Agenda
Mirren Live is Complete for 2022
We'll See You May 2023
WHAT'S AHEAD FOR THE AGENCY INDUSTRY
This Special Workshop Will Reveal What’s Ahead For the Agency Business – Addressing the Most Important Trends That Will Impact the Industry and Your Operation Over the Next Year.
11:00 am CT
Track 1
The New Drivers That Will Fuel the Agency Industry Into 2023
In this kick-off to Mirren Live, Doug and John will address the coming trends that will most impact the industry over the year ahead. Through Agency Futures and Worldwide Partners, they have unparalleled access to hundreds of agencies around the world.
Expect a provocative – and even confronting – look at how the power balance between clients and agencies must be addressed. The domino effect of this critical imbalance is setting the agency world on a course for new trends that will directly impact talent retention, organic growth, new business and profitability. In fact, there are several make or break moments coming for the industry.
The New Drivers That Will Fuel the Agency Industry Into 2023
In this kick-off to Mirren Live, Doug and John will address the coming trends that will most impact the industry over the year ahead. Through Agency Futures and Worldwide Partners, they have unparalleled access to hundreds of agencies around the world.
Expect a provocative – and even confronting – look at how the power balance between clients and agencies must be addressed. The domino effect of this critical imbalance is setting the agency world on a course for new trends that will directly impact talent retention, organic growth, new business and profitability. In fact, there are several make or break moments coming for the industry.
12:00 pm CT
Track 1
The Bright Spots with Clients: New Priorities, New Budgets, New Opportunities
Lindsey runs a marketing strategy consultancy for clients that include Target, Microsoft, The North Face, Nickelodeon, and MassMutual, to name a few. Part of her remit often includes improving the performance of agency rosters. Here, she’ll reveal what’s ahead for agencies, based on the evolving needs of clients. In fact, there are three changes to the client marketing operations model that will provide even greater opportunity for agency new business.
The Bright Spots with Clients: New Priorities, New Budgets, New Opportunities
Lindsey runs a marketing strategy consultancy for clients that include Target, Microsoft, The North Face, Nickelodeon, and MassMutual, to name a few. Part of her remit often includes improving the performance of agency rosters. Here, she’ll reveal what’s ahead for agencies, based on the evolving needs of clients. In fact, there are three changes to the client marketing operations model that will provide even greater opportunity for agency new business.
1:00 pm CT
Track 1
Can It Get Anymore Crazy? The New Consumer Trends Defining the Year Ahead
In this session, you’ll have the opportunity to hear from consumer trends specialist, Jonathan Ricard. He’ll reveal Resonate’s latest research findings on the breaking trends turning 2022 into another eventful year.
COVID, Russia, interest rates, housing – all continuing to impact how people think, feel and behave. In particular, Jonathan will take a look at the new trends most impacting consumer behavior, including health, wealth, and economics.
Can It Get Anymore Crazy? The New Consumer Trends Defining the Year Ahead
In this session, you’ll have the opportunity to hear from consumer trends specialist, Jonathan Ricard. He’ll reveal Resonate’s latest research findings on the breaking trends turning 2022 into another eventful year.
COVID, Russia, interest rates, housing – all continuing to impact how people think, feel and behave. In particular, Jonathan will take a look at the new trends most impacting consumer behavior, including health, wealth, and economics.
1:45 pm CT
Track One
BUILD A FASTER, MORE PROFITABLE AGENCY
New Strategies to Accelerate Your Operation, with the Goal of Becoming More Efficient and Profitable.
Track Two
BUILD A HIGHER-VOLUME NEW BUSINESS PIPELINE (PART ONE)
What it Now Takes to Build a More Proactive New Business and Organic Growth Operation – One That is Focused, Methodical and Productive.
Track Three
PEER COLLABORATION:
INTERACTIVE GROUP SESSIONS
INTERACTIVE GROUP SESSIONS
Participate in Small Group Discussion Think Tanks with Other Attendees, Each Moderated by a Specialist. Seating is Limited, but Open to In-Person And Virtual Attendees. Advance Sign-Up Opened May 3rd.
8:45 am CT
Keynote: Let’s Break Our Models: A New Way Forward
In this Opening Keynote, Khara will reveal how Anomaly continues the ongoing innovation of their model – resulting in tremendous growth. She’ll review three key pillars that now drive their operation: Orbit the Business, Entrepreneurial Compensation Structures, and Intellectual Property Creation.
