News

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APG & MPG Noisy Thinking: Media or Creative? Who holds the key to killer comms planning?

Tuesday 28th July | 6pm-8pm BST | live at adam&eve\TBWA, London

In our first joint APG/MPG event, we bring the powerhouses of media and creative together on the issue that unites, or maybe divides, the disciplines. Hear incredible practitioners pitch their views on how to get to truly modern ideas and share their wisdom on killer comms planning.

Get your ticket here >

AI on the Ground: A New Forum for Planning Leaders

17th August 2026| 5pm-6pm BST | Online

On 17 August, we will be hosting an informal discussion forum for strategy leaders exploring how AI is changing agency life. From recruitment and efficiency to team morale, client relationships and the future value of strategic thinking.

It will be open to Heads of Department and strategy managers, and the session will be an opportunity to share experiences, challenges and ideas.

What is the MPG?

Sign up for MPG membership and training today

The MPG sits alongside the APG and is the new home for media planners and strategists. It will run an extensive programme of activity covering training courses, debates and 'how to' guides designed to unpack the fundamentals of media planning, encourage independent, critical thinking, and provide a view on the world of comms and media that is universal, rooted in decades of experience and insight.

Get your ticket here >

New Strategy Alchemy

30th April 2026 | Tom Roach

On Tuesday night the APG hosted a brilliant Noisy Thinking event featuring four very smart, very human and very AI-forward strategy minds exploring the ‘New Strategy Alchemy’, answering the question ‘How can we best combine our unique human skills with AI to help make us all better, not worse?’

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What is the APG?

The Home for Planners & Strategists

The APG is a not-for-profit organisation run for and by its members: primarily account planners in advertising agencies, but increasingly the wider community of communications strategists, including media planners, channel planners and digital planners.

Learn more +

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APG Arrive & Thrive Event:
Hands-on Strategy Lab

Tuesday 14th July | 6pm-8.30pm BST | live at AMV BBDO, London

This hands-on strategy session will be lively and fun. You will be put into small teams, each team led by a senior strategist who will work with you to come up with an initial strategic response to a brand problem or opportunity.

Teams will present their best ideas to a panel of top strategists, a client and a creative - and there will also be a chance to network at the end.

It’s your chance to learn a lot, come up with new ideas, and meet some senior people who can give you career and strategy advice.

Get your ticket here >

Strategic influence and how we can get it back

19th May 2026 | Sarah Newman

Wind back to last December.

I was worried. The mood I sensed from the planning community was one of declining influence.

That all sorts of forces are conspiring to make the job harder and more complicated.

And narrower.

It felt like we were being pushed further down the strategy food chain to coalesce, at worst, around just making and tweaking.

Not influencing at the level of our clients’ business.

We’re a thoughtful bunch and it’s easy sometimes to over-think.

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What's wrong with media planning?

17th April 2026 | Shauna Lewis

The role has been "underfunded, rushed and reduced to frameworks rather than applying quality, human thinking", according to Pippa Glucklich.

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MPG Launch Press Release

8th April 2026

Great Big News from the APG today as we welcome the media planning and strategy communities into the heart of the APG. MPG will offer high quality training and events and strengthen our community with new thinking, and the belief that media doesn’t need any more complexity or automation, it needs more intelligence, more transparency, more education, and more inspiration.

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