This week, our PPC team, Jack van den Berg-Hider, Mabli Williams, and I (Jorge Percival) spent an evening attending Northern Heroes: The Good, The Bad & The Algorithm by The Performance Academy at Manchester’s Bonded Warehouse.

Hosted by the wonderful Charley Brennand, we were instantly made to feel very welcome, kicking off the night by meeting new faces from the world of PPC before the panel session even began. 

The event not only allowed us to hear from big names in the world of PPC firsthand, but also to collaborate and exchange ideas with some of the best minds in the industry.

There were three pertinent points that really stuck with us. 

  • Human Creativity Still Wins (Lewis Kemp): While AI is undeniably powerful, it is ultimately built on aggregated data that already exists. Human experience and creativity consistently outperform AI-generated alternatives in storytelling and engagement.
  • The Power of Core Structure (Laura Holyer): When auditing Google Ads, it’s easy to overcomplicate things. Returning to the fundamentals and ensuring a solid account structure remain the primary drivers of performance, scalability, and the identification of the biggest opportunities.
  • Product Feeds & Platform Strategy (Matt Beswick): Feed optimisation is more critical than ever. The more you enrich titles and attributes, the better platforms can match products to user intent. Matt also highlighted the importance of diversifying platform strategy, noting instances where Microsoft Ads outperformed Google due to distinct audience behaviours.

Stepping away from the day-to-day to play games, compare notes, and talk shop with others is often underrated. One of the biggest takeaways for us as a team is that it confirmed our way of working is very much in line with many of the most successful individuals in the industry.

A huge thank you to Charley for organising such a fantastic and insightful event. We’ll be at many more, and we can’t wait to be back in town for Performance MCR in June!

 

 

 

Summary

This week, our PPC team, Jack van den Berg-Hider, Mabli Williams, and I (Jorge Percival) spent an evening attending Northern Heroes: The Good, The Bad & The Algorithm by The Performance Academy at Manchester’s Bonded Warehouse. Hosted by the wonderful Charley Brennand, we were instantly made to feel very welcome, kicking off the night by […]

Jorge
Author Spotlight: Jorge

Jorge Percival is a Senior Paid Media Executive, having joined the team in early 2025. With a Marketing degree from Liverpool John Moores University, he brings a strong background in marketing and paid media strategy for both agency and in-house roles. He is also an acclaimed child athlete, having been crowned the UK's 3rd-best discus thrower for his age at 15. Away from work, he spends his time watching sports or not letting go of the long-dead dream of becoming a professional athlete.