Prepare to be captivated as we discuss the intricacies of agency culture, the vital importance of team individuality, and the enthralling journey of self-discovery that led Paul from a high-pressure career to the world of photography and literature— and back into the agency life with a renewed perspective.

 We discuss: 

• Overcoming challenges in new markets and different cultures
• Debating long-term career growth decisions
• Understanding and catering to the specific needs of the US market
• Value of empathy and supportive relationships
• Misconceptions about staff caring for profitability

He was CFO of an entrepreneurial Digital SME for nine years, which sold to Publicis Groupe for €416M in 2013. He then went on to become CFO of Publicis.Sapient in the UK before setting up his own Corporate Advisory firm. 

He has significant M&A and Fundraising experience and is an expert on growing companies profitably. He was voted a Top 20 CFO in the TMT sector in 2013 by BDO and studied Financial Strategy at Said Business School.

We talk about:

🔸The state of M&A in the Marketing Services sector

🔸Mistakes that agencies make and how to avoid these

🔸When is the right time to sell an agency, and how to sell for a fair price

🔸The main market buyers and the impact on agencies wanting to sell

🔸Why agencies should consider working with Milestone

Enjoy the conversation.

Mentioned in this episode:

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

Sam was also one of the founding members of Social Chain, the award-winning agency founded by Steven Bartlett.

We talk about:

🔸 What it takes to be successful in the agency world

🔸 Key systems and processes to fall back on

🔸 What he has learned from growing and scaling the company

🔸 The future of Buddy Media

Enjoy the conversation.

Mentioned in this episode:

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

They have worked with clients such as Microsoft, Cisco, IBM, Accenture, Ericsson and SAP, to name a few. 

We talk about:

🔸 What B2B influencer marketing is and isn’t

🔸 The size of influencer marketing and what brands are using it

🔸 The business problems Onalytica helps clients solve

🔸 How influencer marketing, brand building and ABM link together

Enjoy the conversation.

Mentioned in this episode:

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

The group owns a number of market-leading brands that provide public relations and media services to brands in ad:tech, cloud, mobile, big data, retail, fashion and automotive.

Before Jargon, Simon spent over ten years at notable agencies, including WeberShandwick, Porter Novelli and Edelman.

We talk about:

🔸 The founding story of the agency and the major milestones

🔸 How the best brands in the world approach PR and profile raising

🔸 What has changed in the ways brands get PR now

🔸 How the agency has refined/developed their recruitment process

Enjoy the conversation.

Mentioned in this episode:

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

In 4 years, they have grown into the leading full-service marketing agency in Web3. With a team of 90+ globally, they have worked with over 110 top-tier blockchain projects. 

We discuss:

🔸 The dynamics and state of the Web3 market

🔸 Will demand meet the supply of the Metaverse

🔸 What are the next businesses to benefit from web 3

🔸 A deeper explanation of the Metaverse and Web3

Enjoy the conversation.

Mentioned in this episode:

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

Over a 20-year career with the agency, Pete has helped build Octopus into a powerhouse B2B marketing agency with clients like Visa, BT, Siemens, Rolls Royce, and Logitech to name a few. 

Octopus was recently acquired by Publicis, making the company's future even more interesting.

We talk about:

🔸 How Octopus Group came about and the major milestones

🔸 Why now is such a good time to be in B2B marketing

🔸 Why brands thrive when awareness and sales work together

🔸 The role of creativity vs data and tight targeting

Enjoy the conversation

Mentioned in this episode:

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

They have Ten award-winning agencies who make up the groups, you may be familiar with Stein IAS, MMT Digital and TwentySix to name a few. 

We talk about:

🔸 How MSQ has tripled in size over the last 2 years

🔸 The problems MSQ Partners solves for clients

🔸 The importance of brand and is it all about digital

🔸 What drives good collaboration between agencies

Enjoy the conversation

Mentioned in this episode:

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

Their end to end solutions cover brand building, customer acquisition, customer retention to customer loyalty.

We talk about:

🔸 The most pressing priorities for CMOs of the biggest B2B brands

🔸 Why B2B has taken so long to understand, brand is crucial

🔸 The most significant changes within B2B marketing

🔸 What diversity in the workplace means to Merkle

Enjoy the conversation.

Mentioned in this episode:

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

Alfie is a certified chartered accountant with over 13 years of commercial finance experience. He’s worked with senior leaders in global PR agencies including Edelman and Weber Shandwick.

His focus is on profitability for agencies through financial management and a strong strategic approach to business operations. He also counsels senior leadership teams to achieve an agency’s financial objectives. 

We talk about:

🔸 What drives profitability in agencies

🔸 The importance of commercially astute leadership

🔸 The impact of inflation on agencies and how to tackle it

🔸 What a financially astute culture means

Enjoy the conversation.

Mentioned in this episode:

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

Adam was responsible for winning a game-changing piece of business for Vizeum when they won the Camelot account for £50m. He has also held business development roles at RAPP, Isobar and Havas Group before starting Gray Matters.

We talk about:

🔸 How BD Matters helps agency owners win new business

🔸 The key to effective sales and the best way to sell

🔸 How agencies should prospect for new business

🔸 Why sales has a bad reputation and what can be done about it

Enjoy the conversation.

Mentioned in this episode:

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

alan. are a full-service B2B marketing agency for Tech, FS + Professional Services. They are reimagining the modern-day B2B marketing agency. alan. is the agency that finds ingenious solutions to complex B2B marketing problems.

We talk about:

🔸 What makes alan. different from other B2B agencies

🔸 What makes B2B campaigns successful

🔸 How B2B businesses can improve their marketing

🔸 What has changed in how B2B brands grow

Enjoy the conversation.

Mentioned in this episode:

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

Libby was named by Campaign magazine as one of the most influential advertising women in the past. Clients include The Body Shop, Facebook, YouTube, Microsoft, Capital One and Amazon to name a few. 

She also co-founded Mother in 1996, one of the world’s most respected, independent creative companies in the world. 

This is episode 4 of "The Independent Voice' series where we spotlight independent marketing agency leaders who are leading their clients with duty and purpose while creating effective marketing for the biggest global brands around.

We talk about:

🔸 How modern CMOs differ from previous CMOs

🔸 How to stay creative

🔸 The importance of creating an agency with a positive culture

🔸 How to deal with quick growth as a small business

Enjoy the conversation 

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is brought to you by Worldwide Partners

Learn more about Worldwide Partners at https://www.worldwidepartners.com/

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

He has won many awards including, Ad Age 40 Under 40, They have been Campaign Global Agency of The Year finalist 2021, Ad Age & Creative Pool Small Agency of The Year 2018, 2019 and 2020.

This is episode 3 of "The Independent Voice' series where we spotlight independent marketing agency leaders who are leading their clients with duty and purpose while creating effective marketing for the biggest global brands around.

We talk about:

🔸 The link between diversity and innovation

🔸 Starting a business in a global financial crisis

🔸 How We Are Pi creates a positive social impact

🔸 Setting up We Are Pi in Amsterdam

Enjoy the conversation 

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is brought to you by Worldwide Partners

Learn more about Worldwide Partners at https://www.worldwidepartners.com/

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

Previously Judith was Managing Director at Harte Hanks and Aberdeen Group and is a guest lecturer at Warwick business school.

We talk about:

🔸 How the best B2B businesses win new customers and grow

🔸 Using intent data to drive commercial outcomes

🔸 How to successfully measure advertising impact

🔸 Overcoming the challenge of growth for early-stage and established businesses

Enjoy the conversation.

Mentioned in this episode:

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

This is episode 2 of "The Independent Voice' series where we spotlight independent marketing agency leaders who are leading their clients with duty and purpose while creating effective marketing for the biggest global brands around.

We talk about:

🔸 How he became the CEO of Canada's largest independent agency

🔸 Being a purpose-led agency and creating a positive impact

🔸 Whether we can really define the 'truth'

🔸 The duty and responsibility of creative agencies

Enjoy the conversation



Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is brought to you by Worldwide Partners

Learn more about Worldwide Partners at https://www.worldwidepartners.com/

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

They develop brands and campaigns that change behaviour for the better and have a positive impact on people’s lives. Their campaigns for leading businesses, charities and government have positively influenced the lives of millions of people. 

This is episode 1 of 'The Independent Voice' series where we spotlight independent marketing agency leaders who are leading their clients with duty and purpose while creating effective marketing for the biggest global brands around.

We talk about:

🔸 Creating purposeful campaigns

🔸 How to influence human behaviour

🔸 How being a woman working in an agency has changed

🔸 How 23red benefits from being in the Worldwide Partners network

Enjoy the conversation

Mentioned in this episode:

This episode is brought to you by Worldwide Partners

Learn more about Worldwide Partners at https://www.worldwidepartners.com/

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

Paul Sheldon is SNR creative at consumer brands and has creatively led accounts such as Nestle and Coca-Cola for the past 8 years. 

Golley Slater is a 65-year-old integrated national agency. They have over 170 sector specialists and discipline experts and have an average client tenure of 10 years with some of the best in the business including P&G, Coca-Cola, Mitsubishi, The Welsh Government and Royal Mint.

We talk about:

🔸 Why and how people will use the metaverse

🔸 How brands can use the metaverse for brand activation

🔸 The impact on social media and how we engage in communities

🔸 The most exciting applications of the metaverse

Enjoy the conversation.

Mentioned in this episode:

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

hedgehog lab has been named #1 globally for mobile app development with analysts Clutch and were named in the Financial Times Top 1000 Fastest-Growing European companies 2 years in a row. They have successfully raised Private Equity funding to scale their growth. 

We talk about:

🔸 Creating a sustainable moat

🔸 Getting out of the commodity trap

🔸 From brain surgery to marketing

🔸 Refining the process of identifying the best people

🔸 Winning "Do or die" pitches



Enjoy the conversation

Mentioned in this episode:

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

Brought to you by Bridge, The growth focused podcast agency.

Learn how Bridge can connect you with your target clients at bridgegrowth.org

Jeremy serves IBM’s global community of over 140,000 partners and technology consultants, he uses the art and neuroscience of Communications Thinking to build compelling narratives for their clients around hybrid-cloud, AI, blockchain and quantum computing. 

We talk about:

🔸 Coaching high performers to become even better

🔸 Passion vs obsession

🔸 How to build compelling narratives around complex subjects

🔸 IBM’s evolution and the most effective next chapter

🔸 What he learned living on a Buddhist farm and learning from Sam Seanborn speechwriter from The WestWing

Enjoy the conversation

Mentioned in this episode:

Agency Dealmasters is brought to you by Bridge

Find out more at Bridgegrowth.org or get in touch by emailing nathan@bridgegrowth.org

They combine storytelling skills and a deep understanding of visual communication with their love for state-of-the-art technology. Clients include giants like Atlas Copco and AstraZeneca. 

