Event Type : Action groups

The Wellbeing Action Group is hosted by our Member Lead, Isabel Odlin (Chief People Person at Hub), and we’re excited to share that in our next session we will be joined by Chris Marshall, behavioural scientist, applied psychologist, author, and founder of The Playfulness Institute, a not-for-profit dedicated to unlocking the power of playfulness to inspire human flourishing.

In this session, Chris will explore how playfulness serves as humanity’s most sophisticated adaptability mechanism and a key driver for organisational success. Far from being childish or frivolous, Chris shows that playfulness is our natural state of optimal functioning – one that fosters innovation, accelerates learning, reduces stress, and strengthens collaboration.

Drawing on cutting-edge research in neuroscience, psychology, and organisational behaviour, Chris will look at:

• Why traditional management approaches often suppress our natural capacity for playful engagement
• How playfulness creates psychological safety and fosters genuine innovation
• The remarkable benefits of playful workplaces, from enhanced resilience to improved problem-solving
• Practical strategies for cultivating playfulness in yourself and your organisation
• The architecture of play: building environments where playfulness naturally emerges

In a world of increasing complexity and rapid change, organisations that nurture playfulness don’t just perform better – they create spaces where people genuinely thrive. Join us to discover how embracing playfulness can transform your team’s capabilities while making the journey more meaningful and enjoyable.
This isn’t about adding games or forcing fun – it’s about removing barriers to our natural state of joyful, creative engagement with challenges. Learn how to build a workplace that doesn’t just drive results but enriches lives.

About Chris….
Chris’ research reveals playfulness as our most sophisticated adaptability mechanism, challenging the artificial divide between ‘serious work’ and ‘play’.

Through his experience in investment markets, competitive sport and working with teams and individuals, Chris demonstrates that playfulness is far more than an enjoyable pastime—it’s humanity’s evolutionary superpower for navigating complexity and change. His work shows how teams that maintain playfulness during disruption consistently outperform those who become rigid when facing uncertainty.

Chris is the author of “Decoding Change” (2022), which explores how our world is changing and why we’re entering a period of radical social transformation. His upcoming book “The Playful Advantage” takes the next step, revealing how we can build teams and organisations that thrive in a highly disruptive world by fostering environments where playfulness naturally emerges.

Join us for a fast-paced and practical online session hosted by BD Matters in partnership with the Alliance of Independent Agencies. This session is designed specifically for independent agency leaders and business development professionals looking to sharpen how they handle early-stage conversations with prospects.

Whether you’re running your own new business function or managing a small team, this meet-up will walk you through a smarter, more structured approach to converting interest into opportunity — without relying on generic sales tactics.

We’ll cover:

• The mindset shift from “selling” to building value-based relationships
• A framework for running better discovery calls
• Practical nurturing tactics to stay front of mind
• How to use your CRM to bring it all together
• Plus: a live role play exercise to help embed the learning

Expect real-world examples, no fluff, and space to share and learn from others in the group. Perfect for anyone looking to convert more leads without compromising on relationship or reputation.

Our Speaker

Adam is a creative, commercially focused new business and marketing specialist, driven by a desire to help B2B businesses stand out and grow by building reputable brands.  He has honed his craft over the last ten years, having worked in new business consultancies and in-house for RAPP, Omnicom, Vizeum, Dentsu Aegis and Havas. He’s experienced in brand building, marketing and sales pipeline development as well as running hundreds of successful multi-million pound pitches.

He believes strongly that business owners need to be braver and more honest to create authentic and differentiating brand stories, so that they can attract the right, long-term clients.  This belief, coupled with a more scientific approach to new business, gives business owners the confidence and rigour they require to succeed.

The media effectiveness landscape is evolving rapidly, with new measurement methodologies (some good, some very dubious), combined with increased complexity around the terminology, number of channels, and shifting regulatory constraints.

Econometrics has cycled in and out of favour, but with GDPR and walled gardens limiting attribution, it’s made a strong comeback—adapting to the new realities of fragmented media and privacy-first measurement. This session will explore key trends in ROI analysis, from the resurgence of econometrics to the evolution of test-and-control methodologies. With the rise of platform-owned solutions we’ll dig in to their limitations and biases.

The Alliance will be joined by 2 speakers from member agency Independent Marketing Sciences:

Alex Vass is CEO and Founder of Independent Marketing Sciences. He has led analytics functions across Creative, Media, and PR agencies—including global roles at IPG. With a background spanning strategy and measurement, he brings a deep understanding of how data can drive more effective, accountable marketing across the full marketing spectrum.

