Signal and Cipher

Signal and Cipher is the Future Decoded. We are an innovation and change management firm dedicated to helping the most impactful companies in the world navigate, operationalize, and monetize the impact of AI to drive the future of work.

From Hollywood studios to tech darlings and CPG, our clients are looking for ways to build the future today.

Keynote Speaker

I speak frequently on the future of work and the impact of rapid change on enterprises, employees, consumers, and the global economy.

Keynote Platforms: 
Billion Dollar Teams: The Future of an AI-Powered Workforce
Future Forward: Navigating Exponential Change
Creative Machines: AI and the Future of Creativity

Recent keynotes include Deloitte, Microsoft, Synchrony, Puig, SXSW, Adobe, Febraban, Icatu, Totvs, and Itau.

I have also given guest lectures on leadership and AI at several universities, including the University of Chicago, Northwestern, Loyola, DePaul, UIC, and IIT.

International Keynote Speaker

DeFiance Media

I write and produce the Future Report segment as a part of Defiance Daily on the Defiance Media Network, using Hour One's powerful synthetic media platform. Each news segment is delivered by an AI version of me - a Deepfake.
You can catch the segment at https://defiance.media or streaming on over 100MM devices and smart TVs worldwide.

AI Correspondent - Synthetic Host of "Future Report"

Coastal Spritz

Interim Fractional CMO

Update Beverage

Caffeine is obsolete. It’s time for an Update. Crush procrastination with a smart energy drink that's more advanced than caffeine. Now available at www.drinkupdate.com

* Rebuilt the brand from the ground up after two prior agencies failed to design a distinctive brand for this new beverage category
* Built a nimble team of freelancers to establish a visual identity, brand guidelines and design system, including an extensive library of 3D assets, and feature animations
* Defined core value propositions and key demographics for launch
* Lead launch strategy and execution 
* Worked with bleeding-edge tech platforms like Unreal Engine 5 and LightTwist to develop immersive brand experiences

Head Of Brand + Futurist in Residence

Cocktails For Hope

•  Successfully lobbied for the legalized sale of Cocktails-to-go in Illinois - providing bars and 
    restaurants a revenue lifeline during Covid
•  Built a team of 50+ volunteers, including some of the world's biggest names in hospitality
•  Co-wrote legislation that received overwhelming bi-partisan support 

Cocktails For Hope is an initiative that advocates for the temporary sale of pre-mixed cocktails in containers sealed by on-premise license holding establishments in the State of Illinois. Cocktails For Hope is committed to creating necessary cash flow to bars and restaurants throughout the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic to allow them to remain in business. The initiative also seeks to create an open line of communication with lawmakers for continued conversations as the hospitality landscape evolves over time.               Visit us at: www.cocktailsforhope.org

Co-Founder

SWAPP PROTOCOL (NFT Marketplace, Decentralized Exchange, Data Monetization)

Advising Swapp on 
- Implementation of structure and process needed to scale effectively
- Marketing and communications strategy

NFT Marketing and Operations Advisor

XR Founders

We are a collective of over 15,000+ interdisciplinary voices sharing ideas to shape the future of XR. Together we explore new capabilities, diversity, ethical design, accessibility, sustainability, and social impact within the industry. 

Join us on Clubhouse every Thursday and Sunday at  5PM ET.

Cohost

Hawkeye

Epsilon agency is now part of Hawkeye!

We’re a one-of-a-kind human experience agency.

We orchestrate experiences for people across their customer journey— leveraging human insight, the world’s best data, empathic creativity and the most powerful technology available. We do all this to deliver business results for our clients and to create more meaningful connections between humans and brands.

We call these Connections Designed to Matter™.

VP, Group Director: Digital Strategy + Innovation

Epsilon

Established the Creative Technology group to explore, prototype, and deploy new technologies in service of solving client business challenges.

Digital Strategy Practice Lead
Executive Development Program Graduate

Vice President, Digital Strategy

Decoding the future of work with the technologies of tomorrow | Futurist | Speaker

I help executives (including C-Suite and NEDs), and marketing teams understand the impact of AI on their organizations and augment the power of their teams with AI and reimagined workflows. 