We talk about:

🔸 Applying consulting frameworks to the challenge of growing an agency

🔸 What makes successful communications and creative work

🔸 Saying no to clients and making the complex, simple

🔸 The most important metrics to track when growing an agency

🔸 The process for identifying the best people and getting them into the business

Enjoy the conversation.

Mentioned in this episode:

Agency Dealmasters brought to you by Bridge - Talk to us at Bridgegrowth.org

He also runs the Programmatic Society, a weekly video program discussing all things Marketing, Data and Advertising programmatic.

We talk about:

🔸Where his media career started and how he founded TheSocieties.Media

🔸The impact of influencing highly targeted people vs mass audiences

🔸How much brands should rely on owned and earned media

🔸The opportunity Connected TV presents for B2B marketers

🔸Diversity in the industry and what more can be done

This interview is brought to you by Accountinsight the B2B programmatic advertising platform for B2B agencies and brands. Learn more about our episode sponsor here: AccountInsight.ai

Enjoy the conversation

His music has also been featured on HBO's critically acclaimed, Sex and the City. Adverts for Amazon and Coke, as well as the Japanese national football league. 

Listen to Syn New Bands 2022 Playlist here on Apple Music and Spotify.

We talk about:

🔸 How Syn has grown over the last 31 years and key milestones

🔸 How Syn creates music that is effective for client’s brand

🔸 The process of getting great people into the business

🔸 How Syn won their first few clients in the early days

🔸 What he has learnt about business building specifically

Enjoy the conversation

Mindshare looks after some of the world’s biggest advertisers, including Unilever, Ford and Nike, as well as impressive UK brands such as Carwow, and LV= insurance.

Jem was the former CEO of Vizeum UK and has held several leadership positions at MediaCom.

We talk about:

🔸Why writing accelerated his career more than anything else

🔸How to create a purpose that unites global employees

🔸What attracts brands to Mindshare and how the media landscape has changed

🔸How brands should budget towards brand building vs sales activation

🔸Mindshare's approach to the challenge of diversity in the workplace

This interview is brought to you by Accountinsight the B2B programmatic advertising platform for B2B agencies and brands. Learn more about our episode sponsor here: AccountInsight.ai

Enjoy the conversation

He was part of the team responsible for growing Hotwire from 150 to 300 people and has been named CFO of the year and international CFO of the year by the FDs Excellence awards.

We talk about:

🔸What Hotwire looks like today-  Services, employees, clients, etc.

🔸How to invest in culture and the global impact

🔸Motivating employees through non-financial based incentives

🔸How to grow quickly while maintaining company culture

🔸Why he set up the internal Hotwire band- Borderless Thinkers

Enjoy the conversation

Clients include Netflix, Spotify, MTV, Sony Music, and Warner Brothers to name a few. 

We talk about:

🔸Her biggest takeaways from being Global Creative marketing manager at Netflix

🔸What attracted her to Granny and the company culture

🔸How the company attracts and retains talent during global expansion

🔸The skills and competencies the company looks for

🔸What we can do to increase diversity within the industry

Enjoy the conversation

We talk about all things growth, how they won their first few users, brand building, how they plan to get to critical mass, and so much more. 

If you are at all interested in technology, startups, and the new world of work, then you are going to find this to be an absolutely fascinating conversation. 

We talk about:

🔸 Where the idea for Hotpatch originated

🔸 What the first product/MVP looked like

🔸 The problems Hotpatch solves for its clients

🔸 The key metrics to track to achieve full business potential

Enjoy the conversation

Polymensa is your n̶o̶n̶-̶e̶x̶e̶c̶u̶t̶i̶v̶e̶ non-ego board of advisors for your agency. Specially designed for agencies with 20 - 50 employees and agency founders who have never worked in an agency before or at the agency board director level.

We talk about:

🔸The main problems clients have and how Polymensa helps solve them

🔸How agencies should win new business and structure their teams

🔸How agency owners can best divide their time

🔸What makes Polymensa different to other advisors out there helping agencies

Enjoy the conversation

Polymensa is your n̶o̶n̶-̶e̶x̶e̶c̶u̶t̶i̶v̶e̶ non-ego board of advisors for your agency. Specially designed for agencies with 20 - 50 employees and agency founders who have never worked in an agency before or at the agency board director level.

She has over 15 years of experience in advertising technology & innovation. As well as a deep understanding of digital media platforms, data platforms, digital media analytics, data warehousing and emerging digital technologies. 

Learn more about our episode sponsor at Account Insight.ai

We talk about:

🔸 Tight targeting and brand loyalty vs reach and building mass audiences

🔸 Should brands rely on owned and earned media without using paid?

🔸 How to measure advertising effectiveness

🔸 The importance of data and the future of targeted advertising

Enjoy the conversation

Similarweb gives agencies a true 360-degree view of all digital activity across customers, prospects, partners, and competition. Their insights help clients beat their competition and win their markets.

Find out more at Similarweb.com

We discuss:

🔸How agencies use Similarweb data to get an advantage in new business pitches 

🔸How agencies can improve client delivery

🔸Reducing the time spent collecting and analysing campaign data to spend more time on revenue-generating activities. 

🔸How to look like the smartest people in the room

Enjoy the conversation.

Similarweb gives agencies a true 360-degree view of all digital activity across customers, prospects, partners, and competition. Their insights help clients beat their competition and win their markets.

Find out more at Similarweb.com

Flight Story build resilient retail investor communities around great public companies.

Previously Oliver was Managing Director of Social Chain, a world-leading social media and e-commerce group. Within just 6 years the company grew from a small UK start-up to a $600m+ public company, operating across 7 locations.

For almost a decade, Oliver has been at the forefront of digital marketing and creative services supporting the management teams of Amazon, Apple, Coca-Cola, TikTok, Twitch, Disney & Uber to name just a few.

We talk about:

🔸Creating successful Social media campaigns

🔸Lessons learned from Social Chain

🔸Social Chain's expansion into the US Market 

🔸Investor relations, public companies and SPACs

Enjoy the conversation.

Flight Story build resilient retail investor communities around great public companies.

Previously Oliver was Managing Director of Social Chain, a world-leading social media and e-commerce group. Within just 6 years the company grew from a small UK start-up to a $600m+ public company, operating across 7 locations.

For almost a decade, Oliver has been at the forefront of digital marketing and creative services supporting the management teams of Amazon, Apple, Coca-Cola, TikTok, Twitch, Disney & Uber to name just a few.

With a team of over 100 people, they deliver events for some of the biggest brands around, such as Apple, Siemens, Leica, Harley-Davidson, New Balance, Formula E, NATO and Her Majesty’s Government. Identity is now on course to turnover £150 million this year.

We talk about:

🔸The journey and evolution of Identity

🔸How rebranding during the pandemic has impacted the company

🔸The insight he gained through his financial career

🔸A breakdown of the events industry

🔸What makes a successful event

Enjoy the conversation.

With a team of over 100 people, they deliver events for some of the biggest brands around, such as Apple, Siemens, Leica, Harley-Davidson, New Balance, Formula E, NATO and Her Majesty’s Government. Identity is now on course to turnover £150 million this year.

At IPG Mediabrands he worked with clients such as Amazon, ExxonMobil, Lego, Lockheed Martin, Spotify, Tata Communications, Unilever and UPS. 

He has also worked at Dentsu, Millward Brown and Bates Worldwide. His experience includes work for No.10 Downing Street,  BBC Worldwide, Vodafone, Courvoisier Cognac, Kellogg's, Microsoft and Peugeot to name a few.

We talk about:

🔸Using consumer behaviour to provide a strategic advantage

🔸The principles of delivering long term growth for consumer brands

🔸Data science vs the big creative idea

🔸The winners, losers and missed opportunities within the pandemic

🔸The importance of data and targeting audiences

Enjoy the conversation

At IPG Mediabrands he worked with clients such as Amazon, ExxonMobil, Lego, Lockheed Martin, Spotify, Tata Communications, Unilever and UPS. 

He has also worked at Dentsu, Millward Brown and Bates Worldwide. His experience includes work for No.10 Downing Street,  BBC Worldwide, Vodafone, Courvoisier Cognac, Kellogg's, Microsoft and Peugeot to name a few.

Clients include Netflix, Spotify, PlayStation, Bacardi Group, Google, YouTube, BMW, Disney, Warner Bros and Zalando to list a few.

We talk about:

🔸The importance of hard work

🔸The story behind how Dare.Win won their first client

🔸The culture of the agency

🔸What makes social, digital and ad campaigns successful

🔸Entrepreneurial mindset and how he finds great talent

🔸Joining forces with Media Monks

Enjoy the conversation.

Clients include Netflix, Spotify, PlayStation, Bacardi Group, Google, YouTube, BMW, Disney, Warner Bros and Zalando to name a few.

He previously ran the agency’s US operation prior to becoming group CEO. His goal is to develop a team that’s the best in the world at B2B marketing, delivering a blend of local expertise and global scale that helps clients grow customers, pipeline and partner channels.

The company has recently made two significant acquisitions, Omobono, the digital experience company for B2B brands, and Kingpin Communications, the B2B comms specialists, to make them a collective powerhouse of B2B specialists.

We talk about:

🔸His journey to becoming CEO of The Marketing Practice

🔸Why they acquired Omobono and Kingpin

🔸Talent leaving the industry and what to do about it

🔸Refining the recruiting process and identifying the best people

🔸What the client now expects from B2B agencies

Enjoy the conversation

He previously ran the agency’s US operation prior to becoming group CEO. His goal is to develop a team that’s the best in the world at B2B marketing, delivering a blend of local expertise and global scale that helps clients grow customers, pipeline and partner channels.

The company has recently made two significant acquisitions, Omobono, the digital experience company for B2B brands, and Kingpin, the B2B comms specialists, to make them a collective powerhouse of B2B specialists.

Her book: Growth IQ has been translated into seven languages, it was named a Wall Street Journal Bestseller and one of the top 5 books in Leadership and Strategy. 

She’s been named as one of the “Most Powerful and Influential Women in California”. 

She writes for HBR, Forbes and has been featured in articles from Bloomberg, The WSJ, Economist, Hoovers and USA Today.

We talk about:

🔸Choosing the right growth path for your company

🔸The 10 growth paths to predictable growth

🔸How Salesforce uses the ‘optimise sales' strategy to boost growth

🔸Her book 'Growth IQ'- The best ways to drive your company's growth

Enjoy the conversation.

Her book: Growth IQ  has been translated into seven languages, it was named a Wall Street Journal Bestseller and one of the top 5 books in Leadership and Strategy. 

She’s been named as one of the “Most Powerful and Influential Women in California”. 

She writes for HBR, Forbes and has been featured in articles from Bloomberg, The WSJ, Economist, Hoovers and USA Today.

Helping them turn minus EBITDA into positive success, double their turnover and more than double their profit, as well as going from having no retainer clients to 100% on retainer.

