The retailer has launched the campaign ahead of the tournament kicking off this summer.

In support of the England and Wales teams competing in the Womenʼs Euros this summer, Tesco has rolled out an out-of-home campaign featuring receipts containing a hidden message.

Created by BBH, the digital OOH campaign sees acrostic lists of game-day snack purchases spell out messages of celebration and support, including ‘Youʼve Got Thisʼ and ‘Ymlaen Garfan,ʼ which translates to ‘Letʼs goʼ or ‘Come on team.ʼ

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The brand versus performance debate is broken. “It works very well in our org chart – but not in real life,” said Paolo Provinciali, vice-president of marketing, growth, performance and operations at LinkedIn. “In my mind, all marketing is performance. It’s just a matter of striking the right balance between short term and long term.”

Joined by Preeti Croke of Analytic Partners in The Drum Studio at Cannes, Provinciali called for a “recovering performance marketers” club – and a mindset shift. “You need to earn a seat at the table,” he says. “Your CFO doesn’t need to understand marketing. You need to understand how they run the business.”

That means ditching vanity metrics and anchoring everything to commercial impact. “Start from the end goal,” says Provinciali. “Revenue and bookings. Then walk back: what drives that? Leads. What drives leads? Awareness. You can connect every metric to the outcome.”

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From chasing down Sir John Hegarty to leading India’s creative charge, FCB Ulka’s Suchitra Gahlot on Cannes wins, Ghibli filters and why the best creatives don’t always take the straightest path.

How do you become one of Asia’s top creative leaders? Winning multiple Cannes Lions, having a problem-solving mind and… stalking Sir John Hegarty.

OK, so maybe we can’t recommend following Suchitra Gahlot’s exact career path. But her journey now sees her at the top of India’s creative tree, winning Lions, One Show and D&AD gongs for brands such as Vodafone, The Economist, Coca-Cola and Hindustan Times.

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The activism group and its ad agency, Elvis, assembled ‘high-profile activists’ for the UK billboard protest.

According to Greenpeace research, the number of arrests in London for ‘conspiracy to cause public nuisance’ has increased tenfold since 2019. However, out of more than 600 arrests, only 18 (2.8%) were ever charged. The activist group believes that these anti-protest laws are being used to remove and intimidate peaceful protesters.

To highlight this, Greenpeace has launched its latest campaign, ‘They Can’t Arrest This Billboard,’ across cities in the UK. The campaign features six well-known activists holding placards that read, ‘I’m protesting in here to avoid arrest out there.’

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To judge excellence, you have to assess it correctly, says Christine Shoaf at Momentum Worldwide. One Cannes Lions category must change – or risks falling out of step with the industry.

The Brand Experience & Activation category at Cannes Lions has outgrown itself. With 2,332 entries this year – the highest of any category, for the second year running – it’s become clear the current structure isn’t serving the work, the juries, or the industry.

The issue is right there in the name. Brand Experience & Activation is not one idea – it’s two. Yet right now, they’re being judged side by side, under a single, vague definition: “The Brand Experience & Activation Lions celebrate creative, comprehensive brand building through the next-level use of experience design, activation, immersive, retail and 360° customer engagement.”

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As the streamer invests in live rocket coverage, music competitions and celebrity interviews, it is developing a content mix that recalls the variety of the traditional TV bundle.

Netflix built its reputation on freeing viewers from TV schedules by offering on-demand access to dramas, films and documentaries. The company is now investing heavily in live events, music competitions and unscripted formats, adding elements of appointment viewing to its offering.

As competition increases, Netflix is looking for ways to retain subscribers and support its advertising-supported tier, which now has around 40 million monthly active users. Live and unscripted content provides reasons for viewers to return regularly, helping to reduce churn and offer premium ad inventory.

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“Local is so important because of the content that local stations bring to their communities,” says Tara Gotch, executive vice-president of commercial at Comscore. “What drives the whole ecosystem is having a measurement source that can measure that.”

It’s easy to overlook just how foundational local TV is - especially for those immersed in digital. But in the US, local broadcast is where millions turn for real-time news, community stories and Friday night sports. It’s highly regulated, often culturally specific, and deeply tied to regional identity. Yet many legacy measurement systems still rely on national models that can erase or undercount entire markets - especially smaller or more diverse ones.

“If audiences aren’t visible in the data, stations can’t monetize them,” says Gotch. “And advertisers miss opportunities to connect with real communities.”

