“The Key - Quick Conversations”: Sam Royston (Burberry)

❗ ❗ “Make sure procurement are in the room — part of the conversation from the beginning..” ❗ ❗
— Samantha Royston, Burberry

I had the pleasure of catching up with Samantha Royston, Senior Manager for Marketing Procurement at Burberry and Chair of the ISBA Marketing Procurement Working Group, just after she came off stage at the Marketing Procurement iQ Conference at The Kia Oval - Surrey County Cricket Club. She was joined on the panel with Nicholas Louisson and Iain Seers.

💡 Sam’s panel was titled:
“How is procurement navigating the impact of generative AI and MarTech on Agency Fees?”

So I asked:
👉 What’s “The Key 🔑” takeaway from your session?
🧠 Sam’s answer: “Making sure procurement are part of the conversation from the beginning.”

Here is more of what she shared:
1️⃣ “There’s lots of change with new and existing third-party vendors...and our existing agencies are developing AI capabilities.”
2️⃣ “Procurement can help our marketing teams answer the big question: Why AI?”
3️⃣ “Be engaged with stakeholders and agencies, staying ahead of what is happening — before things happen and it is too late to influence.”
4️⃣ “This is about real business partnering — rather than just being there to troubleshoot when it all goes wrong.”

🔔 A clear reminder that procurement involvement must be proactive, strategic and involved from the start — not just at the point of negotiation or when facing problems!

This direction and insight was built on in Vladimir Komanicky and Lenka K. Ornova from the Alchemists's "Brands Only" session later in the afternoon "Future Proofing your Marketing: GenAI, Procurement and Competitive Advantage", which delved into getting past the hype and understanding what is actually working with GenAI and marketing.

🙏 Huge thanks to Samantha Royston for the “Quick Conversation 🎤” and for the smart, grounded perspective on procurement's role with marketing and GenAI...that we very much agree with!

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