The festival takes place at the iconic Dreamland, and aims to supercharge the UK's creative industries and foster a culture of creativity - for now and for future generations. Something which we feel passionately about at IMA.

Across both days, there were three themes that covered…

• Culture & Community • Purpose for the Future • Action & Policy

Our team’s trip to the seaside was jam packed. They watched, discussed and debated, and most importantly all walked away feeling really inspired and more informed about the industry and the lengths being taken by brands and agencies to make meaningful work.

Checkout their top takeaways, below:

Imogen Blackwood - Global Client Director

It was clear there is still so much love, talent and passion for creating bold, impactful work that makes a difference… And this is so SO important! I came away from the festival determined that we must maintain this, even in challenging times.

Sarra Yaya - Associate Creative Director

What a brilliantly inspiring few days. My main takeout was the realisation that courage in creativity is infectious. Whilst there is no right or wrong way with how we answer a brief, wallpaper is never an acceptable response. As Rory Sutherland said during his panel talk on day two: “let's at least try and be interestingly not wrong with the work we do”.

Jemma Darbandi - Senior Media Manager

It was great to see how the speakers harnessed simplicity and creativity to achieve outstanding results. The Müller Corner yogurt OOH campaign demonstrated that effective creativity doesn't have to be complex; a simple yet powerful visual can increase brand recall and engage audiences.

Louis Jerome - Business Development Manager

Humour sells. But it's a f*cking hard sell-in. I listened to The Gate and the AA chat about their partnership and the 'It's ok I'm with the AA' brand platform. Aside from seeing an exemplary example of a solid client-agency relationship, it was intriguing hearing how creatives need to approach their presentation like a comedian on-stage, people need to feel the humour or the idea falls flat.

Leah Groom, Head of Marketing

I really enjoyed the reminder from Bodyform, that "you don't need to be the category leader to lead the narrative." They spoke about how courage is contagious when it comes to changing the narrative. And in this instance, courage also changed the brand's position - from 6th to 4th in the feminine protection category.

Until next year!