Rowan Kleij, Head of Search
Last week, Tom and me had the privilege to attend the Google Partners’ Agency Leaders Program near Paris. The first of its kind, the program was designed by Google in collaboration with the world-renowned business school INSEAD for Google’s top 15 UK agency partners.
The program is divided into two multi-day sessions in different countries. The first session took place at the beautiful Chateau De Guermantes, roughly 30 minutes by car from Paris. Only 29 individuals from UK agencies were invited, with a diverse mix of CEOs, Directors and high potential professionals who lead teams.
Lead by INSEAD Professor of Strategy James Constantini, the 4-day session focused around leading agency teams and our clients through change, increasing adaptability to evolving technology and user behaviour, and thinking critically about the future business models on which agencies need to operate on to remain competitive. This was also an opportunity for us to speak to senior members of other agencies, discuss commonalities and think critically about the challenges and opportunities ahead in our industry.
After seminars, we were encouraged (didn’t take much!) to socialise with our peers and Googlers at karaoke in the castle. Other activities included during some friendly competition in which we assembled and raced makeshift cars, and Tom rowing me across a French pond on a boat under the setting sun…
The second session will take place at Google EMEA’s HQ in Dublin in October. We can’t wait!
We would like to extend our thanks to our Google agency team and the Google Marketing team for making this possible, as well as the fantastic INSEAD professors.
