News
Entertainment
Science & Technology
Life
Culture & Art
Hobbies
News
Entertainment
Science & Technology
Culture & Art
Hobbies
Can musical comedy help Waitrose better chicken pledge? - More About Advertising
Something seems to be stirring in UK adland, is entertainment really on the way back? After years of performance-driven assault and battery there's seemingly the recognition (in some quarters at least) that if you don't like the ads you're not going to think much of the product. Waitrose is currently undergoing something of a chicken
Mother saddles up to take over Nationwide brief - More About Advertising
They'll be watching this one eagerly at New Commercial Arts, the first ad from Mother since it took over the account following NCA's sale to Ogilvy (account conflict) but the same Dominic West A.N.Y Bank franchise. This time it's for Nationwide's 'Scam Checker,' with Dom's long-suffering daughter stranded cashless at the airport only to be
Wype narrows lead in race for bottoms - More About Advertising
Bottoms are everywhere these days: Andrex has memorably encapsulated their importance for schoolkids while there's an ad around - its name eludes me - which has a whole chorus line hymning their behinds. This might have been the one Guy & Co's Sean Mulholland was thinking of in his Desert Island Ads wondering why most
Apple ‘1984’ copywriter Steve Hayden dies at 78 - More About Advertising
Steve Hayden, who wrote arguably the most famous ad of all time, Ridley Scott's '1984' for the then nascent Apple Computer, has died at 78. His friend George Parker writes in Adscam: My good friend and long time workmate at Chiat and Ogilvy, Steve Hayden died today at the age of 78. As Ad Age
TBWA\Paris attempts the moon for Winamax - More About Advertising
Big budget ads tend to emerge from big budget advertisers, the likes of Apple and Amazon who can afford to spend a few quid to give ot both barrels. Another such category it seems is betting, a high margin if contentious business. French sports betting leader Winamax is giving it all that and more in
COO Andrew Scott leaves WPP in changing of the guard - More About Advertising
WPP is ringing the changes under new CEO Cindy Rose with long-serving chief operating officer Andrew Scott leaving the company at the end of the year although WPP says he'll act as an adviser. Scott (below), a close colleague of departed CEO Mark Read, handled much of WPP's frenetic M&A-driven expansion in the Sir Martin
VCCP sources Levi’s classic for Primark UK TV debut - More About Advertising
That hardy perennial denim is making one of its periodic fashion comebacks - Sydney Sweeney for American Eagle even engaged the ever-wandering attentions of Donald Trump - and the iconic fabric has prompted some good ads in its time. Cheeky, though, of Primark and agency VCCP to hark back to an all-time classic, BBH's Nick
Dentsu eyes international sale and exit - More About Advertising
Dentsu has, in effect, put a for sale sign on its international business, hiring Mitsubishi UFJ, Morgan Stanley and Nomura Securities to sound out potential buyers. Dentsu appears to have turned the corner in Japan, where it dominates in creative, media and production but struggled elsewhere. At one time it seemed to be thriving through
National Grid charges M+C with persuading us to love Net Zero - More About Advertising
Public services always have a choice, especially at a time like this when, in Britain anyway, trust is in short measure and many people don't think they work at all. They can put their best foot forward or keep quiet and hope to stay under the radar. The UK's National Grid is something you don't
Epica Awards signs up top creatives as bogus hacks - More About Advertising
Ad awards are becoming a rather devalued currency. Because the aim is to grab as much revenue as possible with big entry fees you get some strange results, like winning global agencies you've never heard of. The Epica Awards is different to the extent it's judged by journalists, not creatives who may be "persuaded" to
MAA Ad of the Week: New York Times from Isle of Any - More About Advertising
The New York Times is a pretty good client to kick off a new agency and Isle of Any from Laurie Howell and Toby Treyer-Evans debuts with a new brand position for the famed paper, 'It's your World to Understand.' Both were previously at former agency Droga5. Essentially it's a bid to present the whole
M+C Saatchi boosts North America team - More About Advertising
M+C Saatchi (as it now styles itself), with new leadership following a turbulent period including accounting problems and mooted takeovers, appears to be serious about expanding in the notoriously tricky North America market. It has just hired Chris Turney, formerly at Joan, as its first North America chief strategy officer. Turney (left) says: “I’m joining
Leith re-unites with Tennent’s in all-Scottish review - More About Advertising
Edinburgh agency Leith may have lost longstanding account Irn Bru to sassenachs Lucky Generals but it's now been re-united with another inconic Scottish brand, Tennent's Lager (which it handled up until 2002) in an all-Scottish agency review. Tennent's had a stint at Lucky Generals too. C&C Group CMO Cara Chambers says: “We chose to invite
Sean Mulholland of Guy & Co picks his (non-dancing) Desert Island Ads - More About Advertising