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Awards veteran Wayne Deakin talks truth, trophies and transparency after controversy engulfed this year’s Cannes Lions winners.

Every year, Cannes feels a bit like ‘The Truman Show’ – a perfectly curated world in a picturesque location, with sun-soaked people and endless ciels bleus, that looks incredible on the surface, until you start noticing some cracks after all the talk of scams.

The 2025 festival followed the usual rhythm: stirring case films, colleagues taking the stage, applause rolling in, and then the after-party scrutiny of the show. Did those case study stats add up? Did it deliver what it claims? Was there even a real client? Are we just bitter, or is there more than meets the eye?

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Campaign focuses on human craft over mass production.

Etsy is marking its 20th anniversary with a new brand campaign that focuses on the people and processes behind handmade products. The campaign, ‘What it Takes,’ launched on July 1 in the UK and US and is part of Etsy’s ongoing ‘Keep Commerce Human’ platform, which began in 2017.

The new ads feature Etsy sellers Maria, Alicia and Luke working on their products, including sanding, sketching and soldering. The focus is on the repetitive and imperfect aspects of making items by hand, which Etsy positions as an alternative to mass-produced and algorithmically recommended goods common in e-commerce.

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The threat of a ban on booze ads was floated, diminished and now hastily dropped from a Department of Health policy doc. But is the river still flowing toward tighter regulation?

It’s been a busy week for the beleaguered UK government.

First, faced with a rebellion from within its own party, it finally forced through a landmark welfare bill, albeit only after concessions, non-metaphorical tears and a steadily growing reputation for U-turns. Now comes another signal policy release from the long-awaited release of the Department of Health and Social Care’s (DoH) 10-Year Health Plan.

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Jonathan Wise was the global strategy director on Shell for two years while at the WPP agency J Walter Thompson (now VML). So, why is he now backing a UK ban on advertising and sponsorship by fossil fuel companies?

Times change — and so can our choices.

When I worked on Shell, I was seconded to their UK HQ for seven months, the thirteenth floor building on the edge of the Thames. When you walked up and down the stairs, you had to hold on to the handrail. Their dedication to health and safety on the oil rigs extended to office staff in zone 1.

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Digital media consultant Mark Challinor continues our News Horizons series, talking to the people shaping tomorrow’s media. This week, he sits down with Dietmar Schantin.

Dietmar Schantin is the principal of IFMS Media and co-founder of the AI Collective, advising leading news organizations worldwide on digital transformation, AI integration and newsroom strategy. With over two decades of experience, he has led major change initiatives at outlets including the Telegraph, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Hindustan Times. A mentor at the University of Central Lancashire’s Journalism Innovation and Leadership program, he is also a regular international speaker on audience-focused journalism, ethical tech use and sustainable media models.

Which areas of growth and encouragement are you seeing in 2025?

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Mobile gaming in the Asia Pacific region is exploding – and esports is leading the charge. Why? And how are brands riding the wave?

The APAC gaming market is huge, with mobile gaming emerging as the largest and fastest growing slice of the market – revenues are expected to hit $282bn by 2030. Esports is at the epicenter of the explosion, and is set to soar at a growth rate of 20.88% over the next 10 years.

Inside APAC’s mobile esports surge

China remains a powerhouse in mobile gaming, pulling in over 31% of global revenue. Meanwhile, countries like Indonesia and the Philippines are seeing a sharp rise in mobile game installs and longer play sessions – clear signs that engagement is deepening.

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As Channel 4, ITV and Sky join forces in Cannes to launch a premium video advertising marketplace, it’s a sign of a bold reboot for the future of TV – anchored in its greatest superpowers.

Married at First Sight. The Masked Singer. MobLand. Ask commercial leaders from the UK’s biggest broadcasters about their latest TV obsessions, and you might not expect them to choose shows from rival channels. But it was a moment that captured the bigger story playing out on RTL Beach, during Thinkbox’s Televisionaries panel at Cannes Lions 2025: a new era of collaboration, not competition, in British broadcasting.

Hot off the press: Channel 4, ITV and Sky have joined forces with Comcast Advertising through its Universal Ads to launch a new platform designed to make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to buy TV directly. No agency needed. No walled gardens. Just open access to premium, trusted media – a way to help “the long tail” of advertisers who have been priced out or put off by complexity.

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The work is the brand’s first from ad agency Leith and was shot in a popular Glasgow café.

