“It’s never too late to turn a pitch around.” There’s a message most agency leaders will have told their teams at some point, without entirely believing it themselves. But, Rebecca Nunneley tells us, it’s actually true. And having seen as many reviews as she has, she should know.

No one is better placed to give advice on pitching, client relationships and the general world of agency life than Rebecca Nunneley. She’s seen agencies at their very best. She’s been there for moments we wish we could take back. And she’s heard the full, honest opinions from the most authoritative marketing teams.

Teasing out secrets like these – unique viewpoints from those who can make us all better – is why we started this series. And why we’re delighted to have Rebecca on board.

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Writer, producer and director Paul Burke looks to get to the bottom of the ad industry’s worsening gender pay gap and suggests a counterintuitive solution.

We seem to have a problem in the advertising industry.

There’s a gender pay gap and, apparently, it’s getting wider. According to the latest IPA census, that gap has increased from 15.2% to 19.7% in the last 12 months.

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It’s FCB Canada’s first major creative as SickKids’ new agency-of-record.

As Canada’s Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) marks its 150th anniversary, it has unveiled a new campaign titled ‘The Count’.

The film, featuring a cast of more than 20 real patients, portrays an emotionally charged and visually complex tapestry that depicts the fight for every birthday for patients, families and hospital staff. It weaves birthday imagery with athletic metaphors and surrealistic imagery alongside real-life moments between families.

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The S4 Capital boss says President Trump’s tariffs have “increased all levels of uncertainty” among clients as trade bodies warn UK agencies are bracing for impact.

Sir Martin Sorrell has described President Trump’s ‘Liberation Day' tariffs as marking the “end of an era and the beginning of a new one where growth is going to be slower, inflation will be higher and interest rates will be higher than we thought before.”

The S4 Capital chief believes there will be a period of negotiations (if Trump’s ‘The Art of the Deal’ is anything to go by) but the headline, he says, is that clients are going to be “hesitant” to spend in the short term as they try to claw back losses from the hikes. In the long term, he argues, they’ll spend on tech “far more rapidly” than before in the quest for “faster, cheaper, better” to maintain their margins as they absorb some of the cost of doing business in America.

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The new series broke viewing records for HBO and sales records for some retailers.

The final episode of The White Lotus will air this weekend. While viewers will be tuning in for closure on this year’s lorazepam-fueled storyline, a number of eagle-eyed marketers will be tracking how a tie-up with the HBO hit has boosted their brands.

A combination of Nielsen and Warner Bros’ own data estimated that 4.8 million viewers tuned into the penultimate episode. That was a 14% increase on the previous week’s record-breaking episode. On average, this season has delivered 15 million viewers an episode after factoring in fans who watch on catch-up services.

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Meet the judges of The Drum Awards. We celebrate the best in brand-building and creative strategy, and our Judge of the Day series gives you a closer look at the experts behind our prestigious panels. Get to know the industry leaders who recognize excellence in marketing.

Andrew Shepherd, senior director, EMEA North marketing at Palo Alto Networks and a judge for The Drum Awards EMEA, brings extensive expertise to our panel. With a sharp focus on growth-driven marketing, strategic influence across international markets, and the evolving role of the CMO, he offers valuable insights in evaluating this year’s entries.

As a CMO, what is the biggest challenge you face today?

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Forget hype drops. The US Navy is about to make you earn your kicks – and we mean really earn them.

America’s Navy is rolling in with a triple-threat collab that’s equal parts boot camp and boot flex. It is partnering with VML and sneaker artist Johnnyskicks (aka John Trottier) to debut custom versions of the same tactical boots worn by Navy Seals. Yes, those Seals – the ones who jump out of planes and disappear into the ocean, like ghosts with night vision.

But don’t expect to queue up and cop. These kicks are strictly for those willing to sweat for them.

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The Drum’s editor-in-chief explains that such a deal would blur the lines between commerce, content and community.

After a few days at Shoptalk, where retail media was the obsession, I got back to base and… boom! The New York Times drops a story saying Amazon has put in a bid for TikTok. Let’s not dance around it: this could be one of the most consequential moves in retail media history.

Yes, the Trump administration reportedly isn’t taking Amazon’s offer too seriously. But that misses the point. This isn’t just another tech giant eyeing a buzzy app. This is a first-party data land grab. This is Amazon looking to supercharge its already ridiculous infrastructure with the motherlode of audience attention – and behavior.

