Sourcing Forum Meeting (February 2024, remote)

Since the invasion of Ukraine, we observed extraordinary responses to the conflict; we typically see national governments or international bodies responding to such acts and reacting accordingly through sanctions, but unusually, we saw businesses publicly stating their view on the war and voluntarily stopping operations in Russia, going beyond what was legally required from international sanctions.

 Consequently, marketing and advertising operations in the Russian, Belarussian and Ukrainian markets were affected and the responsibility to ensure business continuity fell upon the shoulders of many marketing procurement teams. In March 2022, the Sourcing Forum came together with marketing procurement leaders to discuss the challenges they were facing and exchanged possible solutions with one another.

 2 years on, we decided to bring the group together again not only to reflect on what happened, but to share learnings and discuss how marketing procurement teams can become more agile in the face of crises. This Sourcing Forum hosted 11 members, in a ‘warts-and-all’ format under Chatham House Rule.

This was an invitation-only event, open to client-side marketing procurement professionals. The Sourcing Forum overview can be downloaded below.