10:15 am CT
Keep Innovating & Growing: Create New Revenue Streams
By thinking less like an incumbent and more like a start up, you can break the cycle of decreasing margins from an increasingly commoditized offering. It’s time to invest in some R&D – not only as a means of evolving your competencies, but for the purpose of developing your own intellectual property that can be sold or licensed to clients and prospects.
This session will explore the leading edge of alternative revenue streams for agencies, including:
- How and why agencies can be in the product development business themselves
- Forming labs or other product development units
- Leveraging past work for future monetization
- Inventive examples of how agencies are creating new revenue streams by developing their own IP
- Generating more income from the high-value services that most firms currently underprice or give away
Galaxy 4
Track 2
New Business Leaders: Where We’re Seeing the Biggest Opportunities Right Now
See MoreNew Business Leaders: Where We’re Seeing the Biggest Opportunities Right Now
Here, senior directors from a group of agencies with exceptionally high win rates will reveal important trends ahead for new business.
Where are the most profitable new business opportunities right now? Where will they be in 6 months, 12 months? Which clients? What types of assignments? We’ll unpack the coming changes to client needs, the implications for agencies, and how the industry must continue to evolve its approach to pursuing new business.
Digital Media Trends with the Biggest Growth Opportunities for Agencies
Small Group Think Tank Format
Open to in-person and virtual attendees, these special one-hour interactive sessions provide the opportunity to connect with a group of 15 industry peers during Mirren Live. Addressing a critical industry topic, you’ll be able to join in, ask questions, share your thoughts, and learn from others. All are moderated by a subject matter expert. Come prepared to contribute your thoughts, in addition to learning from others in the room. Seating is limited and will fill up fast (some within a day or two). Please Note: only 1 person per agency may join each Think Tank. Advance sign up opens May 3rd.
Digital Media Trends with the Biggest Growth Opportunities for Agencies
This group will dive in on the top few trends that will most impact agencies in the year ahead. In particular, we’ll focus on: Digital Media Consumer Trends; Agency Revenue Opportunities; Implications for Agency Media Operations; and Implications for Your Media Partners. The goal is to uncover and address how agencies can best capitalize on the evolving digital media landscape.
Open to in-person and virtual attendees, these special one-hour interactive sessions provide the opportunity to connect with a group of 15 industry peers during Mirren Live. Addressing a critical industry topic, you’ll be able to join in, ask questions, share your thoughts, and learn from others. All are moderated by a subject matter expert. Come prepared to contribute your thoughts, in addition to learning from others in the room. Seating is limited and will fill up fast (some within a day or two). Please Note: only 1 person per agency may join each Think Tank. Advance sign up opens May 3rd.
Digital Media Trends with the Biggest Growth Opportunities for Agencies
This group will dive in on the top few trends that will most impact agencies in the year ahead. In particular, we’ll focus on: Digital Media Consumer Trends; Agency Revenue Opportunities; Implications for Agency Media Operations; and Implications for Your Media Partners. The goal is to uncover and address how agencies can best capitalize on the evolving digital media landscape.
11:15 am CT
Hello Margin, Old Friend: How We’ve Increased Our Fees
This group of unusually profitable agencies will reveal their unique approaches to compensation.
They’ll share valuable lessons about what has worked to increase their revenues and margins, including some of the challenges they’ve overcome along the way. We’ll take a look at “packaging the value” of an agency’s work, productizing, creating IP and several new models for agency pricing strategy.
Mastering the Pitch: Crafting a New Strategy for the Hybrid Approach
Sean Lackey heads up new business for Droga5 and will share insight from living on the front lines of pitch disruption.
There’s a lot to deal with right now: a new pitch process (different from one client to the next), building the pitch (with a distributed pitch team), conducting research (when the world is social distancing during a pandemic), and then presenting it (with most people not in the same room).
In this session, Sean will share the changes he’s seeing client-side and the best practices agencies are now deploying to adapt to the ever-evolving world of pitching business.
How Agencies Are Innovating Their Strategic Capabilities
Small Group Think Tank Format
Open to in-person and virtual attendees, these special one-hour interactive sessions provide the opportunity to connect with a group of 15 industry peers during Mirren Live. Addressing a critical industry topic, you’ll be able to join in, ask questions, share your thoughts, and learn from others. All are moderated by a subject matter expert. Come prepared to contribute your thoughts, in addition to learning from others in the room. Seating is limited and will fill up fast (some within a day or two). Please Note: only 1 person per agency may join each Think Tank. Advance sign up opens May 3rd.
