Hundreds of marketers were in attendance at ISBA’s President's Lunch as it returned to The Dorchester Hotel on Wednesday 10 July.
Highlights of the event included James O'Brien's fireside chat with ISBA Director General Phil Smith a week after the General Election.
Outgoing ISBA President Margaret Jobling took to the stage, reflecting on the last two years of her tenure, and handed the baton to ISBA's new President, Pete Markey, CMO, Boots.
"My two years as ISBA President have absolutely flown by and the old adage of time flies when you’re having fun is absolutely true. But when I step back and reflect on what we’ve achieved it is pretty impressive.
Not only have we have we seen three culture secretaries come and go, but we’ve delivered greater programmatic advertising supply chain transparency. We’ve represented advertisers with Government across numerous industry issues from the privatisation of Channel 4 to the demand for clarity on the incoming HFSS advertising regulations. We have taken a leadership position on retail media, influencer marketing and most recently accessible advertising.
And it wouldn’t be ISBA if we weren’t talking about Origin. Phil, Tom, the wider ISBA team and my fellow Council members have seen Origin transform from being a twinkle in the eye to a reality. In my day job I have advocated for Origin for many years. As advertisers we need help working out how to allocate spend in an ever more complex media landscape. NatWest is one of the Beta trialists and we can’t wait to get our hands on some real data and see the benefits it will deliver.
All of this driven by our members and delivered by an incredibly talented, committed, and hard working ISBA team."
Margaret also launched the inaugural ISBA President's Award and announced her five winners.
Each winner has made a significant contribution to the marketing industry through their support of the ISBA priorities, to ensure a more accountable, responsible and transparent advertising environment.
The winners were:
- Emily Latham, former Head of Digital Marketing and Martech, Channel 4
- Joanne Loughery, General Counsel, L’Oreal
- Kerry Chilvers, Marketing Director, Aviva
- Ollie Shayer, Omni Media Director, Boots Media Group
- Sam Taylor, Acting Marketing Director, Direct Line Group.
In his inaugural speech as ISBA President Pete Markey discussed his pride in taking over the role.
"I’ve had a relationship with ISBA for almost 30 years and served as Vice President for almost five of those alongside my fellow VP Sarah Mansfield. Being an ISBA member has never felt like a nice to have, its always felt like a must have.
Marketing is more complicated and challenging than ever. Having someone in your corner, who amplifies your voice, seeks to make your industry better and helps you develop as a marketer is quite frankly, absolutely vital.
And what a time to join, ISBA is at an incredibly important moment in its history. For those of you who have not been counting, next year ISBA will be 125 years old."
See a selection of images from the day below, as well as the highlights video.
President's Lunch 2024
