Chris Hogan sits down with Daniel Willis, Chairman and CEO of Claxon agency, to tackle the real challenges facing agencies today—from shrinking budgets to the AI revolution.The State of Agency LandDan doesn't sugarcoat it: times are tough. Marketing budgets have shrunk to 30-40% of what they were just two years ago, yet boards still expect the same level of growth. The result? Agencies are doing more work for less money, margins are being squeezed, and more agencies are closing their doors than he's seen in his seven years in the industry.AI: Threat or Opportunity?Both Chris and Dan believe AI is a game-changer, but not in the way many fear. Dan's philosophy is simple: "AI won't replace agencies, but agencies that use AI will replace agencies that don't." The key? Let humans do the creative thinking and ideation, then use AI as a tool to execute those ideas more efficiently. Claxon has been using AI to create campaigns for $20-30K that would've cost $80-150K traditionally—properly democratising high-quality creative work.Beyond the Business: Wisdom for FoundersThe conversation goes deep into what it takes to scale successfully:Advisory boards over business coaches: Dan's not shy about his views here—he reckons most business coaches are a waste of money. Instead, he strongly advocates for building an advisory board of experienced people who genuinely want to give back. Claxon had a six-person advisory board when it had only four staff.Mental health matters: Both blokes open up about their struggles. Dan shares his battle with severe anxiety and panic attacks that led to some dark times, whilst Chris talks about his own challenges with depression. Their message? Sort your mental health first, because without it, nothing else matters.The power of silence: Dan champions taking time away from constant input—no podcasts, no music, just thinking time. Like fasting gives your body time to heal, mental quiet time lets your brain solve problems it couldn't tackle when distracted.Knowing your strengths: Dan's candid about not being the best operator—his strengths are relationships, vision, and commercial strategy. The lesson? Hire people who are brilliant at what you're not.The Bottom LineDespite the challenges, both Chris and Dan reckon it's an incredibly exciting time to be in the agency game. Good humans and great agencies are more important now than ever. The key is embracing change, using AI as a tool (not a replacement), and, most importantly, doing it together rather than competing.Agencies aren't going anywhere—they're just evolving.

In My Book Building Brands on Purpose I described the fundamentals of creating a PROACTIVE marketing strategy. Since releasing this methodology to the world in 2021 I have discovered important improvements which help keep organisations on the same page, speaking the language of the board, c-suite and the marketing team. Keeping this vision and purpose front of mind, simple to understand and speaking the same language between departments and levels of seniority couldn’t be more important which was the problem I saw years ago and now have improved and implemented these changes through consistent pressure testing and innovation of the PROACTIVE methodology. This latest series of videos supersedes the first edition of the book where I describe how the proactive marketing methodology helps you chunk down your strategy into different stages and bring it together into one simple to understand one page PROACTIVE strategy.

Chris sits down with cyber security expert Mike Ouwerkerk to discuss how to best protect your data online.

Step 3. PROACTIVE Internal and Market Research Is it time to determine if yours and your teams personal values and purpose align with your brand? Here’s a little insight into a top down view of how this is achieved when building a brand on purpose using our PROACTIVE methodology. Workshopping with your team on your personal values and purpose can help align your key stake holders to your organisational values and purpose. Performing this task at the beginning of a marketing campaign / brand building exercise, builds a strong foundation from which you can leverage the energy of your organisations culture. Seth Godin said "Culture is Strategy" but what is the origin of culture? Values, inspire purpose, purpose, inspires actions, actions, inspire culture and of course, culture is strategy. Now that you understand the top down view of what's required to build a brand on purpose the next step is to make the workshop happen. But for now. We hope you enjoy this video. #purpose #brand #strategy #marketingstrategy #memedia

Step 2: Proactive Marketing Strategy - Team Planner Working with a team or friends this planner is a simple way to break down each of the components of a marketing strategy into bite sized chunks - albeit there's still work to do beyond this. The reason this is so helpful is because solving a large problem like your marketing strategy needs to go through several processes/iterations and research phases before you reach your conclusion. This same strategic marketing template is how you can keep your one page marketing strategy visible and front of mind in a easily digestible way. This is also a fantastic way to keep you marketing team on the same page :)

Let's begin processing your idea by answering key questions which you would be asked by a friend, colleague or investor. Using the PROACTIVE PROCESS you can process your idea into: Purpose - What is the purpose of this business idea or marketing campaign? Research - What research have you done? What experience do you have? Opportunity - What opportunity exists? Is there any competition? Is this the first of its kind? Audience - Who are you going to sell to? Content - What content are you going to create to sell this idea? Turn-On - What channels are you going to use to market/advertise? Ignite - What are you going to invest for the project/per channel/advertising/marketing? Verification/Validation - How are you going to verify success? Evolve - What could this idea/business/product evolve into? Whats the BHAG?

Chris welcomes Corporate Advisor and Innovation Expert Finbar O'Hanlon to the podcast to discuss human potential in the face of emerging technologies like AI.

SWISH Sales Coaching Founder Ryan Tuckwood shares his perspective on the challenges faced by modern businesses, and reveals the practices that have seen him become so successful.

Entertainment powerhouse Sue Porrett meets with Chris Hogan at the Pink Flamingo Spiegelclub on the Gold Coast to discuss the highs and lows of live performance.

Listen as Sentrika Director Darryl Dyson discusses the finer points of self managed superannuation funds on this episode of the ProActive Podcast.* *This podcast does not constitute financial advice