From Gozo With Growth: ICOM’s EU 2025 Meeting Celebrates Strategic Synergy and Smart Growth

News

In a world that moves faster by the minute, sometimes the smartest strategy is to slow down and reconnect. That’s exactly what ICOM agencies from across the EU did this November in the tranquil setting of Gozo, Malta. Hosted by Switch, our member agency with an office on the island, the 2025 ICOM EU Regional Meeting served up inspiration, innovation, and actionable insights in equal measure.

Under the theme “From Gozo with Growth,” the two-day event united agency leaders to explore what’s working in new business, client development, and inter-agency collaboration, reaffirming ICOM’s core purpose to Connect to Grow.

Melissa Manthos, General Manager at Switch, opened the meeting with a warm welcome that captured the essence of Gozo as a space to pause, reflect, and reimagine. “Think of this as time away from the back-to-back, meeting-to-meeting rush of working in the business, and instead, make space to work on the business,” she shared. The setting proved ideal for candid conversations, fresh frameworks, and shared ambition.

Keynote speaker Anthony Gindin, founder of Agency Different (Canada), challenged members to rethink how they grow. His session, “Building an Intelligent Automated Pipeline,” laid out the tools modern agencies need to thrive, from AI and automation to sharper positioning and sustained engagement. His message struck a chord: 91% of attendees acknowledged the need to evolve their current new business strategies.

The agenda continued with powerful member-led sessions packed with tactical value:

Richard Muscat Azzopardi (Switch, Malta) unpacked a 20-point framework designed to help businesses self-assess across areas like brand foundation, visual identity, business and communication strategy—offering a clear lens to identify where they are, where they’re headed, and what’s holding them back.
David Longden (Golley Slater, UK) introduced a prosperity-focused growth engine.
Pedro Barbosa (Wise Pirates, Portugal) shared how his agency translates long-term vision into actionable annual strategies through a collaborative, data-informed planning process that involves every team member—from leadership to junior staff.
Frédéric Rondeau (Espace M, Canada) traveled across the Atlantic to join the meeting, underscoring ICOM’s spirit of collaboration. He presented the Inter-Agency New Business Accelerator, highlighting how members are joining forces across borders to win bigger opportunities together.

This regional meeting also served as a live check-in on network initiatives. Updates on the New Business Group, AI Group, and Creative Council revealed tangible progress since last year’s Cascais gathering, with more momentum expected into 2026.

Day two shifted from presentations to conversations. In a roundtable format, each agency shared what’s working well, the areas they’re refining, recent initiatives they’ve introduced, and the key insights they’ve gained, creating a strong sense of connection and open exchange.

“When you bring together agency leaders who are honest, generous and curious enough to think beyond day-to-day pressures, you create the conditions for real progress,” said Leon Dominitz, Managing Partner at BrandGalaxy Group and ICOM’s Regional Director Europe. “Gozo showed how aligned we are and how ready we are to grow smarter together.”

“We’re heading home inspired and genuinely strengthened by one another’s insights and fully committed to translating our shared ideas into meaningful action in the months ahead.”

Naturally, no ICOM gathering is complete without a little magic. From sunset walks along the cliffs to dinner with the view of Gozo’s ancient fortified city of Citadella, the Gozo experience offered the perfect reset, grounding the meeting’s insights in something slower, richer, and deeply memorable.

As attendees returned home with notebooks full of ideas, they also carried renewed purpose. The ICOM EU 2025 meeting proved once again that the right partners, mindset, and shared momentum can create strong conditions for growth.