was an excellent guest speaker for our National Conference. He was highly engaging, easy to work with, and adapted seamlessly to a change in topic, delivering a presentation that resonated well with the audience.
Matt Jones played a pivotal role in the success of the VTIC 2026 Vision Summit, delivering as both emcee and keynote speaker. His input in the lead‑up to the Summit helped shape the program’s structure and flow, ensuring the day landed with impact. On the day, Matt seamlessly tied sessions together as emcee and asked thoughtful questions that deepened the discussion. He handled timing changes throughout the day with ease and maintained strong energy in the room all day. Matt’s keynote sessions were thoughtful and well‑crafted. His focus on purpose‑led branding and place‑based experiences resonated strongly for delegates and was practical and relatable. This provided delegates clear actions they could take back to their organisations. Professional, collaborative, and easy to work with, Matt helped create an environment where delegates could genuinely reimagine Victoria’s visitor economy and consider what innovation, growth and resilience look like for the future.
Matt was very friendly and actively interacted with guests during the lunch break before his keynote (without asking). He was engaging as a speaker and very reliable to work with in the lead-up.
Matt is one of the most inspiring speakers you can engage. His razor sharp mind and unique background allow him to gracefully navigate the myriad challenges a brand faces today.