Once again, Lovehoney is flipping expectations on sexual wellness advertising with a new creative platform from newly appointed ad agency Leith. ‘Feel the Lovehoney’ celebrates sexual happiness with unapologetic confidence while circumventing ad restrictions through the use of suggestion and innuendo.

The hero spot sees a loved-up young couple go about their day, completely entwined together. For example, they buy coffee and vacuum while still in a loving embrace. As the day ends, still wrapped in each other’s arms, the buzzing from their electric toothbrushes prompts a knowing glance… and it’s time for bed.

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What happens when creatives stop fearing data and start using it? In conversation with The Drum at Cannes, Adverity and Reckitt unpack how AI and analytics can spark – not stifle – big ideas. Watch now.

“Imagine you're a five-year-old and your parents have locked up all the Lego in the world in this secret cupboard… you know that you want to build some stuff, but you've only got limited access to it,” says Lee McCance, chief product officer at Adverity. He uses the metaphor to describe the still-evolving state of data democratization in many organizations: “That’s what we’re really focused on – how do we break down those barriers?”

“It’s not about how you decide who gets access to which data... it’s more about how you ensure that the data that you provide access to is meaningful for people's day-to-day job,” adds Bastien Parizot, senior vice-president, IT and digital, Reckitt.

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With VC funding down, B2B companies might have to think about how to self-finance new projects. Jenny Sagstrom at Sköna explains why this is all the more reason to invest in your brand.

Back in February, I attended a SaaS-focused event in London where questions around ‘bootstrapping’ echoed throughout the day. Which makes sense – European VC funding saw significant decreases in H2 2024, total funding plateaued in Q1 2025, and by May, global venture funding was down 13% quarter over quarter.

While bootstrapping may be an anomaly in the capital-intensive tech world, for most entrepreneurs, it’s just life. As someone who has spent the last 20 years building an agency (admittedly, a notable distinction from scaling a tech company), the idea of bootstrapping is table stakes. That doesn’t make it any easier, but it is possible – it’s just going to look different from the path of raising capital.

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A salute to brands that get Independence Day right. No fireworks, just smart storytelling, emotional punch, and a dose of American spirit.

The Fourth of July offers brands a high-profile opportunity to connect with audiences. While many campaigns rely on patriotic imagery, others aim to say something more meaningful about American identity and values. The best Independence Day ads go beyond simple sales messages, using storytelling to engage viewers on a deeper level.

With next year marking America’s 250th anniversary, there’s even greater incentive for brands to think carefully about how they frame these messages. Here are a few notable examples that stand out for their approach to the holiday.

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After revoking a Grand Prix over AI-manipulated footage, the festival unveils new disclosure requirements and enforcement measures to protect the credibility of its awards.

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has withdrawn one of its top honors after uncovering that Brazilian agency DM9 used AI-generated and manipulated footage to bolster its winning entry. The decision underscores how seriously the festival treats its credibility and serves as a warning to agencies everywhere about the high cost of bending the rules.

Beyond losing a prestigious award, agencies caught misrepresenting their work can face leadership shakeups, reputational damage, client distrust, and tighter scrutiny on all future entries. In response, Cannes Lions is introducing new rules to strengthen transparency, enforce AI disclosure, and protect the integrity of the awards many agencies see as essential to their global standing.

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‘Feel the Lovehoney’ marks Leith’s first work for the sex toy company since winning the account last year. The Drum caught up with the brand and the agency to hear how they navigated advertising restrictions.

Lovehoney has never shied away from addressing the challenges it faces when advertising its products, but it’s not backing down. In fact, it’s doubling down with a bold new campaign, ‘Feel the Lovehoney,’ which says everything without explicitly saying it, relying instead on suggestion and innuendo.

This is its first work from Scottish ad agency Leith since it won the account last year, following a competitive pitch and some out-of-home work it had previously done for the brand.

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Agencies big and small are rapidly adopting AI. But unless they radically rethink the FTE commercial model, they risk putting themselves out of business.

At Cannes Lions last month, AI’s stronghold on the industry was clear. On the event’s many stages, ad industry leaders extolled its virtues in the creative process while simultaneously hyping the humans within their agencies. But away from the microphones, headlines of restructures, redundancies and consolidation reverberated at happy hour with staffers wondering just how long the status quo will last.

On the ground, Forrester analyst Jay Pattisall had around 40 meetings with agency CEOs and client-side execs to determine exactly what’s going on with AI adoption and how it’s affecting their relationships.

