Breaking the performance plateau: Growth, Budget & Impact
Join Launch for a lunch panel discussion on how to unlock growth, budget and long-term impact.
The CMO's Guide to Growth
Date:
Thursday, 12th March 2026 9:00AM - 2:00PM
Venue:
Watershed, Bristol
How to make performance your growth engine
Marketing leaders are being pressured to do more with less, chasing high returns from short-term tactical, high-intent campaigns.
However, these short-term wins come at a cost: they starve brands of future growth and keep us stuck in a never-ending loop of chasing the same customers with diminishing results and increasing costs.
This event introduces a powerful new mechanism to help marketers sidestep this doom loop: seven levers to turn performance into growth. Get tickets on TicketTailor here.
Essential details
Timings
Date: 12th March 2026. Time: 9:00am – 2:00pm
Sponsors
With thanks to our lead sponsor Converge. as well as RevOps Mentor, Re:signal and Building Brands.
Schedule
9:00 am - 9:30 am
Arrival and Coffee
9:30 am
Welcome
9:40 am
INTRO: The 7 levers of growth
Sustainable growth doesn’t happen by chance. It comes from pulling the right levers. We’ve identified seven – and Jaye will kick off the day by explaining how each one can shift performance in your business.
9:55 am
SESSION 1: Rethinking performance in the new era of brand discovery
In a fragmented media landscape, being easy to find now depends on being easy to recognise and remember. Amy will explore how changes in search, consumer behaviour, and attention are reshaping discovery, and why investing in distinctive storytelling and consistent brand visibility is becoming a key lever for sustainable performance growth.
10:15 am
SESSION 2: Keynote: Conversations drive brand visibility in a zero click world
As discovery evolves, community conversations are playing a bigger role in shaping both consumer decisions and AI-generated answers. Mairead from Reddit will show how these discussion spaces are becoming critical signals in the AI era, and what today’s CMOs need to address.
10:45 am
BREAK
11:05 am
SESSION 3: The future of paid
What’s new, what’s next, and what actually matters in customer acquisition? Launch’s paid media team share the latest platform shifts, emerging opportunities, and practical signals marketers should be watching to drive smarter performance.
11:25 am
SESSION 4: How we turned short term opportunity into long term growth
Danny will demonstrate how the seven levers of growth translate into real-world impact, scoring their potential against the 7 levers of growth. Using St Eval as a case study, he’ll show how investing across the funnel helped unlock exceptional performance.
11:50 am
SESSION 5: Browser tracking? That's so last year!
In this practical session, Ian and Darcy explore how smarter measurement and attribution unlock real growth. Ian outlines why robust measurement is essential in today’s complex media landscape, before Darcy brings Launch’s measurement toolbox to life with real examples in action. Tied back to the levers of growth, the session shows how better data leads to better decisions — and stronger performance outcomes.
12:05 pm
SESSION 6: How to set up your tracking for growth
Michel, from all-in-one data platform Converge, shows how to structure your tracking and analytics to support smarter optimisation and long-term growth. This session walks through practical ways to build a measurement foundation that gives marketers clearer insight, better decisions, and stronger performance across channels.
12:30 pm
SESSION 7: Meeting uncertainty with experimentation
In uncertain conditions, experimentation becomes a growth advantage. Joe, Harry, and Alice explore how structured testing improves customer experience and conversion, sharing practical examples including pricing research and incrementality testing. Learn how their test-and-learn approach reduces risk, sharpens decision-making, and drives smarter, more resilient performance.
1:00 pm
LUNCH & networking
1:30 pm
ROUNDTABLES
A chance to share your thoughts, challenges and questions with our expert team.
2:00 pm
End
What you'll learn about:
- The changing landscape of brand discovery and how brands can connect with customers across fragmented digital journeys
- Keynote from Reddit on how to navigate niche communities authentically to build long-term trust in your brand
- Launch’s seven levers of growth, and how you can apply them to your performance media strategy and budget right now
- How to ensure your measurement is set up to boost growth in 2026, including insights from Converge
- How to turn uncertainty into opportunity by setting up your own experimentation academy
- The future of search and how to approach creative in 2026
Expect a mix of evidence, real-world examples, and a dose of humour to show how senior marketers can climb out of the basement of the funnel and fire up your brand’s growth engine. All of this backed by insights from top industry leaders plus Launch’s award-winning team of experts in data, experimentation and paid media. Get tickets on TicketTailor here.
