ISBA Member Forum - Marketing Procurement

Delivering Better Business Outcomes: Challenging How We Buy

Theme: Setting Up Agency Relationships That Win

This full‑day programme is designed for marketing procurement professionals who want to evolve beyond traditional sourcing methods and shift toward outcomes‑focused, strategically aligned agency partnerships. The sessions explore commercial models, behaviours, and frameworks that foster better work, better value, and stronger long‑term relationships.

10:00 Start & opening 

10:15 WHAT CMOs WANT: ARE YOU ALIGNED? 
AAR reveals the evolving expectations of modern CMOs — from agility and innovation to integrated thinking and measurable value. This session helps procurement teams understand where misalignment typically occurs and how procurement can play a pivotal role in bridging expectations between Marketing and agencies. You’ll walk away with insight into the procurement behaviours, briefing approaches, and collaboration models that either enable — or hinder — the outcomes CMOs are seeking.

11:00 IPA Panel Discussion: The Price Isn’t Right: Rethinking Commercial Models
An agency‑side panel hosted by the IPA exploring alternative remuneration models beyond the traditional FTE or rate‑card approach. From value‑based pricing to output and outcome‑linked frameworks, agencies will share what incentivises great work and where current models often fall short. For procurement teams, this is a chance to understand commercial levers that can unlock better performance, reduce pitch fatigue, and encourage the right behaviours across both sides.

12:00 Coffee break

12:15 The Aperto Partnership: What Really Matters in Media Agency Relationships
Aperto lifts the lid on the critical drivers of successful media agency partnerships from transparency and accountability to governance, data integrity, and talent consistency. With media investments under greater scrutiny than ever, this session examines how procurement can shape stronger frameworks, clearer KPIs, and smarter contract structures that align media output with business and brand outcomes.

1:00 Lunch

1:45 Social Element: Procurement Questions: The Ones You Ask and the Ones You Should Ask
Social Element dives into the realities of procuring social media services — where scopes evolve, always‑on models dominate, and rapid‑response content challenges traditional procurement rhythms. This session reframes the due‑diligence and evaluation questions procurement typically uses and introduces the better, insight‑led questions that reveal capability, risk management readiness, governance maturity, and cultural fit within social agency partners.

2:30 Mediasense: Procuring AI Services: How to Navigate Agency Propositions
As agencies race to productise AI solutions, procurement faces new challenges: assessing proprietary tools, validating data sources, understanding workflow automation claims, evaluating incremental value, and ensuring ethical and responsible AI usage. Mediasense provides a practical guide to deciphering agency AI propositions, helping procurement separate hype from value and build robust evaluation frameworks fit for an AI‑accelerated future.

3:30 AI Skills for Procurement Professionals – Alchemists > Leveraging AI to drive better outcomes in how you work  

ISBA MEMBER FORUM

ISBA forums provide the opportunity for members to hear from expert speakers and keep up to date on the latest developments.  Members can choose to attend specific meetings that appear on the calendar or sign up to the group to receive regular notifications.

Marketing Procurement

This forum would be of interest to members involved in agency management, procuring agency or media services.