Ad Matters 13.06.25

This week I spoke about our new book, Trusted Advertising, for the first time at London Tech Week, the first outing for something which my co-author, James Best, and I are in the final stages of writing and which many of you reading have helped contribute to (it will be published in January).   

It was fascinating being part of a conversation about truth, trust and technology alongside the manager of The Sidemen, BBC and Edelman. I’ll be talking more about trust next week in Cannes with industry colleagues and very much looking forward to hearing international perspectives on this topic. No doubt, AI will be part of this discussion too – it’s been another big week for AI in advertising in case you hadn’t noticed – Alex Dalman, one of the co-chairs of our AI taskforce, spoke brilliantly about the topic on this week’s BBC’s Media Show (more details below).  

As always, we’re super excited to be UK reps for Cannes Lions, the world’s biggest festival of creativity, and we’ll be travelling down by train on Sunday and then working through a great programme of work all week to promote the very best of UK advertising and the progress being made by Ad Net Zero.     

Our must reads: 

• Our AI Taskforce CoChair Alex Dalman discusses the future of the industry and the growth of Artificial Intelligence alongside Sir Martin Sorrell on the BBC Media Show. (BBC) 

• The full judging panel for the Talent Trailblazer Award, curated by our Commercial Director and Talent & Inclusion Lead, Sharon Lloyd Barnes, has been announced this week. The entry deadline has also been extended to 25 June. (Marketing Week)  

• How does advertising support growth in constituencies across the UK? Our Policy and Government Affairs Director, Lisa Hayley-Jones discusses the many services advertising funds, and the success of UK advertising exports. (Politics Home) 

• Mark Read has stepped down as WPP CEO after seven years in the role. Within his time at WPP, Read merged a number of agencies, and cut debt ahead of the pandemic. (Campaign) 
• Nabs’ annual Stranger Than Summer fundraising gala raised £153,500 for mental wellbeing within advertising. These funds will help Nabs continue to provide its Advice Line service to those across advertising, marketing and media. (Media Leader) 

Our pick of the ads: 

• Our Ad in the A is T&Pm London’s ad ‘The world’s favourite car’ showcasing the many ways the Toyota Corolla fits into British people’s different lives.  

• VCCP has created a trailer for The All England Tennis Club called ‘There is only one Wimbledon’ emphasising the glory of the court as well as the psychological intensity for the players.  

•  ‘Unsilence the Crowd’ by VML shows the release of a football shirt made by Sela and Newcastle United to allow deaf football fans to experience the noise of the crowd through haptic technology. 

• T&P has created a history-based ad called ‘Trust’ for The Times and The Sunday Times celebrating 240 years of reporting on the ground. 

• Southpaw’s ‘Choose Play Every Day’ for UNICEF highlights the global importance of playing with children to support their development. 

Dates for your diary: 

• UK Advertising returns to Cannes Lions next week on 16-20 June. Check out our packed programme here. 

• AdGreen will be hosting a webinar on 26 June at 3PM BST to launch their Annual Review! Book a place here to learn more about 2024’s calculator data and insights, and to find out who the 2024 superusers were. 

• ISBA President’s Lunch is back to celebrate ISBA’s 125-year anniversary, on Wednesday 9 July. Host and ISBA President Pete Markey will announce the winners of the 2025 President’s Awards and Domonic Sandbrook, author and co-presenter of ‘The Rest is History’ podcast, will be speaking. Book your tickets here. 

And finally, we took delivery this week of the printed copies of our latest Advertising Pays report – it’s a thing of beauty, crammed full of useful stats, facts and insights about the UK advertising industry. Our colleagues are available to present the findings, so if you and your team would like to know more, please get in touch.