The Campaign Podcast

Campaign's annual School Reports scrutinise and assess 80 UK agencies from across the industry, giving them each a score between 1 and 9.

Released last week, agencies across creative, media, social, digital, CRM and experiences are evaluated based on their individual history. The top mark of 9 is awarded to an agency that has had an outstanding year; 8 for an excellent year; 7 for a good one; 6 is satisfactory; 5 is adequate; 4 stands for below average; 3 is poor; 2, a year to forget and 1 warns that the shop's survival is in question.

For the last two years, no 9s were given, but this year, there were four awarded.

In this episode, Campaign's journalists discuss what the data revealed about individual agency health, how agencies fared in this year’s reports against difficult conditions and what goes into achieving a top score of 9. Premium content editor Nicola Merrifield, editor Maisie McCabe and media editor Beau Jackson join the episode hosted by tech and multimedia editor Lucy Shelley.

Further reading:
School Reports 2026: Top holding companies
School Reports 2026 tables: Top 100 creative agencies
School Reports 2026 tables: Top 50 media agencies
School Reports 2026: Top regional agencies
School Reports 2026: Agency billings growth slows down amid industry challenges
School Reports 2026: The end of “performative window dressing” for diversity
School Reports 2026: Which agencies got the highest marks?

What is Group M?
Do holding company solutions undermine agency brands?
WPP launches new Elevate28 strategy with four core divisions and £500m savings

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Gaming has firmly entered the mainstream, with more than three billion players worldwide and engagement levels that now rival – and often exceed – social platforms. What was once seen as a niche channel is now a dominant cultural force, commanding time, attention and participation at scale.

These shifts, and what they mean for brands, were explored in depth at Campaign’s recent gaming summit, held in London.

In this sponsored episode of The Campaign Podcast, Dentsu’s global head of gaming, Brent Koning, builds on that conversation and goes further. He delves into gaming’s role as an immersive social space, and why it remains one of the most underutilised channels in the marketing mix.

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In a break from the usual listen, we're bringing you the first three episodes of The Karman Line, a new podcast about the UK space industry from Haymarket Media Group, the owner of Campaign. This burgeoning sector is keen to communicate the extraordinary things it is doing to wider, complementary audiences.

What did the Space-Comm Expo conference and exhibition tell us about connecting space and wider business? How does this manifest as tech connectivity in telecoms and why do farmers care about that? What did we learn about the benefits of extreme cold in manufacturing laboratories and why do pharmas care about that? How vulnerable are global logistics to the spoofing of navigation signals? And why is the UK government centralising space strategy in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology?

Join Alice and Jonners as they reflect on the UK space sector’s largest trade event and the “energy, diversity and …sheer scope of what this industry has to offer”.

Contributors:
Alice Bunn, President of UKspace
Dr Alice Bunn OBE FIMechE FRAeS CEng | LinkedIn
UKspace: Overview | LinkedIn

Jonathan Daves, The Karman Line
Jonathan Daves | LinkedIn

Subscribe to The Karman Line
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-k%C3%A1rm%C3%A1n-line/id1876605462
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3qED4CgdRDxfKKzYNKZCIH?si=lZ-I4a19SPGLAJL-dHi4DQ
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@TheKármánLineUK

Key topics covered:
Space-Comm Expo, London, March 2026
Conference overview
Sector integration
Insurance
Customer utility
Government role
Future outlook

Technological advancements
· Telecoms
· Manufacturing

Defence and security
· Satellite capabilities
· Current threats

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If gaming is not to be considered a media channel, what is it? Campaign hosted the Gaming Summit this month, and many speakers at the event asserted that gaming should be considered more than just a channel to activate to make the most of its 3.5 billion global audience.

In this episode, Campaign's journalists from the event discuss why media should not be considered as as media channel, some of the mistakes brands make when approaching gaming and how to capitalise on the audience's active engagement.

Tech and multimedia editor Lucy Shelley is joined by the event’s host media editor Beau Jackson and deputy media editor Shauna Lewis.

Further reading:
McDonald's taps into nostalgia with trading card promotion
Replacing the funnel: the three pillars of modern gaming marketing

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The quote “good artists copy, great artists steal” also applies to advertising. Some ads are paying homage while some simply rip others off when creatives spot a good idea.

In this episode, the Campaign team takes a look at some of the recent ads that look noticeably similar, including British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research, Crocs and the V&A, Experian and an Amazon ad from 2023, Primark and Levi's iconic denim ad and Apple Watch and Rebook's "Belly's going to get you" in 2000.

Some creatives argue that ads can get away with copying if it's "over five years old and 5000 miles away", while others suggest it is "lazy" and creatives should be "named and shamed".

Host tech and multimedia editor Lucy Shelley is joined by deputy creativity and culture editor Charlotte Rawlings, reporter Eszter Gurbicz and editor Maisie McCabe.

Further reading:
Is there such a thing as an original (OOH) idea?
Is pre-testing a ‘no-brainer’? With Martin Beverley

Coming up in the Campaign calendar:
Influencer360 on 28th April

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