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The carmaker released the campaign as the White House announced its global tariffs.

Ford has promised its US customers that they will only pay what its own staff pay for a car as the nation woke to headlines revealing the scale of President Donald Trump’s global tariffs.

A campaign developed by Wieden+Kennedy will run across print, TV and social media. The TV spot has been voiced by Ford spokesman Bryan Cranston, who describes this as an “unprecedented moment in automotive history” before detailing the scale of Ford’s operations in the US and the number of Americans it employs.

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The silly-but-fun ‘Man, That Feels Good’ ad campaign comes from ad agency Zulu Alpha Kilo.

Harry’s has unveiled three tongue-in-cheek spots that take honesty to a new level. Each of the shorts follows three protagonists on journeys to transform themselves into bad boys, rugged men of mystery and whole new men entirely. But the straight-talking voiceover explains that razor products won’t get you there; that takes hard-won life experiences.

In conjunction with the new ads, Harry’s has also introduced a new brand identity, including packaging, logo, color palette and photography. This will roll out across product, digital, social and physical retail.

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The pace of ChatGPT’s development feels unstoppable but strategy and creative experts think its reputational damage could push brands towards working with real artists, while one ethical AI platform says it is ‘actively cleaning up’ OpenAI’s mess.

The 2024 film Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron tells the story of Miyazaki, the founder of the animation studio Studio Ghibli, and documents how his painstaking work consumes him; his film The Boy and The Heron took seven years to make.

It’s worth bearing this in mind as we recall how last week, following ChatGPT’s 4o image generation update, it was let loose on the world and a trend quickly emerged. Users began creating images in the style of Studio Ghibli’s animated characters.

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Digital media consultant Mark Challinor continues the News Horizons series by talking to the people shaping tomorrow’s media. In this issue, we have Richard Reeves managing director of the Association of Online Publishers (AOP).

Richard has worked in the media and advertising industry for nearly 40 years and provides a much-needed voice for the online publishing industry through his role as managing director at the AOP. Richard relentlessly drives the AOP’s agenda to maximize opportunities for premium publishers and tackle key issues such as ad quality, monetization, privacy, data, the impact of tech innovations, and constantly evolving regulations.

The AOP is an industry body representing digital publishing companies that create original, branded, quality content. AOP champions the interests of media owners from diverse backgrounds including newspaper and magazine publishing, TV and radio broadcasting, and pure online media.

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Avoid third-party platforms that offer selective data, says Laurence Carton of Tug Agency. Proprietary tools can give you an accurate overview of your stats – and full control of your campaigns.

Marketers today face a mounting challenge: they’re often forced to rely on third-party platforms that operate with black-box algorithms. These platforms, such as Google Ads or Meta, offer a restricted view of performance data, limiting visibility, autonomy, and strategic flexibility. While they offer good insights, the lack of transparency and agility simply hinders end-to-end optimization and decision-making.

By controlling marketing intelligence and leveraging the power of bespoke proprietary tools, marketers can uncover new opportunities, gain a competitive advantage, and enhance performance. Let’s talk about it.

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Liberation Day or inflation day? Trump’s new tariffs land like a sledgehammer on global trade. Here’s what marketers need to know.

Donald Trump just dropped a trade bombshell – and it’s not a drill. In a windy Rose Garden appearance he dubbed “Liberation Day,” the former president announced a sweeping 10% tariff on all imports, with steeper penalties – up to 46% – for countries he calls “bad actors.” China’s looking at 34%, the EU gets 20%, Vietnam takes a 46% hit, and even the UK isn’t escaping, facing a flat 10%.

“This is one of the most important days in American history,” Trump declared. “It’s our Declaration of Economic Independence.”

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Uber Advertising boss Paul Wright and Lumen Research’s Mike Follett tell The Drum why the transportation company has hitched its wagon to an adland theme in the ascendency: attention.

Uber apparently delivers as many people to Soho House, the members’ club favored by a certain chunk of London ad folk, as it does to some entire UK cities.

So said Paul Wright, head of international at Uber Advertising, when he took to the stage of this year’s Advertising Week Europe, held for the second year at its new home: Soho House’s 180 Studios.