How Agencies Are Innovating Their Strategic Capabilities
In this small group discussion, we’ll take a look at how agencies are working to improve their strategic offering. Ultimately, the goal is to better anchor your agency into each client – as an indispensable strategic partner. This means more effective strategic services, processes, tools, target audience insight, data utilization, and more. Come to this group discussion expecting to share how your agency has started to tackle this critical topic – while taking in new ideas from others.
Open to in-person and virtual attendees, these special one-hour interactive sessions provide the opportunity to connect with a group of 15 industry peers during Mirren Live. Addressing a critical industry topic, you’ll be able to join in, ask questions, share your thoughts, and learn from others. All are moderated by a subject matter expert. Come prepared to contribute your thoughts, in addition to learning from others in the room. Seating is limited and will fill up fast (some within a day or two). Please Note: only 1 person per agency may join each Think Tank. Advance sign up opens May 3rd.
How Agencies Are Innovating Their Strategic Capabilities
In this small group discussion, we’ll take a look at how agencies are working to improve their strategic offering. Ultimately, the goal is to better anchor your agency into each client – as an indispensable strategic partner. This means more effective strategic services, processes, tools, target audience insight, data utilization, and more. Come to this group discussion expecting to share how your agency has started to tackle this critical topic – while taking in new ideas from others.
12:00 pm CT
Track 1
IN-PERSON NETWORKING LUNCH
Take a break, grab some bio fuel and meet more of your industry peers.
IN-PERSON NETWORKING LUNCH
Take a break, grab some bio fuel and meet more of your industry peers.
12:45 pm CT
Constant State of Beta: How We Keep Innovating
Through the lens of several shops taking a different path, we’ll unpack how they keep reinventing themselves to stay ahead of the incredibly fast curve. This panel will discuss the latest changes they’ve implemented to improve their capabilities, drive new business, retain their best talent, and redesign their spaces – ultimately creating growth that is profitable and sustainable.
How We Built Organic Growth as a Core Competency
Amy and Joe will outline how Media.Monks has established a consistent approach to organic growth. They believe that to be a successful partner with your clients, an agency must align its teams and operations around growing each client’s business. This includes having transformational P&L conversations with clients and methodically working towards opportunity creation – all purposefully designed, scaled and executed at the highest level agency and client-side.
They’ll explore key areas they’ve put into practice:
- Arming teams with the right conversations to create transformational growth opportunities
- Providing scalable SME support for diagnosis and delivery
- Account plans that net purposeful market share growth
- Account development and new business roles/responsibilities that are clear and aligned
Accelerate Your Process with Finding & Hiring for Better Talent
Small Group Think Tank Format
Open to in-person and virtual attendees, these special one-hour interactive sessions provide the opportunity to connect with a group of 15 industry peers during Mirren Live. Addressing a critical industry topic, you’ll be able to join in, ask questions, share your thoughts, and learn from others. All are moderated by a subject matter expert. Come prepared to contribute your thoughts, in addition to learning from others in the room. Seating is limited and will fill up fast (some within a day or two). Please Note: only 1 person per agency may join each Think Tank. Advance sign up opens May 3rd.
Accelerate Your Process with Finding & Hiring for Better Talent Attracting top talent remains a critical priority – particularly as agencies continue to feel the impact of losing key team members. Step-by-step, as a group, we’ll discuss new best practices you can use to improve your hiring speed and accuracy. We’ll break the discussion into several hiring stages: 1. Pre-Candidate Strategy, Tools & Technology; 2. Recruiting Process; 3. Onboarding & Speed to Productivity.
Open to in-person and virtual attendees, these special one-hour interactive sessions provide the opportunity to connect with a group of 15 industry peers during Mirren Live. Addressing a critical industry topic, you’ll be able to join in, ask questions, share your thoughts, and learn from others. All are moderated by a subject matter expert. Come prepared to contribute your thoughts, in addition to learning from others in the room. Seating is limited and will fill up fast (some within a day or two). Please Note: only 1 person per agency may join each Think Tank. Advance sign up opens May 3rd.
Accelerate Your Process with Finding & Hiring for Better Talent Attracting top talent remains a critical priority – particularly as agencies continue to feel the impact of losing key team members. Step-by-step, as a group, we’ll discuss new best practices you can use to improve your hiring speed and accuracy. We’ll break the discussion into several hiring stages: 1. Pre-Candidate Strategy, Tools & Technology; 2. Recruiting Process; 3. Onboarding & Speed to Productivity.