The ads I love have always had a sharp edge to them. Someone took the hit, someone or something was the punchline – and that’s why you remembered them. They were cheeky, brutal, brilliant. Fast-forward to now and it feels like everyone’s dancing. Literally. Smiling, spinning, pointing at things in time with a beat. It’s
Award-winning creative focus pays off for Unilever - More About Advertising
Do award-winning ads drive sales for the world's biggest companies? An analysis by Unilever of its recent haul of Cannes Lions winners (41 overall with Grand Prix for Dove and Vaseline) suggests they do. Unilever’s organic sales growth accelerated to 3.8% last quarter, lifting growth to 3.4% for the first half of 2025, with North
Lacoste bets on G.O.A.T Djokovic - More About Advertising
Always a bit nerve-wracking when you build a campaign around a current sporting event. Lacoste is betting on brand ambassador Novak Djokovic in the US Open tennis (he's won a record 24 slams already but he's getting on a bit.) With a spin on the rather unappealing modernism a G.O.A.T (greatest of all time.) So
New York Times changes channels with new agency Isle of Any - More About Advertising
A new brand campaign and positioning from The New York Times is quite a big deal, especially with a new agency after a long and productive relationship with Droga5. 'It's your World to Understand' is from Isle of Any, formed earlier this year by Laurie Howell and Toby Treyer-Evans. There's continuity there as the two
MAA Ad of the Week: Hellmann’s from Ogilvy UK - More About Advertising
Getting on with business is what you need to do when the wolf is circling and the enemy is at the gates and Ogilvy UK, a big chunk of WPP's UK empire (its second largest region by value) is doing just that for Unilever's Hellmann's with a diverting new campaign, launching in the US. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-uXwDRy1fA&t=27s
Why doesn’t anyone want to buy WPP? - More About Advertising
Back in 2017 WPP hit a dizzy market value iof £23bn, today it's £4.38bn. A bargain, surely, for someone. With debt taken into account and a buyout premium it would be anyone's for £8bn, about a third of its 2017 value. Analysts and others have tipped it as a recovery stock for years: it enjoys
Ark Agency wins Canada’s international education brief - More About Advertising
Clients can come from all sorts of places, and Ark, the agency founded by ex-adam&eveDDB CEO Mat Goff, has found a new one in the Canadian Board for International Education. The agency has been hired, after a pitch against an multi-national line up of agencies, to promote Canada as a destination for international students. Ark’s
Lucky Generals brings back girders for Irn Bru debut - More About Advertising
Lucky Generals is making its debut for Irn Bru, channelling its inner Caledonian after the brand spent 30 years or so at Edinburgh's Leith. So it's reprising ‘Made in Scotland from Girders’ with a feisty youngster and a hooligan granny, disputing Irn Bru's official categorisation as a soft drink. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL2KqXi5-Yw Brand director Kenny Nicholson says:
Coca-Cola pitches as pillar of the UK community - More About Advertising
McDonald's has done pretty well in the UK by embedding that most American of brands as part of everyday Britain and now Coca-Cola GB is mining the same seam, featuring independent stores and store owners in some of the often overlooked parts of the country. (Such stores are a dying breed in London and parts
ASA rulings and Swatch storm show that ‘woke’ still matters in ads - More About Advertising
Three ads this week have come under fire for overstepping the bounds of what's acceptable to the public. In every case, the marketer has underestimated the consumer's desire for advertising that meets the basic principle of treating people with respect. First up, an ad by Hogarth Worldwide for Colgate-Palmolive’s Sanex shower gel has been banned
O2 and VCCP give England’s Red Roses a boost for Rugby World Cup - More About Advertising
After the success of England’s Lionesses, recently crowned football champions of Europe, England Rugby is hoping that the Red Roses can replicate the surge in popularity, press attention, and sponsorship opportunities that have turned many of the England women’s football team into household names. Ahead of the Rugby World Cup, which starts this weekend in
Hellmann’s swims against the tide with gentle humour - More About Advertising
How long will it be before we WPP Creative? Most new stuff from the struggling empire seems to be a combo of various agencies. This new campaign for Unilever's Hellmann's revisiting 'Bring Out the Best' is a combo of Ogilvy UK and David Madrid, following on from last year's Super Bowl 'When Harry Met Sally'
Jamie Dornan dives in for Diet Coke - More About Advertising
Advertisers seem to be waking up to the realisation that entertainment doesn't hurt (let's face it, they've tried everything else) and here we have Diet Coke enlisting '50 Shades' actor Jamie Dornan, a keen cold water swimmer it seems, to demonstrate that a Diet Coke break last 8 minutes, in which time others can squeeze
S4 Capital and MSQ explore surprise tie-up - More About Advertising
Everybody's looking for deals among the embattled ad holding companies - WPP is top of the list - but out of left field comes a "combination" between Sir Martin Sorrell's S4 Capital and Peter Reid's MSQ. S4 has hit the buffers, now valued at just £140m after once reaching nearly £4bn, as its target tech