With special thanks to our sponsors:
Confirmed speakers
Mairead Connolly
Agency Development Lead, Reddit
Mairéad is an Agency Development Lead at Reddit, and has spent most of her career specializing in intentional social strategy either at Pinterest or in media agencies. Driven by a fascination with human behaviour and the art of translating insights into meaningful brand impact.
Michel van Krimpen
Customer Solutions Engineer, Converge
Michel is a tracking expert with 20+ years of experience, responsible for Customer Success at Converge, assisting e-commerce brands in optimising their tracking and analytics to gain the best insights into what is driving their growth.
Jaye Cowle
Launch CEO & Founder
Our Founder Jaye is driven by an ethos that happy people do great work. This philosophy has guided her in building a high-performing team that thrives on well-being, growth, and excellence.
Amy Budd
Client Services Director, Launch
Amy has over 25 years of experience in marketing and client services. Before joining Launch, she managed partnerships with major brands, ensuring their success and satisfaction. At Launch, Amy is dedicated to building strong relationships and achieving client happiness.
Danny Ireland
Head of Performance Media, Launch
Danny has 10+ years experience helping brands drive growth from their performance media. After a significant time working for Google, he joined Launch and oversees the planning, build, and execution of client’s paid strategies, globally, to help our clients reach their “north star” objectives.
Joe Johnston
Head of Experimentation, Launch
Joe’s has 10+ years experience of boosting businesses through insights and experimentation. His superpower is establishing and scaling experimentation programs to deliver marketing goals.
Ian Lewis
Head of Data and Analytics, Launch
With over a decade of digital marketing experience under his belt, Ian oversees Launch’s Data powerhouse. He specialises in data-driven decision-making, custom tracking, optimising media spend, and driving measurable results for clients. His experience spans a wide variety of sectors, from Icelandair to Battersea Cats & Dogs home.
Elliot Smith
Account Director, Launch
With 12 years of performance media experience, Elliot began his career at a full-service agency with a focus on the travel and e-commerce sectors. At Launch he leads account teams to drive success across multiple platforms, sharing his passion for both the technical and strategic side of paid media along the way.
Darcy Cooke
Senior Measurement Analyst, Launch
Darcy has 3.5 years of experience in marketing. Before joining Launch, Darcy was studying for her Masters at Cardiff University. At Launch, Darcy manages data, analytics, and ad ops for several clients to help them achieve their performance marketing objectives.
Harry Dunn
Paid Media Manager, Launch
Harry has 6 years of experience in digital marketing and paid media. Before joining Launch, he worked at a full-service digital marketing agency, managing campaigns across industries. At Launch, Harry manages paid media strategies for a diverse range of clients from large fashion retailers to holiday parks, driving impactful results and working as an extension of the clients team.
Rhianna Williams
Paid Media Manager, Launch
Rhianna has 4.5 years of experience in performance marketing, working across Google, Microsoft, Meta, Snapchat & LinkedIn. Before joining Launch, she gained expertise managing accounts at a media planning & buying agency. At Launch, Rhianna leads and supports on both B2B and B2C client accounts across industries such as travel, home accessories and fashion, delivering tailored strategies and measurable results.
Charlie Gordon
Paid Media Director, Launch
Charlie brings 15 years of experience in digital marketing, including time spent in New Zealand’s tourism sector. At Launch, she oversees strategy and execution for paid media campaigns, delivering strong results for clients.
Alice-Rae Pringle
Paid Social Media Manager, Launch
Alice-Rae brings 5 years of experience in social media marketing, focusing primarily in Meta in addition to Pinterest and Tik Tok. Before joining Launch, she worked in a social-first role for a graphic design agency, focusing on public sector work and travel clients. At Launch, Alice-Rae is responsible for managing paid social campaigns and delivering measurable results for clients as well as encouraging clients to run creative tests.
Sophie Williams
Paid Social Account Director, Launch
Sophie brings over a decade of experience in performance marketing, specialising in paid social and cross-channel growth. She leads paid social strategy for some of Launch’s most complex accounts, partnering closely with clients and teams to turn insight, creativity and data into work that drives both short-term performance and long-term brand growth. Sophie is particularly passionate about thoughtful experimentation, clear storytelling, and building campaigns that stand the test of time.
Our charity partner
At each event we support a charity partner by inviting you to make a donation when you buy a ticket. This event will support 4Louis, an organisation close to our hearts which supports families through the loss of a child.
Book tickets
Book your tickets today to secure your place.
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