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The work stems from a script written by Don’t Panic creatives Jake Moss and multi-Bafta-winning writer Ada Rose.

Creative agency Don’t Panic has worked alongside the National Autistic Society to tell the story of a real-life father and daughter who have both been diagnosed with autism. ‘It’s How You Show Up’ depicts their day-to-day lives and is anchored by the father’s emotional voiceover.

Addressing his daughter, he reflects on his lifelong struggles being characterized as “sensitive,” “difficult,” and “different”. He sees the same in her but shares his hope that the world is changing and will show up for his daughter in ways it hasn’t yet for him.

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Left Field Labs’s Yann Caloghiris explores how, despite the potential tariffs, Chinese car brands could take pole position in the US.

In 2011, Elon Musk famously dismissed BYD’s cars as “not particularly attractive” and the underlying technology as “not very strong.”

Who could blame him?

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Celebrity endorsement can be a costly business – and it might not deliver. Owen Laverty of Ear to the Ground explains changes in the field and how to best take advantage of them.

Let’s be honest. The talent game is broken. Too many deals still follow the same old formula – chase reach, overpay for fame, cross fingers for ROI. In the meantime, younger fans are rewriting the rules, gravitating towards voices who feel real, connected, and culturally plugged in.

That’s why we built the Fan Intelligence Index: Talent Edition.

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Meet the judges of The Drum Awards. We celebrate the best in brand-building and creative strategy, and our Judge of the Day series gives you a closer look at the experts behind our prestigious panels. Get to know the industry leaders who recognize excellence in marketing.

Today, we highlight Andrea Deutschmanek, one of our judges for The Drum Awards EMEA and a marketing leader with deep expertise in brand management, consumer engagement, and the evolving role of chief marketing officers. Andrea's expertise in consistency and strategic growth enriches the judging panel as she evaluates campaigns for their impact, execution, and ability to connect with audiences.

As a marketing leader, what is the biggest challenge you face today?

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While many brands have successfully leveraged April Fools’ Day for marketing, some pranks have misfired, leading to public relations challenges.

After revealing the formula behind the perfect April Fool’s Day stunt, the top stunts and jokes from brands this year, and the best of all time, it's time now to look at when they misfire.

Here are five notable examples:

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A 25% tax on imported cars could reshape the competitive landscape. CMOs are braced for change.

‘Liberation Day’: that’s how President Trump has branded the 25% tax that will be imposed on cars and auto parts imported into the United States come April 2. For auto CMOs, it’s judgment day.

Confusion lingers on exactly how these tariffs will be enforced in the complex supply chain. US brands such as Ford and General Motors need clarity on the tax that will apply to the parts they use that cross the Mexican and Canadian borders (sometimes multiple times). Foreign brands are grappling with similar questions. Should they follow Hyundai’s lead and commit £21bn to building manufacturing plants on US soil in a bid to absolve their companies from the hefty price of imported vehicles? How hard will the reciprocal tariffs hit? How long will they be imposed? Despite the distinct lack of insight from the White House, car makers around the world will doubtless have to rethink what cars they make and where they make them.

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From Honda’s emoji license plates to Aldi’s budget airline launch, here are some of the best brand April Fools from the archives.

April Fool’s Day has long been a stage for brands to unleash their creativity, offering audiences a blend of humor and surprise. In times dominated by serious headlines, these playful pranks provide a refreshing respite, reflecting a brand’s personality and its ability to engage with consumers on a lighter note. However, the line between a successful joke and a misstep is thin, and when crossed, can lead to unintended consequences.

By now, you’ll have checked out 2025’s best brand efforts. How do they compare to the all-time classics? Well, judge for yourself as we bring you a compilation of 20 memorable April Fool’s Day campaigns sourced from The Drum over the years...

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AI has changed everything. Though the ad industry has often been breathlessly excited, there’ve been gripes along the way, too. Like these...

It’s now two years since the launch of Chat-GPT 4, the generative AI model that felt like it changed almost everything overnight and sent the marketing industries – along with pretty much every other business on the planet – on a rapid path to AI adoption.

Since then, things have changed rapidly. That early experimental stage is now over, with AI tools now embedded into almost every sinew of the ad business. But the path hasn’t always been smooth. From Google’s AI-assisted search results encouraging users to try eating rocks and ‘glue pizza’ to a famous penchant for extra fingers in AI-generated images, the teething issues associated with the tech’s rapid adoption range from the frightening to the ridiculous. So, as part of The Drum’s AI for Drummies feature and our regular Agency Advice series, we asked top advertising and AI thinkers to share their own most frustrating moments so far.