We talk about:

🔸The most important principles for creating success

🔸The main problems agencies have and how he helps solve them

🔸The right time to start thinking about selling your business

🔸How agencies can structure their teams for success

Enjoy the conversation. 

🔸How to best divide your time as an agency owner

🔸The pandemic's impact on agencies and talent

Helping them turn minus EBITDA into positive success, double their turnover and more than double their profit, as well as going from having no retainer clients to 100% on retainer.

Corporate comms for a long time has been stale but Megan and Sophie have big plans to change that by injecting some much-needed life into the space. 

We talk about:

🔸The problems Raised By Wolves solves for customers

🔸How to create effective and creative corporate comms

🔸How corporate communication is evolving

🔸What makes a great account handler

🔸How being a part of LAB Group adds business value

🔸Their process for getting great people into the business

Enjoy the conversation.

Perrine was nominated as one of the TOP 50 most influential UK Tech women. She inspires and motivates leadership teams to embrace diversity and inclusion. As well as helping attract and retain top diverse talent.

Perrine has worked with global leading companies such as Facebook, Microsoft, IBM and many others.

We discuss:

🔸Why inclusion is the ultimate secret for an organisation's success

🔸How agencies can create true inclusion within their workspace

🔸What is an inclusive leader and how can we become better ones

🔸The difference between 'Culture fit' & 'Culture add'

Enjoy the conversation.

Perrine was nominated as one of the TOP 50 most influential UK Tech women. She inspires and motivates leadership teams to embrace diversity and inclusion. As well as helping attract and retain top diverse talent.

Perrine has worked with global leading companies such as Facebook, Microsoft, IBM and many others.

This is Jim’s second time on the show. He has had an amazing career from his time at Omnicom in the early 2000s, to BDO then to Results international where he advised many leading marketing services businesses. He’s advised on many deals for Waypoint Partners from We Are Social, Headland to 1000 heads.

We talk about:

🔸The right time to sell your agency

🔸How to find a fair price & value your business

🔸The most surprising elements of selling a business

🔸Private Equity & the common misconceptions

🔸Why an agency should consider selling to a PE buyer

🔸The market impact from the pandemic - Are investors more cautious

If you are interested in anything to do with M&A, then this is the podcast for you.

Enjoy the conversation.

Her career with ONOMO Hotels, Mangalis Hotel Group & being a self-employed consultant has taken her all over the world, from moving to the inner city streets of Paris, to the UK, then onto the UAE, Abu Dhabi and now back to Ivory Coast where she is helping build the country's young people into the future leaders of the country.

We discuss:

🔸International perspectives in hospitality

🔸Helping young people in Ivory Coast develop international career prospects

🔸How her international perspective strengthens career-building skills

🔸Living and working as a black female in the Middle East

Enjoy the conversation.

Her career has taken her all over the world, from moving to the inner city streets of Paris, moving to the UK, then onto the UAE, Abu Dhabi and now back to Ivory Coast where she is helping build the country's young people into the future leaders of the country.

He founded WAE in 2003, a leading global service design company and sold it in 2016; to become a consultant, advisor and mentor. His new book: Build, Sell, Retire is all about The truth about M&A and demystifying the M&A process. 

We discuss:

🔸How he turned his £1 Million+ dream into reality

🔸The unspoken truths about selling a business

🔸When is the best time to sell your business

🔸How to value your business & find the right price

🔸The significance of self-belief & having a goal

If you are starting a business, growing one or thinking of selling then this conversation is for you.

He founded WAE in 2003, a leading global service design company and sold it in 2016; to become a consultant, advisor and mentor. His new book: Build, Sell, Retire is all about The truth about M&A and demystifying the M&A process. 

If you are starting a business, growing one or thinking of selling then this conversation is for you.

They manage Channel, Alliances & Partner programmes for global technology companies at any stage of growth. They have also developed and now operate the world's first Partner Experience platform, which they have built over the last 3 years, which technology firms use to drive revenue with their partners.

Tom also speaks on Channel Marketing best practices, Go to Market for Tech brands and channel marketplaces. As well as being a Dad and ex-international water polo player.

We talk about:

🔸 Why channel marketing is under-recognised & under-appreciated

🔸 Where are the best-untapped sources of value

🔸 How Sherpa's service offering has changed over time & where the company is today

🔸 The biggest changes implemented to enable agency change

🔸 How to refine the process of identifying the best people when recruiting

🔸 What do buyers and sellers typically underestimate

Enjoy the conversation.

They manage Channel, Alliances & Partner programmes for global technology companies at any stage of growth. They have also developed and now operate the world's first Partner Experience platform, which they have built over the last 3 years, which technology firms use to drive revenue with their partners.

Tom speaks on Channel Marketing best practices, Go to Market for Tech brands and channel marketplaces. As well as being a Dad and ex-international water polo player.

Campaign Magazine has named Andy the No.1 planner in the UK and one of the top 10 in the world. He has won more IPA Effectiveness Awards than any other planner, including 2005, 2007 and a 2010 Grand Prix. 

He is now a Fellow in 2010 and the IPA has named him one of the inaugural members of their Effectiveness Hall of Fame. Andy has created impactful work at AMV BBDO, RKCR/Y&R, Goodby Silverstein and MCBD.

Clients include Amazon, Yorkshire Tea, Zoopla, Alpro, Co-Op, to name a few. 

Andy is also the author of the new book 'Go Luck Yourself', which presents 40 ways brands can stack luck in their favour.

We talk about:

🔸How Lucky Generals stacked the odds in their favour to become a leading agency

🔸How to turn your agency's misfortune into fortune

🔸How to practice being lucky

🔸How to spot opportunities in places where you least expect them

Enjoy the conversation.

Campaign Magazine has named Andy the No.1 planner in the UK and one of the top 10 in the world. He has won more IPA Effectiveness Awards than any other planner, including 2005, 2007 and a 2010 Grand Prix. 

He is now a Fellow in 2010 and the IPA has named him one of the inaugural members of their Effectiveness Hall of Fame. Andy has created impactful work at AMV BBDO, RKCR/Y&R, Goodby Silverstein and MCBD.

Clients include Amazon, Yorkshire Tea, Zoopla, Alpro, Co-Op, to name a few. 

Andy is also the author of the new book 'Go Lucky Yourself', which presents 40 ways brands can stack luck in their favour.

As well as a face to face and online coach, he also offers a group coaching programme: The Self-Running Agency. He is the author of a book by the same name and the host of the agency accelerator podcast.

We talk about:

🔸 The importance of having a plan 

🔸 How to build an agency that doesn't rely on you

🔸 The Importance of having a proper business plan & what to include

🔸 How should you spend your time as an agency owner

Enjoy the conversation.

As well as a face to face and online coach, he also offers a group coaching programme: The Self-Running Agency, he is the author of a book by the same name and the host of the agency accelerator podcast.

He is the President of the marketing consultancy and agency Control v Exposed (CvE), which advises brands on Media Operating models, Martech/Data strategy & ‘Right Housing’ alongside providing data-driven activation and execution for all addressable media channels.

Paul is also the host of the ‘Time for a Reset’ podcast. As well as being the former CEO of Havas Group in the U.K. & Ireland with 950 people and £85m revenue. He became EMEA CEO for disruptive B2B2C travel tech startup hi Inc (formerly Tink Labs) backed by Foxconn and Softbank.

We discuss:

🔸How journalism lured him into media and marketing

🔸How to get the most value from your media budget

🔸How CvE helps their clients to achieve business goals

🔸How to engage customers when 'Advertising is a tax paid by the poor.' 

🔸Inclusive leadership & Improving agency culture

Enjoy the conversation. 

He is the President of the marketing consultancy and agency: Control v Exposed (CvE), which advises brands on Media Operating models, Martech/Data strategy & ‘Right Housing’ alongside providing data-driven activation and execution for all addressable media channels.

Paul is also the host of the ‘Time for a Reset’ podcast.

As well as being the former CEO of Havas Group in the U.K. & Ireland with 950 people and £85m revenue. He became EMEA CEO for disruptive B2B2C travel tech startup hi Inc (formerly Tink Labs) backed by Foxconn and Softbank.

Clients include the likes of Audible, Experian and Go-Compare to name a few. 

We have a deep conversation about the unique mix of agencies they have in the group and how client’s expectations have changed due to the pandemic.

If you are interested in things such as:

🔸 What makes a great client services person

🔸 The role of account management

🔸 What goes into a world-class pitch for clients

🔸 Her perspective on Diversity and inclusion

Then this episode is for you. Enjoy the conversation.

Clients include the likes of Audible, Experian and Go-Compare to name a few. 

We have a deep conversation about the unique mix of agencies they have in the group and how client’s expectations have changed due to the pandemic.

If you are interested in things such as:

🔸 What makes a great client services person

🔸 The role of account management

🔸 What goes into a world-class pitch for clients

🔸 Her perspective on Diversity and inclusion

Then this episode is for you. Enjoy the conversation.

In 2014 he retired as CEO of a marketing services group and headed off to Burning Man, he came back and started helping businesses scale fast. Many have gone on to become market leaders and several have sold, making their owners millions.

Welcoming him back for the 3rd time on the show.

We talk about:

🔸 How to scale your business at speed!

🔸 The importance of net profit

🔸 How 2Y3X can triple the size of your business

🔸 Why delegation is vital to growth

🔸 The significance of core values and how to set them

Sharing more fascinating insight from Felix Velarde. Enjoy the chat.

In 2014 he retired as CEO of a marketing services group and headed off to Burning Man, he came back and started helping businesses scale fast. Many have gone on to become market leaders and several have sold, making their owners millions.

She has personally led the 4A’s work on diversity and inclusion.

For over 30 years she has worked directly with top-tier technology and digital media companies such as Cisco, Motorola, AOL and SiriusXM, to name a few.

Nancy was recognized by Advertising Women of New York with its Changing the Game Award. She was named one of Advertising Age’s 100 Most Influential Women in Advertising History and was honored as a Woman to Watch by Ad Age.

She also served on the board of The Ad Council, The National Advertising Review Council, The Digital Advertising Alliance, Advertising Self-Regulatory Council, and The Marcus Graham Project.

She has personally led the 4A’s work on diversity and inclusion.

For over 30 years she has worked directly with top-tier technology and digital media companies such as Cisco, Motorola, AOL and SiriusXM, to name a few.

Nancy was recognized by Advertising Women of New York with its Changing the Game Award. She was named one of Advertising Age’s 100 Most Influential Women in Advertising History and was honored as a Woman to Watch by Ad Age.

She also served on the board of The Ad Council, The National Advertising Review Council, The Digital Advertising Alliance, Advertising Self-Regulatory Council, and The Marcus Graham Project.

He specialises in Media planning, Communication planning, Advertising, Agency integration, Social media.

