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 episode, Campaign speaks to Stephen Woodford, chief executive of the Advertising Association, on its Ad Net Zero program, the power adland holds in making positive change and whether tech platforms really doing enough. Before we speak to Stephen, Campaign's journalists gather to discuss ...
Feb 18, 2025•46 min•Season 4Ep. 28
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. Rawlings and McCabe are joined by Lynsey Atkin, outgoing chief creative officer at McCann London; Noel Bunting, CCO at Publicis London; and David Kolbusz, CCO at Orchard. The trio of creatives discuss Buffalo sauce, Steve Rogers’ love for donkeys and wheth...
Feb 11, 2025•27 min•Season 4Ep. 27
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. Conrad Persons, president of Grey London, who joins the podcast team in this latest epsiode, says: "'That’s how we do things round here' is one of the most abominable phrases in business." Persons is joined by Campaign's deputy editor, Gemma Charles, and premium content editor, Nicola Merrifield. The episode, hosted by tech editor Lucy Shelley, looks at balanci...
Feb 11, 2025•31 min•Season 4Ep. 26
As we approach Covid's five year anniversary, much has changed about the world of work and where we do it. After WPP's chief executive Mark Read announced that the holding company will be mandating four days a week, adland has had plenty to say on the approach to hybrid working. A petition was started by WPP employees to revoke the order and has almost reached 20,000 signatures. (It is open for anyone to sign up). Three weeks since, the topic is still one of Campaign’s most read. In this episode...
Feb 04, 2025•33 min•Season 4Ep. 25
Sneezing, coughing and catching a cold from the other side of the Atlantic might be this year's theme for UK advertisers. In this episode of The Campaign Podcast, host and tech editor Lucy Shelley is joined by deputy editor Gemma Charles, features editor Matt Barker and culture and creativity editor Alessandra Scotto di Santolo. The team discusses brands' reaction to Trump's re-election, after his inauguration on 20 January, and to Meta's overhaul of its global DEI programmes and US fact-checkin...
Jan 29, 2025•30 min•Season 4Ep. 24
"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'. It was revealed that £250m in billings has been lost from the North West to London in recent years, due to agencies relocations and advertisers bulling their business from northern agencies. In this episode, Wheatley dials in from his Manchester media agency Notorious Communic...
Jan 21, 2025•42 min•Season 4Ep. 23
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. This bonus episode includes the final panel of the event, moderated by deputy creativity and culture editor Charlotte Rawlings, with Chaka Sobhani, president and global chief creative officer of DDB Worldwide, Iain Tait, co-founder of Food Arts & Technology and Jonathan Kneebone, co-founder and director of Glue Society. The discu...
Jan 16, 2025•21 min•Season 4Ep. 22
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. Campaign's editor-in-chief Gideon Spanier sat down in a global exclusive interview with John Wren, CEO of Omnicom, and Philippe Krakowsky, CEO of IPG , after they announced the all-stock deal on 9 December to create the world's biggest agency group . Since then, the share...
Jan 14, 2025•39 min•Season 4Ep. 21
How is adland going to change this year? To get listeners ready for the year ahead, Campaign's editorial team give a taste of adland's predictions for the next 12 months, including which resolutions to give up and which take on in 2025. Tech editor Lucy Shelley hosts the episode alongside editor Maisie McCabe, culture and creativity editor Alessandra Scotto di Santolo and deputy media editor Shauna Lewis. After revealing their personal resolutions for the year, the team asks adland to give up ch...
Jan 08, 2025•36 min•Season 4Ep. 20
"A lukewarm snog" might be how one Campaign journalist describes 2024, but how would you? In the final episode of the year for The Campaign Podcast, the editorial team gathers one last time to recap the year and answer a very important, hard-hitting question: would you snog, marry or avoid 2024? From the Post Office scandal and dartsman Luke Littler, to the Jaguar rebrand and a year of elections, a lot has happened in the past 12 months both inside and outside adland's walls. Features editor Mat...
Jan 02, 2025•48 min•Season 4Ep. 19
Maisie McCabe, editor of Campaign UK and David Droga, founder of Droga5 and chief executive of Accenture Song, sat together on stage at Ciclope last month to discuss creativity, the evolving landscape of advertising and how to build meaningful connections between brands and audiences in the digital age. "Creative to the bone," said Droga describing himself and how he feels holding a CEO role. He explained how the job of an advertising creative is to "do more" with the briefs they are given, crea...
