If you could change one thing in the industry, what would it be?

There’s a resource drought happening in the industry today. Technology has been treated as a solve-all and we’ve lost a lot of highly talented people.

I’ve always known that AI would take jobs. But I’d hoped that AI and agentic AI buying would be targeted at aspects of people’s roles that are repeatable and can be turned into automated tasks. Strategic human thinking cannot be done by AI and agents. Instead, they should provide people with the tools to free up their time to dedicate to the parts of their roles that are about developing strategies, creative concepts and meeting people.  What appears to be happening is that businesses believe AI can allow them to reduce their workforce. It’s creating a talent squeeze where fewer people are expected to manage increasingly complex roles. This impacts everything in our industry. Publishers struggle to deliver high quality journalism as they reduce their staff and rely on AI content. Agencies can’t make the most out of their strategic talent because they’re too bogged down in trying to run campaigns. And agency buyers lack the headspace to truly interrogate the ecosystem.

Yes, society needs to move on and embrace the new technology, but it can’t be to the detriment of the human touch.

If I could change one thing in this industry it would be steering companies away from getting rid of talented people, in the mistaken belief that machines will do it for them. We need to move away from ‘shoestring’ operations and give people the time to focus on the strategic work that moves the needle. We need to invest in people. I hope that as we lean more into AI and agentic buying, we use those efficiencies to reinvest in human brilliance.

How do you think advertising will change over the next three years?

Advertising workflows will be simplified and integrated, with humans in the loop supervising AI-driven processes. The hype around AI replacing humans will die out, creating a two-tier system: AI-managed, single-channel campaigns for small businesses and AI-aided, cross-channel campaigns managed by human experts for more professional advertisers.

What are you most passionate about achieving this year in media?

We have spent years perfecting the underlying technology required to operate in a restricted ecosystem controlled by privacy and the reduction of traditional signals. That work is now our baseline. Anonymised supports user privacy, reduces leakage and keeps data safe. The way that data and privacy should work.

I’m genuinely excited about being able to take our technology and give agencies and advertisers a competitive advantage. It’s something we’ve done recently with MI Media’s own client, Prostate Cancer UK. The charity faced the challenge of Meta’s healthcare category restrictions, which prevented conversion optimisation. By deploying Anonymised’s Audience Lift to create enriched lookalike audiences, MI Media’s campaign achieved a 35% reduction in cost per acquisition in just two weeks.

What I am most passionate about achieving this year is the rollout of our unique omnichannel solutions. Because our foundations are so robust, we can offer advertisers a level of audience intelligence and cross channel reach that is difficult to find elsewhere. I want to spend this year demonstrating how our bespoke approach to first party data activation provides a genuine competitive advantage. We enable our clients to achieve results that simply weren’t possible under the old models.

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Anonymised is an AI data platform for incremental audience targeting and campaign measurement – helping advertisers target and measure relevant audiences for increased reach and performance – without using or exposing personal data. Its privacy-enhancing technology couples cross-site data with on-device machine learning to allow accurate targeting and measurement of 100% consented audiences, across all browsers and devices. Its AI technology is crucial for the future of digital advertising since 60% of the web is effectively anonymous, and therefore addressable.

Your product feed should give the most accurate representation of your products

Once you know you have the right tracking in place, the next important element to crack is your product feed. Taking Google’s Merchant Centre or PMax as an example, if you have uncategorised products and inaccurate accompanying product information then these engines will be reasoning from the misclassification of your feed. Ill-performing retail media placements aren’t random; they are based on the information (or lack of information) you have provided.

The easiest way to illustrate this is to consider if one of your products is a red, zip-up jacket and you’ve categorised it simply as a ‘coat’ then your product isn’t going to appear when those high-intent shoppers are searching for a red jacket. Cleaning up your feed allows retail media algorithms to work in unison with your sales, rather than against them.

