Industry comes together for spectacular LEAD 2025 summit

This week, alongside the IPA and ISBA, we brought together over 450 senior-level attendees from across our industry to enjoy a stellar line up of political and advertising leaders for our annual summit, LEAD 2025.

Taking place at the QEII Centre in Westminster, Samira Ahmed, Journalist and Broadcaster, opened the event with a warm welcome and an introduction to the packed morning ahead.

Aligning with the theme of growth and value, the agenda first explored the UK’s political landscape with an insightful keynote from Sir Chris Bryant MP, our industry’s Minister, describing the importance of imagination and craft in UK advertising and his plan for the year ahead to ensure more children receive an education in creative subjects. This was followed by a panel of political editors from The Times, The Telegraph and HuffPost who discussed how the UK’s political landscape is changing around the rise of misinformation and the issue of trust, particularly due to the changing political climate in the US.

Panels of senior leaders discussed important topics, including advertising’s value to the economy (with a sneak preview of the latest edition of Credos’ Advertising Pays series), AI and its potential to drive tangible business growth, the future of brand safety in the UK as well as how advertising can win back the public’s trust.

Highlights included Matt Forde, Comedian and Absolute Radio Presenter, who gave humorous predictions for 2025, as well as Gavin Strange, who discussed how at Wallace & Gromit creator, Aardman, they enjoy pushing the boundaries of creativity using technology, whilst always leaving a human touch.

The event concluded with an energizing speech from our outgoing President Alessandra Bellini, who emphasised that now is the time for action to make 2025 a year of positive progress, starting with urging the industry to take part in the All In Census on 12 March.

A big thank you to our sponsors: Ozone, Google, Meta and Bauer Media Group.