The Agency Purpose Conference
Thursday 2nd November, 9:30am-5pm
Kings Place, London
Archimedes said: “Give me a lever and a place to stand, and I will move the world”.
When you run an agency, that lever is your business.
The Good Agencies Summit is back for another year, and is a special event for agencies interested in using their business to positively influence the world.
Join thoughtful conversations covering sustainability, diversity and inclusion, agency purpose, pro-bono work, the B-Corp process and more.
Meet other agencies balancing
purpose with profit
Some of the talks you’ll hear and the discussions you’ll take part in…
How Transparent Are You? And How Transparent Should You Be?
More and more agencies are beginning to bear all – from open salary bands to sharing data and slack channels with clients.
Leaders quote all sorts of benefits, from building trust with clients, team accountability, and your agency’s credibility, to ensuring everyone is on the same page.
But where is the line? Is there such a thing as being too transparent?
👉 We’ll be speaking to several agency panellists about how they champion transparency in their businesses, the impact it makes on teams and new biz – as well as the parameters they draw to make sure it doesn’t cause problems.
What’s It Like AFTER Getting
B Corp Certified?
There has been a LOT of talk about the B Corp process and how to get certified. The consensus? It’s a bit of a slog…
But at this year’s Good Agencies Summit, we’re exploring what happens AFTER you’ve secured your big shiny ‘B’ badge.
“It’s the most amazing business tool as it covers everything,” says Helen Foord, CEO of ELE. “There isn’t a month goes by when I’m not checking our impact assessment – it’s become part of my management dashboard, in the same way as my P&L sheet.”
👉 Helen will be joined by other B Corp-certified founders to share what they’ve learned over the last few years, and the impact the certification has had on their businesses.
How Can You Make Sure Your Agency is Totally Disability-Inclusive?
There’s no doubt that agencies lead the way when it comes to progressive workplace environments. But when it comes to being inclusive of disabled talent, there’s still a long way to go.
The neurodiversity discourse is new to the table, but there are a plethora of other disabilities, both visible and invisible, that are still not catered for – leaving a whole pool of talent completely untouched. Could you be missing out because of your unconscious bias?
👉 In this session, our panellists will be taking us through some of the ‘dos and don’ts’ that agencies should abide by when it comes to accessibility and disabled inclusivity – and dissecting their own experiences of discrimination to give you an understanding of the hidden pressures that disabled candidates often face.
B Corp, Schmee Corp: What Other Options Do Agencies Have?
“There seem to be a couple of different camps. There are people who really like to personally give a shit about things – that’s the camp I’m in. And there are other people for whom, business-wise, B Corp is just something they need to be and should be doing,” says Katie Parry, director of Supercool.
It seems as though every agency in the country has gone for B Corp status over the past year or two. But it’s a classic question: if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Or in our terms: do you even have to prove you’re doing good, to be good?
👉 There are all sorts of ways agencies can do better for their people, for the planet, and for their purpose – and this session at the Good Agencies Summit will explore all the other options besides Plan B (Corp).
What can I expect from the Good Agencies Summit?
The purpose of the conference is to give you the chance to meet other agencies and share how you’re making your agency a better place.
- We kick off at 9:30am with some talks on the main stage – but then we split off into breakouts around the venue.
- This is not a conference where you just sit in a big room listening to people talk on the stage. There’s some of that, but for most of the day you get to explore the venue and visit different rooms – meeting new people and engaging with the topics that matter to you.
- The day is built around you learning from others and sharing your experience with fellow agency leaders. You will play a full part in the day – listening to others, and being listened to yourself.
What else is on the agenda?
What Strides Are You Making to Improve Diversity and Inclusion?
When it comes to making a conscious effort on the D&I front, it’s a constant battle.
“There are things you want to do, but it’s all about balancing the quick wins with the long-term goals you want to achieve,” says James Brown, head of commercial at Comtec Translations.
👉 Last year, James took part in an Agency Hackers council to look into this in depth. He’ll be sharing insights from the council’s overall report on D&I practices, and what you can do to effect some change in your own agency too.
Is Your Agency Digitally Sustainable? How Can You Improve This?
We’ve been talking about digital sustainability for a long time – but is your agency doing enough to make a difference digitally?
This session will spotlight three agency leaders leading the charge on this front, from websites and client work, to video production and sustainable working practices on digital campaigns.
👉 We’ll be talking about how the sustainability landscape has changed over the years, and what agencies can do to tackle digital – including the rise of AI and its potential effects.
How Can You Inspire the Next Generation of Agency Talent?
“I’m on a mission to make people realise the gap between what kids these days are learning and the fast-paced world of work we’re in,” says Becky Simms, founder and CEO of Reflect Digital.
For many young people, they’re unaware of the opportunities that an agency career could give them, rather than a traditional degree – something Becky and her agency are trying to change.