1:45 pm CT
Streamlining & Accelerating Your Operations: Strategies & Tools
Here, we’ll take a look at steps agencies are now taking to make their day-to-day operations more nimble, responsive and profitable. We’ll discuss the new challenges and what’s now working to improve an agency’s speed of operation – including new approaches and new tools.
An Intriguing Dilemma: Freeing Up Resources for New Business
Increasingly complex agency operations often keep teams from focusing their time on generating the greatest value – for the agency and its clients. As a result, the ability to proactively focus on new business, organic growth, and strategic development take a back seat to tactical tasks. The current talent shortage only makes matters worse.
In this session, agency media operations specialist, April Weeks, will outline how to improve the efficiency of your teams. She’ll review a three-point blueprint to evaluate the efficiency of your operations – with a particular focus on freeing up more time for new business:
- Talent: Create a culture that motivates and focuses your talent on higher-value responsibilities
- Technology: Increase the value output of your teams with tech-enabled tools and automation
- Tomorrow: Generate sustainable growth through more effective client engagement
New Approaches to Employee Benefits: Retaining Your Best People
Small Group Think Tank Format
Open to in-person and virtual attendees, these special one-hour interactive sessions provide the opportunity to connect with a group of 15 industry peers during Mirren Live. Addressing a critical industry topic, you’ll be able to join in, ask questions, share your thoughts, and learn from others. All are moderated by a subject matter expert. Come prepared to contribute your thoughts, in addition to learning from others in the room. Seating is limited and will fill up fast (some within a day or two). Please Note: only 1 person per agency may join each Think Tank. Advance sign up opens May 3rd.
New Approaches to Employee Benefits: Retaining Your Best People
Even before the pandemic, long hours and high-stress levels were leading to burnout. It’s only been compounded with the protracted exhaustion of the last 2 years. This group of senior leaders will take a look at what other agencies are doing with new approaches to employee benefits. More than focusing on money, there are more meaningful options agencies can explore to help build culture, improve morale, deepen engagement and attract new talent. Come to this group discussion expecting to share what your agency is experimenting with – while taking in new insight from others.
Open to in-person and virtual attendees, these special one-hour interactive sessions provide the opportunity to connect with a group of 15 industry peers during Mirren Live. Addressing a critical industry topic, you’ll be able to join in, ask questions, share your thoughts, and learn from others. All are moderated by a subject matter expert. Come prepared to contribute your thoughts, in addition to learning from others in the room. Seating is limited and will fill up fast (some within a day or two). Please Note: only 1 person per agency may join each Think Tank. Advance sign up opens May 3rd.
New Approaches to Employee Benefits: Retaining Your Best People
Even before the pandemic, long hours and high-stress levels were leading to burnout. It’s only been compounded with the protracted exhaustion of the last 2 years. This group of senior leaders will take a look at what other agencies are doing with new approaches to employee benefits. More than focusing on money, there are more meaningful options agencies can explore to help build culture, improve morale, deepen engagement and attract new talent. Come to this group discussion expecting to share what your agency is experimenting with – while taking in new insight from others.
2:30 pm CT
Track 1
IN-PERSON NETWORKING BREAK HOSTED BY E2M
Grab a snack and connect with more agencies.
IN-PERSON NETWORKING BREAK HOSTED BY E2M
Grab a snack and connect with more agencies.
3:15 pm CT
Galaxy 4
Track 1
Redesign Your Agency’s Structure: Unconventional Thinking for Leaner, Responsive Ways of Working
See MoreRedesign Your Agency’s Structure: Unconventional Thinking for Leaner, Responsive Ways of Working
Progressive agencies have continued to redesign how they work to gain a differentiating strategic and operating advantage. As a result, they’ve been able to operate faster, run leaner, and become more adaptable and profitable.
Join Brian Kessman of Lodestar Agency Consulting for an eye-opening look at how to identify where your agency’s organizational structure is most holding you back. Gain a new perspective on how to rethink and redesign your approach:
- Identify the foundation for your optimal structure
- Understand the benefits of moving away from "Project-Teams" to form "Creative-Product Teams"
- Create outcome-driven roles for accountability and entrepreneurial thinking
- Distribute authority for smarter, faster decision-making and delivery
- Assess your current structure and uncover new opportunities to improve your performance
How the Best Agencies Are Winning Their Pitches Right Now
As you know, search consultants lead hundreds of competitive reviews each year. First hand, they witness many different agencies, teams, and approaches – the good, the bad, and the ugly.
