Tesco’s Free Fruit Friendly Giant Hits the Spot
Tesco is more than a grocery chain; with roughly 30% of the UK market, it is leveraging its scale for public‑health impact. Starting in September, the retailer will double its Free Fruit & Veg for Schools programme, expanding participation from about 500 to over 1,000 schools, and plans to double the reach again the following year. The rollout is tied to Tesco’s refreshed brand platform “Need Anything From Tesco?”, which reimagines the classic “Every Little Helps” slogan. Marketing director Murray Bisschop highlighted the initiative as a tangible way Tesco can help children obtain the nutrition they need to thrive in school.
WPP Falls Back in Q1 2026 – but Says It’s All in the Plan
WPP reported Q1 2026 revenue of £3.03 bn ($3.9 bn), down 6.6% YoY and 4.0% like‑for‑like, with its organic‑growth measure falling 6.7%. CEO Cindy Rose framed the decline as expected under the newly launched Elevate28 plan and highlighted the "WPP Open" platform...
Cracking the Creativity Code: How to Win at The Art of Outdoor®
Ocean Outdoor UK’s marketing director outlines how premium digital out‑of‑home (DOOH) transforms brand storytelling through immersive formats like DeepScreen® and Ocean Creator. The piece highlights measurable successes—40 plays per hour on interactive billboards and a 21% lift on social for...
MAA Ad of the Week: David Beckham’s ‘Football Nation’ for Pepsi
Pepsi's latest television spot, titled “Football Nation,” features soccer legend David Beckham and is produced by Big Time Creative. The ad frames the endless debates surrounding football as a narrative device, pairing fast‑cut visuals with the star’s presence to capture...
Is Diet Coke a Win or a Defend for Ogilvy?
Coca‑Cola has handed its UK and EMEA Diet Coke account to Ogilvy, reviving a long‑standing WPP‑Coca‑Cola partnership that now competes with Publicis and other bidders. The deal emphasizes social and influencer marketing, a shift from traditional media that Coke moved to...
Advertising as Toruture? Marketing Hits a New Low
Spotify has launched a bold ad campaign that dramatizes the experience of ad‑filled streaming as a form of torture. The visuals—ice‑cold water, feathers, sweat droplets—were created by the agency Machine_ without AI assistance. The campaign, titled “ad‑free music listening,” earned...
New Agencies Restless and Impatient Ideas Set Out to Ride the AI Wave
Former Jungle Creations executives Jamie Bolding and Nat Poulter have launched Restless, an agency billed as AI‑powered through its proprietary Antenna platform. At the same time, ex‑BBH and Wunderman Thompson leaders Tom Drew and Sid McGrath are debuting Impatient Ideas, a...
Omar Oakes: A Culture War Against Mainstream Media
On April 15 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed permanent consent decrees against the five largest ad‑holding groups—WPP, Publicis, Dentsu, Omnicom and IPG—prohibiting any coordinated brand‑safety standards. The FTC framed the case as a Sherman‑Act antitrust violation, arguing the firms...
Waitrose Goes Back to the 80s for ‘Noshtalgia’ Fest with Disney’s Rivals
Waitrose has teamed with Disney to launch a “Noshtalgia” range tied to the new season of *Rivals*, which features a Waitrose store. The limited‑edition line includes 80s‑inspired items such as rhubarb & custard ice cream, thousand‑island prawn sandwiches and a...
Columbia Finds Fun in Sportswear
Columbia partnered with adam&eve TBWA to launch a tongue‑in‑cheek campaign that subjects its apparel to absurd extremes—a deluge of rain and a sauna set in the desert. The ads highlight the brand’s summer‑focused technologies for staying dry and cool, positioning the...
Ocean Outdoor UK Redefines the DOOH Attention Model with Ocean® Portal
Ocean Outdoor UK has launched Ocean® Portal, a freestanding half‑cube digital out‑of‑home (DOOH) format at London’s Battersea Power Station. The 4.5 m × 3 m structure houses five high‑definition LED screens, LiDAR‑based motion tracking, mixed‑reality rendering and Unreal/Unity engines to create walk‑in, interactive experiences....
Adidas Pitch Is a Definer for WPP Media
WPP Media is aggressively courting Adidas, a global brand valued at roughly $500 million, in a pitch that pits it against Publicis and Omnicom. Adidas migrated from Dentsu’s Carat to WPP’s Essence Mediacom in 2018, giving WPP a foothold in the sportswear...
Beckham Launches Pepsi’s ‘Football Nation’
Pepsi has launched "Football Nation," a World Cup‑timed campaign fronted by long‑time brand ambassador David Beckham. The ad features a roster of celebrity guests, including chef Gordon Ramsay, and is produced by entertainment agency Big Time Creative. With a creative...
Can Gervaise Work His Psycho-Magic at WPP?
WPP CEO Cindy Rose has hired high‑performance psychologist Michael Gervaise to boost leadership resilience after a period of underperformance. Over 200 senior executives are already participating in the program, which focuses on mental strength and cohesive decision‑making. The initiative coincides...
MAA Ad of the Week: Is It Beckham or Tennant?
Stella Artois rolled out a World Cup‑themed TV spot starring David Beckham, produced by Gut agency, to capture the tournament’s global buzz. In the UK, MoneySuperMarket replaced its long‑standing Dame Judi Dench voice with David Tennant for a new car‑insurance price‑comparison...
