Creative Agency Account Manager Podcast

Welcome to episode 167. This conversation is all about how agencies can get smarter, safer and more intentional about using AI.

I'm chatting with Michael MacDonald, Founder of Brains Before Bots which helps independent agency founders get clarity on how AI is actually being used across their teams.

He spent fifteen years co-founding and running two agencies in South Africa, including a pharma-focused agency working with Sanofi, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Roche, where he led client service through the digital transformation of pharmaceutical marketing. That experience is the foundation for Brains Before Bots, which helps agencies move from scattered AI use to client-ready workflows, particularly those serving regulated and high-scrutiny clients.

We cover:
- why governance shouldn’t be seen as red tape, but as a way to make the agency more resilient and easier to scale
- why simply plugging AI into old workflows can create more rework, more vanilla thinking and more risk
- practical advice, including how to audit the tools your team are using
- why you need a data traffic light system
- the importance of building a prompt library
- why account managers may become the “context engineers” of the agency.

And we also talk about the very human side of AI adoption: fear, psychological safety, honest conversations with your team and why the brains still need to lead before the bots follow.

You can connect with, and find out more information about, Michael MacDonald and Brains Before Bots here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrmichaelmac/
https://brainsb4bots.com/
https://brainsb4bots.com/ai-workflow-clarity-audit

If this conversation gets you thinking about how your own agency is operating, how your AMs and PMs are working together, and how AI is changing delivery, client relationships and agency growth, then I’d love to tell you about AM:PM - a new 1.5 day event taking place in Atlanta, Georgia on 29th and 30th September 2026. I’m co-hosting it with Brett Harned. It’s for agency owners, account managers, project managers and operations leaders who want to step back and have honest, practical conversations about growth, delivery, communication, AI and the operational reality of modern agency life.

We’ll be joined by David C. Baker as our featured speaker, and the event is designed to help agency teams create better alignment between leadership, account management, project management and delivery.

So if your agency is dealing with overloaded teams, scope challenges, communication breakdowns, unclear ownership or AI uncertainty, this event is for you.
You can find out more and buy tickets at https://theampmevent.com/

Welcome to episode 166.

This conversation is going to be particularly interesting for you if you’re an agency owner struggling with spreadsheets, disconnected systems and lack of visibility over pricing, profitability or resourcing.

It’s a story about how one agency owner solved their own operational problem, turned that internal solution into a platform, and is now helping other agencies solve the same challenges.

I’m joined by Anna Appleton-Clayton, Managing Director of We Create Digital and CEO of Rofinery. With over 15 years of agency experience, she understands both the day-to-day pressures and the bigger challenges agencies face as they grow. She’s taken that firsthand experience and built Rofinery to reflect how agencies actually operate - focusing on practical and intuitive features that work in the real world, not just in theory.

Alfie Wenegieme is the Founder of Profit Sprout Consultancy, COO of Rofinery and a chartered accountant with over 18 years’ experience helping agencies unlock profitability and commercial success. Alfie helps agencies of all sizes from small to medium size independent firms to global players to strengthen financial management, build robust commercial operations, and elevate commercial capability across teams through training.

We talk about:
- why so many agencies are still running on gut feel
- why time tracking still matters
- where profit can quietly leak out of the business
- which clients are actually worth more focus
- and how AI is changing client expectations around speed, cost and value.

You can find out more about Rofinery here: https://rofinery.com/
You can connect with Anna and Alfie here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-appleton-claydon/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alfie-wenegieme/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/rofinery/

If you’d like more insights on agency account management, client retention and growth, go to the Account Management Skills website and sign up for my newsletter. https://www.accountmanagementskills.com

Welcome to episode 165.

This episode will be particularly useful to you if you’re an agency owner or account manager who wants to move your client conversation away from execution and further upstream into strategy, ideas and innovation.

My guest is Phil Blackmore, the Co-Founder of Create Health, an Ideas Lab for pharma and life sciences brands. He helps clients solve communication and innovation challenges through ideas, thinking and senior experience, combining strategic human insight with AI-enabled ways of working. The business has evolved towards more upstream, ideas-led engagements, including structured ideas days designed to unlock fresh thinking, align teams and create new opportunities for activation. Phil is also a Co-Founder of The Health House, a support network for independent healthcare agencies and is currently writing a book on optimism.