This panel will unpack the best practices of those winning the most new business right now – particularly given all the change over the last 2 years. Take away new strategies you can use to give your own approach a shot in the arm, while addressing the new challenges of pitching business virtually.
Time will be provided for audience Q&A
Making Your Agency More Nimble, More Responsive for Clients
Small Group Think Tank Format
Open to in-person and virtual attendees, these special one-hour interactive sessions provide the opportunity to connect with a group of 15 industry peers during Mirren Live. Addressing a critical industry topic, you’ll be able to join in, ask questions, share your thoughts, and learn from others. All are moderated by a subject matter expert. Come prepared to contribute your thoughts, in addition to learning from others in the room. Seating is limited and will fill up fast (some within a day or two). Please Note: only 1 person per agency may join each Think Tank. Advance sign up opens May 3rd.
Making Your Agency More Nimble, More Responsive for Clients
As clients work to navigate shifting market conditions, they’re striving to optimize their marketing in a more real-time nature – capitalizing on opportunities as they arise in the moment. This has direct implications for agencies. How can you accelerate your agency’s operations to meet this new client need? How can you maintain – and even increase – your margins while doing so? And importantly, how can you protect the health and wellbeing of your people? Join this group discussion as they unpack what it now takes to streamline your agency’s operations in a way that results in being more nimble and responsive for clients.
Open to in-person and virtual attendees, these special one-hour interactive sessions provide the opportunity to connect with a group of 15 industry peers during Mirren Live. Addressing a critical industry topic, you’ll be able to join in, ask questions, share your thoughts, and learn from others. All are moderated by a subject matter expert. Come prepared to contribute your thoughts, in addition to learning from others in the room. Seating is limited and will fill up fast (some within a day or two). Please Note: only 1 person per agency may join each Think Tank. Advance sign up opens May 3rd.
Making Your Agency More Nimble, More Responsive for Clients
As clients work to navigate shifting market conditions, they’re striving to optimize their marketing in a more real-time nature – capitalizing on opportunities as they arise in the moment. This has direct implications for agencies. How can you accelerate your agency’s operations to meet this new client need? How can you maintain – and even increase – your margins while doing so? And importantly, how can you protect the health and wellbeing of your people? Join this group discussion as they unpack what it now takes to streamline your agency’s operations in a way that results in being more nimble and responsive for clients.
4:15 pm CT
Five Strategies to Improve Your Margins
Vince specializes in providing advanced finance strategy and counsel to marketing services firms. His methods and models transform an agency’s ability to improve their efficiencies and margins. In this session, he’ll share five key strategies he provides his clients – all focused on addressing operations, finance and software. Leave this session with next steps you can begin implementing to impact the profitability of your own agency.
This session is being sponsored by Deltek — specialized in improving agency margins by helping agencies more effectively and efficiently manage their client projects.
Search Consultants: What’s Next for Your New Business Pipeline
Search consultants are an effective leading indicator for the new business pipelines of agencies.
This group of leading matchmakers will share what’s currently in their pipelines and ahead for agencies. They’ll discuss the make-up of client requests, including budget sizes, client objectives, agency capabilities required, and number of opportunities. At the same time, they’ll provide their perspective on opportunities for smaller versus larger agencies.
Time will be provided for audience Q&A and we’ve invited them to join the Cocktail Reception.
First-Party Data & the Future of Your Agency
Small Group Think Tank Format
Open to in-person and virtual attendees, these special one-hour interactive sessions provide the opportunity to connect with a group of 15 industry peers during Mirren Live. Addressing a critical industry topic, you’ll be able to join in, ask questions, share your thoughts, and learn from others. All are moderated by a subject matter expert. Come prepared to contribute your thoughts, in addition to learning from others in the room. Seating is limited and will fill up fast (some within a day or two). Please Note: only 1 person per agency may join each Think Tank. Advance sign up opens May 3rd.
First-Party Data & the Future of Your Agency
In this small group discussion, we’ll take a look at the post-cookie world and what this means for your agency – and the work you do for your clients. In a privacy-centric and cookie-free marketing environment, it will become more challenging to meet the personalization needs of consumers. Clients will become dependent upon their own ability to generate, manage and leverage data. Agencies will play a vital role in this – or not. This group of senior agency leaders will unpack critical steps you can take now to cement your role as an indispensable partner with your clients. Come to this group discussion expecting to share how your agency has started to tackle this topic – while taking in new ideas from others.
