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APG 'How To' Events

APG ‘How To’ events are short sessions delivered by experts, designed to cover off some of the topics you ask us to feature in our programme. They are concise, compelling and you should come away informed and confident to have a go, whether it be writing better propositions, selling your strategy or grasping the practice of media planning.  We designed them with younger strategists in mind but in truth they are suitable and interesting for anyone doing planning and strategy as it’s always good to do a bit of revision or hear a new perspective.

'How To' Win an Argument

26th November 2024

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Speaker: Simon Gregory

The infamous Bill Bernbach once mused that "Advertising is fundamentally persuasion". So how can you get better at persuading people? In this session, Simon Gregory (CSO at BBH, VCCP) explains the foundations of building a convincing argument and walks through some key tips from acting like a hostage negotiator to weaponizing positivity..

How Not to be Afraid of Numbers

4th November 2024

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Speaker: Sam Fowler

This session focused on equipping you with a toolbox of tips and tricks Sam has picked up during his time in the industry, so you can quickly focus on what matters, feel confident in handling data and begin a journey to making numbers work for you.

'How To' Get the Proposition Right

15th May 2024

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Speaker: Michael Lee

The crafting of the proposition has a mythical status in awards papers narratives. But is it justified or overhyped?

Has the shift towards experience rather than just message-based advertising reduced its importance?

And how on earth do you know whether you've written a great proposition?

Michael Lee, former APG Chair and Chief Strategy Officer at VCCP London, will cover off a number of well-known case studies and provide some practical advice on how to craft your proposition to increase the chances of stimulating a creative leap of genius.

'How To' Make Sense of Media Planning: The Magic

28th March 2023

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Speaker: Will Richardson

Having established your foundations, how do you craft your approach to get the most out of your media? It’s about making your assets work hard, even on a small budget; shaping your campaign to maximise impact; putting yourself in your audience's shoes and adding colour to quantitative data. This is where different parts of the multi-agency team can work together, and you can bring some magic to the party as a non-media planner charged with the creative strategy.

'How To' Work Constructively with Creatives

29th November 2022

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Speakers: Alaina Crystal and Toby Allen

In this session, we covered how planners can best work with creatives, that age-old partnership that can lead to some of the biggest bust-ups and the biggest breakthroughs.

'How To' Write Brilliant Briefs and Deliver Brilliant Briefings

4th October 2022

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Speaker: Martin Beverley

Martin covered principles for writing the best and most effective briefs and creating the most inspirational briefings.

'How To' Get the Proposition Right

25th May 2022

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Speaker: Michael Lee - APG Chair

Michael covered off a number of well-known case studies and provided some practical advice on how to craft your proposition to increase the chances of stimulating a creative leap of genius.

'How To' Work Constructively with Creatives

16th March 2022

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Speakers: Alaina Crystal and Toby Allen

In this session, we covered how planners can best work with creatives, that age-old partnership that can lead to some of the biggest bust-ups and the biggest breakthroughs.

 

The session was led by Alaina Crystal, Global Head of Strategy at Purpose and Toby Allen, Executive Creative Director at The&Partnership, who collaborated closely in their time at AMV BBDO on campaigns for Bodyform, Snickers and Plan International UK.

'How To' Think Critically in the Age of AI

18th November 2024

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Speaker: Matt Holt

In this session, Matt Holt, CSO at Digitas UK, explained what critical thinking is, why it’s so vital in the age of AI and fake news, why human beings aren’t natural critical thinkers and what you can do about it. The aim of the session being to equip you with a range of pragmatic tips, tools and techniques that Matt has picked up over the years so that you can become a master at critical thinking.

'How To' do a New Product Launch

14th October 2024

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Speaker: Michael Hines

Michael shared some tips on how to handle new product launches, took us through a series of cases highlighting what works well and what doesn’t and showed us how working on product launches can really bring out your imaginative thinking.

'How To' Become a Better Critical Thinker

16th March 2023

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Speaker: Matt Holt

In this session Matt Holt, CSO at Digitas UK, explained what critical thinking is, why it’s important, and why human beings aren’t natural critical thinkers. The aim of the session was to equip you with a range of pragmatic tips, tools and techniques that Matt has picked up over the years so that you can become better at critical thinking.

'How To' Be a Better Problem Solver

22nd November 2022

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Speaker: Matt Holt

The session focused on equipping you with a range of pragmatic tools and principles that Matt has picked up over the years so you can become better at diagnosing problems and master the art and science of problem-solving.

'How To' do Strategy on the Outside

6th September 2022

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Speakers: Craig Mawdsley and Bridget Angear

Craig and Bridget gave a clear and insightful view on how to set up and run your own creative strategy business. They demystified the process of setting up and prospering outside the conventional paths.

How Not to be Afraid of Numbers

4th May 2022

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Speaker: Sam Fowler

This session focused on equipping you with a toolbox of tips and tricks Sam has picked up during his time in the industry, so you can quickly focus on what matters, feel confident in handling data and begin a journey to making numbers work for you.

'How To' make ethnography a more powerful part of your strategic approach

11th November 2024

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Speakers: Richard Huntington and Mark Hadfield

A practical masterclass from Mark Hadfield and Richard Huntington on how to bind ethnography into the way you work based on the successful ‘What the Fuck is going on?’ programme from Saatchi & Saatchi.

'How To' Write Brilliant Briefs and Deliver Brilliant Briefings

28th May 2024

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Speaker: Martin Beverley

Martin covered principles for writing the best and most effective briefs and creating the most inspirational briefings.

'How To' Use GenAI and ChatGPT

15th May 2023

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Speaker: Oli Feldwick

Oli Feldwick, Head of Innovation at The&Partnership and seer to the strategy community unpacked how to think about AI, strategy and creativity. 

 

His talk included models for thinking about it, how to integrate into your practice, practical guides to prompting and some inspiration on the potential for working with AI in the future.

'How To' Make Sense of Media Planning: The Mechanics

7th March 2023

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Speaker: Will Richardson

We covered the nature of the business you are working on and how that drives the big strategic objective. What metrics are important to help achieve your objective? For example, do you need reach or response? Then we covered how a media planning audience is created: what does a media planner need to know about their audience, and where do they find this information? Then we looked at choosing the right channel mix for your objectives and audience. We used real life examples to demonstrate how useful tools like Media Mix Navigator can be.

How Not to be Afraid of Numbers

9th November 2022

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Speaker: Sam Fowler

This session focused on equipping you with a toolbox of tips and tricks Sam has picked up during his time in the industry, so you can quickly focus on what matters, feel confident in handling data and begin a journey to making numbers work for you.

'How To' Be a Better Problem Solver

29th June 2022

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Speaker: Matt Holt

The session focused on equipping you with a range of pragmatic tools and principles that Matt has picked up over the years so you can become better at diagnosing problems and master the art and science of problem-solving.

'How To' Give a Great Briefing

30th March 2022

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Speaker: Martin Beverley

Martin covered a series of principles for writing the best and most effective briefs and creating the most inspirational briefings. 

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