Retail media should optimise towards profit, not sales

Like any other channel, measurement is incredibly important in retail media. It’s not enough to make revenue gains from product sales. We need to consider every element that can affect sales: retail ad fees, manufacturing costs, shipping fees, sale prices, returns & warranties and product competition. Without a view on this, you are only seeing half the measurement picture and are at an increased risk of profit loss.

The strongest retail media strategy will focus on profit as a growth driver, not sales.

There’s no doubt that there are many exciting opportunities in retail media. To make the most of them, you must ensure that your first party tracking, product feed and measurement frameworks are setting you up for success. The impact of taking these steps can be phenomenal. It’s an approach we took with the retailer JML and within three months we delivered an 825% increase in profits compared to the same period in the previous year.

If you want to find out if you are set up for retail media success, get in touch.

We couldn’t be more proud to share that our inimitable and downright fantastic Jo Blake has been shortlisted for Mentor of the Year at Campaign’s Inspiring Women Awards!

The awards celebrate women in the marketing, advertising, media and technology industries, honouring those who have demonstrated exceptional achievements and led the way for others.

Jo embodies what it means to be a mentor, empowering others to grow with purpose, confidence and resilience. With over 30 years of experience in media, Jo now sits on our senior leadership team as Head of Investment and Head of People. Her dual focus on commercial excellence and people development underpins our strategic vision to Accelerate Growth across the business, its clients and its people. 

As a qualified business coach and mental health first aider, Jo combines professional expertise with empathy, ensuring every individual at MI feels heard, supported and inspired. She has introduced formal mentoring programmes, overhauled the appraisal process and delivered workshops designed to unlock personal and professional growth. Her initiatives have contributed directly to MI achieving both the IPA’s People First and CPD Gold accreditations. 

Beyond agency life, Jo’s impact resonates across the industry. She is a founding member of Bloom and Women in Trading, two networks dedicated to championing women through mentorship, education and community. Jo currently mentors six women formally, providing tailored guidance on confidence, career progression and leadership. 

Jo’s mentorship has transformed the lives and careers of many women, guiding early-career professionals through to senior leadership. Her approach is authentic, personal and lasting. As one mentee said, “I genuinely believe I owe my career to Jo Blake, and I don’t know what I would have done without her mentorship.”

What is the one thing you wish everyone knew about retail media? 

Retail media isn’t just another media channel. It’s the closest thing we’ve ever had to real consumer intent. The teams that run retail media and commerce operations are all starting to become one, blurring the line between commerce and media. Retail media links supply chain, shopper behaviour, media investment and sales in a single loop. This means that advertisers need to look beyond how they’re optimising bids & budgets and consider other signals such as digital shelf metrics. For example, if you can see that a product is low in stock, you will want to make sure that bidding is pulled back so you’re not paying high rates for a product that doesn’t have much more opportunity to sell.  

The brands that win won’t treat retail media as a budget line; they use it to uncover business insights for growth. The moment people see it that way, the entire conversation becomes more strategic. 

What’s the biggest misconception advertisers have about retail media? 

People assume that it’s easy. That you plug in spend and magic happens. In reality, every retailer behaves differently. The data is fragmented, as are the teams within media agencies that plan and buy retail media. 

If you consider retail media in Europe as an example, you have over forty countries, each with their own collection of retailers. In the UK, we have the big six grocers plus Amazon, all operating separately. It becomes even further fragmented when you look at the structure within media agencies where retail media is planned and bought by disparate teams. Many agencies have teams that focus purely on Amazon, with other retailers dealt with completely separately. This leads to teams fighting internally for budget, with no real view on how to spend budget most effectively across all retailers. 

This challenge is underscored by the misconception that retail media is a lower funnel, tactical decision. Historically, it’s been treated like search, for brands trying to make a sale. Today it’s becoming full funnel. Take Amazon as an example. It encompasses CTV and subscriptions with Amazon Prime, then has Amazon DSP plus sponsored brand and product opportunities. Advertisers and agencies must consider retail media holistically and better organise their agencies to get the most from it. It can’t be a TV team, a search team and DSP team each buying Amazon separately, it must be joined up. Once advertisers and their agencies realise this, their performance will be transformed. 