Lucy Summerton is Director at Independent Marketing Sciences. She works with brands to bring clarity to complex marketing questions, turning data into clear, actionable insights that support better decision-making. With a sharp eye for what really matters, she helps agencies, and their clients cut through the noise and focus on the levers that drive real business impact.

We prefer to call this group the Diversity & Inclusion Action Group because they are committed to taking actions that make a difference. They meet regularly to help us fulfil the vision that our Member Agencies have workforces that are truly representative of all sections of society and each employee feels respected and able to give their best. Previous sessions have covered neurodiversity, how classism impacts our workplaces, inclusion of deaf & hard of hearing talent & so on.

The Alliance is committed to optimising diversity and inclusion in our Member Agencies. We expect all member agencies to be fully committed to the D&I journey because we know it makes great business sense too. The exact topic for this session will be released closer to the time, meanwhile please save the date & register below.

The High Margin Agency: Essential Strategies for Improved Profitability

In this insightful session with Alliance partner Cactus, we will cover:

Pricing –

1. Understanding cost
2. Understanding value
3. Demonstrating value

Efficiencies –

1. Resource Utilisation
2. Artificial intelligence

Data –

1. Tracking
2. Reporting
3. Improving

Alfie is a Managing Partner at Cactus, Europe’s leading agency growth consultancy.

He is a chartered accountant with over 17 years of experience. He specialises in enhancing agency profitability through financial management, commercial operations, and commercial finance training.

He has worked with global agencies like Edelman and Weber Shandwick, providing leadership teams with strategic, commercial, and financial guidance.

His expertise includes pricing, designing commercial systems, collaborating on model rollouts, and embedding commerciality into company culture.

A chance for anybody in membership with a role in strategy and planning to form a community. If you’re a planner, strategy director or similar and could benefit from peer to peer interaction within your speciality then please come along.

Previous sessions have included: a Strategy Bootcamp, WTF is Strategy? – A guide for your agency colleagues, a 2024 Trends session & more.

The topic for this session will be released closer to the time, meanwhile please save the date & sign up below.

We have created a programme for Commercial Directors to meet, learn, share, and debate important issues in the world of agency management. They get together, often with expert input, to cover critical topics like benchmarking trends in profitability, property strategies, remuneration models, negotiation, and budgeting. They are keenly aware of the key performance indicators in independent agencies and share thought leadership in successful approaches to problem solving. The topic for this session will be released closer to the time, however if you’re in a senior Commercial role within a member agency please save the date & register below.

Independent agencies are proud of the output from their creative teams and understand their unique ability to solve client problems in innovative and effective ways and with an agility that sets them aside. Our Creative Group meets to ensure they remain at the cutting edge of the communications process and cover topics as diverse as idea generation, AI uses, award-winning campaigns & more. The topic for this session will be released closer to the time, however if you’re within a Creative role in a member agency please save the date & register below.

New Business is vital for every successful and thriving agency and the people who take responsibility for generating opportunities for growth need to be constantly on top of their game. The Alliance New Business group meet every quarter to network and learn from experts and each other. Challenging existing processes and picking up knowledge, insights, and ideas to become even more effective in winning new business and growing existing clients. This group also benefits from the expert guidance from the team at jfdi.

The topic for this session will be released closer to the time, meanwhile please save the date & sign up below.

The CEO Summits are one of the key events in the calendar for the Alliance that are both targeted at agency CEOs and are by invitation only.

The CEO Summits, that take place every quarter, are restricted to 20 invited guests for each event, who get together along with an invited expert in their topic, sit around one table and hold a single conversation/discussion for 60 minutes.

Previous topics have included Scaling Your Business at Speed, an International Special, Is the Current Agency Model Fit for Purpose, amongst many others that are relevant to that specific moment in time.

It is an open conversation, under Chatham House rules, and provides the opportunity for CEOs to discuss openly with their peers the big issues not only across the industry for independent agencies but also for those matters that are significant in the CEOs own agency. We look forward to inviting you to our next CEO Summits. Closer to the time we will update you on the specific topic for this session.

Hosted by our Member Lead, Isabel Odlin (Chief People Person at Hub), the Wellbeing group meet quarterly to remain constantly informed of the latest tools and resources to assist them in their vital work of maintaining the wellbeing of their agency people. They share, discreetly, the issues they face and mentor each other in best practice. They provide vital input our the Alliance programme of support which includes the annual Festival of Happiness.

The exact topic for this session will be released closer to the time, meanwhile please secure the date & sign up below.