Phil shares how he’s moved his agency upstream by focusing on ideas, strategic thinking and innovation workshops - the kind of value clients can’t easily replicate in-house or with AI.

We also discuss how these ideas labs help deepen client relationships, open up new opportunities and reposition the agency from supplier to strategic partner.
Phil’s ideas lab is a brilliant example of creating a space for clients to think differently, solve bigger business challenges, and reposition the agency in the client’s mind as more of a strategic partner that understands their business challenges as well as an agency that executes projects well.

You can connect with Phil Blackmore here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/pblackmore/
https://createhealth.com/

Links mentioned in our chat:
10 Commandment:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/pblackmore_communication-insight-empathy-activity-7331213480416432129--F5W?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAAq4nv0BHgXCU2xyFAjDt3MBp1XCFLXeoeI

What If?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyBabRfl-Ek1TRYUy5VnPHQ

Most agency owners and leaders I speak to have a question they've been carrying around for months. Maybe it's about a client they can't quite work out what to do with. Maybe it's about a team member that should be growing accounts but isn't. Maybe it's about a hiring decision or a team change they've been putting off.

I’m offering a 90-minute owner-level Account Growth Strategy Session. It’s you and I focussed on your agency challenge together drawing on my hands-on experience working with client facing teams for years. You’ll have a written diagnosis afterwards, and a clear next step.

You can find it at:
http://accountmanagementskills.com/account-growth-strategy
and there's a 20-minute intro call you can book if you want to talk it through first.

Welcome to episode 164. This episode is going to be particularly useful if you’re thinking about how agencies can stay profitable and relevant as AI reshapes the way work is delivered and valued.

Brian Kessman, Founder and Principal Consultant at Lodestar Agency Consulting, joins me to talk about why the traditional agency model is under so much pressure, what it really means to move from selling hours to selling solutions and outcomes, and how agencies can start packaging their expertise in a more scalable way.

Lodestar helps CEOs and CFOs of independent agencies, multinational networks, and holding companies redesign their value models - the commercial system that connects how they define, package, deliver, and price their expertise using solutions and outcomes, not hours and headcount.

Brian and I also talk about pricing, procurement, productised offers, and why so much strategic value is often being given away without agencies even realising it.
There’s a lot in this conversation for agency owners and client-facing teams alike.

You can connect with Brian here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/briankessman/
https://www.lodestaragencyconsulting.com/
https://www.lodestaragencyconsulting.com/agency-model-map

VoxComm's Redesigning the Agency Value Model: https://voxcomm.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Redesigning-the-agency-value-model.pdf
IPA Pricing Playbook: https://ipa.co.uk/knowledge/publications-reports/the-ipa-pricing-playbook/

And, if you’d like to stay updated with changes in the agency world as they relate to account management, client retention and growth, or speak to me about training options for your team, head over to https://www.accountmanagementskills.com

Welcome to episode 163.

If you’ve been thinking about how the agency business model is evolving, and what clients are looking for from their agency partners now, this conversation might spark some ideas about how to work with clients differently.

I'm talking to President and Founder of Broadview Labs, Neil Follett. Broadview Labs is a creative agency focused on life sciences, currently powering the hybrid studio for a leading US Pharma agency. Neil is a serial entrepreneur who has build and sold a creative agency as well as an events business. He thrives on creating business that create value for clients and provide dynamic environments within which individuals can flourish. And he helps people and brands meet their full potential.

In this episode, Neil shares his journey of creating an embedded agency structure for one client. He talks to me about how the opportunity came about, how it works in practice and how to move beyond being seen simply as a resource.

We also touch on AI and where it may genuinely add value, rather than simply helping agencies do the same work quicker.

You can contact and connect with Neil here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/neilfollett/
https://www.broadviewlabs.ca

If you’d like to be kept updated with changes in the agency world as they relate to the account management role, or speak to me about client retention and growth training options, go to my website at https://www.accountmanagementskills.com