Agency Owners and Leaders Conference 2024

09:45 Registration and coffee

09:30
Welcome from the Chair
James Endersby, Chair, MRS & CEO, Opinium

AGENCY GROWTH STRATEGIES

09:45
Driving Growth & Margin as a Consultancy-Led Agency
In 2024, Strat7 Group was named the fastest-growing business in the MRS’s Top 20 League Table. CEO Barrie Brien will share how Strat7 has grown customer value and developed deeper commercial relationships with existing clients.
Speaker: Barrie Brien, CEO, Strat7

10:05
Future-Proofing Your Agency: Pivot or Persevere?
Join panellists for a dynamic discussion on steering your agency through uncertain times while positioning it for long-term success. With the reduction of client budgets and the explicit use of technology, today's agency leaders face critical decisions about their business's future. This panel brings together diverse experiences, including recent acquisition, leadership transitions, and pivoting commercial strategy, to explore key challenges when considering agency transformation and strategy.
Chair: Dr. Sarah Jenkins, Managing Director, Magenta
Panelists:
Caroline Whitehill, Co-founder, Acacia Avenue
Monique Drummond, Founder, Relish
Mark Ursell, CEO, Qumind

10:35
Break

11:00
Unlocking New Business Opportunities
Examine the three actions an agency leader should take to unlock new business opportunities more effectively – based on what clients say works. Hear how to:

• Engage more effectively with potential clients
• Focus on the most impactful new business narrative
• Prioritise resources and investment in your new business development

Speaker: Paul Griffiths, Founder, Client Advocates


11:20
Fireside Chat: MBOs...Things We Wish We'd Known
Looking back on our management buy-out in the summer of 2017, what did we wish we’d known at the time? And how can those lessons help those considering an MBO set a true course for success?
Speaker: Paul Child, Head of UK, Human8
In conversation with: Graeme Lawrence, Managing Partner, Human8

11:40-12:50
Round Tables: Growth, Strategy & Finance
Delegates are invited to choose two, half-hour, guided discussions to join, where they can delve into a specific business issue and benefit from a frank exchange of ideas with their industry peers.

Options:

1. Re-brands...Things We’ve Learned
Facilitator: Paul Child, Head of UK, Human8

2. Crafting Your Exit Strategy: Enhancing Your Appeal
Facilitator: Jon Priest, Corporate & Financial Advisor, Capel Partners & Green Square Associates

3. Investing in AI Tech Companies for Growth & Strategic Advantage
Facilitator: Jim Whaley, CEO, OvationMR

4. Optimising Agency Culture Post Acquisition
Facilitator: Emma Partridge, Founding Director, Blue Marble

5. Growing Customer Value
Facilitator: Paul Griffiths, Client Advocates

6. Vision Setting: Planning Your Destination
Facilitator: Chris Molloy, Co-founder, Brand Potential

7. Exploring New Channel and Partnership Strategies – Growing Through Change
Facilitator: Dr. Felicity Heathcote Marcz, Founder, Bare Analysis

8. Protecting growth: mitigating reputation and trust risks in market research
Facilitator: Shifra Cook, Founder and CEO, Ayda

12:50-14:00
Lunch

14:00
Panel: Disrupt Yourself! Fostering a Culture of Innovation and Growth
Explore how to drive innovation in your agency and bring employees and clients with you on a transformative journey. Panellists will discuss how to use new technologies to enhance their agency’s core competencies – strengthening existing revenues and building new capabilities. The conversation will cover building a culture of curiosity and encouraging your teams to engage with AI, deciding whether to partner or build in-house for tech capabilities, and where to focus for the quickest return.
Chair: Phil Sutcliffe, Managing Partner, Nexxt Intelligence
Panelists:
Abigail Stuart, Founding Partner, Day One Strategy
Richard Owen, Co-Founder Qualify AI & Head of Innovation, Firefish
Luisa Gibbons, Global Head of Innovation Strategy, MMR

INVESTING IN CULTURE

14:30
Return on Retention (ROR): Outputs from the MRS Talent & Culture Committee’s Latest Research
We talk a lot about retention. But why? What is the actual commercial benefit of investing to create workplaces people want to be part of for the long term? The MRS Talent and Culture Committee created a working group of agency leaders to investigate and clarify exactly where, if at all, this investment in retention pays back. This presentation will share learning from an industry review of the ROI.
Speakers:
Richard Heath, Managing Director, Blue Yonder
Louise McLaren, Managing Director, Love Brands
John Robson, Robson & Partners

15:00
Panel: Making Flexible and Hybrid Working…Work
Most companies have experimented with hybrid and flexible working to some extent, but does it always work, and what positive and negative impacts can it have on agency culture? Join panellists as they share their experiences. What did the journey look like, how did they navigate challenges, and how did they know when they’d got it right for both business and people?
Chair: Sinead Jefferies, SVP, Zappi
Panellists:
Karen Schofield, Head of People, Blue Yonder
Melanie Bigoni, Managing Director, The Nursery
Gemma Mitchell, Managing Director & Partner, The Mix Global

15:30
Break

15:50
Fireside Chat: Let’s Have a ‘Qualversation’ About Developing Female Leaders
Less than 1/4 of CEOs in research are women. This discussion builds on the themes from the AQR podcast series Qualversations where female leaders and entrepreneurs share their routes to success, their challenges, and what they have learned along the way. What have they learned about leadership and stepping up? Why don’t more women do it? And what can the research industry do to encourage other women to lead?

Speaker: Debbie Newbould, Founder, Flume
In conversation with:
Judy Taylor, Consult JMT
Anna Cliffe, Founder, Trinity McQueen

16:20
Round Tables: Team & Culture
Delegates are invited to choose two, half-hour, guided discussions to join, where they can delve into a specific business issue and benefit from a frank exchange of ideas with their industry peers.

Options:

9. Testing the Temperature for the 4-Day Week
Facilitator: Rebecca Cole, Managing Director, Cobalt Sky

10. Gen Z Recruitment Strategies
Facilitator: Howard Josephs, Managing Director, See Research

11. Why EDI is Essential for Business Growth
Facilitator: Josephine Hansom, MRS EDI Council Chair and Sabrina Trinquetel, Co-Chair MRS Pride and EDI Changemaker

12. Learnings from MM-EYE’s Transformation to Employee Ownership
Facilitator: Damien Field, Managing Director, MM Eye

13. Developing Your Employee Brand
Facilitators: Sinead Jefferies, EVP, Zappi & Tom Holliss, Chief People Officer, Zappi

14. Return on Retention (ROI)
Facilitator: Richard Heath, Managing Director, Blue Yonder and John Robson, Robson & Partners

15. The Generational Tug-of-War in the Workplace
Facilitator: Dr. Sarah Jenkins, Magenta

16. Growing the Next Generation of Insight Leaders
Facilitator: Zoe Fenn, Founder, You Burn Bright

17:30
Wrap-Up Q&A

17:45
Networking drinks reception