The Media Leader Podcast

Last week, WPP Media released its mid-year global advertising forecast report. As Kate Scott-Dawkins, WPP Media’s global president of business intelligence and author of the report said, the growth picture for advertising is "quite buoyant", even in the midst of severe geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainty.As the global advertising community descends upon sunny Cannes this week, including us at The Media Leader, deals will be cut, rose will be drunk, parties will be had. But ahead of the pomp and circumstance, The Media Leader wanted to take a close look at where the industry stands after a deeply unstable H1.Host Jack Benjamin caught up with Scott-Dawkins last week to unpack the strong growth picture despite that instability, and look ahead to the end of the year and beyond. The duo discussed the rise of China, the decline traditional ad sellsers, and why AI is driving substantial growth in the ad industry.Highlights:1:39: Unstable global business market, buoyant global ad market6:01: AI's 'Manifest Destiny' and 'Gold Rush' moment9:31: Is platform-driven media consolidation good for advertisers? How big is too big?12:58: Impact of social media ban and potential tech regulation16:13: What happens if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed?19:32: How AI is impacting the labour market, and what it means for consumer spending24:58: The rise of China and the bifurcation of marketing stacksRelated articles:WPP Media upgrades growth forecast despite macro headwindsStrait of Hormuz disruption threatens $94bn of global ad investment over next 18 months

Last week on the show, The Media Leader spoke with Thinkbox’s Elliott Millard about how brands can reconsider their cultural impact, and this week, we wanted to continue that conversation with an agency that bills itself as sitting right at the centre of culture.Hamid Habib is the managing director of Arena Media within Havas Village. Habib and Arena Media pride themselves on working on inventive campaigns that embed brands within culture and communities.Habib discusses what it means to work for a “cultural media agency”, how he has moved his clients away from channel planning and toward ecosystem design, and the overarching cultural changes he thinks every brand should be aware of. He and host Jack Benjamin also talk about why brands are underinvesting in gaming, and how AI is changing the role agencies play for their clients.Highlights:4:55: Arena Media's unique client proposition and why brands "grow when they move with culture".11:24: Less channel planning, more ecosystem design: Why the brand and performance dichotomy is not fit-for-purpose.18:00: Important cultural shifts this year: Bifurcation of media behaviours across generations, AI changing customer journeys26:32: Brands need a BANG: Breadth, authenticity, newness, granularity31:33: Zig when others zag: Why Reddit, gaming are underinvested channels45:06: Are agencies still relevant as automated planning, buying and creative becomes common?Related articles:How marketers should reconsider culture and short-term strategies — with Thinkbox’s Elliott MillardIs there still room for human creativity in the AI era?Charlie Hugill: Why the future of media is real, human and experientialPlayNet launches to connect gaming with online behaviour

Ask marketers what they hope to accomplish and, as part of the effort to drive sales outcomes, these days, many will say they want their brand to contribute to and sit within culture But that begs the question: how do you define culture?There is a sense that culture is youth-driven and based on social currency – are you up to date on the latest trend? On what people are talking about right now? Are you speaking their language?But a new study presented at a Thinkbox event last week found that marketers might just be thinking about culture in too narrow a way, and a change in framing might cause them to rethink their media investment.Elliott Millard is the chief strategy officer at Thinkbox. He sits down with host Jack Benjamin to discuss how brands are advertising through macroeconomic adversity, and how they should reconsider how to best make a cultural impact through their advertising. Highlights:3:36: Adversity facing advertisers: Are CMOs actually embracing brand advertising again?10:32: Brands aren't doing short-termism the right way15:54: The media channels that are the biggest drivers of culture22:02: The cultural half-lives of online trends28:14: The power of predictability and the ability to plan reactivity38:07: Brand dynamics as a network effectRelated articles:Brands could double their media investment and still generate a profitable return, claims WPP Media reportThe cultural moments that will matter to media in 2026Go woke, go broke? Brands on the front line of the culture war

This week, from the 3rd to the 5th of June, the World Out of Home Organisation (WOO) is hosting its Annual Congress here in London.The event is expected to draw more than 700 attendees from over 37 countries, and The Media Leader is an official media partner of the conference, occurring during our inaugural OOH Week in Focus.Ahead of the conference, host Jack Benjamin sat down with the World Out of Home Organisation president Tom Goddard to discuss the state of the global OOH industry.The pair spoke about how OOH is working to become easier to buy, how it is improving measurement standards, and whether the media channel is telling the right story about itself to advertisers.Highlights:4:16: The World Out of Home Organisation's recent goals and priorities8:28: OOH's digital transformation and consolidation in ownership12:25: Investment in data and measurement and the need for connectivity and automation17:25: Regulatory headwinds and tailwinds21:34: Making outdoor creative again with trust as the North Star26:55: OOH as a sustainable medium32:17: How to double OOH's market share: make transactions 'frictionless', collaborate moreRelated articles:OOH reports highest-ever annual revenue in 2025The reinvention of OOH is acceleratingWhy measurable doesn’t always mean meaningful in marketingIs out-of-home under threat from global regulations?DOOH: The creative imperative

Last month, the United Nations in partnership with the Conscious Advertising Network (CAN) launched an issue brief warning the integrity of the global information ecosystem is at a "crisis point".As Charlotte Scaddan, senior advisor on information integrity at the UN, explained: "Without swift action and guardrails, AI risks accelerating the breakdown of information ecosystem integrity."But advertisers, the UN believes, are uniquely situated to demand greater transparency and guardrails from AI companies as the likes of OpenAI turn to ad-supported business models to fund their exorbitant costs.At our Future of Brands conference last month, Scaddan and CAN co-founder Harriet Kingaby joined host and senior reporter Jack Benjamin to unpack the report and make a direct appeal to advertisers to "make information integrity a condition of AI uptake."Highlights:1:35: Toplines from the Strengthening Information Integrity: Advertising, Artificial Intelligence and the Global Information Crisis issue brief4:41: The power of advertisers in the global information ecosystem7:14: Why advertisers should care about media quality9:55: Concrete steps advertisers should take when working with tech platformsRelated articles:UN and CAN warn of AI-driven global information integrity crisisSocial media platforms linked to human trafficking, UN report findsUK to get ChatGPT ads imminently as OpenAI expands pilot to other territoriesTakeaways from the Future of Brands 2026: AI, culture and measurement take centre stage‘Are we monetising addiction?’ Ad industry faces reckoning following social media addiction lawsuit verdictMeta admits revenue from fraud and scam ads ‘might’ have accounted for 3-4% of total revenue