For over a decade I've helped companies do mind-bending things with new and emerging technologies by showing them how to create, monetize and scale with bleeding-edge tech when few best practices and instruction manuals exist. At Signal and Cipher, we're focused on decoding the future of work for our clients.

My mission as a futurist and speaker is to inspire people to take ownership of their role in shaping the future, participate in building the world they want to see, be the wrong person asking the right questions, and approach the future with wonder, curiosity, and hope, not fear and confusion. The future is ours to shape, but you don't win by being as a spectator. 


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Considered one of the top voices in AI and the future of work, Ian is a trusted advisor to the world's most innovative companies. His firm Signal and Cipher transforms companies into AI-ready organizations with training, workforce reengineering, design, and development, resulting in meaningful routes to innovation that impact the bottom line, inspire cultural change, and create new products and ways of working.

Previously responsible for P&Ls and innovation departments at the largest agencies in the world, Ian is known for making bleeding-edge technology understandable and monetizable. Brands he has advised over the last decade include Samsung, Intel, Coca-Cola, Google, Microsoft, Nike, and dozens more.

Ian has pioneered a digitally immersive presentation style that brings artificial intelligence and extended reality to life so audiences can understand the future of technology in actionable ways. Ian is also the co-owner of a production studio designing virtual worlds and the first person ever to host a news segment as a synthetic human, streaming to over 100 million devices around the world.

A classically trained musician, Ian understands the magnitude of AI's coming impact on human creativity. As a strategist and speaker, he strives to educate stakeholders on the real-world implications of emerging technologies so they can make informed decisions that positively shape our world and advance humanity. In a rapidly evolving world that some consider dystopian, Ian remains a steadfast optimist and offers what everyone needs now: hope.

Specialties:  AI • Machine Vision • Emerging Technology • Digital Strategy • Process Engineering • Prototyping • Systems Thinking • Team Leadership

Ian Beacraft

Co-Founder / Creative General(ist)

Concentric Health Experience

VP Creative Director

Merkle

Executive Creative Director

Clients: Adobe, Intel, Amazon AWS, Nintendo, Microsoft

Creative Director

Leo Burnett

Clients: Altria, Marlboro, Copenhagen, Samsung

Associate Creative Director

Contractor

Creative / Art Director

Metro Creative Group

Clients: Canon USA, Epson, Drobo / Data Robotics, Adaptec / Overland Storage, US Sunlight Corp

Director of Motion Graphics

Draftfcb

Clients: Glaxo Smith Kline, M&M Mars, Milk

Senior Art Director - Contract 

Bridges Media

Clients: Blue Cross Blue Shield, Culligan Water, United States Department of Defense

VP of Interactive Services

Focus Impact

Web Media Specialist

As a Creative Generalist, Innovator, and Tech-Driven Storyteller, I thrive at the intersection of creativity, technology, and strategy. With over 15 years of experience across leadership roles in advertising, marketing, and tech, I bring a unique ability to fuse artistic vision with cutting-edge innovation. My work spans everything from immersive VR experiences and AI experiments to award-winning brand campaigns and content that connects on a human level.

I specialize in creating impactful narratives and designing solutions that resonate across diverse channels. Whether I’m leading a team of 20+ or collaborating directly with clients, I bring a passion for experimentation, a results-driven mindset, and a dedication to pushing boundaries.

My career has taken me from advertising giants like Leo Burnett to tech-forward agencies like Merkle and Signal & Cipher. Along the way, I’ve developed campaigns that have won Emmys, Effies, and Lions, always striving to deliver work that is not only creative but meaningful.

When I’m not leading projects, I’m exploring the intersection of AI and storytelling, diving into the American West with a camera in hand, or experimenting with new ways to use technology to elevate the creative process. At my core, I believe in using creativity as a tool to inspire, connect, and challenge what’s possible.

I’m always looking for opportunities to collaborate with forward-thinking brands and individuals who want to redefine what’s next. 

Let’s create something extraordinary.

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Ian Beacraft

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