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.