This week: UK advertising in the media

In this weekly series we pull together, in one place, a selection of must-reads from across our industry media. Hope you find it a useful edit of another week in advertising!

Now is the time for our industry to reset

Our Chief Executive, Stephen Woodford, discusses the importance of resetting UK advertising for the better.

Covid: ‘At least 250,000 small firms will fold’ as restrictions devastate trade

A record number of small businesses expect to shut this year unless the government steps in with more help, according to a survey of the sector.

Terra Carta: Prince Charles asks companies to join ‘Earth charter’

The Prince of Wales is urging firms to back a more sustainable future and do more to protect the planet, as he marks 50 years of environmental campaigning.

Publicis Groupe holds sale talks with private equity investor

Discussions have taken place in recent months.

Google investigated over third-party cookie replacement plans

Campaigners liken Google to Goldfinger, but tech giant insists its initiative is part of an open discussion with the advertising community.

C4 boss initiates ‘meeting-free’ lunchtimes and Fridays

All staff told not to schedule screen meetings between 12.30pm and 2pm amid coronavirus lockdown.

Reach bounces back from Covid-19 with record digital performance

The parent company of the Daily Mirror and Daily Express predicts its operating profit will come in “ahead of market expectations” for 2020 on the back of record-breaking Q4 digital earnings.

ITV back in the game with hope for football advertising boom

A new year has brought it with it new optimism for ITV, which has been given a near-textbook shot in the arm by the rollout of coronavirus vaccines.

Sky Media raids Omnicom and Dentsu for new leadership

Sky Media poaches chief executive of OMD Group and Dentsu Aegis Network’s Ruth Cartwright.

Twitter reveals the most creative brand campaigns of 2020

Sophie Trinder, head of brand strategy at Twitter UK, and Lindsey Turner, head of Twitter ArtHouse EMEA, pick the most creative uses of the platform over the past year.

Resolution ads, jabs & ‘Humaning’ part two

Dominic Mills looks at the current batch of ads tempting us into new resolutions for 2021.

How Octopus Energy used art to get people to switch to green energy

Octopus Energy used art to inspire people to take action on climate change resulting in an additional 37,000 new customers.

Lockdown sees UK consumer spend hit by the largest decline since June 2020

Pre-Christmas consumer spending slumped 2.3% year-on-year in December – the largest decline recorded since June 2020 – as lockdown restrictions conspired to dampen spirits at a crucial time for the retail and hospitality sectors.

The 8 trends media execs are hoping to ride in 2021

Bloomberg, Sky, Jungle Creations and more talk us through the media trends the industry should be focusing on in 2021.

Publicis brings OOH media buying in-house

Publicis Media has migrated all out-of-home buying to the jurisdiction of its in-house agencies with immediate effect, drawing a 27-year relationship with Dentsu’s Posterscope to a close.

Planning ahead: Everything marketers know about 2021’s consumer

After a year like no other, how will consumers behave in 2021? Marketing Week spoke to a selection of Top 100 marketers to see how they are planning for the coming months.

How You Can ‘Go Luck Yourself’ in 2021

Lucky Generals founding partner Andy Nairn reflects on the role luck has to play in shaping our lives and how we can make predictions for the future despite this seemingly random force.

WPP vs S4 Capital: veteran Sorrell pits new ad plans against old

It’s not quite David and Goliath but there are plenty of similarities.

Dentsu confirms iProspect will swallow Vizeum in new global media network

iProspect global president Amanda Morrissey insists that she wants iProspect to retain Vizeum’s challenger spirit within new ‘performance-driven brand-building’ agency offer.

2021 Edelman Trust Barometer: Plague of mistrust follows COVID-19

The public especially mistrusts the media, the US and China, according to the research series’ latest report.

Blonde ambition: vlogging and a virtual Dream House help Barbie realize a digital future

Netflix, Amazon, Spotify and Barbie – just some of the brands that witnessed a Covid-19 boost in 2020.

All Set for the Croisette? Cannes Lions Organisers Say Festival Will Go Ahead Despite Covid-19

The Ascential-owned advertising and media festival confirms that it intends to hold an in-person event in June 2021.

Nordic Newspaper Releases Free Font Visualising Urgency for Climate Action

Nordic newspaper Helsingin Sanomat team up with TBWA\Helsinki to show how Arctic sea ice is predicted to shrink due to climate change.

The top talking points of 2020 at The Year Ahead

What did Mediatel’s Year Ahead panellists select as their highlights (good and bad) from the past 12 months?

The Times view on the role of regional reporting: Local Defence

It may seem surprising, but there are compelling reasons to believe that the decline of local news is fuelling the polarisation and extremism that has engulfed America.

London leads Europe with $10.5bn funding for tech start-ups

London-based start-ups raised more than $10 billion in funding last year, cementing the capital’s status as Europe’s leading technology hub.

Restrictions force company closures

Business closures increased and the proportion of workers on the government’s furlough scheme rose as the country stood on the brink of a third lockdown in late December, official figures showed yesterday.

Winners of The Media Leaders Awards 2021 revealed

Hearst’s James Wildman, MediaCom’s Kate Rowlinson and Spotify’s Rak Patel were among the winners of the inaugural awards from Mediatel.

Guardian Media Group hires new advertising chief

Claire Blunt has been chief financial, operations and data officer for Hearst Europe.

McCann Worldgroup’s Rob Reilly to join WPP as global CCO

WPP is recommitting to creativity with the new hire.

Why the CMA is digging into the Privacy Sandbox, Google’s cookie-killer

The Drum explores why Google’s Privacy Sandbox, the mission to replace third-party cookie, has come under this close regional scrutiny.