What are you most passionate about achieving this year in media? 

This year, beyond commercial goals, I’m passionate about pushing the conversation around neurodiversity in our industry.  

I have two autistic sons and watching how they navigate the world has reshaped how I think about workplaces. So many people in media are ‘masking’; holding it together, managing sensory overload or social pressure, just to get through the day. 

If we can build environments where people don’t have to hide who they are to succeed, the work improves and the culture improves. Creativity comes from cognitive diversity. For me, making the industry more inclusive and more human is just as important as any media trend. 

How can media agencies get the most out of retail media for their clients? 

There’s a real opportunity to be had in stopping firefighting and wasting time on how agencies and brands are set up operationally to instead start strategizing again.  

For me there are three things that agencies must focus on in retail media: 

1. Lean into AI – Focus less time on tasks that can be automated, and more time on delivering client value. Agencies (and brands) that use agentic AI for insight, planning and optimisation will move faster and deliver more strategic value.
2. Own the operating model – The retail media landscape is developing and changing so quickly that most CPGs and agencies are still figuring out their operating structures. It’s crucial for agencies to work with their external partners to connect the dots, align their technologies and bring everything together across retail media and commerce operations.
3. Use data as the connective thread – This is linked to connectivity. Agencies shouldn’t treat each retailer as a silo. Instead, they must find smart ways of using data to unify retailers so brands can plan properly. Brands are going to demand to see incrementality and business impact, not vanity metrics like ROAS. Yes, brands will pay their agencies for what they do, but increasingly, they’re going to pay for the performance they deliver and the guidance they can give them on how to spend their next pound to sell more. 

The agencies that do these three things will become indispensable partners. 

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Skai is the world’s leading omnichannel platform unifying retail, search and social advertising with its AI-powered commerce media platform. 

This month’s day in the life is with digital account director, Rianne Clarey. In our chat, Rianne tells us how a fascination with left and right-brain thinking led her to a career in the media industry and why you should never assume that anyone you encounter at work knows anything or everything!

What led you to a career in media?

Left and right-brain thinking has always interested me, but I never thought that I was either super creative or super analytical. Media & advertising is an industry that allows you to combine the two. Initially, I wanted to be a graphic designer within the advertising industry. Then at school my friend got me a two-week work placement at her uncle’s creative agency and I fell in love with the work. After that, whenever I had any spare time in my college years, I would head back to Regent Street and continue my work experience there. 

After completing a degree in advertising, I had the panic realisation that I needed a job, quickly! I applied for everything I could within the industry which is how I came to working in digital teams in agencies. During my first interview they were throwing acronyms at me from every angle. Even though I didn’t know what CPM or CPAs were at the time, I got the job! Having joined the agency’s affiliate team, I started to hear about interesting work going on in the paid social teams. I offered my time to help them out wherever I could until, eventually, I was able to make the move across to paid social.  

From there I joined a multi-channel agency where I discovered that I love data. I enjoy being able to analyse the effects that our media decisions have had on a business. Since then, I’ve specialised in search and social across different media agencies.   

What does a typical day look like for you?

There’s a real balance in my days throughout the week. Working from home on Mondays and Fridays are really when I get deskwork done, catching up on emails and working through reports. When we get into the office on Tuesday to Thursday, things are much more collaborative where I can catch up with the team and speak to clients. 

On the days at home, I get my head down and focus on new strategies and proposals, considering how we can optimise campaigns. Alongside my day-to-day work, I think it’s so important to keep up with market trends and learn something new. It makes it more existing for us as a team, but just as importantly it’s how brands grow and how we grow as an agency.  

What mistake have you learnt the most from?

One lesson that has always stuck with me is to never assume other people’s knowledge. In my earlier years as an executive and a manager, I had a habit of overcomplicating things to get my point across. I believed that everyone needed to know every inch of detail, when in fact this would confuse the client. 

Clarity is key, don’t feel idiotic about really spelling things out. Even if you think your team or your client already knows something, they might not. This applies equally to presentations: the simpler the better. Never assume that anyone knows anything or everything! 

