Gavin Farley gets real on mergers, mistakes and what agency leaders need to know

With the second annual Agency Leaders Summit fast approaching, Conference News has spoken to speakers and panellists about their upcoming sessions, the importance of agency leaders coming together and the biggest challenges facing creative leaders today.

Launched in 2024, the CN Agency Leaders Summit offers an exclusive platform for agency founders, directors and leadership teams to come together and discuss market shifts, nurture sustainable growth, and build resilient creative businesses.

Returning this September, the event aims is built for senior members of the agency community, discussing pertinent strategy-focused challenges to support their organisation. Through a balance of content sessions and networking opportunities, this summit supports agency leaders to strive towards best practice across the sector. Find out more about the summit here.

The summit is taking place on 11-12 September at East Sussex National Resort.

In this interview, we speak to Gavin Farley, CEO at asembl. Farley will be speaking on a panel session on day one called: ‘Deals, Data & Destiny: The State of M&A in the World of Agencies’., which will discuss what’s behnd the surge of agency mergers, before moving into a fireside chat where delegates will hear from leaders who’ve navigated recent mergers, from cultural integration to client transition and leadership realignment.

What can attendees expect from your session? Why do you think this conversation needs to happen now?

An honest approach to this crazy world of M&A from someone that has done it, tried it, failed at it, won at it and changed it.

I don’t know if it’s needed to happen now, but just think it’s good to have the conversation as people think it’s an easy thing to do, it’s not. 

What’s one insight or challenge from your own experience that has shaped your approach to this topic?

Having over 100+ conversations with companies that have shown interest in selling to asembl.group over a three month period, I can tell you that 99% of them weren’t ready for sell, and were not in a place that anyone would want to acquire them 

Why do you believe this subject is important for agency leaders navigating today’s business landscape?

There’s a lot of chat about this out there at the moment, and people do get excited when they see these deals happening but they probably don’t know a quarter of what goes on in the background to make these things happen, so it will be interesting to hear what the talk of the town is with those that have done it and those thinking of doing it, as I sit nicely in the middle. 

What type of leader or agency will benefit most from attending your session?

If someone is thinking of selling at some stage, if they’re starting a business to build to sell or just those that might be interested in it all. It’s always good to be interested in these things so I think all agency owners could benefit. 

In your journey through the events industry, what’s one leadership lesson that’s stuck with you along the way?

Don’t sh!t on anyone on way up as you don’t know who you’ll meet on the way down  

To register to attend the agency leaders summit click here.



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