When Curiosity Leads: Martech Choices and Leadership Shifts at the Agency Leadership Forum
Event Review – BrandLeadership.community | Galina Shakhova
On 10 April, the Agency Leadership Forum gathered a diverse mix of brand, agency, and technology leaders to examine the shifting Martech landscape—and what leadership looks like in a time of fragmentation, privacy demands, and platform skepticism.
Keynote Highlights
Dan Duffett of TwentyThree reframed video not as a marketing accessory, but as a core driver of authentic brand relationships. He challenged brands to take control of video data and use it to align teams and foster cross-department collaboration.
Amplitude’s Niklas Fogander focused on community selling, arguing that enterprise buying now depends more on ecosystems of trust than on platform specs. His message: conversions follow conversations.
Robert Alexander Johnson, representing the BLC advisory council, championed a new approach to procurement—prioritizing partnership over vendorship. He urged attendees to trade short-term gains for long-term relational equity.
Steen Rasmussen of IIH Nordics introduced a metaphorical “three-body problem” to explain the unpredictable dynamics between agencies, vendors, and brands. Instead of static models, he promoted resilience, flexibility, and adaptive strategies.
Anders Rosenqvist from A.P. Moller – Maersk examined the crumbling foundations of attribution models in a world of zero-click searches and disappearing data signals. He called for a measurement rethink—toward systems built for ambiguity, not certainty.
Michael Green, CEO of Desupervised, made the case for real-time collaboration, transparency, and agile measurement frameworks. His rallying cry: break the silos and make uncertainty an advantage.
From Channable, Thomas Wilson walked the audience through the emotional “valley of disappointment” that often follows new Martech implementations. He emphasized managing expectations and nurturing trust throughout the process.
Panel Conversations
Two panels tackled industry friction points head-on. The first—featuring Caroline Vidal, Olivia Stokholm, and Niklas Fogander—unpacked the “agency-vendor-brand triangle,” spotlighting how misaligned success metrics and outdated workflows create tension. All panelists agreed: transparency needs to be baked into culture, not just compliance.
The second panel, with Marcus Nyman, Olga Safonova, and Anders Rosenqvist, dove into data ownership and performance measurement. The conversation explored whether Martech today is truly fit for leadership decision-making or still trapped in outdated optimization loops. The consensus: measurement must serve both insight and agility.
Final Reflections
Thomas Bering closed the forum with a call for “collaborative clarity,” urging leaders to define their roles, ask better questions, and treat every relationship as unique. His message resonated in a room already primed for thoughtful reinvention.
Beyond the Agenda
The Brand Leadership Community didn’t just host an event—it created a space for honest reflection and bold rethinking. Attendees left with fresh language, sharper tools, and deeper courage to confront complexity. In a Martech world full of noise, the forum offered something rare: meaningful signal.
