Campaign releases an unpublished recording from the inaugural Campaign Live conference last year. Unilever's former chief marketing officer Keith Weed and chief financial officer Graeme Pitkethly are interviewed on stage by Campaign’s editor-in-chief Gideon Spanier . They discuss how to keep the peace in the infamously tense CMO and CFO relationship that they said requires "mutual respect" from both sides. Weed says: "If you can create a good atmosphere between the CFO and the CMO, it creates a ...
Aug 13, 2025•40 min•Season 4Ep. 53
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 Women’s Euro’s, which was viewed by 16.2 million people during the final, has been touted as the most commercially successful football tournament ever — women’s or men’s — with 30,000 more ads per day than last year’s men’s tournament. The women’s rugby world cup takes place this month and has targeted viewing hours of 50 million vers...
Aug 05, 2025•43 min•Season 4Ep. 52
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. Production craft festival Ciclope ended its sponsorship contracts with holding companies , which began an online debate between the Advertising Producers Association and the IPA on LinkedIn. The APA’s chief executive Steve Davies suggested a forum to establish best practice in bidding, while ...
Jul 29, 2025•30 min•Season 4Ep. 51
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. The announcement, which came sooner than expected, came one day after the holding company issued a shock profit warning to the stock market, and follows major losses for WPP including the Mars account and a portion of the C...
Jul 22, 2025•32 min•Season 4Ep. 50
Three awards have been withdrawn from Cannes Lions 2025 over fabrication of case studies and concerns around their legitimacy.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. DM9's “Efficient way to pay” was the most notable withdrawal as it won the Grand Prix in the Creative Data Lions. The DDB agency was caught using AI to fabricate news coverage...
Jul 16, 2025•31 min•Season 4Ep. 49
From custom emotes to immersive live streams, this sponsored episode of The Campaign Podcast explores how Twitch is enabling brands to participate in culture firsthand versus watching it happen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jul 10, 2025•28 min
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. Gay Times' chief executive Tag Warner said the news outlet has lost £5m in ad revenue this year due to eight of its top ten advertisers pulling their contracts, and Thinkbox's head of marketing Chris Dunne, who is also chief executive of Outvertising, also commented on the noticeable drawback by brands. While it might on the surface seem like the ...
Jul 08, 2025•26 min•Season 4Ep. 48
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. One trend that emerged from the choices was that many of the most popular ads were more than 25 years old. Armed with this finding, Campaign reporter Eszter Gurbicz wrote a feature exploring the industry’s love of old ads. This episode of the Campaign Podcast dissects the qualities that make ads stick in peoples’ minds...
Jul 01, 2025•28 min•Season 4Ep. 47
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. We review the festival and talk about the work that won, the big trends that emerged, the first year of Campaign House and the best parties. Gideon Spanier (far left), the UK editor-in-chief of Campaign, hosts the podcast and is joined by Maisie McCabe, editor of Campaign UK, David Brown, co-editor of Campaign Canada, and L...
Jun 25, 2025•27 min
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. Gideon Spanier, the UK editor-in-chief of Campaign, hosts the podcast and is joined by Maisie McCabe, editor of Campaign UK, Nikita Mishra, editor of Campaign Asia, Chris Powell, co-editor of Campaign Canada, and Luz Corona, editor of Campaign US. We talk about the buzz at the midway point during the festiva...
Jun 19, 2025•28 min
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. We preview the festival and talk about the work we want to win, the mood in the ad industry and Campaign House – our exciting new venue at Cannes. Gideon Spanier (centre in picture), the UK editor-in-chief of Campaign, hosts the podcast and is joined by Maisie McCabe, editor of Campaign UK, Nikita Mishra, editor of Campa...
Jun 13, 2025•23 min
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 12, 2025•27 min
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. In February this year, The Campaign Podcast asked ' What is Group M? ' and in the three months since, the group has merged agency brands into a single P&L , got rid of agency specific jobs titl...
Jun 10, 2025•33 min•Season 4Ep. 46
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. Tech editor Lucy Shelley speaks to Kate Stanners, president of the Film Lions and global chief creative officer and chair of Saatchi & Saatchi; Dan Clays, president of the Media Lions and chief executive officer EMEA at Omnicom Media Group...
Jun 03, 2025•31 min•Season 4Ep. 45
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. Andrew explains why VCCP are moving out of their home in London’s Victoria after 23 years and heading over to Fitzrovia, prompting a conversation among the quartet around the role that offices – and crucially, office cultures – have to play in attracting talent. That then leads to further chat ab...