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As if marketing to humans wasn’t hard enough… now, you’re marketing to machines. What does the agentic era mean for marketers?

Agentic AI might sound like another buzzword, but if we’ve learned anything from every tech conference this year, it’s going to be a game-changer.

Agentic AI isn’t just another clever buzzword in the ever-expanding AI lexicon. This next evolution of artificial intelligence doesn’t just suggest or create – it acts. It decides, it purchases, it optimizes. It’s like giving your consumer a digital PA that’s constantly scanning the world for the best deals, the best experiences, the best brands.

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Kicking off our AI For Drummies Buyer’s Guide, our no-bull Q&A answers five of the biggest questions about AI, explaining what you need to know now and why you need to care.

Marketing moves fast – and AI perhaps even faster. The result? A sector playing catch up with its potential and grappling with the latest need-to-know.

In the age of AI experimentation, 56% of marketers are still feeling their way around the tech, according to a recent LinkedIn poll of The Drum’s community. And one in 10 admit to feeling ‘overwhelmed.’ We hear you. So take five and check out the industry’s ultimate AI crib sheet.

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The consumer tech brand appears to be making a statement of intent by hiring ex-PepsiCo chief design officer Mauro Porcini and bringing design closer to the strategic direction of the business.

Days after Mauro Porcini left his role at PepsiCo, Samsung has today announced his appointment as its first chief design officer in a significant move for the company, which appears to show a desire to build products and services that offer a sense of desirability and relevance.

In the last week on The Drum, you may have seen Morrama founder Jo Barnard arguing for the strategic value of design at a time when AI is reshaping the industry, while Pentagram partner Natasha Jen has suggested that businesses are failing to understand design as they’re smothering it with efficiency targets.

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The widespread adoption of AI has resulted in the need for a third pillar of marketing effectiveness alongside physical and mental availability: do not neglect to be accessible by the algorithm, explain Sean Betts of OMG UK and Rob Beevers of MG OMD.

For centuries, humans have prided themselves on their ability to make choices. From the grand (brand v performance) to the mundane (Earl Grey or Darjeeling?), we like to imagine ourselves as captains of our own fates, each decision an exquisite expression of free will - or so we like to believe.

Today, we live in a world where our choices are increasingly mediated, filtered, and curated not by wizened scholars or kindly shopkeepers but by algorithms that whisper to us from inside our phones, our smart speakers, and even our fridges.

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“You can't say I just do the advertising bit.” The chief product and marketing officer for the UK’s largest energy supplier tells Tim Healey why marketers surrendering control over product are missing a trick.

You cut your teeth at Ogilvy and went on to work at British Gas. Most recently, you have spent almost eight years at Octopus as chief product and marketing officer. Please walk us through your career to date.

Originally, I was going to be an accountant. I studied business at Nottingham University, graduated and got a job at one of the big four. Then I read a brilliant, long copy ad on the back of the student University magazine for the advertising agency Ogilvy, written by the incredible Rory Sutherland, promoting their graduate scheme. It sounded really good, so I applied for their fellowship and got it.

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From Cadbury launching goo sachets to Birds Eye finally revealing what happens to waffle holes, here are the gags that really got us this year.

A straight shot to meatballs: IKEA’s new store ditches the maze

In a bold (and deeply linear) move, IKEA announced plans for a two-kilometer-long store designed to be “impossible to get lost in.” Ditching its famously twisty floor plans, the new concept store features a straight-shot layout with one entry, one exit, and a hop-on, hop-off travelator to reduce walking fatigue.

The tongue-in-cheek announcement comes in response to customer complaints — and at least one incident involving a confused shopper and a bin of toy snakes. “We have noticed that more and more visitors of our stores resort to GPS on their phones to find their way around,” said Tolga Öncü, Ingka Retail Manager. “This was, of course, a concern for us, as they spent more time looking at their phones than at our products. So, our solution is to build a store that is impossible to get lost in.” Whether it's satire or strategy, IKEA’s April Fools’ Day prank once again proves they know exactly how to guide customer attention — even in a straight line.

