the campaign podcast by Campaign

Over the last two weeks, adland has seen some major changes for two of the biggest global media accounts: PepsiCo and Coca-Cola. 

The final three months of the year are some of the most important in adland. Known as the golden quarter, the year closes with a final push to meet targets, helped by some of the biggest commercial moments of the year including Black Friday and of course, Christmas.

Waitrose's branded podcast recently passed one billion downloads, views and listens, staking a claim as the world’s most successful branded podcast, while also receiving the most nominations for this year's British Podcast Awards. Media and entertainment are becoming more ever closer, so in this episode, Campaign digs into why branded content is on the rise, what makes it good and questions whether Dish’s success can be achieved by other brands. 

Since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister in July, he has been producing social media content with creators and has garnered over half a million followers in TikTok and over 700,000 on Instagram. But will a social media-focused strategy work for the PM?

WPP reported its Q2 results in the last few weeks, six months after chief executive Cindy Rose launched its three year Elevate28 plan to turn the holding company’s fortunes around. Now almost a year into her role, Rose said the network has “everything it needs” to achieve its plan, with analysts calling the results “better than expected” and a “glimmer of hope”.

Pitching is what many call the “lifeblood” of agencies, but also the cause of their biggest strain. Almost three-quarters of adland employees have considered leaving the industry due to new-business-related stress, found research from The Great Pitch Poll 2026 published this summer, which also revealed that client expectations and demands relating to AI have increased pressure. 

At Cannes Lions this year, the Media Lions grand prix went to Uber Eats’ “Build your own Super Bowl commercial” by Special US, a campaign which acts as a form of entertainment for the viewers. This win followed Amanda Morrissey, Global President, iProspect and Chief Growth Officer of Media at dentsu, who was a juror on the Media Lions and said on The Campaign Podcast that judging the media category was more like judging an entertainment category. Plus, Publicis Groupe acquired sports and entertainment agency 160over90 this year, which will sit in the holding company's media division.

From Catbird Seat which was unveiled earlier this month through to a few other recent launches such as Baby Teeth, Ace of Hearts and 05:37 Brand Studio, agencies are thinking long and hard about their branding. But how much do these monikers matter, is it just about the work and the people? And what what are some of the pitfalls when you get it wrong?

As the Fifa World Cup gets closer to crowning the winner, Campaign invites advertising creatives to review a selection of ads that are celebrating the football tournament.

The Campaign editorial team are back after spending last week (22 June - 26 June) at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2026.

PARTNER CONTENT: Media fragmentation is often painted as one of marketing's biggest challenges. But what if the real issue isn't complexity itself – it's how organisations respond to it?

The Campaign team looks back on Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2026. Editors from Campaign's sites around the world pick their highlights, including the Film Lions and Titanium winners and the big themes of the festival, plus the best parties.

The Campaign team has been busy in Cannes Lions and reports what's been happening so far at the festival, which runs from 22 to 26 June.

The Campaign team looks forward to Cannes Lions in this preview episode about the festival, which runs from 22 to 26 June. Editors from our sites around the world give their tips for the festival and discuss everything that’s going on at Campaign House, our dedicated venue at Cannes. Plus they talk about how the Lions award entry rules have changed this year, the work from their region that they would like to see win and the mood in the ad industry.

Lord Heseltine tells the story of the birth of the European Space Agency. Why post-Apollo, when the US was spending £1.2 billion a year on space, the whole of Europe was spending just £200 million. Why the birth of ESA was driven by the self-interest of three major countries. Why the US general with a $29 billion budget for the Star Wars project wanted to invest in Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. Why, the idea that Britain could compete alone with the technologies that were accumulated and available to the American capitalist system was “simply laughable”. Why “being European is not selling out British interests”. And why Margaret Thatcher told him: “If you want to get on and put your budget into this, you can, but you're not getting any of mine." 

Ahead of Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity taking place next week, Campaign catches up with three jurors to give us an insight into the judging process and what they expect from the festival and its winners this year. 

In 2025, Cannes Lions was dampened by controversy after three awards were withdrawn over fabrication of case studies and concerns around their legitimacy.

In 2025, there was a major rollback of DEI initiatives, and in 2026 the gender pay gap widened in advertising, while it shrinks in other sectors. 

Campaign's Media 360 opened its doors last week to a room of senior marketers, media owners and agency leaders. Food critic and Masterchef presenter Grace Dent opened the two-day conference in Brighton with speakers including co-host of The Rest Is Politics, Alastair Campbell, The Guardian's global chief advertising officer Imogen Fox and Michelle Spillane, managing director, Paddy Power Online at Flutter UK.