May 27, 2025•26 min•Season 4Ep. 44
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. Hosted by the chief executives of Essencemediacom and Hearts & Science, Natalie Cummins and Garrett O’Rielly, the two days covered connecting with gen Z, what to do about AI and urged advertisers to support trusted journalism. Jamie Laing opened the conference in the hot seat questioned by Campaign edito...
May 23, 2025•34 min•Season 4Ep. 43
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. Rawlings is joined by Laura Rogers, executive creative director at AMV BBDO; Jonny Parker and Chris Birch, joint chief creative officers at VCCP; and Caitlin Ryan, creative partner at Dentsu Creative. The creatives discuss the longevity of brand mascots, their favourite type of crumpets and how the PG Tips Mon...
May 20, 2025•33 min•Season 4Ep. 42
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. This week is Mental Health Awareness week, and in this episode Campaign speaks to Sue Todd, chief executive at advertising and media char...
May 13, 2025•41 min•Season 4Ep. 41
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. Louisa O'Conner if the founder and managing director of experiential agency Seen Presents. She joins the podcast to discuss the change in consumer behaviour, why consumers generally prefer grassroots events to premium and how the pressure put on live experiences makes ...
May 06, 2025•32 min•Season 4Ep. 40
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. This episode welcomes Laura Jordan Bambach to the studio, founder and chief creative officer of female founded Uncharted. Alongside editor Maisie McCabe and deputy creativity and culture editor Charlotte Rawlings, they discuss why it’s got wors...
Apr 29, 2025•37 min•Season 4Ep. 39
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 . The winning Campaign of the Year was awarded to PHD and "Stream of (un)consciousness" for the British Heart Foundation. The gaming campaign worked with Twitch creators, interrupting their streams to teach viewers how to do CPR, and the results were powerful, with so...
Apr 23, 2025•23 min•Season 4Ep. 38
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. It was met with harsh criticism, rallying "Make it fair" campaigns and rejections from both creatives and tech platforms alike, albeit for opposite reasons. Google and OpenAI responded to the cons...
Apr 15, 2025•26 min•Season 4Ep. 37
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. While this might be a trend, it certainly isn't new. A 1990 Silk Cut ad "Slash" by Saatchi & Saatchi also had a similar minimalist style and mo...
Apr 08, 2025•28 min•Season 4Ep. 36
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. This episode chats to three of the big winners: Mother, who took home Creative Agency of the Year , MG OMD which won Media Agency and Rapp which celebrated five awards with three golds: Performance Marketing Agency , New Business Leader and Customer Engagement Agency Leader. MG OMG's CEO Natalie Bell talked about the importanc...
Apr 03, 2025•31 min•Season 4Ep. 35
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. In March this year, ISBA updated its media services framework calling out media agencies for lack of transparency and "non-compliance", which it said has been leading to "tensions" between advertisers and agencies. The IPA hit back at ISBA for suggesting "systemic malpractice" ...
Apr 01, 2025•26 min•Season 4Ep. 34
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. In this episode, Campaign's editorial team reveals its overall impression on the reports, what they divulge about the health of the industry by analysing the billings across media and creative and how diversity has been impacted in the last year. They discuss how creativity fared in 2024 and the consequence of a few huge medi...
Mar 25, 2025•32 min•Season 4Ep. 33
"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 . Beverley joins the Campaign team on the podcast to discuss the efficacy of pre-testing and its contentiousness in adland: some say data can stifle creativity while others argue it’s a sure method to improve advertising effectiveness. Marketing professor Mark Ritson said it w...
Mar 18, 2025•40 min•Season 4Ep. 32
"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. Now in 2025, the way in which we work has been upturned and a "new normal" is being established. As for the advertising industry, has it changed for the better, or is it still looking back to years gone by? In this episode, the campaign team will answe...
Mar 11, 2025•38 min•Season 4Ep. 31
Holding company solutions are on the rise, particularly for large clients whose spend is in the £100 millions. Publicis Flame is the latest to ignite, created after Santander appointed Publicis Groupe to its global creative and media business. Ongoing pitches include Natwest which is also looking for a single holding company to take on its media and creative business. Holding companies have been expanding their offerings across creative, media, tech and data to service client needs, but do these...
Mar 04, 2025•32 min•Season 4Ep. 30
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. Group M is the largest media buying group in the world and in this episode, Campaign's journalists discuss what the company was when it began in the early 2000s, what has happened in the last 12 months including losing Sky , the closure of EssenceMediacom X and axing its global agency CEO roles , and...
Feb 25, 2025•32 min•Season 4Ep. 29
