Effie Awards Judging Panel

I’m honoured to share that I’ve been invited to join the judging panel for the Effie Awards UK 2025. The Effies are among the most prestigious accolades in the marketing and advertising industry—celebrating ideas that work, campaigns that drive measurable impact, and creative strategies that deliver real business results. It’s a privilege to contribute to recognising and rewarding effectiveness at the highest level.

This builds on my ongoing experience as a judge for the Oystercatchers Awards, where I’ve had the pleasure of serving on the panel for the past three years. Both judging experiences are a welcome opportunity to learn from the best in the industry, engage with bold ideas, and uphold the standards of marketing excellence we all strive for. I’m excited to play a part in spotlighting work that truly moves the needle.

Event planning experience at IMEX 2025 in Frankfurt

Frankfurt from the MainTower observation deck

IMEX Frankfurt is the European home of the world’s leading trade show for the meetings, incentives, conferences, and events (MICE) industry. This was my second time at IMEX Frankfurt looking for inspiration and updates to keep the events we execute at world-class levels.

On the Monday I was fortunate to be invited to the Events Design Collective education session on planning events using the Events Design Canvas. This was presented by Ruud Janssen and sponsored and hosted by Marina Bay Sands Singapore, a premier destination renowned for hosting world-class conferences and serving as a hub for innovation in event design and experiential strategy.

A mouse's-eye view of the Event Design Collective Event Canvas workshop

The Event Design Collective is a global network of event design professionals founded to promote strategic, outcome-driven approaches to designing events. At its core, the collective teaches a methodology rooted in design thinking, systems theory, and business strategy to help teams co-create impactful, intentional event experiences. Rather than focusing solely on logistics or creativity, the approach emphasises aligning events with organisational goals, stakeholder outcomes, and measurable behavioural change. The Collective also trains and certifies professionals in its methodology, aiming to elevate the role of event designers as strategic contributors within organisations.

Central to the Collective’s methodology is the Event Canvas, a visual strategic tool inspired by the Business Model Canvas. It guides teams through a structured process of mapping stakeholder expectations, defining desired behaviours, and evaluating the change required before and after an event. The canvas captures elements such as entry and exit behaviour, pain points, gains, commitment levels, and cost/revenue considerations. By working collaboratively on this one-page visual framework, stakeholders can clarify objectives, align on purpose, and ensure that event design decisions—from format to content—are purposefully crafted to drive the intended transformation.

We worked through the approach to planning an event for identified stakeholders and I was very impressed with the comprehensiveness of the model, but amazed at the simplicity. Across just a few hours we mapped out an approach to planning and delivering the Opening Ceremony of the 2032 Olympic Games in Brisbane, Australia.

This was a great session and a great reflection on both the Event Design Collective and Marina Bay Sands who have certified their Events team in this methodology. Many thanks to Ruud, Tracy, Kenneth, and Sherman.

Two books on The Event Canvas methodology rooted in design thinking, systems theory, and business strategy to help teams co-create impactful, intentional event experiences.

Making better choices

“A mistake repeated more than once is a decision.”

— Paulo Coelho

Career strategy

Listening to John Evan’s brilliant Uncensored CMO podcast, episode 188 has Rory Sutherland and Scott Galloway. It is the first time these legends have been on a podcast together.

One of the many stand out quotes from this session was about the futility of skills and talents in certain industries and the consequences of the decisions we make and the careers we pursue.

“Be in an industry where you get better as you get older.”

— Scott Galloway

It is a stand out podcast episode that is well worth a listen.

Independent Agency Awards Judging

I’m delighted to have been invited to judge the Association of Independent Agencies (AIA) Awards—a celebration of the creativity, agility, and impact delivered by the UK’s leading independent agencies. The awards shine a spotlight on the bold thinking and entrepreneurial spirit that define the independent sector.

Round one judging is now complete, and I’m pleased to see the shortlist now live, reflecting the depth of talent and innovation across the industry. Judging these awards has been a rewarding opportunity to engage with inspiring work, and I look forward to seeing the winners revealed in due course.

Systems

A key area of my focus at the moment is around process efficiency and I am reading Get Scalable by Ryan Diess.

Get Scalable has a complete framework to building a valuable function/business and will be implementing the frameworks and approaches in this book.

As part of the reality of my landscape at the moment this quote stood out to me:

“Good people don’t fix broken systems. BROKEN SYSTEMS BREAK GOOD PEOPLE”.

2025 will be a year of working to fix broken systems to improve the working life for my teams, team members, and myself.

Creative Industries inspiration

I am really excited to be working with industry leaders today for the Oystercatchers Awards Day judging.

We’ll see the best agencies, people, and ideas in the creative industries landscape. It is a day of inspiration and ideas.

#Oystercatchers24

Forbes CMO Summit Europe 2024: A reminder of what still matters

I had the privilege of being invited to attend the inaugural Forbes CMO Summit Europe in London at the wonderful BAFTA venue at 195 Piccadilly. This was a genuinely thoughtful gathering of senior marketing leaders from across Europe and beyond.

BAFTA, 195 Picadilly

What stood out immediately was the tone. This was not a conference built around performance theatre or recycled keynote slides. Under Chatham House Rules, the Summit created space for honest conversation about growth, effectiveness, and leadership at a time when marketing was under increasing pressure to justify itself in narrow, short-term terms.

Seth Matlins was, as ever, an outstanding host. His ability to frame conversations, challenge lazy assumptions, and draw out substance rather than soundbites set the standard for the day. The quality of dialogue reflected that discipline.

In addition to the pre-event dinner where I was fortunate to dine and speak with two experienced marketers responsible for the entry of Skoda into the UK, and their current marketing. The evening was sponsored by Canva and showcased new features and tools they’re adding to the Canva platform which look interesting for both agency and marketers.

From the day of the summit two sessions in particular stayed with me.

Rory Sutherland was very much his excellent self — sharp, contrarian, and intellectually generous. His observations were less about novelty and more about reminding the room that behavioural insight, creativity, and context still outperform mechanistic thinking. In a world obsessed with optimisation, he made a compelling case for judgment.

Later, Laurence Green brought the conversation back to effectiveness — not as an abstract principle, but as a professional obligation. His contribution reinforced something I have long believed: efficiency without effectiveness is simply faster failure.

What I valued most about the 2024 Summit was not any single idea, but the collective maturity of the room. This was marketing discussed as a long-term growth discipline, not a tactical function. Fewer slogans. More substance.

I left with a renewed sense that the best marketing conversations happen when senior leaders are prepared to think slowly, challenge each other respectfully, and resist the gravitational pull of fashionable nonsense.

Honoured to Judge the Oystercatchers Awards 2024 for the Third Year Running!

I’m honoured to serve on the judging panel for the Oystercatchers Awards 2024 for the third year running!

It’s inspiring to see the record-breaking number of entries and the incredible talent in our industry. I look forward to recognizing the agencies setting new standards to foster impactful client relationships.

Stay tuned for the shortlist reveal!

You have one life

“You have one life. Don’t settle for mediocrity.”
– Naval Ravikant