Our Monthly Round-up of the key marketing pieces for September includes: – five interesting articles worth reading; an AI, media & podcast section, the Work, & our Back to Henley chapter. AI is rewriting how brands are found and how agencies make money. That makes trusted human judgement more valuable, both in terms of thought leadership and creativity and in choosing the right agency partners, which is the role we play as an expert intermediary.

Our September highlights:

1. Our top pick this month is an article from McKinsey, ‘How leaders are turning AI into growth’. It tackles one of the biggest questions in business today. Nearly 90% of companies now use AI in at least one part of their business, but only 6% are seeing a material impact on their bottom line. Even more striking, just over a third say AI has made any real difference to earnings, and that figure hasn’t moved in a year. For marketing and commercial teams, the message is clear: real value comes from rethinking how you go to market, not from layering new tools onto old habits.

Here is the link: www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/growth-marketing-and-sales/our-insights/how-leaders-are-turning-ai-into-growth

2. Our second pick is from BCG, ‘Why Most CEOs Are Failing the Marketing Math Test’. Its 2026 research finds that consumers may now encounter more than 15 touchpoints before purchasing, up from roughly five a decade ago. A large CPG company that once created about 500 marketing assets a year may now need to produce five to six million to reach consumers across these proliferating pathways. LLMs are also increasingly shaping which brands consumers discover, compare and buy, with roughly 20% of consumers now routinely using AI in their purchase journeys.

Here is the link: https://www.bcg.com/publications/2026/how-ai-rewrites-cpg-marketing-economics

3. Thirdly, the September edition of Harvard Business Review: ‘Don’t Underestimate the Power of Customer Referrals’. Companies that systematically track referral behaviour uncover a powerful, underused growth engine. An analysis of more than 10 million consumers reveals that while about 20% of new customers come through referrals, they account for 72% of the profits generated by all new customers. Referred customers cost less to acquire, stay longer, buy more and refer more high-value customers in turn. The article explains the essential role referrals play in driving sustainable, profitable growth, building on Fred Reichheld’s long-standing argument that a customer’s full value includes both what they buy and what they are willing to tell others.

Here is the link: https://hbr.org/2026/09/dont-underestimate-the-power-of-customer-referrals

4. Fourthly, we attended an excellent session organised by ISBA, the IPA and CIPS to mark the 20th anniversary of Magic & Logic. Twenty years ago, the Magic & Logic industry white paper set out a simple but powerful proposition: agencies, marketers and procurement professionals achieve better outcomes when they work with shared purpose, transparency and mutual respect. Now that marketing procurement has matured into a global strategic discipline, it is time to celebrate the progress made – and define what comes next. And since great marketing needs creativity too, here is the Magic & Logic at 20 video.

Here is the link: https://www.isba.org.uk/knowledge/magic-logic-20-future-marketing-procurement-agency-partnerships

5. Fifthly, ‘Make Time Count’ is a great piece on managing your time better from Rishad Tobaccowala’s substack series, The Future Does Not Fit in the Containers of the Past. He describes life as a journey through time in search of meaning. One definition of success, he suggests, is being able to spend your time in ways that bring you joy, and understanding what matters before it is too late. In this piece, he sets out some ways to make the most of your time. It’s time well spent.

Here is the link: https://rishad.substack.com/p/make-time-count

AI: This month, we attended a fabulous session organised by Brainlabs with fellow UK Intermediaries, where we learned about AI and how to put it into practice. In a hands-on workshop, we were set tasks to improve the way we run our own businesses. Levelling up with Claude & learning so much, we have gone further – producing a 60-second film explaining what we do. https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7512970123457060865/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_profile_view_base%3BMj06zTXKQpKe%2FS74lfLm8A%3D%3D

Media: Is the Bayeux Tapestry the best piece of creative ever created? Jeremy Lee makes the case in a great piece for Creative Salon, as the tapestry goes on display at the British Museum. Stitched nearly 1,000 years ago to legitimise William’s conquest, it is the ultimate infinite scroll. It has a strong story shows rather than tells, and proves that craft is itself a form of persuasion. That lesson matters even more in the age of AI. And the final twist: it is neither a tapestry, nor from Bayeux. https://creative.salon/articles/features/bayeux-tapestry-feature

Podcast: David Wheldon produces the WFA better marketing podcast and in his latest episode he interviews Nissan’s Miki Hamamatsu on rebuilding one global brand and why internal belief comes first  https://pod.link/1538619739/episode/QnV6enNwcm91dC0xOTc4OTkxMw

Time for the Work: Congratulations to Boots and WPP this month. we’ve chosen Boots’ new campaign platform, which celebrates the “beautiful and brutal” moments of life. Charlotte Lock and the team are certainly delivering transformative change. https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2026/09/boots-charlotte-lock/  But we also highly commend Currys, AMV BBDO and the Spark Foundry for winning the Grand Prix at the 2026 IPA Effectiveness Awards, a campaign that has generated £500m for Currys. https://ipa.co.uk/knowledge/case-studies/currys-the-superpower-in-store

Back to Henley: Henley in the Autumn is so special, last week we had Henley’s first ever Jazz festival and this week sees the start of the Henley Literary festival.Our fortnightly feature in the Henley Standard continues where we interview local entrepreneurs. It’s called Let’s Get Down to Business. We were delighted this month to interview Neil Horne, the owner of and photographer at Eye Imagine Photography who covers Oxfordshire, the Cotswolds and London. https://www.henleystandard.co.uk/section/4331/let-s-get-down-to-business

We are here to help you with your agency reviews & catch up with what you’re planning for 2027. Our business grows from personal referrals, if someone you know might benefit from a complimentary agency model review, please feel free to pass on our contact details.

Kind regards,

Will