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April Fool’s Day is the one day of the year marketers can have some fun on the job, or can they? Paddy Gilmore outlines the key to getting it right on April 1.

To begin with, the obvious: April Fool’s Day pranks are very tricky to get right. First off, of course, they appear on April 1, so the element of surprise – a core element in humor – is pretty much thrown out the window.

Second, for many brands, there’s the weight of expectation: Duolingo, for example, makes annual April Fool’s Day jokes. No pressure there, then.

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Rejecting the notion that design is ‘dead,’ Pentagram partner Natasha Jen says that it has instead fallen victim to a monoculture of metrics. Now is its moment to reclaim what it does best – ‘construct reality’ and ‘shape meaning’ – rather than hit short-term goals to shift units.

A recent Fast Company article asked, almost theatrically, Is design dead? The piece captured a moment of widespread unease, layoffs, shuttered studios, the unraveling of ‘design thinking’ and a creeping suspicion that the corporate embrace of design may have been more temporary than transformational.

But beneath the headlines, something more foundational is unraveling: the quiet collapse of a larger delusion – that design could fully integrate into capitalism without being flattened by it.

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Ben da Costa, co-founder of Oat Cult, should be despondent. His latest ad campaign performed woefully on System1’s ad ranking methodology. He wonders if it has a blind spot for category-breaking work that the underdogs need to forge attention.

We made the worst cereal ad of all time.

According to System1, it was the lowest-performing cereal ad it has ever tested. Not just bad. The worst. In the entire category.

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We’re still in the early days of AI adoption and promises abound of how it will revolutionize PR. Raquel P of Propellernet cuts through the noise by focusing on the small, critical ways the tech can help with everyday work.

Open your LinkedIn right now and you’ll see AI hyped as the ultimate PR game-changer, streamlining media monitoring, automating press releases, and optimizing campaigns with a few mystical prompts. But for many of us in digital PR, the reality isn’t quite so seamless.

Tools hailed as the next BIG THING™ often flood us with data but don’t effectively prioritize what’s relevant. Instead of instant efficiency, you have to waste time explaining to a clueless robot why the campaign idea it suggested was as newsworthy as a sock drawer – and that’s an offense to sock drawers everywhere.

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Meet the judges of The Drum Awards. We celebrate the best in brand-building and creative strategy, and our Judge of the Day series gives you a closer look at the experts behind our prestigious panels. Get to know the industry leaders who recognize excellence in marketing.

Today, we highlight Julka Villa, former global chief marketing officer at Campari Group and a judge for The Drum Awards for Marketing Americas. With over 25 years of experience spanning Europe, South America and North America, Villa brings a global perspective to brand-building in the beverage and beauty industries.

Since joining Campari Group in 2009, she has held a variety of strategic leadership roles – culminating in her current position, where she leads the charge in transforming iconic brands such as Aperol, Campari, and Espolon into global social symbols.

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The surreal work from ad agency 72andSunny is for trading and investment platform E-Trade and riffs on the idea of something familiar being able to shock you.

To highlight its financial insights from Morgan Stanley, trading and investment company E-Trade has launched an eccentric and humorous new ad. The spot, titled ‘Call of the Wild,’ follows a family on a peaceful boat excursion, eagerly hoping to spot some wildlife.

As they scan the horizon for any signs of marine life, the mother unexpectedly takes matters into her own hands by letting out an astonishingly realistic and guttural walrus call. Her primal vocalization echoes across the water, leaving her husband and young son in stunned silence. Their wide-eyed expressions capture a mix of disbelief, admiration, and sheer confusion as they realize she possesses a hidden and rather peculiar talent.

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At Shoptalk 2025, the glitz of AI demos masks a deeper tension: who controls the intelligence driving your ad spend? Jeremy Woodlee, recently appointed general manager at Infillion, argues it’s time for brands, agencies, and publishers to reclaim AI from the platforms before it’s too late.

There’s a whiff of déjà vu at Shoptalk this year. The retail media scene has the frenzied energy of adtech circa 2010. Everyone’s building, everyone’s selling, and not everyone’s telling the truth.

Booths shine bright, demos are slick, and the word “AI” is sprayed across every stand like a designer logo. But scratch the surface, and it’s clear: the biggest question in Vegas isn’t what AI can do, it’s who it should work for.

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