We talk about everything from, what the media landscape looks like today, how MediaCom, help brands see the bigger picture by offering advice that can sometimes end up taking money out of their own pockets.

You may remember the campaign for the launch of Playstation 5 which was enormous and almost broke the internet last year. They were behind that. This is absolutely a must listen to conversation with a marketing leader who had a small part in building the biggest media agency in the world.

We talk about what factors led it becoming the Goliath it is today.

Enjoy the chat.

________________________________________________________________________________

This week’s episode of Agency Dealmasters is sponsored by Accountinsight

Built for B2B marketers. Managed by B2B agencies

Nominated Emerging Vendor of the Year at the B2B Marketing 2021 Martech Awards.

AccountInsight helps you deliver targeted, tailored ads to high-value companies. Today’s B2B buyers decide digitally, and in teams of up to 40 people.You’re no longer marketing to one person, you’re marketing to whole accounts. That’s why smarter B2B marketers use Account Based Advertising.

He specialises in Media planning, Communication planning, Advertising, Agency integration, Social media,

He has an excellent new podcast called Bantu, a bi-monthly podcast where he tells stories of talented Africans.

Adetunji talks about the challenges Africa faces with income inequality, infrastructure and inept leadership.

But while these are real challenges, there is a generation of young Africans who see the world very differently from older generations of leaders and emphasize the arts and African creativity.

If you are interested in the African creative landscape and what that might mean for your business, you will love this conversation.

He has an excellent new podcast called Bantu a bi-weekly podcast where he tells the stories of talented Africans, and the African creative industry.

He is also the Growth Marketing Manager for Atomic, a B2B marketing agency in Ireland. 

He’s been involved in hundreds of ABM campaigns for Fortune 500 businesses.

His methodology, Megadeals and his book and podcast by the same name is a playbook of how to do ABM properly and sell to complex organisations.

We talked about:

🔸 What led to Megadeals

🔸 How B2B marketing has evolved

🔸 How to run effective ABM campaigns

I came out of the conversation significantly wiser and generally more well versed in ABM and how to sell multibillion-pound deals.

If you only listen to one Agency Dealmasters episode this year, this is the one for you.

He started in ABM in 2007 and has been personally involved in hundreds of B2B deals and several multi-billion pound deals. 

His Megadeals Advisory is assisting scaleups and Fortune 500 companies doing more and bigger Megadeals.

Because of their size, scope, complexity, and status, megadeals are deeply meaningful to the mega dealers behind them. They present an opportunity to change the world for the better on a massive scale.

He has a storied background having held senior roles at CitiGroup, Bain and Vodafone. 

Revolut is building the world’s first truly global financial super-app. Their 15 million customers around the world use dozens of Revolut’s products to make more than 100 million transactions a month.

He has a storied background having held senior roles at CitiGroup, Bain and Vodafone. 

Revolut is building the world’s first truly global financial super-app. Their 15 million customers around the world use dozens of Revolut’s products to make more than 100 million transactions a month.

He has built global video ad networks that understood user behaviour, launched the first paid for cinematic movie online, exited Digital Oxygen to Silverpop (now IBM), helped build demand generation strategies (B2B) and engagement marketing strategies for companies across the globe. 

Today he is helping to build a better way to do B2B Marketing that increases both average contract values and the speed of closing contracts.

With Radiate, he is using scaled account-based marketing to build awareness and accelerate deals through the pipeline.

He has built global video ad networks that understood user behaviour, launched the first paid for cinematic movie online, exited Digital Oxygen to Silverpop (now IBM), helped to build demand generation strategies (B2B) and engagement marketing strategies for companies across the globe. 

With Radiate, he is using scaled account-based marketing to build awareness and accelerate deals through the pipeline.

It’s not often you hear people go from the legal profession into marketing. many would consider it a significant step down. He tells the fascinating story of how he went from being a lowly lawyer at the company to now running global marketing for Maersk, the multibillion pound drilling company. 

So it’s really impressive that he has since gone on to run some of the most impactful, demand and Account Based marketing campaigns that are outperforming all expectations. 

This is just a masterclass on ABM and all things account targeting.

Stick around to the end of the show to hear my discussion with Thomas Lind, Chief Sales officer at Accountinsight reflecting on my conversation with Philip, ABM and Account targeting.

If you are interested in anything to do with:

1. ABM
2. B2B marketing 
3. How to choose the right agency partner 
4. The business of Maersk Drilling, a really fascinating business.

You will find this conversation absolutely fascinating.

Maersk Drilling supports global oil and gas production by providing high-efficiency drilling services to oil companies around the world. Their fleet of 23 drilling rigs is among the youngest in the industry and ensures the highest level of safety. 

They have over 3,200 highly skilled employees operating state-of-the-art drilling rigs and have done so for 40 years operating in some of the most challenging environments on the planet.

Relish thrives on insight, innovation and impact. Their team is driven by a desire to deliver results that will drive growth for their broad range of blue-chip clients.

Relish thrives on insight, innovation and impact. Their team is driven by a desire to deliver results that will drive growth for their broad range of blue-chip clients.

We talk about how he built Frank from the early days of 2000 to where they are now in 2021 with globally recognised brands, too many agency awards to mention. 

We talk about:

1. What factors go into making PR campaigns successful.
2. The metrics he uses to measure the health of his agency
3. His process of recruiting top talent. 

This is just an absolute masterclass in business building, not just agency building. Andrew has such a detailed knowledge of the inner workings of successful businesses, you feel he could go into any industry or market and replicate the same success or even more. 

Did I mention, he was also Lord Sugar’s PR advisor for over 20 years, and he revels some things about Lord Sugar many people would be surprised by I think.

He’s got a string of achievements as long as his arm and non of the hubris or ego that sometimes goes with great achievements. 

If you are interested in agency growth, new business, PR, talk-ability, M&A, then you will find this conversation to be absolutely fascinating, so 

He founded Frank, one of the UK’s most respected and award-winning consumer PR agencies. 

He’s been the official spokesperson and PR advisor to Lord Sugar for over 20 years and has handled the PR for all The Apprentice winners and their companies since the show started in 2005.

Andrew is listed in the ‘PR Week Power Book'​ – 'The Definitive Guide To The Most Influential People in PR’ and is ranked as the most influential PR person on Twitter.

In 2021, he was named one of the Top Ten Most Influential PR people by Buzz Sumo.

Golley Slater is a 60-year-old integrated national agency. They have over  170 sector specialists and discipline experts and have an average client tenure of 10 years with some of the best in the business including P&G, Coca-Cola, Mitsubishi, The Welsh Government, Npower.

If you are interested in:

🔸 Agency positioning

🔸 Structuring your business

🔸 Talent and recruitment

🔸 Balancing work and family

You will find this conversation to be absolutely fascinating.

Golley Slater is a 60-year-old integrated national agency. They have over  170 sector specialists and discipline experts and have an average client tenure of 10 years with some of the best in the business including P&G, Coca-Cola, Mitsubishi, The Welsh Government, Npower.

They serve brands like Microsoft, Microfocus, Samsung, IBM and Google to name a few.

They employ more than 400 staff in marketing and operations and have a mission is to grow their clients business by building data-driven, performance-led and sales-oriented marketing programs.

This is a masterclass in all things B2B marketing.

• He talks about how their services evolved as technology started eating the world and clients asked for more data and measurability.
• We discuss what clients are asking for these days
• How they are investing in their own technology by building their own analytics platform
• We talk about what the next stage in their growth is.

His energy and vision for the future of technology is fascinating and really energising. 

We go really deep into data and the future of creative ideas, brand building and so much more.

Enjoy the chat.

Ingenuity’s B2B new business events provide creative agencies and tech businesses with an opportunity to get in front of engaged brand marketers they wouldn’t normally have the chance to meet.

They employ more than 400 people in marketing and operations and have a mission to grow their clients' business by building data-driven, performance-led and sales-oriented marketing programs.

If you are interested in how to make your agency and your work for clients stand out in a sea of sameness, then this is the podcast for you. 

This is all about the power of standing out and difference.

He says, 89% of the work out there is ignored, and he shares some of the ways they stand out as an agency. They’ve done some breathtaking work and really punch above their weight as a creative firm. 

If you are interested in:

🔸 Building famous brands

🔸 How to make your creative work stand out

🔸 The lessons and pitfalls of growing an agency 

🔸 How to find and hire the best talent out there 

You will find this conversation to be absolutely fascinating.

They work with brands who know the power of difference, who want to light a fire and be memorable. Brands who want to be famous.

Clients include: Amazon, Expedia, Emma Mattresses, Ikea and Bionic to name a few.

He started his career in the beer industry where he learned about marketing, branding and shopper marketing and adversing from the ground up, which gives him a very unique lens with which to view driving demand and growing brands. 

If you are interested in such things as:

🔸 The future of the networks

🔸 The priorities of CMOs

🔸 Advertising and creativity 

🔸 B2B marketing 

We have a deep winding conversation about diversity in our industry and what he is doing about it. 

This is an absolute must listen to conversation with someone who is at the top of his game when it comes to all of the above.

John has held senior roles in TBWA, The Integer Group,  Smash Burger, Location 3 and Worldwide Partners. 

He believes that the best way to predict the future is to create the future.

We talk about:

🔸 What makes a great account manager

🔸 What the difference is between account management and project management and how agencies typically have one person doing both roles and why that’s such a mistake.

🔸 We discuss how she suggests structuring account teams.

We also spend a lot of time talking about how account managers can become more commercially aware and drive a significant amount of growth for the agency by adopting high level sales skills.

We both geek out about Anthony Iannarino who talks about the 4 levels of client value.

If you are interested in anything to do with Account Management then this is the podcast for you.

She has 30 years experience in agency account management. She coaches agency account managers and directors through her Account Accelerator coaching programme, a 90 day step by step process to go from unpredictable project revenue to more predictable account growth.

She also runs the fantastic podcast Creative Agency Account Manager.

They have doubled the size of their business in the last 5 years.

They've been around for over 100 years and work with the world’s top brands to deliver creative solutions and experiences.

We talk about how to create experiences for B2B brands today and how they are applying principles the consumer world. He shares some fascinating examples.

If you are interested in:

🔸 Delivering world class events

🔸 The future of experiences

🔸 Stakeholder managment

🔸 International expansion

🔸 Simplifying your strategic thought

This is the podcast for you.

He now runs George P Johnson a global experience marketing agency. 

For over a century they’ve been partnering with the world’s top brands to deliver creative solutions that make a real difference. Their ideas create impact, inspire audiences and grow business.

This is a masterclass on the new network agencies and growing brands.

We talk about their growth planning & business development services, strategic leadership consulting.

Robin has built a Stella career, starting at Leo Burnett in the 90s then onto McCann where he became global strategy director and worked on the Microsoft business, managing Xbox and Windows products.