The advertising and media industry is going through a period of massive change, as a result of AI, economic and global pressures, organisational restructures and redundancies. In the latest market report from Campaign Red called “The Great Reboot”, we reported that the top holding companies cut 12,000 people from their businesses.

Adland’s agency networks have been forced to think differently, after a challenging year for holding companies with economic instability, a mega-merger and AI disruption.

Media has seen a string of deals in the last year, poised to consolidate key areas of the market. Paramount Skydance seeks to complete its $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros., and in the UK, Sky ponders its bid to acquire the broadcast and ad sales division of ITV. In publishing, after several other attempts fell through, European media group Axel Springer, which owns Business Insider and Politico, has agreed to buy the Telegraph Media Group for the sum of £575m.

Publicis Groupe acquired sports marketing and entertainment agency 160over90 this month, in a move it claims will “disrupt” the sector.

Last year WPP, Apple and Amazon increased their in-office days, with the latter two tech companies mandating five days in office. In February this year, adland’s best-performing holding company Publicis Groupe increased its mandated staff attendance from three days to four.

In March, Meta and Google were found liable for designing addictive platforms that harmed a young user's mental health, a verdict both platforms disagree with and plan to appeal. Channel 4 also released its documentary called Molly vs The Machines about a 14 year old girl who took her own life after seeing harmful content online. Plus, the UK Government began a consultation for a potential ban for under 16s to improve digital safety, following Australia's ban in December, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer saying we “have to act”.

In-house agencies have been growing over the last few years, as brands have been taking more work in-house and building bespoke teams. In the last few weeks, Allwyn launched an in-house studio, ITV shifted its retained creative account from Uncommon to ITV Creative and Uncommon’s executive creative director Richard Biggs jumped to BBC Creative. 

In a break from the usual listen, we're bringing you the first three episodes of The Karman Line, a new podcast about the UK space industry from Haymarket Media Group, the owner of Campaign. This burgeoning sector is keen to communicate the extraordinary things it is doing to wider, complementary audiences.

Campaign's annual School Reports scrutinise and assess 80 UK agencies from across the industry, giving them each a score between 1 and 9.

Gaming has firmly entered the mainstream, with more than three billion players worldwide and engagement levels that now rival – and often exceed – social platforms. What was once seen as a niche channel is now a dominant cultural force, commanding time, attention and participation at scale.

In a break from the usual listen, we're bringing you the first three episodes of The Karman Line, a new podcast about the UK space industry from Haymarket Media Group, the owner of Campaign. This burgeoning sector is keen to communicate the extraordinary things it is doing to wider, complementary audiences.

If gaming is not to be considered a media channel, what is it? Campaign hosted the Gaming Summit this month, and many speakers at the event asserted that gaming should be considered more than just a channel to activate to make the most of its 3.5 billion global audience.

The quote “good artists copy, great artists steal” also applies to advertising. Some ads are paying homage while some simply rip others off when creatives spot a good idea.

In a break from the usual listen, we're bringing you The Karman Line, which is a new podcast on the British space industry from Haymarket Media Group, the owner of Campaign.

WPP announced a new strategy and structure last week, on Thursday 26 February, as the company hopes to turn its fate around, while reporting its worst financial performance since the pandemic. 

Campaign has released the A List – a compilation of over 200 industry leaders and their musings on the year gone and year ahead. In 2025, the advertising and marketing industry underwent some huge organisational shifts. With revenue declines and share price drops, job cuts, leadership changes and legacy agencies changing their names, 2026 marks a new era for the industry.

Media planners and buyers, like many in adland, have been tackling a period of immense change. AI, media fragmentation and budget restraints are all impacting the roles within media.

Following the Super Bowl LX over the weekend, David Kolbusz, chief creative officer at Orchard Creative; Helen Rhodes, chief creative officer at Grey London; and Josh Green, chief creative officer of Elvis review a selection of the ads in this week's episode of The Campaign Podcast. 

The FIFA World Cup really is bigger this year, taking place in Summer across 39 days, taking place in 16 cities across the US, Mexico and Canada. While all the on-pitch fun is happening across the Atlantic, how can brands across the pond engage UK audiences effectively and authentically?

Campaign's "agencies to watch" lists the top media, creative and new shops that are likely to have an impact in the next 12 months. This episode discusses the chosen agencies, how the lists have changed from 2025, and what makes an agency worth watching, or not.

2025 saw an incredible amount of change and pressure for the industry and its agencies – steering the ship through heavy storms has become even tougher.

Adland leaders announced their optimism at last week's Year Ahead Breakfast Briefing in The National Gallery, talking about the trends and strategies across creativity, technology, leadership, brands and media for 2026.

Campaign LOVES a pitch story, and the tail end of last year was very busy with many pitches taking place or being won right up to the final week.