👉 Becky will be sharing how she’s inspiring the next generation, and expanding on everything from work experience and talks, to an 800-student conference that she hopes will bridge the employment gap in the near-distant future.
🎤 More speakers and panels (including our keynote speaker) will be announced very soon!
Keep your eyes peeled… 👀
The Good Agencies Awards
🔔 Limited offer: your conference ticket includes one free awards entry 🔔
The conference also plays host to the Good Agencies Awards. And for a limited time, your Good Agencies Summit ticket includes one entry to the awards.
The Good Agencies Awards recognise agencies that using their platform to positively influence their people, their clients or the planet.
By capturing and sharing their stories with the world, we hope other businesses will follow in their footsteps.
With three categories, we’re hoping to shine a spotlight on how agencies are making the world a better place.
Even more topics…
How Can You Leverage Partnerships for Purpose?
When an agency sets out to achieve purpose in the world, it can be hard to know where to start – or how to make the impact you really want.
For some agencies, the answer is in leveraging purposeful partnerships to ensure they’re maximising the impact they’re making – while balancing commercial incentives too.
👉 We’ll be hearing from three agency leaders who are partnering externally to improve everything from D&I and neurodiversity, to sustainability and digital poverty.
How Do You Cope with Stressful Agency Life?
It doesn’t take a genius to say working in an agency can be stressful. Tight deadlines, tight budgets, unrealistic client expectations, office politics, Christmas campaigns in July – agency life often imitates the schedule of a madman.
For most, this is just accepted as part of the deal. But while you may have welcomed the pressure, is your team as well-equipped to deal with it?
👉 Steph Hill will be hosting our very first stress management workshop. She’ll be combining science and meditation to help you understand how and where stress manifests in YOU, and will deliver practical tips and advice on how to reduce the impact it has on your body and your mind.
How Can You Keep Your Team – and Therefore Your Business – Happy?
Jaye Cowle is the CEO of Launch – known as the ‘happy performance agency’. Why the tagline? Jaye has set out from the very beginning to use her business to make others happy, whether that’s through great leadership, or top-notch paid media.
But around 18 months ago, Jaye decided to take her team’s wellbeing to the next level. She came across Dan Pink’s autonomy mastery and purpose theory, and it transformed her perspective of happiness in the workplace.
👉 At GAS, Jaye will be taking us through how she keeps her team happy and motivated with a simple change of outlook – as well as how you can track and improve what she defines as the ‘happiness metrics’ of your agency.
Who will I meet?
At Good Agencies Summit you’ll meet around 200 guests from different agencies.
The type of agency is really varied (SEO, branding, digital product, PR… the list goes on) but one thing that unites everybody in the Agency Hackers community is a willingness to explore different experiences and opinions, and a keenness to share their story with other people.
Our partners
Good Agencies Summit is grateful to our partners for their support
Winner of the 2022 ISPA Best Hosted Service award, Krystal is also the world’s first B Corp web hosting and public cloud provider.
Formed in 2002 as an “Honest, Reliable & Personal” alternative to large faceless hosting corporations, it offers discerning businesses master-crafted solutions and intelligent support, backed by an ethical approach. Krystal runs on 100% renewable energy, has pledged 1 billion trees by 2030 and offsets the lifetime carbon footprint of its workforce.
Today, Krystal is a key partner to ambitious agencies looking for premium, performance-led hosting that protects the planet.
Teamwork.com offers complete operations control and powerful project management in one place to drive efficiency, improve profits, and scale your agency in confidence.
Headquartered in Ireland and founded by a team who started as an agency, Teamwork.com has more than 20,000 customers around the world and is uniquely positioned to help agencies:
- Eliminate chaos by tracking performance across every project, team, and client
- Maximize capacity and utilization with integrated time tracking and resource management
- Simplify operations with pre-built templates, intake forms, process automation, and integrations for the tools you love.
Good Agencies Summit – FAQs 💬
Q: What actually happens on the day?
We start the event at 9.30 am, so try to arrive by 9.15 am.
We expect to post the event’s line-up towards the end of August. The day’s format is pretty simple though: you will spend some time in the morning hearing from guests with interesting stories that you can learn from, and you will also spend some time in small groups discussing your journey with like-minded agency leaders.
Each breakout is hosted by an Agency Hackers facilitator who makes sure that everybody with something interesting to say gets heard. (We poll attendees before the event, so we know who to ‘pick on’ on the day.)
Q: Who will I hear from? Who are the speakers?
The people you’ll hear from all have interesting stories about their agency purpose journey.
We also decide who to spotlight based on the information we capture in the weeks before. (Look out for our emails!)
We will publish the line-up a few weeks before, but mostly we hope that you will trust us to select interesting folk from our audience. We find that the people who choose to attend our events are overwhelmingly on fascinating journeys that will resonate with you.
Q: Who can attend?
This event is for anybody in your agency who cares about running a better and more purposeful agency.
That might be the founder or owner, it might be a client services director, or it might be somebody else.
