Josh Exell

EXF.STUDIO

Josh Exell is a multi Cannes Lions award winning film director, photographer and founder of EXF.studio, a creative production studio built for brands that need high-quality content at the speed of culture. Alongside his brother and creative partner Luke, Josh has spent the past decade making films, campaigns, documentaries and visual systems for some of the world’s most ambitious brands, including Square, Xbox, Google, Meta, McLaren, World Gold Council and Deloitte. His work on Xbox’s Everyday Tactician won multiple Cannes Lions, including Titanium and Grand Prix, and was recognised globally as one of the most awarded and talked-about campaigns of the year. But Josh’s real obsession is not just big award-winning ideas. It is how brands can make brilliant creative work more consistently, more efficiently and with more craft, across every touchpoint.

Through EXF.studio, Josh is helping reshape the relationship between strategy, creative and production. The studio works as a lean, senior, hands-on partner for modern marketing teams, creating everything from TV commercials and documentaries to social films, stills, OOH and always-on content ecosystems.
A filmmaker first and a founder by necessity, Josh brings a practical perspective on creativity, business and the future of production. He is interested in how AI, taste, speed and craft can work together, and how small, highly skilled teams can now compete with much larger legacy agencies.
At Ideas Fest, Josh speaks from the intersection of creativity, entrepreneurship and execution, sharing what it takes to build award-winning work, grow a modern creative company and stay human in a world where content, technology and attention are changing fast.