Silverback® on tour: Ideas Fest 2026

Departing from our farm setting in the Surrey Hills, the beginning of September saw the Silverback® Troop travel to the lush environs of Champneys in Tring to bring a bit of the jungle to Ideas Fest 2026.

What’s the idea With Ideas Fest?

6,000 business leaders, hundreds of talks, two days, one field. Folks describe Ideas Fest as the Glastonbury of business, and to be honest, we couldn’t agree more. It’s a meeting of the latest and greatest founders and entrepreneurs together in one really cool place. This is literally a festival of ideas meeting in a melting pot of high creation and surfacing with the sparks of inspiration that get the Troop’s inner gorilla all tingly and warm. It. was. wild.

Leaders and creators; teaching, learning, working, relaxing and recharging their brands with the kind of innovative ideas that can transform business and society itself. No kidding.

Like a music festival, but one for businesses, this wasn’t just some bougie soiree at a health spa (well, it technically kind of was), but a place to connect authentically, free from the confines of that particularly uncomfortable seat you found yourself perched on for hours at the last conference you went to.

32 stages of talks, roundtables, workshops, live music, wellbeing sessions, glamping, tasty eats, and all that extra magic that makes a festival a festival.

Discussing everything from AI implementation and personal brands to tech innovation and marketing strategy, Ideas Fest is the place to be for brands to build and grow.

The Silverback® Branding Sweetspot hits the spot!

Wellies and waterproofs packed (you never know with this English weather), the Troop were sent in en masse to set up camp with a fancy stand directly opposite the main stage. A home-from-home for the duration of the festival, with Troop mascot Mukunda the Gorilla in tow (not a real gorilla, silly), this was an expedition into the wilds of the Great Brandscape like no other.

A chance to meet and greet the great minds of today and tomorrow and give them the grand tour of what creative partnerships and possibilities look like when your brand works with the Troop.

We’ve all seen the gazebos and stands at fairs and festivals, signing you up to this and that, a bit of tat here, some awkward chit-chat there. So, in true Silverback® fashion, we wanted the event to work with purpose while maintaining the values that we steadfastly cling to, like a baby gorilla on the back of its mother.

Bold, collaborative, genuine, intelligent, playful… so what’s a Troop to do in this time of need? Well, as you may know from our creative process, we are an incessantly curious bunch who love getting to know all the ins and outs of our clients' businesses, constantly questing for the authenticity and bits that make brands so unique and special.

So, may we introduce to you the Silverback® Branding Sweetspot. The premise? Sugary sweets mainly, but sweets with a pretty profound purpose. Folks would swing by the stand and spy the hoards of colourful and nostalgic vintage-style pick’n’mix before them.

Each sweet represented a brand value; for instance, a Rainbow Gummie for Curious, the classic Rhubarb & Custard for Collaborative, the Fizzy Cola Bottle for Inspiring, Lips for Obsessed and the Gobstopper for Resilient. And there were loads more. People would pick their mix of values, and hey presto, a bag of sweets that represents their brand. Cool, huh?

Not only did we want to understand the audience at Ideas Fest but we also wanted to challenge people in a friendly way to get leaders, founders and creators thinking about their brand’s values.

No hard sell, no forced conversations, just real-time realisations that partnerships are key to growth. “No brand is an island," so the saying goes.

The result? Folks loved it and we enjoyed some of the most honest and wholesome conversations that we’ve had to date. Stories were told and the excitement felt like a seamless stream of inspiration.

People passionate about purpose and partnerships…

What happens when the festival wifi goes? Well, it turns out that when we disconnect online, we connect in real life. Whether this was a canny plot from festival organisers or a legit loss of WiFi connectivity, the moment created genuine connections. Conversations were open, mindful, and meaningful.

Our one big takeaway from the event? People are passionate about purpose and partnerships.

Authentic people doing authentic things because they truly believe and trust in their ideas. It’s just what works best. It’s not a highbrow piece of code that we’ve created and plugged into our browser, just an acknowledgement that great ideas start with people, people that work with purpose.

We'll be honest. Ideas Fest was a fanfare of all the feels – well, pretty much just the good ones actually. Whether it was the hospitality and hosting skills of the festival organiser Frankie James or the campfire-style conversations that kept on coming, Ideas Fest was a place to revel, reflect and reach an audience of likeminded leaders speaking the same language.

What makes Ideas Fest different?

It’s true. We’ve experienced the post-festival blues. These heartfelt and very real emotions simply and plainly tell us that we had a really bloomin’ good time.

Aside from the obvious ‘festival feel’, Ideas Fest was like no other networking event we’ve experienced. This was more than an exhibition with keynote speakers and the odd speed workshop. The grassy field felt symbolic. Growth taking place before our eyes. Life as we know it, taking shape. Even though we live in this incredible age of technology, Ideas Fest was an organic place for ideas to flourish and for people to connect.

To Ideas Fest and the good people gathered together at Ideas Fest – we salute you.

Fancy finding out how your brand is doing out there in the big, wide world? Check out our new Rate My Brand tool and get ready to take the test.

We love all this sweet talk, so let’s carry on the conversation! Contact us and let’s discover your brand inside and out.