He talks about his 7.5 years with FCB Inferno helping to be part of their story. He has built a CV and career that is really impressive.

If you are interested in such things as:

🔸 Alternative models to the traditional holding companies

🔸 What clients want from agencies today

🔸 How agencies can become an indispensable source of advantage for their clients

Then you will find this conversation fascinating.

Enjoy the chat!

They offer growth planning & business development services, strategic leadership consulting, as well as a range of off-the-shelf solutions to in-housing, global insights, IP development and networking.

They have also created a holding company proposition, without the holding company, connecting the agencies with though unique methodologies to provide brands with a bespoke, expert and solution-neutral resource.

He has worked with many large fortune 500 brands to build true revenue-generating marketing engines, whether that's combining brand with demand-gen or creating an account-based approach.

This week's episode of Agency Dealmasters is sponsored by Accountinsight 

Built for B2B marketers. Managed by B2B agencies AccountInsight helps you deliver targeted, tailored ads to high-value companies. Because today’s B2B buyers decide digitally, and in teams of up to 40 people. You’re no longer marketing to one person, you’re marketing to whole accounts. That’s why smarter B2B marketers use Account-Based Advertising. 

He has worked with many large fortune 500 brands to build true revenue-generating marketing engines, whether that's combining brand with demand-gen or creating an account-based approach.

Peter also co-founded The Agency Collective which is the world's best peer support community for agency owners and he also runs Benchpress which is the largest benchmarking survey of independent agency owners in the UK, and this year it has gone global.

Take part in the BenchPress agency survey 2021

wowco.uk/benchpress2021

benchpress.uk.com 

Peter also co-founded The Agency Collective which is the world's best peer support community for agency owners and he also runs Benchpress which is the largest benchmarking survey of independent agency owners in the UK, and this year it has gone global.

Take part in the BenchPress agency survey 2021

wowco.uk/benchpress2021

benchpress.uk.com 

After a decade in CEO positions, he has a proven track record of leading transformation. 

He believes in the principles of an open culture – where people are given permission to take risks and make mistakes. 

He is actively engaged in broadening the appeal of the advertising industry and sees diversity and social mobility as key factors in the future health of the creative industries.

His book, No Bullsh*t Leadership was the  Business Book Awards Winner for 2020

This week's episode of Agency Dealmasters is sponsored by Accountinsight 

Built for B2B marketers. Managed by B2B agencies AccountInsight helps you deliver targeted, tailored ads to high-value companies. Because today’s B2B buyers decide digitally, and in teams of up to 40 people. You’re no longer marketing to one person, you’re marketing to whole accounts. That’s why smarter B2B marketers use Account Based Advertising. 

After a decade in CEO positions, he has a proven track record of leading transformation. He believes in the principles of an open culture – where people are given permission to take risks and make mistakes. 

His book, No Bullsh*t Leadership was the  Business Book Awards Winner for 2020.

This week's episode of Agency Dealmasters is sponsored by Accountinsight 

Built for B2B marketers. Managed by B2B agencies AccountInsight helps you deliver targeted, tailored ads to high-value companies. Because today’s B2B buyers decide digitally, and in teams of up to 40 people. You’re no longer marketing to one person, you’re marketing to whole accounts. That’s why smarter B2B marketers use Account Based Advertising. 

Their coaches and sponsors are leading CEOs, CMOs, Marketing Directors, Agency Heads from some of the biggest companies in the world. 

They include Salesforce, BT, KFC, Mars Wrigley, Accenture, ITV, Google, and Facebook.

We talk about how Sherilyn convinced a global network of leaders to give up their time for free to help build future leaders of our industry. 

we discuss all sorts for fascinating things from how she learned about marketing and the world of agencies from the back of a napkin to setting up the marketing academy. 

If you’re interested in:

What it’s like to have a network of some of the most influential marketing leaders in the world in your LinkedIn connections. 

How agency leaders should improve their culture within their businesses then you will find this conversation fascinating. 

The Marketing Academy programs are highly-selective but totally FREE of charge.

wowco.uk/benchpress2021

benchpress.uk.com 

Charles Courtier is the Chairman at MSQ Partners and a legend in media and advertising. He’s been in the industry for 30 years and has had a fascinating career.

He became the Global CEO of MEC (Wavemaker) for 14 years, responsible for 5000 people across 80 markets.

Over that time MEC quadrupled in size and became a $1 billion business and one of the world's top 5 media agencies.

This is a master class on all things media and advertising. He's also one of the nicest people you will ever meet.

We discuss:

🔸The future of media and adverting
🔸The importance of Diversity and inclusion
🔸Mergers and acquisitions
🔸The future of the holding companies

Enjoy the chat!

From there he did get his 'big agency' break and joined Young & Rubicam. By the time WPP acquired Y&R in 2000, Charles was their EMEA Media Director.

In WPP media was fully spun-out of the ad agencies and MEC (now Wavemaker) was born. Charles was the Global CEO of MEC for 14 years, responsible for 5000 people across 80 markets. He did that role for 7 years based in New York and for 7 in London. Over that time MEC quadrupled in size and became a $1 billion business and one of the world's top 5 media agencies. Charles was a founding member of GroupM. He left WPP in June 2017.

wowco.uk/benchpress2021

benchpress.uk.com 

Laurence McCahill is a Co-founder of The Happy Startup School. 

He is on a mission to inspire, empower and connect entrepreneurs and leaders that want to create lives and businesses rich with purpose. 

After running a digital agency for 10 years, Laurence and his co-founder have devoted themselves to realising their vision for The Happy Start-up School creating experiences, programs and an accidental community of like minded people.

Enjoy the chat!

After running a digital agency for 10 years, Laurence and his co-founder have devoted themselves to realising their vision for The Happy Start-up School creating experiences, programs and an accidental community of like minded people.

wowco.uk/benchpress2021

benchpress.uk.com 

Jonathan Trimble is the CEO of And Rising.

They work with the world’s fastest growing scale-ups, helping them to become universally loved brands of tomorrow.

He has some strong opinions about the future of brands. He says ‘five years from now, we won’t recognise most of the brands we see as universal’.

This is a deep dive conversation into the state of the traditional advertising agency model, why he made the pivot to this new creative capital model.

If you are interested in things such as:

🔸 Creative capital
🔸 Building scale-ups
🔸 The state of advertising and media today
🔸 Venture capital in the agency space

You will love this conversation!

wowco.uk/benchpress2021

benchpress.uk.com 

Kate Kallot is the Head of Emerging Areas at NVIDIA, the largest AI company in the world.

She builds large complex AI ecosystems and developer communities to drive forward innovation focused on solving real-world problems.

Kate believes in the power of AI to drive social change.
Using tech innovation she aims at helping accelerate economic development in emerging markets.

She has won multiple accolades throughout her career being named:

🔸Business Insider Top 100 Transformers 2020,
🔸VentureBeat Women in AI Rising Star in 2020
🔸CES ‘Best of Innovation Award’
🔸China AI Industry Innovation Alliance ‘Most Remarkable Product Award’ in 2018.

If you are at all interested in:

🔸The power of AI to drive social change

You will love this conversation!

She builds large complex AI ecosystems and developer communities to drive forward innovation focused on solving real-world problems. She believes in the power of AI to drive social change. Using tech innovation she helps to accelerate economic development in emerging markets.

She has won multiple accolades throughout her career being named Business Insider Top 100 Transformers 2020, VentureBeat Women in AI Rising Star in 2020, the CES ‘Best of Innovation Award’ and the China AI Industry Innovation Alliance ‘Most Remarkable Product Award’ in 2018. 

wowco.uk/benchpress2021

benchpress.uk.com 

Patrick Collister is the former Executive Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather UK.

In 2013 he became creative director of The ZOO, Google's client-facing creative think-tank. He is also the author of How to use innovation and creativity in the workplace.

He is now a Non-exec CD at Ad-Lib. The only UK based Google Creative Marketing Partner. Patrick is also a curator of The Caples Awards.

If you are at all interested in things like:

🔸 Brand building
🔸 Creativity
🔸 And what makes agencies like Ogilvy special

You will love this chat!

Take part in the BenchPress agency survey 2021

wowco.uk/benchpress2021

benchpress.uk.com 

He was previously creative director of Google ZOO (NACE). He has also been ECD and Vice-Chairman of Ogilvy and Mather.

wowco.uk/benchpress2021

benchpress.uk.com 

Katy Howell is the CEO of immediate future. 

She has run the company for almost 17 years where everything they do is underpinned with social data. Campaigns are built around four main skills to break the social boring:

If you are interested in anything to do with:

🔸 Social media

🔸 The issues that divide us

🔸 How to spot trends coming

🔸 The rollercoaster of building an agency over 20 years

We also discuss diversity and inclusion in the agency community, after the murder of George Floyd and a lot of people were posting black squares as a show of support, she went the other way and posted the most emotional and passionate video on Linkedin that was so real, bold and quite vulnerable for any agency owner.

It got a lot of support on social but really scary to put yourself out there as an independent business owner. We had a deep honest conversation about the race and the challenges that affect us in the marketing industry.

She goes from winning Sony EMI for 1.5 million to the 2008 crash. She talks about her mistakes working too much on the business and not enough on family, over reliance on one client.

This is truly a masterclass in building an Indi businesses over what is now a 20 year career.

Enjoy the chat! 

Take part in the BenchPress agency survey 2021

wowco.uk/benchpress2021

benchpress.uk.com 

She has run the company for almost 17 years where everything they do is underpinned with social data. Campaigns are built to break the social boring and hit the social sweet spot with your customers.

He spent around 20 years at Saatchi and Saatchi and became Managing Director at GUM the branded content division creating some breathtaking films, TV documentaries, events and music.

He started his career when advertising was still adverting, not the watered down version we have today. He started in the industry in 89 when the Berlin Wall came down and worked at the legendary Saatchi and Saatchi when it felt like nothing was impossible and you were only limited by the power of your creativity.

This is a masterclass on:

🔸 Branding

🔸 Finding a brands place in the world

🔸 Diversification due to covid

🔸 The evolution of live events in lockdowns

🔸 The importance of bravery to create truly great work

This was just just a great conversation from someone who has seen it all when it comes to branding and creative work. It was such a pleasure speaking with him. Just such a down to earth, funny and charming guy. 

Enjoy the chat

Since 2011, they have helped to shape the future of more than 300 agencies, contributing to new business wins in excess of £100m.

Kimi is a fascinating person with the most interesting career path, which gives her a very different perspective on the industry.

We discuss what every creative business wants to know:

🔸 What emails to send to prospective clients
🔸 What time of day to send them
🔸 How long emails should be
🔸 Effective email subject lines.

We also talked about:

🔸 What the market looks like for agency new business today
🔸 What our strategy should be through 2021
🔸 How to stand out from the crowd
🔸 Which brands are spending money

Enjoy the chat

With a mix of lead generation, board level coaching, market insights and consultancy, they help to make the future more predictable for agency Owners, Founders and Directors.

