The Ingenuity Group Names Mark Inskip Group CEO | LBBOnline
The Ingenuity Group has appointed Mark Inskip to the role of group chief executive officer.
Based out of the London office, with the group also operating across Leeds, Manchester, and Glasgow, Mark will oversee all businesses within the network. This includes Ingenuity, Ingenuity+, Future Factory, MAD//Fest, MAD//Masters, Pearlfinders, and Reg & Partners. The group connects the marketing world by offering outsourced business development alongside PR and content services, networking events, training programmes, and intermediary and brand partnership divisions.
Mark began his career client side in marketing for British Gas, before agency and consultancy side roles at the likes of Ogilvy and Accenture. He has spent the last decade focused on market intelligence, data-driven strategy, and private equity- backed transformation as Global CEO at Kantar Futures.
Speaking exclusively to LBB, Mark shared his enthusiasm for the new role. "Joining Ingenuity as group CEO feels a bit like coming home," he said. "Each chapter of my career has been about helping businesses unlock growth by connecting creativity, insight, and execution – which is exactly what makes this opportunity so exciting.
“What makes Ingenuity stand out is its ability to bring the marketing world together,” Mark continued, “connecting agencies, brands, and industry leaders across an incredible range of platforms and events. It’s a business built on collaboration, creativity, and deep relationships, playing a unique role at the intersection of marketing, brands, and innovation."
He elaborated on how he plans to marry his data-focused background with Ingenuity’s human-led, relationship-driven networking model. "Ingenuity Group is sitting on an incredible data source and an incredible set of insights around the industry that we frankly underleverage in some ways," Mark told LBB. "There's a huge opportunity there, but at the end of the day, it's also about connecting and bringing people together from the whole ecosystem that we all work in."
Looking at the current landscape, Mark noted the balance needed to win new business today. "I still think there's a combination of art and science, magic and logic, however you want to describe it, into running a brilliant pitch process," he added. "It's all about the process, but it's also all about the creative and the magical brilliance that you deliver in that... You've still got to demonstrate your capability, and you've still got to demonstrate consistency and quality and brilliance all at the same time."
“I’m genuinely excited to work alongside Chris and the talented team to build on that strong foundation, push boundaries, and take the group through its next phases of growth,” Mark concluded. “There is an energy and ambition in the business that I find incredibly refreshing, and I can’t wait to lead the journey.”
Meanwhile, founder Chris Kemp remains in the business full-time to drive its next phase of evolution. With Mark running the group day-to-day, Chris will turn his focus toward partnering with key clients, developing strategic relationships, and representing the group across the industry.
"Mark running the group day-to-day will enable me to get back to focusing on what I truly love, being out and about in the industry, meeting with brands and agencies to understand how they work, how they are evolving, and how best we can support them to grow,” Chris shared. “Our group has been on an incredible growth journey ourselves in recent years, with Mark joining us at the perfect time to help take us to the next level. On a personal note, he is incredibly personable and myself and the team are very much looking forward to working with him.”
"Mark is an amazing business leader," Chris told LBB. "His entrepreneurial flair and background, ranging from global organisations to high growth start-ups, made him an obvious choice for us when we were looking for someone to help drive the business forward. Crucially he understands both brands and agencies, so aligns with our focus on connecting those two sides of the marketing coin."
While pivoting his role to look outward, Chris assured LBB that Mark will have the autonomy to genuinely lead the group's broad portfolio. "We're a different business now from the business that I built," Chris said. "We bought businesses and Mark is a professional CEO going to bring all of that together and drive that forward and allow me to do the things that I love, which is actually the human side. It's the people. It's looking at more partnerships."
With his energy dedicated to the bigger picture, Chris is eager to tackle the wider challenges facing the industry, particularly moving beyond the traditional pitch process to focus on broader growth. "The pitch part of our business is incredibly important and everyone talks about who we’re running the pitches for. But our business is predicated on growth and pitching is one part of that," he noted. "It’s all the things that make up the business. We’re all about growth for agencies but also growth for brands. Finding them the right partner so that their businesses can grow. We are the platform to bring all of that together. The pitch is an incredibly important part of it. But there are all the other parts that are hard and as important, if not sometimes more important.”
He noted that many agencies don’t rely on a traditional pitch process. “Much smaller agencies have to go out there and fight every day to win clients through referral, recommendations. I always say we are for the many, not the few. It's not just about working with a smaller number of the big ad agencies or the big global, leading blue-chip brands. It's about B2B brands, it's about pharma, it's about up-and-coming social agencies, it's about anyone that's in the lovely world of marketing services."