Sydney Sweeney Is Back, This Time in Shorts, for American Eagle
American Eagle relaunched its campaign featuring Sydney Sweeney, this time in shorts, after the previous ad sparked controversy over alleged white‑supremacy references but also drove a sales surge. The new spot leverages Sweeney’s rising profile from the final season of...
FTC Ruling Leaves Advertisers in the Dark over Brand Safety
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission ruled that major ad agencies—including Publicis, WPP and Dentsu—colluded to boycott platforms such as Elon Musk’s X, resulting in a settlement that prohibits restricting advertising on politically biased or motivated grounds. In response, the agencies...
New IPA Bellwether Defies Gloomsters with Budgets Up
The IPA’s Q1 2026 Bellwether Report shows UK marketing budgets rising 7.3%, the strongest growth in nearly two years and a rebound from a flat prior quarter. Increases are led by events, PR and main‑media spend, while market research is the...
Omar Oakes: What Is Your Content Actually Worth when the AI Crawlers Come for It?
Media executives are confronting a new dilemma: how much their content is worth to AI firms that harvest it for massive language models. Le Monde has signed licensing deals with OpenAI, Perplexity and Meta, while Wikipedia’s editors voted to ban...
Sadoun’s Publicis Seems to Be Defying Gravity – That’s the Problem
Publicis Groupe CEO Arthur Sadoun publicly chastised Wall Street for discounting the company’s shares even after a solid earnings beat, noting the stock still trades near €1 (about $1.09) well below its annual high. He emphasized a "polar‑opposite" strategy to...
Charlie Rudd Takes on New VP Role at the Advertising Association
Publicis Groupe UK’s creative CEO Charlie Rudd has been appointed vice‑president of the Advertising Association (AA), a role created after a 2025 governance review eliminated the chair position. He will join AA president Andria Vidler and CEO Stephen Woodford in...
BCW on the Block as WPP Weighs Exit From PR
WPP is reportedly preparing to sell its Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW) unit after a recent divestiture of a majority stake in FGS Global for roughly £1.3 bn ($1.65 bn). The move follows a 6% drop in PR revenue in WPP’s latest...
Who Is Apple’s Lil’ Finder Guy? And What Is He For?
Apple has launched a new low‑cost MacBook Neo, priced around $760, and introduced an animated mascot called Lil’ Finder Guy to court Gen Z. The mascot appears across TikTok and YouTube Shorts, giving the brand a playful, youth‑friendly tone. Early demand...
Sport Wins over the Robots in New Campaign for Unibet
Paris agency La Maison Créative Justement launched Unibet’s new "Let sport win you over" campaign, depicting robots being pulled into a spontaneous game when a ball rolls in. The spot underscores sport’s irresistible pull, juxtaposing human emotion with a high‑tech...
Coca-Cola Breaks Out Two Very Different Flavours in New WPP Campaigns
Coca‑Cola launched two Mexico‑themed campaigns on the same day, pairing a 30‑second "Uncanned emotions" spot for the FIFA World Cup opening match with a 3.5‑minute documentary "Last Coca‑Cola in the desert" celebrating its 100‑year anniversary in Mexico. The football ad,...
Marmite Hides ‘Love It or Hate It’ Dispute Inside Recipe Ads
Unilever’s Marmite, long known for its polarising taste, has launched a new OOH and press campaign with adam&eve/TBWA to reposition the spread as a versatile cooking ingredient. The ads showcase dishes such as quiche, pasta, soup and burgers, inviting consumers...
Droga5 Has New Reasons to Turn Off Your Phone in the Cinema
Droga5 ANZ has crafted a fresh take on the classic cinema "turn off your phone" reminder for telecommunications provider Optus. The new spot shifts focus from audience embarrassment to honoring the countless hours filmmakers invest in creating movies. Agency chief...
Wendy’s Follows Estee Lauder with Cross-Platform WPP Deal
WPP has added fast‑food chain Wendy’s to its media roster, following Estée Lauder’s recent shift of all marketing communications to the group. Wendy’s, long served by creative shop VML and media partner Publicis’ Starcom, will now consolidate its media buying under...
Ocean Outdoor Opens 2026 Digital Creative Competition for Entries Across Europe
Ocean Outdoor has opened entries for its 2026 Digital Creative Competition across the UK, the Netherlands, the Nordics and Germany. The contest runs from April 7 to August 21, is free to enter, and offers a total prize fund of €2.675 million (about...
Uber Amps up ‘Sunbed Wars’ in Push for Book-Ahead Holiday Rides
Uber UK has rolled out a new "sunbed wars" activation, covering cars with giant beach towels to promote its Reserve service for airport trips. The campaign, created by creative agency Mother, taps into the British habit of early‑morning sun‑bathing to...
Now Publicis Media Lands Global Microsoft
Publicis Media has won Microsoft’s global media business, a contract valued at over $1 billion, adding to its recent acquisition of Microsoft‑owned LinkedIn. Both accounts were taken from Dentsu, stripping the Japanese holding company of its strongest international media line‑up. The...
Has Jeep Cracked Interminable Advertorials – with Humour?
Jeep has launched a second‑year humor‑driven advertorial campaign on UK cheap‑channel television, featuring comedian Iliza Shlesinger and the tagline “We Will be funny” from agency Highdive. The spot replaces the typical long, product‑heavy infomercials with a comedic format that aims...