Open to in-person and virtual attendees, these special one-hour interactive sessions provide the opportunity to connect with a group of 15 industry peers during Mirren Live. Addressing a critical industry topic, you’ll be able to join in, ask questions, share your thoughts, and learn from others. All are moderated by a subject matter expert. Come prepared to contribute your thoughts, in addition to learning from others in the room. Seating is limited and will fill up fast (some within a day or two). Please Note: only 1 person per agency may join each Think Tank. Advance sign up opens May 3rd.
First-Party Data & the Future of Your Agency
In this small group discussion, we’ll take a look at the post-cookie world and what this means for your agency – and the work you do for your clients. In a privacy-centric and cookie-free marketing environment, it will become more challenging to meet the personalization needs of consumers. Clients will become dependent upon their own ability to generate, manage and leverage data. Agencies will play a vital role in this – or not. This group of senior agency leaders will unpack critical steps you can take now to cement your role as an indispensable partner with your clients. Come to this group discussion expecting to share how your agency has started to tackle this topic – while taking in new ideas from others.
5:15 pm CT
Keynote: The Evolution of Insight: How We Inspire Breakthrough Work
Wieden + Kennedy’s Strategy Director, Tass Tsitsopoulos, will provide a behind-the-scenes look at how the agency consistently inspires a higher level of creative and breakthrough work. Through a look at their new McDonald’s brand strategy, he’ll share how it all starts by turning the traditional “consumer data model” on its head.
6:00 pm CT
Track 1
MIRREN LIVE COCKTAIL RECEPTION HOSTED BY INVISIBLY
For those in-person, join us for cocktails, as you hang out in our Main Hub with industry leaders, speakers, search consultants and conference partners.
MIRREN LIVE COCKTAIL RECEPTION HOSTED BY INVISIBLY
For those in-person, join us for cocktails, as you hang out in our Main Hub with industry leaders, speakers, search consultants and conference partners.
Track Four
BUILD A HEALTHIER AGENCY
Strategies to Improve the Performance, Retention and Wellbeing of Your Most Critical Asset
Track Five
BUILD A HIGHER-VOLUME NEW BUSINESS PIPELINE (PART TWO)
What it Now Takes to Build a More Proactive New Business and Organic Growth Operation – One That is Focused, Methodical and Productive
Track Six
PEER COLLABORATION:
INTERACTIVE GROUP SESSIONS
INTERACTIVE GROUP SESSIONS
Participate in Small Group Discussion Think Tanks with Other Attendees, Each Moderated by a Specialist. Seating is Limited, but Open to In-Person And Virtual Attendees. Advance Sign-Up Opened May 3rd.
9:30 am CT
Make It Easier for Your People to Work From Anywhere
Roy spoke at our CEO Summit last year, providing one of the highest rated sessions. We’ve brought him back to share his latest thinking on the topic of remote work.
It’s no secret that our ways of commuting, working and collaborating will never be the same again. To help navigate these new waters, Roy will outline a new framework by which you can lead your agency toward a hybrid workplace that keeps your teams safe, engaged and delivering their best work. He’ll address a more fluid flow of roles and locations, optimizing time, monitoring culture, using tech tools, and more.
Generating Meaningful Buzz For Your Agency: Attracting Clients & Talent
Here, we’ll address the opportunity to more strategically generate meaningful buzz for your agency – even helping to fuel your recruiting and new business pipelines. More than just press releases, award entries, and our own trade publications, we’ll unpack a more strategic and holistic approach that leverages new and existing resources to more effectively market your agency’s brand.
Build an Effective Prospecting Program for Your Agency
Small Group Think Tank Format
Open to in-person and virtual attendees, these special one-hour interactive sessions provide the opportunity to connect with a group of 15 industry peers during Mirren Live. Addressing a critical industry topic, you’ll be able to join in, ask questions, share your thoughts, and learn from others. All are moderated by a subject matter expert.
Come prepared to contribute your thoughts, in addition to learning from others in the room.
Seating is limited and will fill up fast (some within a day or two).
Please Note: only 1 person per agency may join each Think Tank. Advance sign up opens May 3rd.
Build an Effective Prospecting Program for Your Agency
This interactive group discussion will address what it now takes to proactively build a pipeline of high-value leads. As agencies work to gain more control of their new business efforts, prospecting is becoming a critical core competency. As a group, we’ll outline the critical assets, tools, processes and roles now required to build a prospecting machine for your agency.
