We are hugely proud to have won the award for Best Initiative for Closing the Adviser Gap at the Money Marketing Awards 2026.
Our New Blood events in Glasgow and London, supported by our New Blood white paper, were geared around showing not telling people about the power and appeal of financial planning careers.
The judges said it was this approach in particular they wanted to recognise.
New Blood marked a few firsts:
- the first time the lang cat hired professional actors
- the first time the process of financial planning was put live on stage. Not role play, but an actual ‘client’ meeting complete with live cashflow modelling
- the first time an industry event brought together advice professionals, industry, students, young people and career changers
As boss man Mark Polson said on LinkedIn:
“Winning a thing is always the result of teamwork, and the lang cat team is, while obviously very annoying much of the time, the equal of any in the business.
“But this time the internal team is entirely secondary to the planners who sat on stage in Glasgow and London and put their reputations on the line in front of a live audience, in a scenario they were doing cold, with no reward other than…can’t remember, gin probably.
“Such ones were Jennifer Ellis and Nicola Ellis from Wellington Wealth for Glasgow and Kate Shaw and Rebecca Tuck from Financial Life Planning for London. Absolute heroes. This is for them just as much as it’s for us.”
Thank you to the judges who saw something in what we did with New Blood, and for backing our equal parts experimental/ madcap/ hopefully thought-provoking approach to events.
Finally, congratulations to all those recognised and shortlisted at the Money Marketing Awards, and to all the winners.
Want to see what all the fuss is about? Our next event is all about testing the limits of AI in advice, and seeing what’s possible. Get involved:
HomeGame 6, Leith Theatre, 7 October
Tickets are free for advice professionals, £100 + VAT for everyone else.