He has extensive experience in Business Development, Revenue Operations, Commercial Strategy, Pricing and Investment Strategy. Experience across AdTech, Martech, Blockchain, IOT, Sport Sponsorship and Information/Data Security.

We discuss:

🔸How to value a business
🔸Who the best buyers are out there
🔸How to build a team
🔸The power of data to transform businesses.
🔸How to ensure the future growth of your business 

Enjoy the chat

He has extensive experience in Business Development, Revenue Operations, Commercial Strategy, Pricing and Investment Strategy. Experience across AdTech, Martech, Blockchain, IOT, Sport Sponsorship and Information/Data Security.

Agency clients include BBH, MCcann, Weber Shandwick and they have also worked with a number of  leading brands, including Sainsbury’s, EE, Amazon, Aldi, Nestle, Loriel, SKY, Wilkinson and Coca-Cola.

We discuss:

🔸 How agencies win new business today
🔸 What brands are looking for in an agency partner
🔸 Running events in a pandemic
🔸 Agency specialisms & disciplines

Enjoy the chat

They have over 180 people and run global marketing programmes for the likes of Microsoft, O2 Telefonica, Xerox, Salesforce and Citrix.

David has really a fascinating background not only academically but also professionally. He starts his career as a copy writer in 2005 and he joined at the right time because from that point on, growth really took off.

They were ranked number 3 in the fastest growing UK B2B agencies and number 9 in the fastest growing US B2B agencies.

The arc of his career tracks the development of behavioural science and behavioural economics and how that discipline has been adopted by the marketing profession and made popular by books like Thinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Khanneman and predictably irrational, Dan Ariely.

From that point of view he's a marketing purist and talks about the importance of B2B marketers taking brand far more seriously than they have been so far.

If you are at all interesting in:

🔸 Brand vs demand

🔸 Account based marketing

🔸 Behavioural science in B2B marketing

Enjoy the chat

Guests include

1. Brent Adamson - VP at Gartner & author of Challenger Sale and Challenger Customer 
2. Marie Bergfelt - Head of Marketing Portfolio & Communications at BOBST
3. Geoff Phillips - Former Head of Marketing at Sage

Tamara Littleton is the founder and CEO of The Social Element. They are a 300 person global social media agency providing social media solutions to some of the world’s biggest brands including Diageo, Toyota, Mondelēz, HSBC and Nissan. 

She founded the company in 2002, pre Facebook.  By 2017, they had become the largest independent social media agency with the biggest global reach of anyone in this space.

She also runs sister company Polpeo, that provides a unique crisis management platform.

We discuss:

1. Building first online communities
2. Bootstrapping a 300 person agency 
3. "The Social Dilemma"
4. Crisis management for brands 

Enjoy the chat

He is the Growth Chief Officer at The Zeitgeist and has held leadership roles in, Karmarama, Accenture and TH_NK. Including two successful exits. He also works with a range of B2B businesses and has sold and supported over £100m of deals in his career.

He is currently working with Territory Studios, who Motion graphics and screen effect, Marvel movies, Spiderman, Ex Machina, Blade Runner 2049

We discuss:

1. How to win new business with 'Slow Selling' 
2. Mobile app development
3. Growth Strategy for B2B brands 
4. Selling to Karmarama and Accenture Interactive

Enjoy the chat!

Deriving from larger agency backgrounds, Clarity was formed to be a different kind of agency, with a more focussed hand picked team built around specialist sectors and with a passion for creating clear, motivating communication that cut-through in this increasingly noisy marketplace.

Their clients have included: Premier Inn, Europcar, Volkswagen Group, Jaguar Land Rover, Ideal Standard, Parker UK, NUS, The Restaurant Group, Homebase, TGI Friday's, Wilkinson Sword, Interserve, ISS, Radisson and Whitbread.

We discuss: 

1. Brand building

2. Insight

3. Creativity

4. Growing agency businesses over a 30 year career

Enjoy the chat

And if you are at all interested in what Agency Dealmasters does and where it’s going, then you will find this conversation fascinating.

This time the tables are turned and we get our awesome editor Chis Blaszczyk to interview me.

I just want to say firstly, thank you so much for listening, subscribing, and supporting us so far.

This is number 100 and it’s crazy to think how far we’ve come. We started the podcast on 20th January 2019. It’s been the greatest learning experience of my life and it’s been so awesome and humbling to speak to so many of you listening.

We have such an amazing community here at Agency Dealmasters and it’s only growing.

Looking back on the last 100 episodes, it been just a tsunami of knowledge shared and wisdom on not just how to grow an agency business, or any business for that matter but we’ve learned so much about life and success and failure, how we should think about all those things.

My favourite part of the show is when we get the business out of the way and I ask the questions I really want to ask about their favourite books, mentors, Netflix or Amazon, lessons for young people and what they know now looking back on their careers.

Nothing that I’ve done in my life has made me grow as much as this has. I’ve made some awesome friends along the way and built an amazing business in the process which you will hear more about in the show.

We’ve had thousands of downloads, we’re live in 51 different countries. I know business has been done on the back of the podcast which makes me really happy. It’s just been a lot of fun.

Because it’s number 100 we thought we would change things a bit and get Chis Blaszczyk our awesome editor and just general badass to interview me.

I’ve known Chris for years and he’s recently joined the company. We met at a boxing gym, he’s super fit, but like me he’s all about personal and professional development, reads a lot, listens to podcasts and he’s on his own growth journey.

Her was super nervous when I suggested this, but after he thought about it for a while he came back and agreed to do it, which I appreciate because this is way out of his comfort zone.

But as I’ve discoed over 100 episodes, these uncomfortable things are the things that force you to grow. And he has grown so much in his little time here and I can’t wait to see how much more he grows here.

I just want to say again, thank you, thank you, thank you for all your help and encouragement and support and listening.

We haven’t put any paid behind this at all so it’s all come from you telling your friends and colleagues about the show. So I really appreciate it.

We’re building something truly amazing here at Agency Dealmasters and I’m really grateful for your support.

Here’s to 100 more.

Enjoy the chat.

If you are at all interested in how to create world class global brand experiences for the likes of Mercedes/BMW, Porsche, Samsung and other global brands then this is the podcast for you. 

They worked with Samsung on the Olympic torch relays for London 2012. Where they had a Million of people in the streets with the torch. 

Worked for Porsche at Le Mans.

1. We discuss the highs and lows of winning new business. 
2. Growing a pioneering global brand experience agency
3. His hiring process
4. How to expand internationally, how to do it and the pros and the cons.

Enjoy the chat.

Joe Hine is a Partner at SI Partners Global

He has been involved some of the biggest deals in the creative services space.

He was involved in the sale of Velocity Partners' stake to Next 15. The sale or 'All of us to BCG' and the sale of Market Gravity to Deloitte.

He is uniquely qualified to talk about the M&A experience in 2020.

With the FT and other publications in the summer talking about lockdowns in global dealmaking, Joe’s firm has seen the opposite.

They’ve gone to market 8 times since March, all have been achieved without face to face meetings.

This is just a masterclass in all things concerning dealmaking for creative services firms.

If you’re interested in anything to do with M&A in during COVID-19 then this is the podcast for you.

Enjoy the chat.

Book your tickets for 7 priorities for rapid profitability and cost reductions for agencies

7 priorities for rapid profitability and cost reduction for agencies. 

He holds no punches, he says; ‘B2B marketers have lost their way, they have chased the money and jumped on the thought leadership bandwagon'.

We discuss:

Why the main objective of agencies is to create fame for their clients. In his opinion, nothing is more important than that fame metric which creates memorability, preference and ultimately buying behaviour.

They not only back this up with hard data from Binet and Field, but it’s also born out of their results for clients like Rockwool, Micro Focus, EY and Yell which have resulted in multiple awards wins.

If you are interested in:

The importance of brand and Fame in B2B marketing then you will find this conversation absolutely fascinating.

7 priorities for rapid profitability and cost reductions for agencies

James Collis is the founder and managing director of Revere agency.

A phenomenally successful insight-driven B2B marketing agency with clients like Avanade, VMware, Worldpay and Sitecore.

We discuss, what it takes to build a world-beating technology agency and what mistakes to avoid along the way.

He founded his first agency, Second2 in 2001 and built it to be one of the most successful B2B Marketing agencies in 2011 and later sold the business to an AIM-listed group. But realised they short-changed themselves and in his words, he‘learned how not to sell a business’.

If you are interested in:

1. How they built Revere in just 6 years
2. B2B technology trends 
3. How they attract top talent to work at the agency

We also talk about what’s important now to attract an increasingly purpose-driven, socially motivated millennial workforce who are less interested in financial incentives and are increasingly concerned with social issues of race and inequality.

If you are interested in any of that then you will find this conversation to be absolutely fascinating. 

Enjoy the chat.

Book your place for the free webinar 7 priorities for rapid profitability and cost reduction for agencies 

They are in the top 5 B2B only international agencies in the world. and just in case you were wondering, that list of 5 starts at above 25 million US dollars.

They’ve been either the first or second fastest growing B2B agency HQd UK for the last 4 years in a row.

They are the 42nd fastest growing business in the UK, according to the FT.

Their goal is to become the biggest, most respected B2B comms group in the world. They’ve done this with all organic growth, no investors.

We discuss:

1. why shouldn’t name a business after yourself
2. is the best model a Full-service agency or specialist agency
3. How B2B marketing has evolved
4. and just so much more

Enjoy the chat.

If there is anyone who can bring us to date and give us an accurate account of the lessons and learnings from the last 6 months, it’s David Crawford.

He has actually written an excellent piece related to this on LinkedIn called 6 from 6. The link is in the description.

A couple of interesting highlights from his post:

1. The steering wheel is more important than the accelerator

2. Don't Do One Thing Well - Do It Brilliantly!

3. There really isn’t any room for passengers

We talk about:

• The shock and awe of the early days and how the best agencies responded.
• Confidence is rebounding
• The importance of Cash in the bank
• Reevaluating office space. Do we actually need all that office space?
• Client relationships - the deeper and stronger relationships with your clients the better - trusted partner status.
• We learned a lot about our people - who adapted well and who didn’t.

Probably the biggest learning has been, Jim collins or Blair Enns philosophy of being really clear about the services we offer and the markets that we serve.

If you are interested in any of that stuff then you will find this conversation absolutely fascinating.

Enjoy the chat

They are one of the Uk’s leading accountants and business advisors, with over 500 employees and 60 partners. Their network spans 30,000 people across 100 countries. They have been around since 1923.

Mandy now runs the media business which is now over 100 people.

If you are remotely interested in:

• Growing your services firm, value prop, new business
• M&A
• Recruitment of top talent
• The key stages of growth in creative services firms
• What we learn from other recessions that we can apply now

We go really deep into how to win new business, she spends a lot of time talking to clients about their value proposition and finding the right TRIBE of client.