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Republica Havas CEO Jorge Plasencia urges brands to ditch surface-level tactics and embrace cultural authenticity, as he breaks down the $4.1 tn Hispanic market opportunity with The Drum’s Gordon Young.

“Translation is not the answer,” says Jorge Plasencia, chief executive officer of Republica Havas and global chief client officer at Havas: “When you're doing that, you're shooting blanks.” It’s a striking moment during a conversation in Cannes which lays bare the reality: brands are missing out on the biggest growth engine in the US.

Plasencia pulls no punches on the business case: “The Hispanic market in America has $4.1 tn in buying power... It’s the youngest market by far,” and “it’s the market with the greatest growth for brands,” he says. But it’s an ongoing education process with marketers and the C-suite: “still, many brands just don’t understand.” He challenges marketers to go beyond token gestures and invest in cultural authenticity.

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The director of ITV Creative looks back at the most memorable moments so far from a life in advertising.

ITV Creative’s director, Niki Garner, was “geeky” about advertising from a young age. “I can remember in my childhood enjoying children’s TV advertising – Barbies and cars and all of that kind of stuff – which, ironically, I would probably have been watching on ITV, so it’s nice back to my spiritual home.”

Garner, who would go on to spend over a decade at creative agency Mother, says she’s not a ‘creative’ by trade but has always been fascinated by brands and design, looking to understand why, as a consumer, she should purchase one product over another.

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The actor teams up with Maximum Effort for social-first ad that reunites Gossip Girl’s Serena and Dorota while targeting the premium ready-to-drink market.

Betty Booze, the ready-to-drink cocktail brand founded by Blake Lively, is tapping into Gossip Girl nostalgia with a new ad introducing its Vodka Iced Tea line to millennial and Gen Z drinkers.

‘Sharing Good Tea’ reunites Lively with Zuzanna Szadkowski, best known to fans as Dorota, the beloved sidekick to Lively’s Serena van der Woodsen on the CW series. In the spot, the pair appears to reprise their familiar dynamic before breaking character to chat as themselves over Betty Booze Vodka Iced Tea. The phrase ‘sharing good tea’ serves as both a nod to gossip and a literal product pitch.

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The brand secured an actual county board vote in Arizona Township, Nebraska, turning a tongue-in-cheek stunt into an official designation aimed at challenging iced tea perceptions.

In a marketing move that sounds like it belongs in a satirical news segment, Liquid Death has officially become the ‘Official Iced Tea of Arizona.’ Just not the Arizona you’re thinking of.

The beverage brand’s latest stunt involved traveling to Arizona Township, Nebraska, population 278, where it convinced the Burt County Board of Supervisors to grant it the ceremonial title through an actual government vote in June.

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‘Wherever It Takes You’ spot by LePub revisits the moment two years ago the Dutch footballer met her partner on the dating app.

Tinder has unveiled its latest brand platform, ‘Wherever it Takes You,’ which celebrates the unexpected connections that can come from one small gesture: a ‘Like’ on Tinder. The film centers on the true story of footballer Kerstin Casparij and her partner Ruth Brown, who met on the app two years ago.

The film goes live across paid media as a summer of women’s football kicks off across Europe. Casparij, who plays for Manchester City and the Netherlands national team, and her partner, Brown, are the first UK-based couple to feature in the series.

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Campaign from ad agency BBH shows how the soft drink holds a unique place in people’s hearts.

Ribena’s latest campaign, ‘There’s No Taste Like Home,’ plays on nostalgia, depicting how, for many people, the soft drink is a vivid reminder of childhood and brings a comforting sense of ‘home.’

Created in partnership with ad agency BBH, the campaign launches with a suite of films directed by Maceo Frost through Knucklehead. These films capture an emotive snapshot of times gone by.

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I backed myself, and was fortunate my agency backed me. Harriet Donovan of Tommy recounts how she rose to the leadership position by the age of 31.

I can’t think of many things I’d like to do less than talking about my own success, but one pushy marketing manager later, and here we are. That said, with the current job market leaving so many people feeling stuck and uninspired in their careers, this feels like a story worth sharing. It’s not like I’ve been immune to this feeling of professional standstill - four years ago, being MD at 31 wasn’t even on my radar. With a shift in mindset and a culture that backed me, incredibly, it became a reality. Here’s how.

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As the Cannes Lions Young Lions Competition turns 30, Adobe and head jurors from Heineken and iProspect reflect on the talent, tenacity & transformation redefining creativity – and what the marketing industry can do to support it.

