The Campaign Podcast

Three awards have been withdrawn from Cannes Lions 2025 over fabrication of case studies and concerns around their legitimacy.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 in the case study and misleading the jury. Two other DM9 awards were also withdrawn. The agency’s co-president and CCO Icaro Doria stepped down. Following the Cannes news, D&AD removed two pencils from the shop.

However, DM9 were not alone in the scandal as other awards have also since been questioned.

While the industry has been rocked by the news, many have acknowledged that embellishment, exaggeration and fabrication within awards entries is a common occurrence within adland. This episode features Campaign editor Maisie McCabe, deputy editor Gemma Charles and creativity and culture editor Gurjit Degun, who discuss what has led to this behaviour and what happens next for awards.

Cannes Lions has since responded with new "integrity standards" to ban agencies that submit "wilfully false" campaigns

This episode was hosted by Campaign's tech editor Lucy Shelley.

Further reading:

Adland’s ‘New Year's’ resolution should be to revive its integrity at Cannes Lions

LePub takes disciplinary action following scrutiny of Cannes Lion-winning campaign

Havas Costa Rica’s Cannes Lions-winning ad, Lessons of Shame, needs lessons of legitimacy

Havas and World Vision’s Lessons of Shame under scrutiny after Cannes Lions win

Don’t hate the player, hate the game

Cannes Lions rocked by controversies over AI, authenticity and licensing

DM9 admits faults in case study for Grand Prix-winning work

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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.

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 changes to DEI this year have impacted brands' support for LGBTQ+ communities, the drawback actually begun years before, and this year was more a "nail in the coffin".

Hosted by tech editor Lucy Shelley, Campaign's media editor Beau Jackson and deputy creativity and culture editor Charlotte Rawlings discuss what has led to brands stepping back, as well as highlighting some of the work that continues to celebrate Pride and raise awareness to wider LGBTQ+ issues. This includes TransActual UK's "Third toilet" by BBH London, Tesco's internal policies and sponsorship of Pride, Lush donating 75% of profits from the Liberation bath bomb and Marks and Spencer's partnership with AKT.

Further reading:

Pride needs action, not allies

Amnesty Pride campaign promotes bracelets as 'badge of allyship'

E45 unveils ad highlighting trans skin that won C4 diversity award

Do LGBTQ+ PR pros think brands will ‘show up’ for Pride 2025?

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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 and shares the industry’s view on whether there is any recent work that will be talked about in years to come.

Deputy editor Gemma Charles hosts the episode which features editor Maisie McCabe and creativity and culture editor Gurjit Degun alongside Gurbicz.

Further reading:

A Listers on their favourite TV ads of all time

Are we at the start of a new era of advertising awards?

Channel 4 and L’Oreal Paris scoop Film Lions Grands Prix

My Campaign: the making of Guinness ‘Surfer’

Ads mentioned in the show include:

The Martin Agency's Quiznos subs’ rats (chosen by Mother's Felix Richter)

DDB Chicago's Bud Light "Real men of genius: really bad toupee wearer" (chosen by TheOr's Charlene Chandrasekaran)

AMV BBDO's Guinness "Dreamer"

BBH London's "Three little pigs" for The Guardian

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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 Luz Corona, editor of Campaign US.

Further reading about the work and stories on this podcast:

WPP, DDB and Publicis Conseil win creative company, network and agency of year at Cannes Lions 2025

Channel 4 and L’Oréal Paris scoop Film Lions Grands Prix

Publicis Conseil lands Titanium Grand Prix for Axa campaign helping women escape abuse

Great work should swim against the current, creative chiefs say

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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 festival, including the first Grand Prix winners, how the awards juries reach their decision and speculation about the search for a new WPP chief executive, plus we discuss some of our favourite sessions at Campaign House, our dedicated venue at Canopy by Hilton.

Further reading about the work and stories on the podcast:

Arthur Sadoun: Agencies should be ‘optimistic’ not ‘scared’ about future

Laura Jordan Bambach, Vicki Maguire and Kay Hsu at Cannes: ‘Lack of diversity can shut down incredible ideas’

Scrutiny over media trading will be a top story in next year, Campaign editors say

Vaseline’s “Vaseline Verified” by Ogilvy Singapore wins Health & Wellness Lions Grand Prix

Rimas Music’s “Tracking bad bunny” by DDB Latina Puerto Rico wins Entertainment Lions for Music Grand Prix

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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 Campaign Asia, David Brown, co-editor of Campaign Canada, and Luz Corona, editor of Campaign US.

We also discuss why Arthur Sadoun, the chief executive of Publicis Groupe and a speaker at Campaign House on day one of the festival, has called for the industry to take a “different” approach at Cannes this year and the introduction of new “safe zones” at the festival.

Further reading about the work and stories on this podcast

• KFC “Believe in Chicken” by Mother London
• Channel 4 “Considering What?” by 4Creative
• Apple TV+ “Severance in Grand Central” by Kamp Grizzly
• KFC “Uncle KFC’s Rice Bowl” by Wolf BKK
• IKEA “U Up?” by Rethink
• Maple Leaf “Look for the Leaf” by NFA

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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 titles and begun making roles redundant around the world. More recently, WPP's chief executive Mark Read announced on Monday (9 June) he was stepping down.

In this episode, Campaign's editorial team ask a simple question and dig deeper into why WPP has made the change, what will happen to the individual agencies within it, and whether it really is "simpler".

Tech editor Lucy Shelley hosts the episode which features Spanier alongside media editor Beau Jackson and deputy media editor Shauna Lewis.

Further reading:

‘Something’s gone horribly wrong’: new chair faces calls to ‘fix’ WPP at AGM

WPP launches data solution Open Intelligence

'We know that we have to be simpler': Brian Lesser lays out Group M plans

Group M axes global agency CEO roles in major centralisation push

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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 and Noel Bunting, juror on Digital Craft Lions and chief creative officer at Publicis London.

The judging trio talk about the importance of instinct, why Cannes serves as a reminder of the "art of the possible" and how the connection between creativity and technology is used to hack the algorithm in advertising. 

Further reading:

Should Cannes Lions be more focused on practical business solutions?

Arthur Sadoun calls for ‘different approach’ at Cannes amid economic challenges

Apple named Cannes Lions Creative Marketer of the Year

Campaign announces agenda for debut of Campaign House at Cannes Lions 2025

Cannes Lions introduces safe zones

'Rewarding work while accepting suffering': IPA, D&AD and Cannes Lions respond

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