She has some fascinating ideas on how to win new business. She says new business is really an attritional process, you need to keep delivering it day in day out.

If you’re interested in any of that then this is the podcast for you. 

We discuss:

1. Agency M&A
2. Building value back into your business
3. Who’s buying all the creative services firms today
4. Diversity and inclusion in the legal profession 

Modestly, he says wasn’t talented/creative enough so he became a lawyer.

The goal of Lewis Silkin is to become the best employment law firm in the UK and to become the Best firm for clients in the creative industries.

We also discuss:

• Pre COVID it was a seller's market
• How EBITDA and profitability has gone down for many agencies
• Uncertainty in the market, not only COVID but Brexit which hasn’t been discussed, Trump reelection, China trade war
• The impact of COVID 19 on Lewis Silkin
• Why some deals don't go according to plan
• The importance of leadership and culture.

He talks about D&I in the legal profession and says, if we imagine we’re scaling a diversity mountain, gender diversity would be at basecamp and ethnic diversity would be in the distant foothills.

We talk about the issues with accessibility in the legal profession which is a massive issue in the magic circle firms

He talks about racism still being an issue in the UK. His mother was racially abused on a bus in leafy west London. Its an area quite close to his heart because his grandfather was involved in the fight for freedom in apartheid South Africa.

Enjoy the chat.

He spent the early part of his career in some of the most prestigious agencies in the world. Y&R, DDB and Ogilvy. He now runs organic a 50 person agency in Exeter south Devon and delivers fantastic work for clients like HSBC, Argos and the Body Shop, just go down the list of iconic brands.

He spent the first few months in the role narrowing in on a compelling client proposition, developing the culture and hiring amazing talent. which we discuss at length because its such a crucial part of any agency’s value.

We talk about everything from:

The differences in cultures when he interviewed for BBH, Abbott mead Vickers (AMV), and BNP now Adam and Eve DDB. it was fascinating to hear how different they were from each other and how the agency’s tone and culture is set not so much by the leadership team or the employees but actually your client. because the culture your client has flows both ways.

We talked about his hiring strategy:

The 5 hours on a train test. Is this someone you want to sit next to on a train for 5 hours?

His time at one the Meccas of agencies, Ogilvy. Going from an agency of 300 people in Ogilvy to Red Bee Creative an agency with just 50 people.

we talked about whether or not we need to be in London anymore? the difference between Regional agencies and London agencies in terms of attracting clients and talent.

If you are at all interested in any of those things then you will enjoy the conversation. 

Enjoy the chat.

He is a deal junkie and loves the rush of M&A. He loves helping founders and owners sell their businesses and build some close and long-lasting relationships in the process.

He spent 7 years at Reed Smith where he helped build out their private equity practice

The creative services space is generally not the most attractive to investors because they like things like recurring revenue, low customer concentration, less reliance on individuals generating revenue for the company.

But for those investors that really get the creative services space, they seem massive opportunities for the right kinds of businesses.

We discuss all things agency and creative services but also other sectors outside creative services that are attractive to investors.

Data business in the food sector, Logistics, Food delivery, edtec, Medtech, Fintech. And Facilities management businesses and cleaning businesses are now sexy.

If you are remotely interested in:

1. What buyers are looking for when buying creative services businesses
2. How to build value back into your agency because of the losses from COVID 19.
3. The good and the bad sides of selling your business

Then this is the conversation for you.

Enjoy the chat

After being with the business for over 20 years and MD for 7, there is very little he doesn't know about growing B2B technology brands. Toshiba has been a client for 30 years, Cannon for 18 years.

We discuss:

How they got over the tricky £4 and £5 million turnover barrier. 

They introduced new business process, hired some amazing people, added an integrated offering which gave them the skills of account-based marketing, marketing automation, attribution, they also made some smart acquisitions.

This is a masterclass in helping clients grow and achieving their own agency business goals in the process.

They’re one of those agencies whose name keeps popping up from time to time but you don't know too much about. except that they’ve got some amazing clients and keep showing on the top B2B agencies list.

they don’t shout about themselves a lot, they fly under the radar but continue to produce great work.

Enjoy the chat.

He consults and speaks with senior leaders all over the country including, a certain Sir Richard Branson.

We discuss the challenges for all minorities as they climb their professional careers in the UK but David pays particular attention to the challenges facing black professions.

He sites that across 800 partners in the top 5 law firms in the UK only 4 are black. 3 of those 5 are not British born.

Of the top 4 consultancies, EY, Deloitte, PWC and KPMG of 1500, only 27 are black.

He says this is not about ticking a box, UK corporations have promised opportunity that for those that get on, work hard, they can do well but many have not followed through on their promise and are failing a lot of black and ethnic minorities.

This is just such a fascinating conversation concerning everything from the fall out of events of recent months and back lives matter to everything else in between.

If you are interested in anything to do with:

Race and Diversity in our profession and what to do about it.

she was the CFO for Omnicom Emea and Apac for 13 years before becoming CFO for Publicis Sapient.

She’s got an incredible history of being a tremendously successful financial advisor to agencies in a number of different areas. Incredibly knowledgeable about the sort of thinking that has generated a lot of money for creative businesses of all shapes and sizes. She’s pretty much held every role in finance its possible to hold.

This is actionable advice from an award-winning veteran in agency land. It’s about taking already solid working businesses and making them that much better and when you hear some of the businesses she’s been involved with you will really understand this.

She talks about her initial blindness to the disparity of minorities and women for a long time because she was so head down focused on her own work but when she finally realised the problem she had to do something about it.

If you are remotely interested in:

1. How to grow your bottom line
2. How to make your business stronger to wether COVID 19
3. Diversity and inclusion of women and minorities in the creative space.

Then you will find this conversation absolutely fascinating so without me keeping you in suspense any further, my conversation with Deepa Shah.

Howies was cited as the 6th most 'recession-proof' company in the UK at the time. we could all use some of that wisdom right now.

We discuss:

His start in the ad agency world, he got frustrated because he didn’t want to sell sugar water anymore and wanted to do something with a bit more meaning.

The reason why people spend their whole lives making a billion dollars then spending the rest of their lives giving it away is that they didn’t get any meaning from making it in the first place.

We talk about how people get seduced by fast growth. everyone’s in a rush to build a business quickly and take VC money.

His advice is to build something slowly. you’re not gonna build anything with any great significance quickly.

We also discussed:

How he built Hieat denim with a simple email newsletter. His books, mentors, successes and failures.

This is a masterclass in business growth.

Stick around for our favorite questions at the end where he talks about his mentors Paul Arden.

If you only listen to ONE podcast this year. This is the one for you.

Enjoy the chat. 

She’s helped agencies win new business for over 20 years. 

This was a tour de force conversation covering all things new business.

We discuss everything from:

• The process of winning new business
• How to build a strong pipeline
• selling in this environment
• hiring new business people
• How to use social selling
• Why we’re so scared of picking up the phone

She’s helped win business in pretty much every sector both in the UK and globally. I've worked with all types of creative agencies, across every discipline, of all shapes and sizes from global networks to start-ups. 

She has helped win business with big brands such as Rolls Royce,

AstraZeneca, Aviva, Channel 4 and SAS as well as smaller, challenger brands.

Lucy also created The Agency Growth Academy which is a hybrid online training programme teaching agency owners how to do new business themselves. It’s aimed at smaller agencies that can’t afford to hire someone.

Enjoy the chat.

If you’re even remotely interested in:

• Sales
• Winning new business
• Getting attention in a crowded marketplace
• Lead generation
• Entrepreneurship
• writing books
• Having 9 children

This is the podcast for you. 

He was the CEO of an unsuccessful company that failed because he didn’t have an understating of sales. He hired a VP of sales and abdicated responsibility instead of delegating.

He went to salesforce so he could learn sales properly and that’s where his career took off, two best selling books later and a multi million pound company. he’s the definition of failing your way to success.

Enjoy the chat.

Where do I start, in 2016 on the back of the doom and gloom of Trump, Brexit, they really wanted to see a change in the world so they set up the agency.

They were in-house at agencies before and worked with a tech startup that failed, and at that point, they joined forces and decided to do something a little bit different.

About 3/4 of the way into the interview Jess quotes an author who says, i’m completely happy when my brain, heart and gut aligns and I think you’ll hear that come through in their stories. They truly live their purpose and have built an amazing business around it.

We discuss everything from:

• What profit and purpose actually means
• How to get purpose right
• Black lives matter
• Why female founders need to be more resilient that their male counterparts.
• Launching a business in 2016, although 2016 seems calm and uneventful by 2020 standards

If you are remotely interested in, Making the world better, then you will find this conversation to be absolutely fascinating, so without me keeping you in suspense any further, my conversation with Natalie Moores and Jessica Macintyre.

Make your ideas matter, the fortune cookie principle, marketing a love story and her latest book, Story-driven, you don’t need to compete when you know who you are.

It was just an absolute pleasure speaking with her, I've followed her work from afar for a long time. we talk about everything from:

1. How to create stories that move people
2. Creating meaning in people lives
3. How brands like Iceland, Air BnB and Mecca create the best stories we can all learn from.

Seth Godin says she’s one of the greatest marketing thinkers of all time.

If you are at all interested in:

How to create better marketing communications then you are going to find this conversation absolutely fascinating.

They have now been merged into a global network. Their belief is: 'The world needs more interesting' will still remain the same but they now have the support of 150 countries behind them. Their main goal is to make their clients' business grow and flourish.

He is now the co-founder of R&D and Pablo, helping brands with a broad spectrum of brand, business and growth strategy, and leadership consultancy challenges, setting the business on the path to a defined future outcome.

He is passionate about inspiring and challenging CEOs to be better leaders, to achieve their potential building healthy high-performing teams & organisations. His teaching about the Human Mind is at the core of his work.

He’s also an adventurer, having raced to the north pole and run across deserts.

Our industry has an opportunity to respond to the brutality that is sadly still with us and begin to change things.

Agencies communicate on behalf of brands which means we can actually affect some kind of positive change, but a lot of that change has to begin at home with ourselves.

Diversity and inclusion is still a massive problem in our industry and that’s why my guest this week is Asad Dhunna Founder of the Unmistakables an award-winning consultancy that creates a world of opportunity from diversity.

This interview was recorded before the tragic incidents but i think it’s relevant to release now.

They are:

1. Best new agency as rated by Oystercatchers
2. Start-up agency of the year - The Drum
3. Best in diversity & inclusion - The Drum
4. BAME business of the year - Great British Business Awards

What led him to set up the agency was the idea that to set up a successful business you must either solve the smallest problem for the largest number of people or the biggest problem for only a few people. and diversity is a big problem for a lot of people.

