Happy Clients ’26 – Group B Itinerary 😎

Welcome to the event!

Hear what’s coming up, and who’s in the room, before we get on with the day.

co.agency was created by Adam Mobley after his agency, Harrison Carloss, struggled with scattered client comms across Outlook, Slack, Teams, WhatsApp, WeTransfer, LinkedIn and more.

Instead of adding another tool, they built a white-label client portal to bring conversations, files, tickets and updates into one place.

Backed by Innovate UK and now used by other agencies, co.agency helps reduce overwhelm and lost information.

Adam will be joined by his Client Services Director, Rebecca Cox, to discuss what this streamlining meant for clients.

Simon Rhind-Tutt, co-Founder of Relationship Audits, believes the agency-client world is facing a “relationship recession.”

Drawing on 25+ years of research and over 50 million data points, he says relationships are becoming harder to manage as clients feel less predictable, teams change quickly, trust is harder to build remotely, and nervousness leads to indecision.

His talk will explore where agency-client relationships break down, why agencies may overestimate relationship health, and what they can do to rebuild trust.

Jemma Long, Growth Director at Planes Studio, says client service has become more important as budgets tighten, teams shrink and agencies face greater scrutiny.

With clients less available for casual relationship-building, client services teams need to evolve from project deliverers into commercial partners.

Her session explores how agencies can spot opportunities during delivery, ask better questions, connect work to client outcomes, and build more commercially minded teams without becoming pushy salespeople.

Rachel Raphael, client leadership specialist and co-founder of The Client Impact Awards, will explore why agencies struggle to grow revenue from existing clients despite investing in account management.

She argues the missing piece is rarely more training or better intentions, but something deeper that keeps teams stuck in reactive delivery and firefighting.

This session will show agencies what needs to change first, how to shift from account management to true account leadership, and how to unlock incremental revenue from their existing client base.

This panel explores where AI genuinely helps client-facing agency teams, and where it risks damaging what clients value most: empathy, trust and human judgement.

Catherine Warwick, Chloe Tonkin and Adam Reaney will share how they’re using AI for internal policies, reverse briefs, personas, insight generation, dispute investigation and stronger responses.

But all three draw a clear line around client relationships, arguing that reassurance, judgement and connection still need people.

The session will cover what worked, what saved time, and what should stay human.

Adam Millbank, co-founder of BLANKET STUDIOS (formerly JonesMillbank), will share how project-based agencies can grow accounts without relying on retainers.

Rather than treating delivery as a straight path from brief to sign-off, his team maps the “magic moments” when clients are most engaged, excited and open to future conversations. From recces to post-production milestones, these are the points where trust is high and opportunities naturally emerge.

The session will show agencies how to spot, use and systemise those moments to win more work.

Jonathan Dale, Client Director at Strategiq, argues that strong client relationships are built on consistency, not shiny new ideas.

He says agencies often let the basics slip, but trust comes from doing exactly what you promised, turning up prepared, knowing your stuff and setting the standard from the start.

His session will remind agencies that great client service begins early, shapes the work throughout, and depends on understanding what clients really need beneath the brief.

The day will round of with Hackers’ own, Ian Harris.

He’ll round off the day with the key takeaways.