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 Monkey has transformed into a loving husband.

Listen to their opinions on British Gas, Warburtons, KFC and more. 

Further reading: 

• PG Tips brings back Monkey in campaign featuring Emily Atack
• British Gas launches brand platform with cosy characters
• Olivia Colman takes crumpet duty seriously in Warburtons campaign
• Warburtons radio ads feature Olivia Colman denying 'crumpet heist'
• KFC spot launches burger with cult-like dinner ceremony
• Confused.com spot turns people into helium-filled inflatables

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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 charity Nabs, and David Eakins, former art director and now mental health campaigner and founder of workplace wellbeing agency Happy Sapien.

Hosted by tech editor Lucy Shelley, Campaign's editor Maisie McCabe also joins the discussion. They explore why adland has not solved the issue of burnout and what can be done to protect its people.

Content warning: this episode contains references to suicide. If you have been affected by issues raised in this episode and need a number to call, you can reach Nabs at 0800 707 6607, Calm on 0800 1111 or Samaritans on 116 123.

Further reading:

An open letter to the gatekeepers of creative greatness

Nabs helpline calls reach annual record of 5200

Why hasn’t adland tackled its long-hours culture?

Does adland wish it was ‘Severed’?

Coming up in the Campaign calendar:

Campaign Live

Campaign Big Awards

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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 them feel like the ultimate wedding.

Hosted by Campaign's tech editor Lucy Shelley, this episode also features deputy creativity and culture editor Charlotte Rawlings.

Further reading:

The experiential antidote to Gen Z’s dying third place

UK firms cut marketing budgets for first time in four years: IPA Bellwether

‘A tough start to the year’: IPA Bellwether adland reaction

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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 worse, if there was any improvement seen in the first place and what needs to be done to amend the issue.

Jordan Bambach, who launched The Great British Diversity Experiment nine years ago, explained that when agencies feel under pressure from economic and other external storms, they return to "muscle memory", and rely on behaviours of the past. The industry needs to reframe what it is to be a successful creative leader and adjust perceptions, she said.

This episode was hosted by tech editor Lucy Shelley.

Further reading:

I can’t believe I still have to write columns about this shit

Under-appreciated, overlooked and misunderstood: the life of a female creative

3 great ads I had nothing to do with – #68 with Laura Jordan Bambach

My Cannes Snapshot: Laura Jordan Bambach

Laura Jordan Bambach, Hannah Matthews and Fern Miller unveil 'advanced' creative agency

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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 someone’s life being saved after a viewer saw one streamer’s CPR segment. Judges said they couldn’t “wish or hope for more for a client in this sector.”

In this bonus episode we are chatting to the brains behind the campaign, Tess Gullis, gaming business director at PHD. We discuss how the campaign is successful in its simplicity, the misconceptions that still exist from advertisers and answer why brands are overcomplicating gaming.

Hosted by Campaign tech editor Lucy Shelley, this episode also features deputy media editor Shauna Lewis.

View all the winners here.

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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 consultation saying that it would cause developers to "deprioritise the market" and that "training on the open web must be free" while creative industries including Alex Mahon, chief executive of Channel 4, said that the lack of transparency and compensation would "scrape the value" from quality content.

Campaign questions if UK regulation will harm creative industries and how it will impact the country’s own advancements in AI. This episode welcomes guest Michael Horn, global head of AI at Omnicom Advertising Group. Hosted by tech editor Lucy Shelley, the Campaign team includes creativty and culture editor Alessandra Scotto di Santolo and deputy media editor Shauna Lewis.

This episode includes an excerpt from Mahon's speech in Parliament where she addresses her concerns.

Further reading:

Mark Read: 'AI will unlock adland's productivity challenge'

AI, copyright and the creative economy: the debate we can't afford to lose

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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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