If you are remotely interested in:

Seeing a fairer world for all of us, then you will find this conversation absolutely fascinating.

Sandy was honored in the Queen's birthday list of 2015 for services to business and young people. The same year also saw Sandy named North West Director of the Year (SME) and Highly Commended in the same award, nationally, by the Institute of Directors.

She is a national Ambassador for Apprenticeships, Vice Chair of Forever Manchester and on the Business Leadership Council of TeachFirst in the North West. She chairs skills groups for the IoD and the North West Business Leadership Team and is Vice Chair of the latter. She is a NED of Northcoders, a leading coding Bootcamp and a Board Adviser to Flock, a culture (future SAS) start up.

We discuss:

1. The interesting ways tech businesses are pivoting 
2. How business when we come out of this
3. The opportunity within the crisis
4. Leadership
5. How she is staying grounded at this time? 
6. Sandy's Silver linings

Enjoy the chat.

With a focus on training and development in the workplace as well as collaboration with other socially responsible businesses focusing on other social issues and the strands of diversity, as defined by the UK Government.

We discuss:

1. How Channel 4 benefit from talent and diversity 
2. Diversity and Inclusion at The Telegraph 
3. How to get more inclusive businesses 
4. Blockers and how to overcome them
5. Why he doesn't like the word 'Diversity'
6. Colin's silver linings 

Enjoy the chat

This allows them to deliver unique consumer insight, and reveal how a piece of design or advertising is affecting people at both a rational and an emotional level.

We discuss:

1. How the brain works
2. Influencing human decision making
3. Leadership becoming CEO of a multimillion-pound firm at 36
4. Female leadership and underrepresentation of minorities in media

If you’re a marketer in any shape then get a cup of coffee and clear some time in your calendar.

Enjoy the chat.

Clients include:

Havas, Engine and Channel 4 to name a few. 

She is also the co-founder and Chair of the Advisory Council for Advertising Week Europe, the leading Advertising event now planning it's 8th year in London.

Kathleen is also a qualified psychotherapist and Founder of Psyched Global. She brings positive transformational psychotherapy into corporate boardrooms.

If you are remotely interested in:

1. Media and marketing
2. Executive leadership
3. The mindset of high achieving CEOs
4. Having a single-minded proposition
5. Changing the recruitment and headhunting industry 
6. Empathetic leadership
7. Running and growing Advertising Week Europe

Then this is the podcast for you.

Enjoy the chat. 

Adam is also the co-founder of PRHub, a regional network of PR professionals in the East of England and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of PR.

We discuss:

1. The culture within Mobas that helps them in a crisis
2. Which agencies will struggle most at this time and what can they do about it?
3. How do we help people not suited to remote working?
4. The Five ways business leaders can help their stakeholders
5. What is Mobas doing?
6. Adam's silver linings

I started by asking him to explain his comment:

‘The focus for agency leaders at any time of crisis typically centers around three Areas: retaining projects, delivering effective and profitable projects and managing cashflow'.

Enjoy the chat.

We discuss:

1. What are the most common questions from clients right now.
2. How much do you think life will change after this? 
3. Which brands should be communicating at this time and who shouldn't?
4. What opportunities does this provide for the well run agencies and businesses who will survive and even thrive?
5. Smart businesses won't waste a crisis. This is an opportunity to upgrade operations, run leaner and run more efficiently. discuss.
6. Will we continue in their remote working environments or will we all be yearning to go back to the office?
7. Doug's silver linings.

Enjoy the chat.

We discussed:

1. Respond, Relieve, Rebuild their manual for action leadership in Covid 19. 
2. Should marketers step back and let the public health professionals and government take the lead?
3. Do brands even have a role to play in this environment?
4. What practical help can brands help with at this time?
5. How do we make sure were being sensitive to the situation and not be opportunistic?
6. Good examples and bad examples from brands
7. Giulia's silver linings

I started by asking her:

Since the start of the crisis, many of our clients have come to you to help them understand how they can take action, and do so with maximum impact and integrity. 

Talk about what some of their toughest challenges are and what advice do you give them?

Enjoy the chat. 

He measures success by delivering exactly what the user needs wrapped in a compelling UX on time and on budget. 

We discussed:

1. How have their business continuity plans changed
2. What does that look like with an agency with 100 people?
3. How should we be thinking about scenario planning?
4. How his role has changed as CTO
5. How Omobono are thinking about sales and new business?
6. How do B2B salespeople sell in this environment?
7. Pitching/workshops
8. Digital transformation
9. Marcus' silver linings

I started by asking him to explain his comment:

'Most agency business continuity plans are not fit for purpose'.

Enjoy the chat.

As Managing Director, he’s led business transformation, re-starting growth, restructuring and re-energising businesses.

We discussed:

1. If you are a new business person right now when the future is so uncertain, how should we be selling now?
2. How should new business teams be taking care of their clients
3. Coping strategies for business developers
4. How do you think about new business development in peace times and how have you had to adjust to what has happened?
5. Opportunism/genuine outreach/lack of empathy 
6. How are you as a leader staying grounded at this time? 
7. Tim's Silver linings

I started by asking him:

Is this a good time or a bad time to sell?

Enjoy the chat.

Everything she does is about putting strategy at the heart of brands and unlocking brands to achieve transformation.

We discussed:

1. The difference between a knee jerk reaction vs a more thoughtful and considered one. Good and bad examples
2. The pressure between short term results and long term success. Do we have the wrong metrics?
3. Which brands have a role to play
4. Fear of getting it wrong - is now the time to experiment with our marketing even more?
5. How can we use our purpose and values to guide decision making?
6. Corona virus fatigue?
7. Collette's silver linings

Enjoy the chat.

We discussed:

• How our emotions have changed over the weeks and how to manage them
• How do you lead yourself first before your employees
• Frameworks for dealing with stress, fear and anxiety
• Keeping perspective healthy 
• Prioritising your own needs
• Sally's silver linings.

I started by asking her:

As an Executive Change Mentor, you specialise in creating valuable change and impact to help ambitious growth mindset owners and senior leaders achieve greater success and happiness at work and in life.

Is that a skill set that is needed now more than ever?

Enjoy the chat.

We discussed:

1. How transparent he is being with his team
2. Contingency planning and preparing for a crisis
3. Getting back to business as usual quickly
4. The exciting time to experiment for marketers 
5. Richard's silver linings 

I started by asking him to explain what’s at the top of his mind as we enter week two of

Enforced isolation?

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Impero's clients include Martell Cognac, Ugg shoes, The Volvic water brands at Danone,  Lindt & Sprungli, Havana Club Rum and General Mills.

We discussed:

1. How clients are responding
2. Sales and new business 
3. Supporting employees to keep motivation up
4. Making order out of chaos 
5. Michael's silver linings 

I started by asking him to share what he is thinking about the future as we end another week of this enforced shutdown?

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He has put out some fantastic content recently to help people through this difficult time and we wanted to speak with him to share his ideas with people who may not have come across them because we have found them very useful.

We discussed:

1. What to do when the world is on fire, you say
2. Advice on maintaining our poise
3. Taking care of yourself 
4. Keeping perspective 
5. Making order out of chaos 
6. Anthony's silver linings

I started by asking him to explain a comment from his recent blog post: ‘If you were to boil down the last 20,000 years of Homo sapiens, it would be the story of overcoming the obstacles placed in our way.’ 

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In January 2019 Blurred was named PR Week’s #1 ‘ONE TO WATCH’ FOR 2019. Within a few short months it's secured a number of major global clients, focusing on work which embraces the blurring of the lines between corporate / consumer and internal/external comms. 

We discussed:

1. The importance of core values for decision making at this time
2. How clients are responding 
3. Treating people like human beings 
4. Keeping the energy of her team-high
5. How to think about sales and new business
6. Nik's silver linings

She is a previous guest of the show. In our last conversation, the focus was on core values and how they should become our north star at all times. This is especially valid now. I asked her to talk about the role your core values play in your life at this time?

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We discussed:

1. Should we put sales and marketing on hold or ramp up?
2. Selling without looking opportunistic
3. Communicating with clients and employees at this time
4. How agencies and creative businesses can support each other.
5. How clients can remain always on
6. Innovative businesses emerging from this
7. Guy's silver linings

I started by asking him:

'What are the most pressing things you are thinking about as this becomes our new reality? 

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We discussed:

1. The importance of first securing your business
2. Over-communication to your employees
3. What you business will need to look like post-crisis 
4. Digitally enabled businesses vs legacy businesses challenges
5. How to de-risk your business

I started by asking him, how we should be thinking about the problem right now?

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She has spent the last 20+ years in senior leadership and agency management roles where she has focused on Communications, Operations, Client Management and Business Development. 

Prior to joining Waypoint, Julianna was U.S. Chief Operating Officer at Edelman, the world’s largest independent PR firm, where she led the largest region with 2,700 employees and revenue of close to $500 million.

We discussed:

1. The main problem sets businesses should be thinking about right now
2. How to communicate at this time
3. Sales, marketing and new business
4. How to lead 
5. Coming out stronger

I started by asking her: 

'How should we be thinking about the problem. How are you and your clients thinking about the problem today?

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David was listed in PR Week's 30 under 30 in 2015 as one of the leaders in the communications industry. He is a regular speaker on digital topics, having spoken at Social Media Week, CIPR and Microsoft conferences.

We discussed:

• Have client relations ever been impacted by your remote working setup?
• Socialising and maintaining human interaction?
• Work/life balance and remote working.
• Managing your family and their expectations, considering you appear to be home and ‘available’.
• How clients react.
• The best set-up for agencies. Should we continue remote working as we come out of this crisis?
• David's silver linings?

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We discussed:

1. What can agencies and creative businesses be doing at this time to support each other and their employees?
2. Coming out stronger
3. How well has the government responded? 
4. Taking emotion out of it
5. Suck it up and deal with it
6. Farhad's silver linings

I started by asking him what are the main things Threepipe thinking about over the next 3,6 and 9 months. 

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They deliver a financial and commercial sounding board, creating new business models, fee structures and simplifying the way that the business operates.

We discussed:

• What are the things agency owners should be focusing on right now?
• What are the financial triggers that provoke action?
• What other financial considerations should I be thinking about?
• How can the government initiatives tangibly help my business and my employees?
• Paul's Silver Linings

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We discussed:

1. Which types of creative businesses will survive?
2. How to prepare yourself for the recession to come
3. Reassuring employees 
4. Robert Craven's Silver Linings 

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Using a highly effective process to scale up, drive up profits and increase exit value, and cutting to critical issues to deliver value fast, the 2Y3X programme generates a huge ROI and can add millions to both revenue and sale value.

We discussed:

1. The short, medium and long term implications of the situation
2. How to deliver value to your clients at this point
3. What the really good agencies do in a recession

I started by asking him, what questions are his clients most concerned about at the moment?

enjoy the chat.