IPA Residential – Strategic Planning

3 DAY Residential | Next scheduled date: 2025

Our highly-acclaimed 3-day residential courses have become the gold standard in our industry for providing invaluable tools for future agency leaders. Their exclusive design means you can escape your daily routine (even if you are based in the same city) and enjoy the opportunity to learn from your chairs, speakers and fellow delegates.

Course manifesto

The Craft of Enduring Brand Strategy

Most Australian brands have no enduring strategy, which makes enduring growth harder to achieve. And that’s a damning indictment on the marketing and advertising industry.

We’ve become obsessed with the sugar hit of short-term sales, awards, and career progression, ahead of long-term and sustainable growth for our brands and ourselves. While brand frameworks and marketing science can help, they’re not going to craft a brand strategy for you, or learn and interpret it over time on your behalf. It’s time to prioritise brand strategy and inspire a new era of strategic craftspeople, who have the knowledge, skill and applied imagination to get us back on track.

2022 ChairS
Fabio Buresti
Fabio Buresti
Design Lead, ANZ, Accenture Song
Alison Tilling
Alison Tilling
Chief Strategy Officer, VMLY&R AU-NZ
2022 Speakers

Eloise Liley
Eloise Liley
Co-head of Planning, TBWA Melbourne & Eleven
Vipul Hiray
Vipul Hiray
Data Director, VMLY&R
Ken Chan
Ken Chan
Head of Strategy, Hardhat
Hugh Munro
Hugh Munro
Head of Planning, The Monkeys
Simon McCrudden
Simon McCrudden
Partner, Brand Strategy, Akcelo
Chrissy Blackburn
Chrissy Blackburn
Managing Partner, West 82nd
Katrina Kelly
Katrina Kelly
Strategy Director, West 82nd
Nomfundo Msomi
Nomfundo Msomi
Executive Strategy Director, CHEP Network
Jake Barrow
Jake Barrow
Group Executive Creative Director, VMLY&R Sydney & Melbourne
Michael Derepas
Michael Derepas
Chief Strategy Officer, The Monkeys Melbourne
Ant Keogh
Ant Keogh
Chief Creative Officer, The Monkeys Melbourne
Brigitte Bayard
Brigitte Bayard
Planning Director at Clemenger BBDO Melbourne

What to expect

Three days well out of your comfort zone, and well in your strategic craft zone. This course cuts the bullshit to focus on the inspiration, skills and applied imagination to craft – and keep crafting – strategies that endure for all the right reasons.

Modules will be led by different speakers in different styles. Speakers include strategists at the top of their game, plus some outside and unexpected perspectives. Sessions will combine group discussion, masterclasses, individual work and speaker q and a.

We’ll pull apart the real meaning of brand strategy, ask what really endures in the modern landscape, look at some useful tools and frameworks, practice having the difficult conversations – and show you how to make sure you don’t endure your role but grow your enjoyment of it.

Removing yourself from your daily routine, even in your home city, means you can focus on the opportunity to get inspired, gain new skills and knowledge, and make some new friends along the way.

This 3-day residential course includes 2 nights accommodation and meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner).

Who’s it for?

Strategic planners, account management and brand managers with at least 5+ years experience are likely to derive the greatest value from this course.

Course Content

DAY ONE: ENDURING BRAND STRATEGY

  • What is brand strategy
  • Why endurance matters
  • Mastering the frameworks
  • Q&A
  • Reflection Challenge
  • Dinner at Prahran Hotel

DAY TWO: CRAFTING ENDURANCE

  • Bringing people along for the ride
  • When to refresh, when to persist
  • Having the tricky chats
  • Bring out your bias session
  • From enduring to enjoying brand strategy
  • Dinner at Mizu

DAY THREE: ENDURING PARTNERSHIPS

  • Knowing endurance when you meet it
  • Measuring impact and effectiveness
  • How to separate your brand’s enduring centre of gravity from aspects and assets that can change over time
  • Reflections and challenges reviewed and discussed

Please note, content may vary.

Participant Feedback

Hearing from a very broad group of speakers and opinions allowed me to form my own opinions and learnings for a future approach to Strategy. The residential nature really allowed me to tune out from everything else that steals my attention in life and put focus into my learning.

I really loved that I heard so many different perspectives on the industry, and how individual leaders approach strategy, technology, and branding differently based on their own experiences. There are loads of little things, many just mentioned in passing, that I think I’ve taken away and want to try and implement in my own work when a relevant opportunity comes up.

Access and learning from exceptional people in the industry, networking with Industry peers.