Changemakers Conference: Ambition Review

Brave ambition: what I took from Changemakers Scotland 2026

Changemakers is The Marketing Society's global conference series, running from New York to Dubai under one theme: Ambition. Fresh from the New York edition a couple of weeks ago, I was keen to see Scotland's take, and Sophie Devonshire set the tone at the National Gallery in Edinburgh with a line from Michelangelo: "The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." Every speaker came back to that idea in some form, so here are the five things I took away.

1. Great is not the finish line

Sara Holt, Chief Marketing Officer at Center Parcs UK & Ireland, gave one of the sessions I was looking forward to, and it delivered. Center Parcs was already a successful brand, but Sara's view was simple: whilst it was great, it could be better.

That started with a new purpose, We build better worlds. Crucially, it isn't a line on a wall. Sara was clear that it runs through every team and shapes everything the business does, and staff engagement scores rose after it was rolled out.

For a room made up mostly of Scottish marketers, her update on Center Parcs Scottish Borders struck a chord. The £450m investment will create 1,200 jobs, and Sara told us it will be the best Center Parcs ever built. She added that only one build in the UK is bigger: Universal Studios. For the Borders, a region people tend to drive through on the way somewhere else, it's a chance to become a destination in its own right.

Her advice for anyone chasing something big: have the ambition, manifest it, remember it when you're deep in the mud, and don't give up.

2. The hardest situations spark the best ideas

David Duke MBE, founder and CEO of Street Soccer Scotland, told his story, one driven by lived experience and a clear need. Football helped pull him out of a hole, and for 17 years Street Soccer has been doing the same for others. What struck me was how he measures success: helping people until they no longer need Street Soccer at all. That's ambition measured by impact, not scale, and a reminder that some of the best creativity comes out of the toughest situations.

3. Know what you want, then know you can have it

Emma Harris, founder and CEO of Glow London, told the story of a journey that led to a cardiac arrest, with plenty of humour along the way ("sex, drugs and nursery rhymes, all in one place"). Her message: slow the f*** down. We're all drinking from a firehose, constantly on the go and taking in more than we can process. Add the fact that 85% of our thoughts are negative, plus FOOPO (the fear of other people's opinions), and it's no wonder we hold back.

Her fix comes in three parts: make better choices, manifest rather than stress, and look after yourself. Control the things that matter and that you can control, and stop worrying about the rest.

Chris Baréz-Brown of Upping Your Elvis made a similar case from a different angle. Around 80% of our lives run on autopilot, and people are now five times more likely to talk to a machine than to another person. Slowing down is how you switch the autopilot off.

4. Ban the generic

No slides, just a brilliant talk from Sharry Cramond, Marketing Director at M&S. She left us with three messages. It's nice to be nice, so try to leave everyone you meet feeling a little better about themselves. Repetition becomes your truth, good or bad, so make it positive. And it's not just okay to be different; it's vital.

For those of us working in creative, every word matters, so ban the generic. She also urged us to write our goals down, because we're far more likely to hit them. Lesley Morton, Vice President of Global Marketing at BYOMA, put the "nice" point more bluntly: don't be an arsehole, be a good person.

5. Walk towards the storm

The advice from Owen Wyatt, Chief Growth Officer at DC Thomson, was to move towards the storm and then work out what to do, because if you wait, it will sweep you up. Ambition is rarely a straight line. It takes the strength to know who you are and where you're going, especially when things get rough.

Anneli Ritari-Stewart, Head of Digital & AI Marketing at Royal London, made a similar point in her Ambition in 5 session: choose a goal that matters, build the knowledge and skills to reach it, and be ready to change direction, not ambition. She also asked one of the best questions of the day: what would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?

My takeaways

• Have goals and be sure of them. Ambition starts with knowing exactly where you're heading.
• Belief drives results. The more you believe in your goals, the more you'll achieve.
• It won't just happen. There will be bumps in the road, and resilience and belief in where you're going are what get you through.

Actions

• Write your goals down this week, for yourself and for your brand, and keep them somewhere you'll see them when things get hard.
• Ban the generic. Go through your next piece of work and cut every line that could belong to anyone else.