10:30 am CT
Let’s Pick Up the Pace Shall We: Accelerating Your Hiring Process
Strategic Talent Management specializes in working with agencies and other organizations on better strategies for increasing productivity, strengthening culture, minimizing turnover, accelerating hiring, and more.
In this session, Art will focus on the two key areas that will have the greatest impact on accelerating (and improving) your ability to retain the best talent:
- Technology & Tools: More Quickly Create a More Accurate Picture of the Candidate
- More Effective “Face-to-Face” Interviews: Better Team Alignment, Better Interview Questions
Creating New Business Breakthroughs with Procurement
It’s no secret that just the thought of procurement causes stress for agencies – and potential barriers for new business.
However, there’s actually tremendous opportunity with these client gatekeepers, when approached in the right way. In this session, ex-procurement executive, John Gleason will share new insight on what it now takes to more effectively break through, connect, and secure new business when Procurement will be involved. Don’t miss this opportunity for a “first-hand perspective” on how to work with these critical client gatekeepers.
How Other Agencies Are Streamlining their Operations
Small Group Think Tank Format
Open to in-person and virtual attendees, these special one-hour interactive sessions provide the opportunity to connect with a group of 15 industry peers during Mirren Live. Addressing a critical industry topic, you’ll be able to join in, ask questions, share your thoughts, and learn from others. All are moderated by a subject matter expert.
Come prepared to contribute your thoughts, in addition to learning from others in the room.
Seating is limited and will fill up fast (some within a day or two).
Please Note: only 1 person per agency may join each Think Tank. Advance sign up opens May 3rd.
How Other Agencies Are Streamlining their Operations
Agencies continue to deal with extreme margin pressures. Clients are demanding more work for lower fees – and on tighter timelines. At the same time, staffing issues have added another layer to the challenge. This group will take a look at the new best practices working to have agency operations run in a much more efficient manner. We’ll discuss new systems, tools, software, and hacks to help agencies become more nimble without sacrificing the integrity of their talent, output, and margins.
11:30 am CT
Track 1
IN-PERSON NETWORKING LUNCH
Take a break, grab some bio fuel and meet more of your industry peers.
IN-PERSON NETWORKING LUNCH
Take a break, grab some bio fuel and meet more of your industry peers.
12:45 pm CT
Creative Ways We’re Keeping Our Best Talent
Now, this is a serious “supply chain issue.” Even before the pandemic, long working hours and high stress levels were leading to burnout. And it’s only been compounded with endless Zoom meetings, an “always on” mentality, ever-shifting health policies – wondering when it will all end.
Here, we feature a group of agencies using unique approaches to build their culture and retain their best talent – including a continued evolution with DE&I. More than throwing money at the issue, they’ve adopted new and more meaningful ways of connecting with their people, resulting in much greater retention.
Building a Prospecting Program That Generates High-Value Leads
Michelle will share a set of best practices she’s used at some of the best agencies in the business to help you build your own Proactive Prospecting program.
Less about the size of the agency, it’s more about your plan, your assets, your methods. In particular, she’ll address more effective list building, converting warm prospects, and breaking through with cold prospects.
Michelle led one of the highest-rated sessions at Mirren Live last year. We’ve brought her back – but this time, to address the more proactive side of new business.
Strategies to Improve Your Margins
Small Group Think Tank Format
Open to in-person and virtual attendees, these special one-hour interactive sessions provide the opportunity to connect with a group of 15 industry peers during Mirren Live. Addressing a critical industry topic, you’ll be able to join in, ask questions, share your thoughts, and learn from others. All are moderated by a subject matter expert.
Come prepared to contribute your thoughts, in addition to learning from others in the room.
Seating is limited and will fill up fast (some within a day or two).
Please Note: only 1 person per agency may join each Think Tank. Advance sign up opens May 3rd.
Strategies to Improve Your Margins
This discussion will focus on new best practices to address the increasing pressures agencies are experiencing to maintain profitability. As clients want it all – faster, better, cheaper – it can be a challenge to meet these evolving needs while maintaining critical margin levels for the agency. Step-by-step, this group will unpack the specific steps you can take (and have taken) to overcome these challenges.
1:45 pm CT
Our 140 Person Agency Is Now Fully Distributed – We’re Not Turning Back
Rhonda Ries, President of Osborn Barr Paramore, made the decision to never return her teams to the office. She now has a distributed workforce across 19 states. First, this has allowed her to access a new level of sophisticated talent, previously not available to her in St. Louis – resulting in a completely improved operation. Second, her teams appreciate a much more flexible work model, which has improved retention. And third, there’s been a positive impact on margins.
