The Indie Forum: 30th November 2021

We were delighted to host THE INDIE FORUM on the 30th November at the fabulous Royal College of Physicians (RCP), in central London.


With a selection of fast-paced presentations by inspirational individuals and industry leaders, THE INDIE FORUM was an informative and exciting afternoon that was not to be missed.

time to get together again!

Lets face it, whilst Zoom and the like are brilliant, they are no substitute for meeting an old friend in person or,  perhaps making new ones in the queue for a coffee.

With generous breaks, THE INDIE FORUM was a great opportunity to catch-up and, enjoy a bit of good old fashioned human interaction without a screen in the way.

WATCH THE VIDEO

THE AGENDA

THE INDIE FORUM was designed to be a ‘high-octane’ event, with valuable and actionable content to make a difference to your agency life.

2.30- 3.00: Registration and networking

3.00 – 3.20:  Julian Boulding, President, thenetworkone

“Independent Agencies in 2022: where are the opportunities?”  

As head of the world’s largest indie agency network, Julian and his team are in regular contact with agency leaders from over 100 countries. What are the key challenges facing the sector, as we begin to emerge from the pandemic? Talent? Clients? Procurement? Technology? And what are the solutions? The session  included five tips that every agency can apply, to improve its performance in 2022.

– With special guest: Dan Egerton, Founder, Actus Consulting & Headline Sponsor

3.20 – 3.40: Francesca Robe, Director and Paul Winterflood, Partner, Moore Kingston Smith

“Survivor to Thriver”

What are the critical success factors that differentiate agencies that are simply keeping their head above the water to those that have turned their fortunes around to excel? How do the best agencies perform financially, and how should we track our agency’s financial performance? Who is acquiring the most successful agencies and what are buyers looking for? Paul and Francesca presented key factors from research carried out by Moore Kingston Smith as well as drawing on results from their renowned Annual Survey.

3.40 – 4.00:  Claire Mason, Founder & CEO, Man Bites Dog.

“The Gender News Gap: The impact of inequality in journalism & media.”

Claire Mason, founder of global thought leadership consultancy Man Bites Dog,  shared her firm’s latest proprietary research on the gender imbalance in media and its impact on business, editorial and content decisions, influencing which stories are told and who tells them.

 

4.00 -4.30:  Networking and refreshments with special guest  Alex Abrams, CEO of CreateTOTALLY

4.30 – 4.45: Ian Forrester, Founder & CEO, DAIVID

“AI: the new frontier of creativity”

Today’s brands and their agencies are creating a huge number of video assets, for multiple platforms and differentiated audience. Yet only 1% of what appears on screen has been tested, because traditional research methods simply can’t cope. DAIVID uses “emotional AI” to predict the effect of the content you are creating, broken down by key video and audio components, enabling optimisation with unprecedented speed and cost-efficiency.

4.45 – 5.00: Gabriela Lungu, Founder & Creative Chief, Wings Creative Lab

“Make your Creativity Fly”

Cannes 2021 Jury member and Former Global Creative Director at VML Y&R Commerce, Gabriela Lungu now runs her own creative consultancy, the Wings Creative Lab. Wings blends theory and practice to help clients and agency creatives achieve standout work in today’s fast-changing business and technology environment. In this energetic session, Gabriela shared some of the key factors that help creative leaders to develop successful teams.

5.00 – 5.30: Craig Inglis, Global Chair, The Marketing Society & Former Customer Director, John Lewis.

“Driving a Creative Culture”  

As Marketing Director and Customer Director for 12 years at iconic retailer John Lewis, Craig led a team which created probably the best-known and most eagerly awaited advertising campaigns in the UK. In a challenging presentation followed by a thoughtful ‘fireside chat’ with thenetworkone’s Julian Boulding, Craig shared his insights and learnings – on what it takes to empower agencies and brand teams, to consistently deliver world class creative outcomes, that drive business success.

5.30 -6.00: Networking break – with special guest, Aleksandra Lajtenberger, photographer

6.00 – 7.00: THE INDIE AWARDS presentation

Ably assisted by many world leading independent agency practitioners and creative directors who have kindly acted as judges, we showed the six top prize winning entries in Creative Audiovisual; Creative Print and Design; Media Planning and Buying; Lifestyle PR and Social media; Corporate PR; and Public Good. We presented the iconic ‘Scottish whistle’ awards to the winners, together with a specially chosen ‘best in show’ prize.

You can see all the winning work here

7.00 – 8.00:  A seasonal celebration

Last and not least, we toasted the award winners – and everyone present – in a sparkling seasonal drinks and nibbles party in the unique surroundings of the Royal College of Physicians.

OUR SPEAKERS

A huge thank you to all our  incredible speakers…

 

Our sponsors

And we would like to thank our wonderful sponsors for their support of this event.  Please click their logos to learn more:

Learn more about: ACTUS – Headline Sponsor

Learn more about Crimtan – Event Sponsor

Lean more about CreateTOTALLY – Event Sponsor

Learn more about Paprika – Event Sponsor

Learn more about Purmon – Event Sponsor

Learn more about Moore Kingston Smith – Event Sponsor

 

COVID 19: GUIDANCE

This event will be hosted in a secure environment and in accordance with UK government public health guidelines as advised by Public Health England, and those of the venue.

Please take note of the following points:

  • Guests who are feeling unwell or have been in close contact with anyone displaying symptoms of Covid-19 should not attend the event.
  • We recommend that guests take a lateral flow test at home before coming to the event. Anyone who records a positive test should not attend the event.
  • Guests should be mindful of maintaining a respectful distance from others in attendance.
  • Guests are encouraged to use hand sanitiser regularly, which will be available for use at the entrance and key points throughout the venue.
  • The wearing of a face covering is not mandatory at this time but, it is advised when in close contact inside with others.