As a long-term partner of Acquia, and the first organisation to roll out Acquia’s personalisation engine, we were excited to join the community at the London event in this year’s Engage tour
It was an insight-packed two days, with the latest perspectives and news on topics including AI (of course), which are useful no matter what tech platforms you’re using. We’ve collated some of our highlights below:
5 AI fundamentals every leader needs to know
Paul Roetzer, Founder & CEO of the Marketing AI Institute took us through the shape of the AI landscape, what’s coming and how we can work with the technology to ensure our products and services are not left behind. His 5 fundamentals:
- AI as a creation tool
Generative AI has shifted from simply analysing data to creating text, images, video, and even code - making creativity and problem-solving accessible to everyone. - AI-first (or AI-forward) thinking
Businesses must now adopt an “AI-forward” mindset - any task, campaign, or process should be assessed with the question, “Is there a smarter way to do this with AI?” - The rise of AI Agents and integration
AI isn’t just about single-use tools - it’s about AI agents that can take actions, perform tasks, and integrate seamlessly across business systems, often autonomously . - The power of Large Language Models (LLMs)
LLMs like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude underpin this transformation, predicting the next word and generating content and insights in ways that mimic human reasoning. - Human-centred, responsible adoption
Paul strongly emphasised the need for AI literacy, training, clear policies, and responsible deployment - balancing efficiency and innovation with ethics and sustainability.
Right question, wrong answer. Lessons learned from a failed big bang digital transformation
Another talk we loved was from the team at Nespresso who took us through their failed digital experience replatform project and how the lessons from this have been transformative for their business. As an e-commerce first business, their whole business relied on their legacy website. The tech was out of date and needed to be updated however the company’s first attempt at this failed. When they then approached a partner to support them, the partner’s audit found that they weren’t ready internally to make the change happen. The team did not have the know-how to run a project of that scale, and stakeholder expectations were not aligned. Moreover, by pulling top performers to the project, the wider organisation was under strain. After taking a step back, they built a culture around alignment, getting different teams in the same place and building know-how . Now they’ve taken a modular, platform agnostic approach, enabling them to make decisions tailored their business’ and customer’s needs.
A large part of what we do at manifesto is work with organisations to build ways of working and cultures that support transformation. We use open strategy and champion audience-centric decision making. Technology is part of the solution, but it needs to work for the people who will use it.
A movement for change
It would be remiss of us not to mention our own talk with Trussell’s Head of Digital Meredith Sneddon, manifesto Strategy and Innovation Director Cherie Chambers and Principal Engineer, James South about Trussell’s ambitious digital transformation. The goal? To create a secure, flexible platform that could meet the needs of over 400 food banks across the UK - each with their own unique challenges and capabilities.
In just one year, the team delivered a new donation platform that’s already driven a 42% increase in engagement. By adopting a human-centred design approach and working in close collaboration with food banks, we were able to ensure a seamless, supportive experience for people seeking emergency food, while also making it easier than ever for communities to get involved and support the cause.
manifesto’s long-standing partnership with Acquia was crucial to this project’s success. We’re incredibly proud of how this project demonstrates the power of digital to drive change, powering Trussell’s mission to end the need for food banks in the UK.
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