Not without its challenges, Rhonda will outline the set of principles and strategies by which she has restructured and now runs the agency.
Prospecting Outreach that More Effectively Opens Doors
Agency prospecting specialists, Eric Brown and Bonnie Buie, will reveal what it now takes to get in the door with prospects. They have spent much of their careers on the front lines of developing sophisticated outreach programs for agencies.
In this session, they'll outline the key sales messaging strategy that it now takes to get clients to engage. This will include a look at email, phone, social media, content marketing, and more. Time will be provided for audience Q&A, as you apply the key lessons to your own agency.
2:45 pm CT
The Big Experiment: Our New Hybrid Workplace Strategies & Policies
Here, we’ve assembled a panel of agencies who have a more progressive approach with how they’re structuring their operation.
While it keeps evolving – with many team members never coming back into the office – new best practices are starting to emerge. This panel will share how they’re redesigning their office space, establishing flexible work hours, leveraging technology, managing productivity, building culture, addressing compensation, and more.
Pre-Empting Client Departures: Agency/Client Relationship Evaluation
Although clients continue to expand their marketing budgets, they are still leaving agencies at a record pace. Often, this stems from spiked expectations – due to the complexity and pace of change. In too many cases, these departures could have been easily prevented.
Directly from Mirren’s Organic Growth training with agencies, Brent will provide you with a model to benchmark the health of your client relationships – and your client-facing teams. This will inform which clients are most vulnerable, why, and steps you can take to immediately strengthen the relationship. Importantly, this will also provide insight for untapped organic growth opportunities.
4:30 pm CT
BUILDING A DIGITAL MARKETING SYSTEM TO DRIVE NEW BUSINESS
Mirren Live will Wrap with This Special Workshop.
In a Series of Three Agency Case Studies, Each Will Address How They’ve Built a More Effective Online Program to Drive Their New Business Efforts. This Will Include How They’ve Established Consistent Content Development. In Short, They’ve Taken the Same Digital Marketing Strategy They Provide Their clients – and Applied it to Their Own Operation.
11:00 am CT
Track 1
Digital New Business Case Study One:
BrandActive – Brand Strategy Agency for Large, Complex Clients
BrandActive specializes in developing and managing the deployment of complex, large-scale brand strategy programs for some of the largest organizations in healthcare, energy, financial services and technology. While they only have 80 people, they are a machine. Their clients include Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, GE, Halliburton, MetLife, HP, Intel, Caterpillar, Verizon, and AT&T, to name only a few.
Digital New Business Case Study One:
BrandActive – Brand Strategy Agency for Large, Complex Clients
BrandActive specializes in developing and managing the deployment of complex, large-scale brand strategy programs for some of the largest organizations in healthcare, energy, financial services and technology. While they only have 80 people, they are a machine. Their clients include Pfizer, Bristol Myers Squibb, GE, Halliburton, MetLife, HP, Intel, Caterpillar, Verizon, and AT&T, to name only a few.
11:45 am CT
Track 1
Digital New Business Case Study Two:
Openfield – Digital UX Research & Design for Technology Clients
Openfield specializes in working with technology clients, particularly those in the education sector. They craft online learning experiences that enable people and organizations to achieve incredible new levels of teaching and learning.
Digital New Business Case Study Two:
Openfield – Digital UX Research & Design for Technology Clients
Openfield specializes in working with technology clients, particularly those in the education sector. They craft online learning experiences that enable people and organizations to achieve incredible new levels of teaching and learning.
12:25 pm CT
Track 1
Digital New Business Case Study Three:
Four Kitchens – Digital UX Strategy & Design Agency for Entertainment Clients
Four Kitchens is a sophisticated digital agency, focused on UX strategy and design for clients in the broadcast, entertainment and publishing sectors. They have a particular strength in building digital platforms (across websites, mobile, apps, devices and content distribution) to drive the growth of their clients – including new subscribers, viewers, and paid advertising impressions.
Digital New Business Case Study Three:
Four Kitchens – Digital UX Strategy & Design Agency for Entertainment Clients
Four Kitchens is a sophisticated digital agency, focused on UX strategy and design for clients in the broadcast, entertainment and publishing sectors. They have a particular strength in building digital platforms (across websites, mobile, apps, devices and content distribution) to drive the growth of their clients – including new subscribers, viewers, and paid advertising impressions.
1:00 pm CT