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 more recently in 2023, Barbie released an entirely pink billboard with only "July 21" in the corner to promote the release of the film.

Campaign's editorial team discuss if original ideas still exist in outdoor ads and if all the good ideas have been taken. Hosted by tech editor Lucy Shelley, this episode features editor Maisie McCabe, creativity and culture editor Alessandra Scotto di Santolo and deputy creativity and culture editor Charlotte Rawlings.

Further reading:

Is the art of out-of-home copywriting under threat?

Playing with the logo is nothing new; but it might signal a return to intelligent advertising

The distinctive asset in the room

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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 importance of an entrepreneurial spirit while Rapp's CMO Tracey Barber discussed how to protect employees from being poached after award wins. Mother's chief communications officer Tom Wong spoke about the importance of independence and the agency's triad of success: make the best work, have fun, and make a living not a killing.

View all the winners here.

Coming up in the Campaign calendar:

Ad Net Zero Awards open for entries

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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" in principal-based media and painting “a misleading picture of how agencies operate”, serving "only to perpetuate the myth that agencies are acting against the interests of their clients”.

In this episode, Campaign's editorial team discuss why this topic is so controversial, shedding light on concerns that exist and the reasons that it remains so obscure. Hosted by tech editor Lucy Shelley, the chat features UK editor-in-chief Gideon Spanier, UK editor Maisie McCabe and media editor Beau Jackson.

Further reading:

Will the 'big six' become the 'big three'?

Media is key battleground for agency giants in new world order

Mark Read on WPP’s creative agencies slump, big clients spending more and four-day office mandate

Do the latest holding company results signify a shift towards media first?

The $31bn Omnicom-IPG deal has industrial logic but also many caveats

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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 media pitches (Amazon, L'Oreal and Ebay, to name a few).

Hosted by tech editor Lucy Shelley, this chat includes editor Maisie McCabe, deputy editor Gemma Charles and features editor Matt Barker.

Further reading:

School Reports 2025: Top creative agencies

School Reports 2025: Top media agencies

School Reports 2025: Top holding companies

School Reports 2025: Top regional agencies

School Reports 2025: Which agencies got the highest marks?

School Reports 2025: Which agencies improved their marks?

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"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 wasn’t divisive but actually a "no-brainer", that it’s essentially infallible, and we now live in a different age of pre-testing. Beverley discusses this argument alongside Campaign editor Maisie McCabe and deputy creativity and culture editor Charlotte Rawlings, hosted by tech editor Lucy Shelley. The team consider how creatives and strategists should look at the bigger picture, what certainty does for creativity and if pre-testing denies originality.

Plus, at the end of the episode, Campaign tests the pre-testing, with Rawlings and Shelley testing their own ad ideas for Liquid Death using Kantar's Link AI early stage testing tool.

Further reading:

How do you solve a problem like… pre-testing?

The Year Ahead for Campaign

Is big data driving a short-term view?

Troy Ruhanen: 'I wouldn't have taken OAG job if it was all about efficiency and smashing things'

Former Amazon CCO Simon Morris appointed chair of new audience insight platform

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"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 answer the question if adland has indeed changed for the better, how hybrid working has affected creative and media teams, what has happened to DEI and the impact that new ways of working has had on young people.

Hosted by Campaign tech editor Lucy Shelley, the episode includes editor-in-chief Gideon Spanier, deputy editor Gemma Charles and deputy creativity and culture editor Charlotte Rawlings.

Further reading:

Five years after Covid, live events are thriving – what’s fuelling the resurgence?

Will return-to-office mandates push back inclusion?

When will adland go back to five days in office?

WPP employees push back on return-to-office policy with petition

A year that has changed the ad industry for the better

The coronavirus crisis: countdown to the fastest advertising downturn in history

Read Campaign's May 2020 issue in full

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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 solutions really work? And what becomes of the individual agency brands when amalgamated into one solution? Campaign's journalists gather in the studio to discuss.

This episode features editor-in-chief Gideon Spanier, creativity and culture editor Alessandra Scotto di Santolo and media editor Beau Jackson. It is hosted by tech editor Lucy Shelley.

Further reading:

Santander on its shift to one global agency, why it picked Publicis and how ‘data is key’

Will more agencies move to a holding company solution for their biggest clients?

Pfizer moves creative from IPG to Publicis after just 10 months

WPP’s Mark Read on client demand for AI and fewer agency partners

WPP triumphs over Publicis Groupe to win Centrica's integrated review

British Gas turns up the heat with media, creative and below-the-line review

British Gas appoints media and creative agencies

WPP wins majority of $4 billion Coca-Cola business

The $100m question for agencies

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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 what it is now. The team examines Group M's relationship with its agency brands, their identity, and what the future holds for the media group.

This episode features media editor Beau Jackson, deputy media editor Shauna Lewis and editor Maisie McCabe. It is hosted by tech editor Lucy Shelley.

Further reading:

Henkel assigns €500m expanded European media account

Unilever announces result of global media review with six rivals sharing duties

Former Group M China executives to face Shanghai court over bribery allegations

Group M upgrades UK advertising growth forecast from 4.4% to 7.7% in 2025

WPP wants NCA's Midas touch as it battles to revive fortunes

How important are agency brands?

Amazon splits global media between two networks after competitive review

Group M builds new global growth and marketing team under Toby Jenner

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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 media's varying impact, what happens to agencies with fossil fuel clients, and AI's impact on the environment. Hosted by tech editor Lucy Shelley, this episode features creativity and culture editor Alessandra Scotto di Santolo, media editor Beau Jackson and deputy media editor Shauna Lewis.

Coming up in the Campaign calendar:

Campaign Agency of the Year Global Awards deadline

Further reading:

Vodafone cuts media carbon footprint by a third

‘Reputational damage comes from hypocrisy’: why some agencies are pulling back from fossil fuel clients – and others are not

Half of adland believes advertising has negative environmental impact

No lights, cameras or action: how adland is adapting to production interruption

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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 whether the Super Bowl formula of celebrity cameos is truly effective. Listen to their opinions on Uber Eats, Squarespace, Stella Artois and more. 

Further reading:

• ‘Fast and Furious’ stars chill out in Häagen-Dazs’ Super Bowl spot
• Don’t study the Super Bowl ads, study the fandom
• Nike uses its first platform on the Super Bowl stage in 27 years to challenge double standard in women's sports
• Channel 4 ad takes Super Bowl literally
• Are advertisers over-investing in the Super Bowl?

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