By Ruth Mortimer, Global President, Advertising Week
1. Brands, Brands, Brands
I can’t tell you how many brands and case studies we have in store at Advertising Week Europe at 180 Studios in London on April 1-3 2025.
Some of the companies I can see on our agenda – Bottega Veneta, Co-op, Mars Wrigley, Tesco, McDonald’s, Highsnobiety, Genaura, Mamas & Papas, Carwow, McLaren Racing, the LEGO Group, Samsung Electronics, Deliveroo, Just Eat Takeaway.com, Burger King, Ryanair – Europe’s Favourite Airline , Unilever, Jaguar, Lenovo, MAST-JAEGERMEISTER UK LIMITED, Motorway, Nomad Foods, Primark, Evri, RVU, Centrica, John Lewis & Partners, IKEA, Nokia, Boots UK, KFC UK & Ireland, Soho House & Co, Tony’s Chocolonely, The Coca-Cola Company – and many more to come.
We are adding further sessions every day….
2. Empower Lounge
This one is special for me. The Empower brand was created by Louise Watson and Karen Stacey with the support of Propeller Group last year to raise the profile of important issues in the industry. Backed by Adform and backed by WACL (Women in Advertising & Communications Leadership ). The content in the Empower Lounge will be about culture, humanism and how to be inclusive. Basically if you want to know how to do marketing in a relevant way today, be here now. I will be attending the session called “Why Women Work Too Much” for sure because I need to know what is wrong with me.
3. Incredible Partners
Phew, what incredible partners we have that come from almost every part of the industry. Thank you to them all – please check them out on our dedicated page and give them your love because without them we can’t make Advertising Week happen. Excited to have some new partners this year in WeTransfer who are hosting our VIP lounge and making it better than ever, our fabulous wrap parties partners at Artlist, Soho House & Co, Uber who are our Networking lounge sponsor (very appropriately, I do a lot of talking in Ubers) and many more. Thanks to Adobe, Vevo, Meta, Activision Blizzard, Adform, AudienceProject, Carwow, Channel 4, Cint, Convertr, Criteo, December19 | B Corp™, Disney Advertising, DPAA, Dstillery, Empathy Lab by EPAM, Epidemic Sound, GEEIQ, Genius Sports, Google, Good Shout, GWI, Index Exchange, LG Ad Solutions, Livewire, Magnite, Nielsen, Path 7, PayPal, Pitch & Sync, Pinterest, PrimeAudience, Propeller Group, PubMatic, RedKite, Risk Europe, Snap Inc., Soho House & Co, Spotify, Tesco Media and Insight Platform, The Trade Desk, TikTok, TripleLift Uber, YMU, Alight, Bizibl, CNBC, EMARKETER, The Drum, Executive Channel Network (ECN), KBH, The Marketing Society, Shorty Awards, Global Purpose Enterprise and many more but my Linkedin tagging permissions have been revoked.
4. My Talks
I’ve got some exciting talks still to announce () but here are a couple that I’m doing and I’m very excited.
I’m sitting down with Rawdon Glover, Managing Director of Jaguar to talk about the brand’s controversial creative approach. He has promised to tell us why, how and what results the brand has seen. Don’t miss this exclusive look at the most high profile marketing activity of the last year.
Also I will take the stage with Gary Lineker. It’s hard to say just how much impact Gary has had in terms of his sporting career, then broadcasting career (they had to replace him with three people when he gave that up) and now he is co-owner of Goalhanger which creates podcasts such as The Rest Is History, The Rest Is Politics, Empire, The Rest Is Entertainment, Leading, The Rest Is Money, Battleground, The Rest Is Football, Sherlock & Co. and We Have Ways of Making You Talk.
5. Celebrities, Creators and Culturemakers
I can’t wait to see some of the talent taking to the stage and there’s still more to announce. Matt Lucas and David Walliams have been two of the most high profile names in entertainment for 20 years and have the leading podcast currently…..what will they say about their future? I am so excited to hear from TV presenter and campaigner Davina McCall who is returning to the AW stage after her brain tumour surgery. Comedian and presenter Paddy McGuinness will undoubtedly be hilarious. And it doesn’t stop there – Myleene Klass, Dynamo and more. Thank you to our amazing partner YMU for collaborating with us on these sessions.
6. Special Events
Many of our special events are invite only or open only to certain ticket types. We have some fantastic VIP breakfasts, intimate roundtable debates, music taking place all day and obviously our Future is Female awards. This year we also have a Future is Female screening of LILLY, a new film starring Patricia Clarkson which is open to all and tells the story of the woman who got equal pay signed into US law. It’s a must see!
7. Supercharge Your Social
I’m terrible at social and have no desire to improve. But you can do differently. Check out our talk with Gary Vaynerchuk. You know Gary. He has more followers than some countries have populations. 10M+ on Instagram, 15M+ on TikTok and that’s only two platforms.
8. Retail And Commerce Media
Actually, all things hot and in media. We have tracks of content on everything that’s hot right now. Obviously one of our big focuses this year will be retail and commerce media. We see the cutting edge of what’s happening in retail media at Advertising Week New York each year and it’s exciting to see this field finally explode in the UK. Come and check out Tesco Media and Insight Platform, TripleLift, Carwow, PayPal, STRATACACHE, Co-op, WeTransfer and more.
9. Grow Your Career
Want to know where you’re going next? Let us help you. Our career clinic features workshops, one-to-one coaching and much more for every stage of your career. If you’re a brand marketer, you can book into one or both of our masterclasses with Gary Vaynerchuk and Gary Lineker. DON’T MISS THAT. If you want to talk emotions, join Good Shout. I definitely need this because I do not have a poker face. You can also book time with super coaches Lenore Moritz, Sally Henderson and more. Meanwhile, Andre Spence has some of the best businesspeople in the world signed up to mentor on a mass scale for two days.
10. Sampling and Activations
The space at 180 Studios is so experiential. Brutalist architecture, incredible greenery and the most incredible screens you’ve ever seen on every wall. We’ll have the BBC’s Gladiators, while Amaris Music Group will be providing live music during the days and Global Street Art as well as food and drink sampling throughout the event. MORE TO COME – WATCH OUT LONDON, BETTER BOOK YOUR IV DRIPS TO RETAIN STAMINA NOW.