Havas turns eating chicken nuggets into a heroic act for Bird’s Eye - More About Advertising
With food inflation running at around 4.5% in the UK, frozen food steps up as a less pricey alternative to the fresh food aisles, and Birds Eye is here to remind us that it's often a healthy option too. The campaign, by Havas London, gets the message across in a spirited way with the new
Zendaya leads the challenge for On sportswear with ‘be every you’ - More About Advertising
The dominance of Nike and Adidas in the sportswear market is being eroded by alternative brands like On, Hoka and Salomon, which tend to be more innovative in their designs and more imaginative with their collaborations. A new campaign from Swiss brand On features A-lister Zendaya's own collab, the Cloudzone Moon shoe, which she created
Prada looks for the answer in a question with Tom Holland - More About Advertising
Luxe brands have seemingly thrived over the years by mining a rich vein of BS and it's good to see Prada's new Paradigme men's fragrance continuing this rich tradition. So here we have "brand ambassador" actor Tom Holland musing thus: “Sometimes, remembering where you started makes you think where you’re going, and wonder, what if
Droga5 promises adventure for every Australian tourist - More About Advertising
It’s seven years since Droga5’s “Son of a Legend” work for Tourism Australia cleaned up at Cannes Lions, but the agency’s creative powers are still on full volume for the client, fuelled by founder David Droga’s Australian roots. There’s also some help from celebs including Nigella Lawson and US conservationist Robert Irwin, and the return
WPP welcomes new CEO Rose with growth in reverse and tumbling profits - More About Advertising
We all knew WPP's half year 2025 results were going to be awful following the profit warning last month and indeed they are. Revenue compared to 2024 (hardly a brilliant year) is down 7.8% to £6.63bn from £7.2bn and organic revenue (revenue less pass-through costs for WPP, its preferred measure of growth - or lack
Jaguar Land Rover embarks on agency search - More About Advertising
Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is reportedly looking for a new creative agency with Accenture Song defending the business against rival holding companies Omnicom, Publicis and WPP. Which may make for complications as all of them handle car business (Omnicom VW, Publicis Renault, WPP part of Ford and Toyota in Europe via subsidiary T&P.) It's been
Doritos tries faux porn with Walton - More About Advertising
Ifr they run this in the UK it may be need age verification. Pepsico's Doritos has produced a faux porn epic starring 'The White Lotus' Walton Goggins as a sexy plumber and some, er, archetypes of the genre. For new flavour Golden Sriracha by Rethink. Adchat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJpYyHDTgRA PepsiCo Foods US SVP Tina Mahal says the
MAA Ad of the Week: Columbia from adam&eveDDB - More About Advertising
Not sure if sports brand Columbia and adam&eveDDB are trying to do too much in the 'hero' film for sports brand Columbia but you have to hand it to both for their ambition, something sadly lacking in some so-called creative quarters. A&E has seen some big departures of both clients and people but continues in
KFC teams up with Greggs for ‘gravy meets pastry’ road trip - More About Advertising
It's not the healthiest or the most summer-appropriate combination, but dipping Gregg's famous sausage rolls into KFC gravy still sounds like a good idea. It's the latest brainwave from KFC UK, which this year has already created the limited edition Zinger Drip, a fashion collab, and even cutlery. Mother's campaign for the collaboration takes the
Kendrick Lamar is the latest celeb to take a bite out of advertising’s lunch - More About Advertising
The latest celebrity creative to launch into the advertising space is Kendrick Lamar, the rapper who starred in this year’s Apple Super Bowl Half Time Show and famously has an ongoing feud with rival Drake. In launching Project 3 Agency, Lamar brings a strong pedigree of working with brands including Chanel, Converse, and Calvin Klein.
Why MAA needs you - More About Advertising
MAA has more than 40,000 visits a month - from the obvious centres London, NYC and the West Coast to everywhere in Europe; India , China, Australia and as far as the Sudan and Iran. It's reasonable to suppose that we provide something useful. Even diverting. One of our key sources of revenue, along with
Doritos gets spicy with soft porn parody starring Walton Goggins - More About Advertising
Sex in advertising is making a comeback, with 70s-style soft porn parodies leading the way. Hot on the heels of Sydney Sweeney for American Eagle jeans, here's another White Lotus alumnus, Walton Goggins, playing the part of a spicy (but not too spicy) plumber on a house call for Doritos. PepsiCo's in-house agency D3 layers
MAA Ad of the Week: Sydney Sweeney for American Eagle - More About Advertising
The internet is like a hydra: someone objects to something and a thousand fully-formed objection specialists spring into action. As they did with Sydney Sweeney's so-called "whiteness" in this campaign for struggling clothing brand American Eagle. It would be too obvious to say that genes rhymes with jeans..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK8s3iqL99c A reminder that ads can still