ANDREW TINDALL: AD AWARENESS DESERVES A PLACE BACK ON THE DASHBOARD

7. 10. 2026 | 6 min read Andrew Tindall digs into data across 1,478 brands and argues ad awareness deserves a place back in effectiveness planning, alongside attention, emotion and business outcomes.

STEVEN VAN BELLEGHEM: BRANDS FACE A NEW BATTLE FOR ACCESS TO CUSTOMERS

5. 10. 2026 | 5 min read According to Steven Van Belleghem, customer service that is available at any time and provides an immediate response will become the norm. This is because AI agents will take over some of the decision-making on behalf of consumers. At the Brand Management conference, he therefore advised marketers to focus not only on the effectiveness of technology, but also on building relationships and a sense of belonging with customers.

AI IN MARKETING PROVIDES SUPPORT AND INSIGHTS, BUT HUMAN SUPERVISION IS ESSENTIAL

4. 10. 2026 | 5 min read The greatest benefit of artificial intelligence does not lie in replacing experts, but in enabling good marketers, researchers and creative professionals to work faster, more efficiently and with more information than ever before. However, the technology itself will not solve marketing problems. Judgement and ultimate responsibility remain with people.

BRAND LOYALTY DOES NOT LEAD TO GROWTH; CUSTOMISABILITY AND AVAILABILITY ARE MORE IMPORTANT

2. 10. 2026 | 6 min read Brand love is something of an exception amongst consumers and does not, in itself, lead to increased purchasing behaviour. This was stated by Rachel Kennedy of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science at the Brand Management conference. According to the data presented, mental availability and strong distinctive elements are more important for brand growth.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CLIENTS AND AGENCIES IS CHANGING IN THE AGE OF AI. HOW WILL THIS AFFECT THE COST OF LABOUR?

1. 10. 2026 | 4 min read Clients regard AI tools as accessible and see their greatest benefit in their use for specific marketing tasks. However, research by AKA and ResSolution Group also shows that, as automation increases, the question of the value of agency work is being raised once again, as was noted on the first day of the Brand Management conference.

IS TV ADVERTISING LOSING ITS EFFECTIVENESS?

15. 9. 2026 | 11 min read Building mental availability is one of linear television’s key strengths. Media experts broadly agree on that. When consumers are faced with a purchasing decision, ideally they recall the brands that have lodged in their memory and choose one of them. But how does television perform at the bottom of the marketing funnel? Who visits a brand’s website while a TV commercial is still on air – and who goes on to make a purchase straight away? Researchers at Seven.One Media have explored these questions and presented new data on both the short- and long-term effects of the medium.

MTA OR MMM? A BAD QUESTION THAT MARKETERS ARE STILL TRYING TO ANSWER

15. 9. 2026 | 13 min read Multi-touch attribution and marketing mix modelling are not competing methods, but tools that offer different perspectives on marketing effectiveness. This article by Milan Knapp explains the differences between them and shows why it can be more effective to use both methods together.

IF IT LOOKS LIKE A DUCK: WHY YOUTUBE SHOULD NEVER BE PLANNED AND BOUGHT AS TV

8. 9. 2026 | 6 min read Paul Evans analyses the gap between YouTube’s claim and conduct.

MARY KYRIAKIDI: TRUE DISTINCTIVENESS IS RARE. BUT WHEN A BRAND FINDS IT, IT REALLY PAYS OFF

29. 7. 2026 | 3 min read The debate over whether there is any real differentiation between brands at all was reignited this year at Cannes Lions, where Byron Sharp stated that a decade of research had failed to identify any truly differentiated brands from the consumers’ perspective. Brand differentiation can be measured. And it pays off. Mary Kyriakidi, Global Thought Leadership Director at Kantar, responds to this claim with data from the BrandZ database. She shows that perceived differentiation has a concrete, measurable impact on how a brand performs. It is therefore not merely an abstract marketing concept. What differentiation does for business Perceived distinctiveness accounts for roughly half of the reason why a brand can command a higher price. Brand awareness alone contributes only about 6 per cent to this. Customers therefore do not reward brands simply for being familiar with them. Above all, they reward those brands that hold a clear and unique meaning for them.

COMPANIES ARE SPENDING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS ON MARKETING, BUT THE RETURN ON INVESTMENT IS FALLING

26. 6. 2026 | 7 min read Marketing costs are rising, competition from both local and low-cost Asian rivals is becoming increasingly fierce, and maintaining a healthy profit margin is a challenge. Online shops that base their decisions on data are the most successful in this regard. Advertising may be more expensive, but those who best understand how their customers make decisions are still able to grow healthily today.

STREAMING HAS BECOME A SOCIAL NETWORK AND EVERY SHOW IS AN EVENT: DISNEY’S DANA MCGRAW

23. 6. 2026 | 5 min read Marketers have spent years trying to figure out how to keep consumers engaged. Disney Advertising’s Dana McGraw may have a simpler answer: give people something to obsess over together.

FORGET ABOUT IMPRESSIONS. MEASURE WHAT YOUR COMMUNICATION ACTUALLY ACHIEVES

10. 6. 2026 | 5 min read According to Katie Delahaye Paine, an expert in communication measurement, traditional metrics such as the number of media mentions, impressions or reach no longer reflect the true value of PR. At the Communication Summit, she called on marketers to measure the impact on the trust, attitudes and behaviour of target groups rather than tracking the volume of publicity.

CONSUMERS DON’T HATE AI ADS – THEY HATE BAD ADS

13. 5. 2026 | 4 min read There’s a story I keep reading in the trades, and I want to analyze it because I don’t think it’s fully accurate. It’s the story about how consumers hate AI-generated ads.

THE PROBLEM WITH MUCH AI-POWERED ADVERTISING IS THAT IT’S MEANINGLESS

21. 4. 2026 | 6 min read Audiences aren’t tired of advertising. They’re tired of low-value, repetitive, over-personalized noise that constantly demands something from them – and AI is turning up the volume.

SCROLL, SWIPE, STREAM: WHY VERTICAL VIDEO IS COMING TO YOUR STREAMING APP

11. 4. 2026 | 8 min read 68% of Gen Z find what to watch on social, not on your app. TikTok shows you something in two seconds and you either want more or you don't. Your streaming app shows you a grid of thumbnails and wishes you luck.

TV WAS ALWAYS PERFORMANCE. WE JUST FORGOT HOW TO PROVE IT

27. 3. 2026 | 4 min read Let’s move beyond the idea of “brand vs performance” and instead focus on what drives growth across the whole advertising ecosystem, writes WPP Media Solutions’ SVP.

TO GAIN AI VISIBILITY, BROADCASTERS MUST TRAIN THE LLMS

16. 3. 2026 | 7 min read The window to shape AI SEO for broadcast is now. If an advertiser asked an AI system to build a media plan today, broadcast television would rarely make the recommendation. That’s not because TV is ineffective, but because AI systems cannot see it.

LET’S DITCH THE ACRONYMS: A NEW LANGUAGE FOR TOTAL TV

3. 3. 2026 | 5 min read There are two types of TV advertising: mass and addressable. That’s it. Let’s ditch the unhelpful acronyms and adopt this straightforward framework.