Leo Burnett’s Melinda Geertz and Noisy Beast’s David Brown to chair 2021 IPA Business & Agency Leadership residential course in Melbourne

Advertising Council Australia has announced that Melinda Geertz, CEO Leo Burnett Australia, and David Brown, managing director at Noisy Beast, will chair the 2021 IPA Business & Agency Leadership residential course at The Cullen in Melbourne from 2 to 4 May.

 

The course returns after a hiatus in 2020 due to COVID, and is renowned as a unique opportunity for tomorrow’s agency leaders to equip themselves with the skills necessary to build and lead a resilient and forward-thinking business.

Geertz and Brown, two of this country’s most highly-regarded and experienced agency leaders, will be joined on the course by extraordinarily talented and inspiring guest speakers who are all experts in transformational leadership. Speakers include:

Chris Howatson, Founder & CEO, Howatson+White

Kath Blackham Founder & CEO, VERSA Agency

Aimee Buchanan, CEO, OMD Australia

Ben Roulston, Co-founder, Thinka

Chris Jeffares, Board Director & Co-Founder, Cummins&Partners,

Katie Firth, National MD, whiteGREY

Sarah Adam-Gedge, Managing Director, Wipro Australia and New Zealand

Additional guest speakers will be announced soon.

The course chairs said that a key theme of the 2021 course manifesto is ‘Welcome to the new norm of leadership’ – one where the rules are yet to be written and where the expectations are greater than ever.             

After a year of pandemic-induced upheaval across every facet of our industry, agency leaders, both experienced and emerging, have had to overcome extraordinary challenges, internally and externally.

And one thing’s for sure: nothing will ever be the same. As a future leader, are you ready to adapt and lead in a world of uncertainty?

2020 has, if anything, accelerated the evolution of the advertising and marketing landscape, which was already changing at a seemingly impossible pace.

Clients are looking for marketing transformation across their complete customer journey. Yet, for many, the allure of data-led solutions and hyper-personalisation has put ‘creativity’ on notice.

While communication fragmentation continues, the principles of effective advertising have never been more relevant, whether we are engaging audiences in small numbers or reaching them en masse.

Although clients’ ambitions and expectations have never been bigger, budgets are shrinking. ‘Do more for less’ competes head-on with the challenges of bringing transformational thinking and ideas to life.

Says Geertz: “The principles of great leadership are straightforward in theory, but that doesn’t make them easy to put into practice. This course is designed to get to the heart of what it means to be a dynamic, authentic and resilient agency leader. We hope to inspire and share practical insight and advice that can be put to immediate use.”

Adds Brown: “In an era of unprecedented change, it’s vital that our industry produces leaders who have the ability to adapt. It’s a big leap from managing to leading and there’s no question that as our industry evolves, the challenges of leadership are becoming more complex.”

 IPA residential courses are noted for their informative and interactive speaker sessions with renowned industry leaders as well as their project briefs where delegates work in groups.

IPA Business & Agency Leadership is highly recommended for group account directors or equivalent who are looking to position themselves to take the next crucial steps to leadership.

Places in the course are limited: delegates are urged to book as soon as possible to avoid missing out.

Full course details and registration information can be found here