Dec 17, 2024•53 min•Season 4Ep. 18
2024 had big expectations when it came to artificial intelligence, but did the year live up to the hype... was it a year of "AI in action" as the IAB predicted or AI inaction? Campaign's editorial team gathers in the studio in an episode hosted by Maisie McCabe, UK editor, while tech editor Lucy Shelley (and usual host) swaps over to be in the hot seat. Also joined by features editor Matt Barker and deputy media editor Shauna Lewis, the four discuss the highs and lows of AI this year, including ...
Dec 10, 2024•37 min•Season 4Ep. 17
During the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, Channel 4 set themselves the target of subtitling all the ads during the channel's coverage , beginning at a current level of 25%. After a huge effort, the broadcaster managed to achieve 60% . In this episode, Channel 4's customer and commercial leader Amy Jenkins discusses how brands can do more to make ads accessible, the positive business impact this has and what, or who, is getting in the way. Campaign's tech editor Lucy Shelley hosts the episode with ...
Dec 03, 2024•44 min•Season 4Ep. 16
In this bonus episode, Charlotte Rawlings, senior creativity reporter at Campaign, is joined by Maisie McCabe, Campaign’s UK editor, to discuss this year’s Christmas ads with some of the industry’s top creatives. This Private View includes Chaka Sobhani, president and chief creative officer international at DDB Worldwide, and David Kolbusz, chief creative officer at Orchard. They chat all things festive alongside Richard Brim, outgoing chief creative officer at Adam & Eve/DDB. Brim recorded ...
Nov 28, 2024•45 min•Season 4Ep. 15
DING, DING, DING! Adland's agencies have entered the ring. In this episode, Campaign's editors of creativity, media and tech battle it out to determine which discipline should be the lead agency for clients. The team discuss how client relationships have changed over the years, how different budgets might change which discipline would lead and whether there should be a lead agency at all. Taking up the fight for creative agencies is Alessandra Scotto di Santolo, creativity and culture editor. Fo...
Nov 26, 2024•39 min•Season 4Ep. 14
Campaign’s editorial team take to the studio clad in Christmas jumpers and novelty antlers to chat about this year’s crop of festive ads. A wave of ads have dropped over the last few weeks, including the likes of John Lewis, Waitrose, McDonald’s, M&S, Coca-Cola, Amazon, Tesco and Sainsbury’s. In this episode, the team discusses some standout work as well as other spots that didn’t quite hit the mark. Guests also debate whether John Lewis still holds the yard stick when it comes to quality Ch...
Nov 19, 2024•41 min•Season 4Ep. 13
The jury is out and the 2024 awards season is drawing to a close – with adland celebrating the best work of the year at the Campaigns Big Awards 2024 last week. In this episode, tech editor Lucy Shelley catches up with co-chairs of judges Charlene Chandrasekaran, executive creative director at TheOr, and Nicholas Hulley, chief creative officer at Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO. Alongside Campaign's UK editor Maisie McCabe, they dissect what happened on the judging days and what makes award-winning wor...
Nov 12, 2024•31 min•Season 4Ep. 12
Campaign's editorial team gather in the studio to question how to launch a successful ad agency. This year we have seen exciting start ups include Uncharted founded by the female trio (Fern Miller, Hattie Matthews and Laura Jordan Bambach) and Publicis Groupe launching LeShop with 80 staff working across 20 brands. However, in the last five years, data from Avid Panda suggests that 42.5% of new marketing companies have closed and advertising agencies are the hardest to run, with a business morta...
Nov 05, 2024•40 min•Season 4Ep. 11
As Black History Month draws to a close, Campaign's editorial team is questioning has adland lost its commitment to DEI, and if so, why? After George Floyd's death in 2020, the advertising industry saw a flurry of activity and investment. In this episode, Campaign's tech editor Lucy Shelley is joined by deputy editor Gemma Charles to take a look at what adland has done in the four years since. They are joined by special guests Asad Dhunna, founder and chief executive of The Unmistakables, and So...
Oct 29, 2024•40 min•Season 4Ep. 10
A Campaign feature revealed the proportion of people experiencing or witnessing bullying and harassment in adland has increased from 34% in 2023 to 47% this year. This episode speaks to Lorraine Jennings-Creed, director of wellbeing services and culture change at Nabs, who delves into the issue, digging up why the ad industry has a problem and if it might be getting worse. She talks about how power dynamics in the industry intensify issues of bullying and harassment and what impact this has on b...
