Mistake-Making Marketing

“Look guys, there’s no way we’re ever working with Peppa Pig World.”

This was the moment that Mike Maynard, owner of Napier, realised things had gone too far. Just because the agency was down the road from the beloved character’s amusement park didn’t mean the agency was necessarily the best fit for that client.

Being in the agency game for almost 25 years, you’re bound to have made some mistakes to learn from. Whether it’s going into a client meeting completely underprepared, only talking about yourselves in a pitch, or even pricing your agency’s services all wrong – Napier has been there, done that, and got the t-shirt.

But making these mistakes has also been vital to Napier’s growth:

“I see making mistakes in two different categories,” says Mike. “Naturally, we’ve made inadvertent ones in the past, but there’s also been intentional ones – mistakes where we’ve trialled something and asked why they went wrong, in order to go ‘right’ next time.”

“We trial and test our methods a lot and I think not being afraid to fall on your face is very important.”

🚀 At Pipeline, Mike will be joined by Nesbert Musuwo, Account Manager at Napier, where they’ll take you through the stages that they’ve messed up in the past – all in the efforts to help you learn and grow!

Pitch Perfection: The Therapy-Led Outreach Strategy

The thud of a Yellow pages on a desk is enough to make any salesperson shudder. But to Jack Frimston and Zac Thompson, it was a sign that made them realise that something had to change.

As childhood friends, they were hired in a local call centre as sixteen-year-olds in Blackpool: “It was one of those jobs where they put a Yellow pages on your desk and say ‘start at the front or the back and just call through’.” Jack says.

When they were setting up their own company, We Have a Meeting, they knew they wanted to do things differently. “We wanted to offer people a good job,” Zac continues, “Where you’re not ashamed to say ‘I work in sales’ and can tell Nana at the family barbecue.”

But how did their own method differ from the traditional sales scripts?

“What we found was that a lot of what is taught to therapists is useful in sales.” Zac explains. “Getting someone to open up and tell you about their problems, their motivations, what’s holding them back.”

As a result, Jack and Zac implemented these therapy-based tactics into their cold-outreach strategies and found incredible results. “It’s a win-win.” Jack says. “It makes everyone in the team feel like they’re being much more ethical, and it makes the prospect feel much safer through this process, rather than being force-fed a proposition.”

🚀 Want to hear how they’re flipping the script? Join Jack and Zac at Pipeline for an in-depth session on how they’re making cold calls feel human again.

How to Grow Without a Dev Team

Ever turned down a big project because your software development team couldn’t handle it – or didn’t exist at all?

Ben Morris, Agency and AI lead at Deazy, says agencies are opening up entirely new revenue streams without adding a single new developer to the team.

That’s where Deazy comes in.

Joined by Rochelle Giblin from Big Partnership, in this session they will demonstrate how Big Partnership and Deazy teamed up to unlock growth in a low-risk, high-margin way.

“We essentially bolt onto companies as their software arm,” Ben says. “Agencies come to us with a software development brief, and we match them with the right team from our network of six thousand developers.”

It’s not just small briefs, either. Deazy has worked on everything from consumer-facing apps to more complex and sensitive builds, including government satellite systems. “We’ve worked with Curve, RAC, and Popeyes – and we can white-label the work, so the client would never know we’re there.”

Whether you’ve got a few developers or none at all, this is about scaling capability without scaling headcount. “We can supplement your team – or we can be the team.”

🚀 Come along to Pipeline, where Ben will reveal how Deazy helped Big Partnership unlock a new revenue stream — without hiring a single developer.

New Business Surgery

Feeling the pain of slow pipelines and ghosted cold emails?

At Pipeline 2025, we’re hosting a New Business Surgery where agency folks can get practical advice on what’s really holding their pipeline back.

You’ll hear from:

• Ryan Hall, Friday Solved’s founder, who will share a proven sales method that goes against the tradition: ‘Don’t Sell’. He’s even written a book of the same name. It’s all about building a steady, sustainable pipeline, owning your process, and staying consistent – even when replies are slow.

“You’re not the centre of your clients’ universe,” says Ryan, who sold two of his previous agencies. “Maybe you need to send a second, third, fourth, fifth, or even more messages – because that’s how sales actually works.”

• And Amanda Rosevear, from ALF Insights, who’s spent over a decade helping agencies build proper new business systems. 

“A lot of agencies are quite reactive,” she says. “They rely on referrals, and then worry when the pipeline dries up.” Amanda’s big on process, structure, and helping teams figure out what to focus on day-to-day.

🚀 Come equipped with your burning questions or pipeline pain points, to gain direct information from industry experts!