The Campaign Podcast

In 2025, there was a major rollback of DEI initiatives, and in 2026 the gender pay gap widened in advertising, while it shrinks in other sectors.

However, the IPA Census reported the proportion of women in C-suite surpassing 40% in adland for the first time, and ethnic minority representation at senior levels improved following two successive years of decline.

Campaign’s School Reports highlight and critique an agency’s efforts to improve its diversity, which has received some criticism for focusing too much on race and gender and overlooking class.
In this episode, Campaign's journalists are asking whether, in a time of declining DEI initiatives, an agency should be judged by its diversity, how much do clients care, and is agency diversity becoming less of a priority.

Hosted by tech and multimedia editor Lucy Shelley, this episode includes premium content editor Nicola Merrifield, deputy media editor Shauna Lewis and UK editor Maisie McCabe.

Further reading:
Why has adland's gender pay gap got worse?
School Reports 2026: The end of “performative window dressing” for diversity

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Campaign's Media 360 opened its doors last week to a room of senior marketers, media owners and agency leaders. Food critic and Masterchef presenter Grace Dent opened the two-day conference in Brighton with speakers including co-host of The Rest Is Politics, Alastair Campbell, The Guardian's global chief advertising officer Imogen Fox and Michelle Spillane, managing director, Paddy Power Online at Flutter UK.

This episode features the event's co-chairs: Sannah Rogers, chief executive of Zenith UK, and James Bailey, chief executive of Dentsu Media UK and Ireland. They chat to Campaign's tech and multimedia editor Lucy Shelley about their reflections on the media industry following the conference and discuss the biggest changes affecting the media industry and the people in it.

Before the interview, media editor Beau Jackson and deputy media editor Shauna Lewis chat with Shelley on their reflections after day one, on themes of trust, community and Big Tech.

Further reading:
PepsiCo on how a media shake-up boosted OOH
Bauer’s Thomas Garry wins Media360 Challenge 2026
How Just Eat and British Heart Foundation manage brand risk in influencer marketing
Guardian ads chief: Brands need to embrace cultural turbulence
'If you ask us to make an AI ad, we will inherently fail': Particle6 on AI in production

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The advertising and media industry is going through a period of massive change, as a result of AI, economic and global pressures, organisational restructures and redundancies. In the latest market report from Campaign Red called “The Great Reboot”, we reported that the top holding companies cut 12,000 people from their businesses.

As the industry is contracting, how are the people within it, its leaders and those seeking employment obtaining mentorship to push themselves and the industry forward?

So far this year, we have seen the launch of mentorships schemes from The Marketing Skills Trust, Ogilvy UK and Rapp UK, an expansion of Lollipop mentoring’s existing programme and launch of Zoo.London’s career community.

In this episode, Campaign's editorial team discusses why mentoring is so important in periods of rapid change, if adland puts enough value on the power of mentoring, and what happens if it’s neglected altogether. Fiona Cameron joins the episode as vice president of women’s professional support programme Bloom, and former learning and development partner at Group M, now called WPP Media.

From Campaign, the episode features deputy editor Gemma Charles, deputy creativity and culture editor Charlotte Rawlings, and hosted by tech and multimedia editor Lucy Shelley.

Further reading:
Campaign Inspiring Women Awards winners 2026: Mentor of the Year
What does it take to be an ad agency chief executive?

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Adland’s agency networks have been forced to think differently, after a challenging year for holding companies with economic instability, a mega-merger and AI disruption.

Publicis began calling itself a “platform organisation” years ago, while Omnicom restructured to become a “premier marketing and sales company” after the acquisition of IPG last year. In February, WPP’s chief executive Cindy Rose said: “We don’t want to be a holding company any more”, but a “single operating company” instead.

Campaign Red released a market report called "The big reboot", looking into the top network's 2025 FY results and what the post-holding company era looks like for the industry.

In this episode, Campaign's editorial team is discussing why the largest agency groups are moving away from the holding company label, and what this "reboot" means. Editor-in-chief Gideon Spanier, media editor Beau Jackson and deputy media editor Shauna Lewis join the episode hosted by tech and multimedia editor Lucy Shelley.

Further reading:
Arthur Sadoun on why “pressure” from investors doesn’t matter, Publicis' “resilience” and the competition
Publicis grows 4.5% in Q1 as Arthur Sadoun pans “squeeze to please Wall Street”
Q1 expected to be “worst quarter” for WPP’s new business in 2026
WPP reports 6.7% revenue decline in Q1 2026
Omnicom revenue grew 3.9% in Q1 after IPG acquisition
Chapter 1: Revenue
Chapter 2: Headcount
Chapter 3: M&A
Chapter 4: Share price
Chapter 5: New business
Chapter 6: Creative awards
AA/Warc: adspend forecast for 2026 drops amid methodology shake-up
“The fragmentation of media is clear”: adland reacts to AA/Warc Expenditure Report
AA/Warc: adspend to break records and smash £50bn ceiling in 2026

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Media has seen a string of deals in the last year, poised to consolidate key areas of the market. Paramount Skydance seeks to complete its $111 billion takeover of Warner Bros., and in the UK, Sky ponders its bid to acquire the broadcast and ad sales division of ITV. In publishing, after several other attempts fell through, European media group Axel Springer, which owns Business Insider and Politico, has agreed to buy the Telegraph Media Group for the sum of £575m.

So, pending various approvals, what would such deals mean for the media landscape and its advertisers?

Campaign's editorial team gather in the studio to discuss why media owners are consolidating, the impact on media buyers and what it means for competition. Hosted by media editor Beau Jackson, this episode includes Campaign’s UK editor Maisie McCabe, editor-in-chief Gideon Spanier and deputy media editor Shauna Lewis.

Further reading
Will Sky’s proposed takeover of ITV be good for advertisers?
ITV confirms talks with Sky about £1.6bn sale of M&E unit
Paramount Advertising takes sole control of UK sponsorship deals

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