Oct 22, 2024•41 min•Season 4Ep. 9
The Media Week Awards 2024 took place last Thursday with a theatrical show, Rylan Clark and almost 1000 people in attendance. As one of the most prestigious awards in media, and one of the rowdiest nights in the calendar, this episode catches up with the chairs of judges and top winners on the night. Hosted by Campaign's tech editor Lucy Shelley, the episode begins with a catchup the morning after with media editor Beau Jackson and deputy media editor Shauna Lewis. They discuss some of the stand...
Oct 21, 2024•30 min•Season 4Ep. 8
In a Campaign feature on hybrid working , Thom Binding, co-founder of the Creative Communications Workers union, said culture is “a manipulative term defined by management”, often to enforce compliance, rather than genuinely foster a positive work environment. In this episode, the Campaign editorial team talk through the culture conundrum, with examples of manipulative culture as well as supportive, and why bad practices still exist. Hosted by tech editor Lucy Shelley, the studio welcomes featur...
Oct 15, 2024•31 min•Season 4Ep. 7
Publicis Groupe's chief executive Arthur Sadoun breaks his six-year silence from public speaking in the UK at Campaign's inaugural Campaign Live event. Opening the conference opposite Campaign's UK editor-in-chief Gideon Spanier, Sadoun is questioned on how to sell creativity and what has made Publicis Groupe "extract itself from the agency pack". In this episode, Spanier and tech editor Lucy Shelley have a brief chat about the interview before heading into the session from the event. The discus...
Oct 10, 2024•46 min•Season 4Ep. 6
Is true, and fair, cross-media measurement possible? ISBA launched its cross-media measurement platform Origin into beta trails last month , following successful alpha trials in 2023. However, the launch of Origin has thrown some questions and controversies into the air. In this episode, Campaign's media duo (Beau Jackson, media editor, and Shauna Lewis, deputy media editor) are joined by editor Maisie McCabe to discuss what the concerns are for broadcasters, how the industry is reacting and the...
Oct 08, 2024•26 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Is it risky for brands to pick a new agency without a proper pitch process, or is it time to reevaluate how agencies win business? Last month B&Q appointed Leo Burnett without a pitch , pushing out the incumbent Uncommon Creative Studio who had held the account since 2019. In this episode, Campaign's editorial team investigate the risks and benefits of a pitchless process, what is considered good practice and how it impacts creativity. With Campaign editor Maisie McCabe, deputy editor Gemma ...
Oct 01, 2024•35 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Last night the great and the glorious in podcasting gathered not around microphones but tables to attend the sold-out British Podcast Awards 2024, presented by Campaign in partnership with Wondery, Audible, Global, Podcast Discovery and YouTube. From Rylan Clark and Scott Mills to Greg James and the Whitehalls, celebs and independent podcasters alike assembled in London to celebrate the best in the business. In this episode, Lucy Shelley, tech editor at Campaign, and Adam Shepherd, editor of the...
Sep 27, 2024•32 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Agency brands have been through the wash this year with a laundry load of mergers, acquisitions, closures and some clean and sparkly new shops. In this episode, the Campaign editorial team discuss how agency brands become distinct and recognisable and what concoction of ingredients help them create their own brand. From famous leaders and agency names, to office location and calibre of clients, Campaign's journalists investigate what happens when an agency gets bought (in light of NCA's sale to ...
Sep 24, 2024•38 min•Season 4Ep. 2
"Who wants to advertise on Twitter with a maverick owner?," said Gideon Spanier, Campaign's UK editor in chief in this episode. Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, renamed X, journalists have been busy keeping up with the contention surrounding the platform – from cutting staff by 80% to blaspheming advertisers for withholding adspend; filing an antitrust lawsuit against GARM causing the body to close, and posting on X saying “civil war is inevitable” in the UK after the riots that took place thi...
Sep 17, 2024•40 min•Season 4Ep. 1
"Language is everything" in advertising, particularly for the Paralympics. Channel 4's "Considering what?" campaign frames Paralympians as world-class athletes rather than competitors "overcoming" their disabilities. The International Paralympic Committee's “They’re not playing games” left messages on social media from the Paris Paralympic 2024 athletes saying “I won’t be participating at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games” to then reveal that they will be "competing". This year's advertising sees ...
Sep 05, 2024•25 min•Season 3Ep. 239
Campaign teamed up with Activision Blizzard Media to explore the world of gaming ads and how brands and agencies can make the most of it. Gaming is big business - worth almost $250bn last year. Tuned-in brands are diversifying their channel mix and turning to gaming to capitalise on fandom's fierce nature and the growing attention the channel now commands. Yet, despite being one of the world’s most popular entertainment channels, it's still one of the least understood by advertisers. In this spe...
Sep 02, 2024•26 min•Ep. 238