As the "happy new years" ring out, what resolutions are those in adland setting for 2026?

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Does January feel like a week ago or five years? The past 12 months have brought with them a lot – a mega-deal, cyber attacks, agencies renamed, new chief executives, trends fading in and out, redundancies and, of course, AI.

Waitrose, John Lewis, Tesco... the Christmas ads are all out and it's time for them to start selling. But what do adland's creative leaders make of the campaigns?

Omnicom completed its acquisition of IPG on Wednesday 26 November after clearing EU regulation. On the Monday that followed (1 December) the new holding company revealed a huge restructure including 4000 job cuts to happen by the end of the year, agencies merging, new leadership announced and some networks ceasing to exist.

At the start of the year, 2025 was predicted by some adland commentators to be the year for independent agencies. Omnicom was beginning to acquire IPG to make the largest holding company, redundancies occurred across some of the networks and WPP had a more-than-difficult year on top of a new chief executive.

Christmas ads keep snowing down across TV, social, live experiences and digital channels. With the multiplicity of formats and audiences fragmenting, does TV still reign as the top channel for festive films?

Where are all the mince pies? Still in Christmas advertising it seems, despite the Less Healthy Food and drink (LHF) restrictions.

Christmas has hit adland like a snowball in the face, with the festive ads coming in thick and fast, so what can be gleaned from the first phase of holiday advertising?

Advertisers have been pulling investment from newsbrands and trusted journalism for years. The latest AA/Warc figures show that national and regional newsbrands, along with magazines, have suffered the steepest declines in adspend across all channels, while tech platforms continue to claim a growing share of the market.

WPP, Publicis Groupe, Omnicom, Interpublic, Havas and Dentsu have hitherto been known to adland as the "big six". However, the past year has brought the announcement of a proposed merger between Omnicom and IPG, while Havas and Dentsu have become comparatively smaller.

This episode of The Campaign Podcast explores whether marketers are using AI to do work traditionally done by their agencies and examines what clients are – and aren’t – doing with AI.

Campaign published its Faces to Watch list for 2025 last month and also canvassed the cohort on a range of topics both on and off-the-record. From hybrid-working and salary through to the rise of AI and diversity, the Faces – all of whom have worked in adland for eight years or less – gave their views freely.

Neurodiversity exists in between 15 and 20% of UK adults, but recent All In data counts over half of adland’s UK workforce as neurodiverse, at 55%.

Ndidi Oteh, the new global chief executive of Accenture Song, was interview on stage by Campaign's editor-in-chief Gideon Spanier at Campaign Live in her first UK interview.

Cars, airlines, FMCG brands and banks used to be some of the most desirables clients to have for an agency. Some clients are still more desirable to agencies than others, but is it based on size, market, sector or another factor? 

Podcast: What will the next 70 years of commercial TV look like?

Media platforms, including Meta, TikTok, X, Spotify, Pinterest and others, have been advancing their own AI capabilities to improve the advertising process of creating and serving ads to an audience. So where does this leave media and creative agencies?

Omnicom and IPG have kept their cards close to their chests while nearing completion of the biggest acquisition in advertising history. 

Campaign releases an unpublished recording from the inaugural Campaign Live conference last year.

It is the summer of women’s sport, or ‘simply sport’ as Campaign's deputy editor Gemma Charles put it, and records are being broken both on and off the pitch.

The long-term row between independent production companies and those that sit within holding companies has resurfaced in recent weeks over best practice when it comes to bidding and being selected for work. 

WPP announced this month that Microsoft executive Cindy Rose will succeed outgoing chief executive Mark Read. Rose is currently chief operating officer, global enterprise, at Microsoft and will be WPP’s third CEO and the first female leader of a major agency holding company. 

Three awards have been withdrawn from Cannes Lions 2025 over fabrication of case studies and concerns around their legitimacy. In the weeks that have followed Cannes Festival of Creativity, the integrity of advertising awards has been questioned and what was once widely accepted in advertising awards, has now been exposed.

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As 2025's Pride Month comes to a close, Campaign reflects on how the global DEI rollback has impacted the way brands show up for LGBTQIA+ communities.

Campaign asked this year’s A List cohort to name their favourite TV ad ahead of the upcoming 70th anniversary of commercial television. Guinness “Surfer” by AMV BBDO came out top.

Campaign’s editors from around the world come together after the Lions festival for the final episode of the Campaign Cannes global podcast in partnership with Ocean Outdoor.

Campaign’s editors from around the world come together at Campaign House at the Lions festival for the second episode of the Campaign Cannes global podcast in partnership with Ocean Outdoor.

Campaign’s editors from around the world come together ahead of the Lions festival for the first episode of the Campaign Cannes global podcast in partnership with Ocean Outdoor.

