IPA Chair for Northern Ireland, Brian Scott, explains how agencies in Northern Ireland are responding to Karen Martin's agenda, and why they are ready to pick up the baton.
I see the role of Chair, as one that listens, helps, raises awareness, and fuels engagement around the things that matter to us as NI agencies. Part of that is working closely with the Chairs for England and Scotland, and the various City Heads, to make sure our voice is heard and our participation guaranteed at a regional and national level.
One of the things I’ve found really interesting during the first few months in the role is the level of desire that exists to respond to Karen’s agenda. I think there’s a real, genuine aspiration to take it seriously, to pursue it and to act on it.
What has struck me so far is the recognition that we don’t operate in a bubble. Instead, we are integrated within the wider creative and cultural eco-system, and as such are influenced by it. And nowhere, I believe, is that more relevant than here, right where we are.
So, for example, three weeks ago I was able to be in Manchester where James Ray, the IPA Chair for England, hosted a reception where the guest speaker was Dave Moutrey, OBE. Dave is a cultural leader of huge standing, operates at the highest levels, and is currently Director of Culture and Creative Industries at Manchester City Council. It was a really interesting conversation and fascinating to hear how warmly he embraced and responded to the IPA’s renewed focus on creativity - and with almost a sense of disbelief that we’d let it slip off our agenda in the first place! His reference point was very much seeing what we do as firmly part of the wider eco-system of creativity.
And anyone who can quote Peter Hook (Joy Division & New Order) as an acquaintance is good in my book.
Jim Kelly from Story, and the new Scottish Chair, is hosting a reception in Edinburgh that will feature a panel discussion to explore and celebrate creativity beyond our own industry. With participants from music, film, photography, screenwriting and publishing, they’ll be having a conversation about what creativity means to practitioners in other creative fields, exploring how they balance creative freedom with commercial reality, looking at what helps keep their ideas fresh and how human creativity can thrive in an age of machines. All of the same types of challenges that we have to address on a daily basis.
So Karen, be encouraged, around the UK, we are responding to your challenge. Tonight is our opportunity to pick up the baton.
So, what is our creative context?
It’s one that boasts Van Morrison, David Holmes, Snow Patrol and Bicep. It’s one where Belfast is recognised as a UNESCO City of Music - only one of three cities in the whole of the UK, and the only one in Ireland.
It’s where Lisa McGhee has put Derry on the map with the antics of four teenage girls (and one boy) negotiating school, adolescence and relationships against a background of the troubles in the ‘90s.
It’s one where local fashion designer Sara O’Neill was commissioned by The Edge to paint his leather jackets for U2s Sphere shows in Las Vegas, and where earlier this year, Jonathan Anderson, born in Magherafelt, was appointed Creative Director at Dior. And, if that’s not a powerful symbol of what our creative DNA can achieve when it’s given the space to flourish, then what is?
Our creative context is in Late Night Art where once a month, galleries and artists turn the city into a living, breathing exhibition, it’s in Belfast Photo Festival, and Belfast Mela, and our International Arts Festival, and Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, and in Belfast School of Art’s Graduate Showcase at UU (currently live) ... and the list goes on ... and on.
And our creative context doesn’t stop at the stage or the studio. It’s on our walls — with a new era of street art that documents, challenges, and inspires. It’s in our humour, our writing, our storytelling. We are, by instinct, people who express — who interpret, reimagine, and connect through creativity.
The local agency community here is both shaped by and part of that same culture. In comparison to other regions and agencies, we might be smaller, but we‘re no less ambitious and certainly no less able in bringing creatively effective solutions to address the most significant challenges. We take inspiration from our surroundings and channel it into work that moves people, shifts perceptions, and delivers results.
And of course, with our complicated history and ongoing political challenges, we know here, better than most, that creativity and resilience are entwined. Creativity enhances resilience - resilience fuels creativity.
It’s the link between these two that makes Karen’s agenda not only timely but vital. Because, as we continue to face complex economic, cultural and technological challenges, it’s creativity, fresh original thinking, that will carry us forward and help us respond to them.
Everyone’s responsibility - and opportunity
And of course, this Agenda isn’t just about the Creative Department.
Our clients come to us to solve problems, find solutions, and do the things that they aren’t able to do themselves. They buy our expertise, but they also buy original thought. And, from my experience, original thought is demonstrated right across the agency - in planning and strategy, account management, media planning, production, public relations, in operations, as well as in creative teams.
In Manchester, James used a really helpful reference when he asked us to imagine a simple Venn diagram - just two circles, one representing Business and the other representing Creativity. And the bit where they overlap in the middle is where agencies sit, existing to solve business problems with imaginative and creative solutions.
... an insight from a planner that opens up a whole new way of thinking about the problem...
... identifying a partnership that unlocks amazing opportunities...
... setting a media strategy that might be harder and more challenging to deliver, but that means getting to audiences in new and more persuasive ways.
If you’re here tonight from one of the five IPA NI agencies, then you’re in a great place. A great place to learn, develop and grow your career. And I’d encourage you to not just think of the IPA as the place where you diairise your CPD hours but to recognise that it gives you access to a network of inspiration and learning that can support you through every stage of your career.
So, take advantage of the courses and training opportunities, sign up for the events and seminars and read the thought leadership articles. They’ll help you be better at your job now and grow your career in the future.
So, how are we responding in Belfast?
Well, we’re about to have a conversation now with Karen, as well as local agency voices (and with strong creative representation).
We’re also in the process of developing a Creative Showcase for Belfast for the IPA website. This has been inspired by the example of Manchester and is going to be an opportunity for the NI agencies to show-off and celebrate the great work that’s created here.
We’re playing our part in supporting and training the next generation of creatives, as all of the local IPA agencies are involved in working alongside teams in the PANI Student Competition. And just to note, in relation to training creatives, the Creative Essentials Certificate is currently in development with the intention of launching in Spring 2026
And of course, this is the year of the PANI Awards - a celebration of creative excellence in the advertising industry here in Northern Ireland - and with the jury chaired by Sir John Hegarty, one of the industry’s most respected creative minds and one of the founders of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, the agency that Karen now leads.
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Last updated 13 June 2025