What do you get when 460 of the world’s brightest young creatives are given just 24 hours to solve a global brief? “Grit, grace, tenacity and leadership,” says Sandra Amachree, head of communications marketing, The Heineken Company, Nigeria. “It was breathtaking.”

At The Drum’s special Cannes session with Adobe, Amachree joined Adobe’s chief communications officer, Stacy Martinet, and iProspect’s global president and chief growth officer, Amanda Morrissey, to spotlight a new generation of creative thinkers – and explore why investing in talent today is a business imperative.

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Gerry Farrell opens up on the last time one of his ideas was butchered.

I learned to accept rejection early. My first advertising boss made me type my ads on to pre-perforated sheets of paper. “Makes it easier to rip ‘em up and throw them in the bin,” he said.

When I became a creative boss myself, I quickly learned that creative people don’t like “Hmm, yeah, maybe,” or “It’s fine.” They want their feedback in black or white. So, any time I didn’t like an idea, my policy was simple: rip the Band-Aid off fast.

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Guerilla marketing used to be about standing out. But, Vikesh Bhatt of Sparks explains that blending in might be the more authentic choice.

Today, the smartest creative work doesn’t shout to be seen; it shows that it gets it. In a world where advertising is constantly vying for attention, the most powerful brand activations no longer hinge on disruption. Instead, they hinge on belonging. They don’t force their way into culture; instead, they find their place within it.

That was the thinking behind ‘Setting Up Shop,’ a bold and soulful brand activation by Sparks and GenB TV that transformed a Brick Lane corner shop into a reimagined cultural hub. More than a marketing moment on the unofficial fringes, this space became a living, breathing example of what can happen when brands choose to belong somewhere as culturally rich and creatively vibrant as East London.

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Cannes Lions has a history of rewarding inclusivity in creativity, and this year saw new categories for inclusive design and image description. Jonathan Hassell at Hassell Inclusion says we still need to focus on long-term accessibility strategies.

Each year, I look at the Grand Prix, Gold, Silver, and Bronze winners of the Cannes Lions for examples of where creativity, inclusivity, and accessibility are celebrated. From Unilever’s disability inclusive deodorant packaging in 2021 to Microsoft’s ‘Change the Game’ initiative in 2019, Cannes has recognized some of the best examples of brands that strive to make their products and services accessible for all.

The Glass Lion for Change, in particular, champions this. In 2025, Cannes Lions expanded the scope of the award from “recognizing work that addresses inequality and prejudice by consciously representing and empowering marginalized communities“ to celebrate work that promotes more equitable representation of the disability community.

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The head of marketing tells Tim Healey why charity marketers must think like commercial brands, embrace risk and never lose sight of their audience.

You’ve gone from breaking news and sports reporting to senior marketing roles in software, The Prince’s Trust, your own venture Fives, and now head of marketing at Teenage Cancer Trust. Can you walk us through your career journey?

I started out in journalism in the mid-2000s when publications still had decent-sized teams. I’ve always been interested in people, storytelling and communicating to an audience.

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Marketers blame the fall of creativity on digital media when they should blame themselves, argues our columnist, sharing modern evidence that proper marketing with digital media is effectiveness gold dust.

A few months back, I found myself at an effectiveness conference. You know the type: some hot new data presented to a room full of chinos and Allbirds, everyone ducking out at 4pm for the school run. It’s a scene I actually feel weirdly comfortable in.

It’s one of the strange perks of my ADHD-gay lifestyle: I don’t sleep much and I spend those extra hours inhaling books, papers and slides on how to make marketing more effective. Call it a curse or a superpower.

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The work from Leo Burnett UK explains that, despite its cult-like following, the fishy menu item is often overlooked.

McDonald’s has revived an old Facebook group dedicated to the Filet-O-Fish to celebrate the often overlooked menu item's dedicated fans.

The group, which was set up in 2012, did not initially catch on, amassing only six followers. But now, 13 years later, McDonald’s has grown it to 5,800 members.

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The scorching heat didn’t hamper the celebration of creativity, nor the AI-hysteria on the Riviera

The biggest week of the marketing year is now in the rear-view mirror, with dazed marketers returning to their desks, hopefully along with a gong or two, and plenty of fresh inspiration. But with so much going on across the official programme, daily awards ceremonies, and the myriad brand-owned platforms, it can be hard to pin down the trends or themes emerging from the week.

So, if your CFO is asking what you learned from your week on the Riviera, or if you weren’t able to be there in person, here’s my take on five essential themes and how they played out at the festival.

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