Group M, the world's largest media buying group, has undergone a titanic course correction and "simplification", re-emerging as WPP Media. While the destination "makes sense", according to Campaign's editor-in-chief Gideon Spanier, the reorganisation is coming at a huge cost to those that work there.

Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity 2025 is only a few weeks away. With the prejudging completed last week, Campaign speaks to three jurors on what they're expecting this year at Cannes and what purpose the festival serves in a year of economic turbulence.

VCCP London’s chief executive Andrew Peake is the special guest in the studio, joining Campaign’s creativity and culture editor Gurjit Degun, deputy editor Gemma Charles and features editor Matt Barker.

Campaign hosted its star event Media360 in Brighton this week, gathering together leaders from UK media agencies, owners and businesses to discuss and question where media is headed in 2025.

In this special episode of The Campaign Podcast, Charlotte Rawlings, deputy creativity and culture editor at Campaign, chats to four of the industry’s top creatives about some recent ads. 

The darker side of agency life reveals that burnout is still an issue in advertising. Adland is infamously known for late night calls, weekend pitch prep and a culture of long working hours being the norm. Four years ago Campaign launched an investigation into the darker side of agency work and in this year’s follow up, it seems little progress has been made.

Live experiences couldn't get more real. They provide consumers with a tangible connection to a brand. But in an era of declining third spaces, consumers need to be wowed if they are to venture out their homes to attend an event.

Women in creative leadership roles have been leaving adland. The IPA Census reported a decline in both of the last two years, down from 30% in 2022 to 25.6% in 2024. On top of this, the Census reported a widening pay gap, increasing to almost 20% in 2024.

Last week, the greats of UK media gathered in London to celebrate the Campaign Media Awards 2025. The coveted Commercial Team of the Year award went to LADbible while Spark Foundry’s Mondelez Team took home Agency Team of the Year.

In February this year, the UK government published a consultation on AI, proposing a change to current copyright legislation. It would allow tech companies to use creative works including film, TV and original journalism to train AI models without permission of the creators, unless they have opted out.

What links McDonald's "Iconic needs no explanation" by Leo Burnett, KFC's gravy take over of the BFI and Kellogg's "See you in the morning" also by Leo Burnett? These three ads are the latest in a line of out-of-home posters that zoom in on products, alter or remove logos and have minimal text. Tesco, Heinz and B&Q have also created similar ads.

Campaign's Agency of the Year Awards took place last week celebrating the best shops in adland across creative, media, independent, customer engagement, start-up and more.

Principal-based media buying, which includes inventory media and proprietary media, has become a key practice for large agency groups, but it remains opaque, with finance trails and pricing structures largely in the dark. 

Campaign has released its biggest project of the year, reviewing and marking the top 92 agencies in the UK for Campaign's 2025 School Reports, in partnership with Nielsen.

"There is an unofficial reason why pre-testing is so popular, and that's that clients work in very complex organisations with lots of stakeholders," says Martin Beverley, former chief strategy officer at Adam & Eve/DDB.

"Unprecedented","furlough" and "bubbles" are a few of the words that are reminiscent of 2020. On 23rd March five years ago, the UK prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the UK was entering a lockdown as a result of the spread of Coronavirus. 

Holding company solutions are on the rise, particularly for large clients whose spend is in the £100 millions. 

One would think that the answer to "what is Group M?" would be a short one, but after many changes, mergers, shuffles and dissolutions at WPP's media arm in the last 12 months, the answer is not so.

The advertising industry accounts for 3% to 4% of global emissions, twice that of the aviation industry, found research from the IAB. Is it truly making an effort to reduce its impact on the environment?

In this bonus episode of The Campaign Podcast, Charlotte Rawlings, deputy creativity and culture editor at Campaign, is joined by Maisie McCabe, Campaign’s UK editor, to discuss the ads that aired throughout the 59th Super Bowl on 10 February. 

When a new boss steps in to lead an agency, they must weigh up how much they change the business and how much the business changes them.

As we approach Covid's five year anniversary, much has changed about the world of work and where we do it.

Sneezing, coughing and catching a cold from the other side of the Atlantic might be this year's theme for UK advertisers.

"It's time to ditch the 'R' word," said Nik Wheatley last year in an article on Campaign that exposed the regional divide that exists in adland, and the danger of categorising everywhere outside of London as the 'regions'.

At Campaign's Year Ahead Breakfast Briefing this Tuesday 14 January, industry leaders took to the stage to give their predictions, concerns and excitement for 2025.

After dominating news headlines throughout December, and likely well into 2025, it is all still possible for the Omnicom-IPG merger to fall through, repeating history from 2013 when Omnicom failed to merge with Publicis Groupe.

How is adland going to change this year?