On January 16th we opened the door to our first ever client summit – Grow 25 - a big day out with an agenda dedicated to helping our clients navigate the media and marketing landscape in 2025.
How brands REALLY grow
The first section of the day – held in the Picturehouse Central in Picadilly Circus – focused on advertising effectiveness. Kicking things off, our very own Chris Herbert-Lo and Terri Squibb talked us through the commercial power of independent thought, demonstrating how impactful campaigns are designed. Following this, Professor Felipe Thomaz of Oxford University delivered an insightful presentation on marketing effectiveness, which included a Q&A session with Marketing Week Editor, Lucy Tesseras.
Maximising media
After coffee (and enormous pastries brought to us by social enterprise, Humdingers) the spotlight shifted to maximising media effectiveness. Caroline Tucker and Nick Shields delved into embedding effectiveness across the business, from the relationship with finance to experimentation and investment planning. We then heard from Billy Ryan and Miglena Dimitrova, who highlighted the very latest advances in measurement – from the compelling correlation between ad awareness and share of search, to cutting-edge AI-driven digital attribution. The morning concluded with Lauren Fishwick and Ian Daly showing us how to respond to the ongoing fragmentation of video viewing, using a framework rooted in audience behaviour.
Navigating change
After lunch (also enormous) we explored how marketers can navigate change in 2025. Times Radio host Lord Ed Vaizey painted a pretty stark picture of the political and economic outlook, and futurologist Helen Job then took us through the emerging consumer trends to watch. A brilliant panel then tackled the topic of inclusivity with a thorny question: ‘are we done with diversity?’, with the discussion making it clear we still have much progress to make. Marianne Matthews from Sky shared insights from their sustainability journey, followed by an engaging conversation with Gary Lineker and Tony Pastor, who reflected on their experiences of growing a major business in an emerging media channel. We finished up with the brilliant Dr Mark Bloomfield, a Cambridge University fellow, talking us through why he’s an AI optimist and sharing top tips for CMOs.
It was a brilliant day, which received an overwhelming response of positive feedback. We had an absolute blast and hope that those who were able to attend felt the same way. It was brilliant to spend time with you all, and to facilitate some great networking between marketing peers at different brands.
Roll on Grow 26!