Who’s your role model and why?

Even though he’s not media related, I would say my brother. After an error with a vaccination before a family holiday to Egypt, he developed a condition called CIDP which is a form of MS. Throughout his life he’s always been really sporty. My dad was a rugby coach at the time and my brother always played; with CIDP he thought he would have to stop playing. However, even when things were looking quite bad for him, he never gave up. He always strived for better and never let anything get in his way. He’s very inspirational and I really look up to him for that. 

Marketing Insight

Like many of the best ideas, Quad Lock was born as a solution to a problem. Chris Peters, an industrial designer and avid cyclist, needed a secure way to mount an early iPhone to his bike. Finding no solution in-market, Peters and co-founder Rob Ward developed a case-based mount system featuring a unique twist-lock mechanism (with a distinctive blue locking tab). This became the first Quad Lock bike mount, launched via Kickstarter in 2011.

The product gained traction, establishing Quad Lock’s name among cyclists globally. Feedback showed that motorcyclists were repurposing the bike mount, so Quad Lock adapted its design and started marketing to motorbike riders just two years after launching. From two wheels, the company introduced mounts for cars, running and everyday use; turning Quad Lock into a multi-activity brand rather than a single-use gadget. Each new product was tailored to the user’s needs but centred on the same original locking mechanism and investment in robust design and materials.

Accelerating Growth

Quad Lock solved a problem and sold the solution to the right audience in the right way. It removed barriers to purchase from day one, but understood that reputation and trust were key to driving growth. Global growth doesn’t have to be driven by multi-million-pound TV campaigns, but it’s not driven by ecommerce alone either. Solving a consumer problem and being true and authentic to your proposition will always yield the best results.

Quad Lock has built a base of millions of loyal customers, of which 75% come directly to the brand. From a $35,000 Kickstarter in 2011, Quad Lock grew to $196m in sales in 2024.

It may not be the sexiest product, but any brand that has grown as consistently while staying true to its vision (and achieving a $500m acquisition in the meantime) gets my vote for an Accelerate Growth journey.

Marketing Insight

Stanley has been providing top quality Tupperware and drinkware since 1913. Trusted by hikers and workers, the brand had a reputation for being practical and long lasting. As a $70m a year business that had survived for over a hundred years, it would be considered very successful by most people.

Whilst the cup is undeniably well designed (as a proud owner myself, I can vouch for that personally), design alone wouldn’t have given it the global status it now has. The rise of the Stanley Cup was timed perfectly with the growth of the multi-million-pound wellness industry. Exercise, fashion and, importantly, hydration were all becoming intertwined. Just like the 10,000 steps a day trope seeded in the public imagination by a pedometer company, Stanley was primed to jump on the global trend of people obsessed with getting their two litres a day.

Accelerating Growth

With over 100 colour ways and the constant launch of new collaborations the Stanley Cup craze shows no signs of abating. Cut to today and Stanley continues to be plastered across TikTok and, thanks to the cross-bottle ‘handsfree hydration’ range launch, worn with pride IRL.

The Quencher, now more well-known as the Stanley Cup, remains the brand’s best-seller. But, by becoming synonymous with this one product, Stanley has become a household brand with sales across the whole range benefitting as a result. From a business that was bringing in $70m a year, Stanley reached a remarkable $750m valuation in 2023.

We’re delighted that our work with SME business insurer Simply Business has won Bronze in the TV / CTV category at The Drum Awards for Media.

The TV / CTV category rewards campaigns that leverage television, connected TV (CTV), cinema and streaming platforms to deliver impactful marketing messages and engage audiences across traditional and digital environments. The winning campaigns demonstrate how these channels were strategically integrated to maximize reach, enhance targeting capabilities and engage the target audience. 

When it comes to our entry for Simply Business, it’s no secret that the insurance market is a crowded space. From opera singers and iconic meerkats, standing out isn’t easy. It takes something special to make people sit up and take notice. Simply Business set about doing just that. It had historically relied on generic PPC search and price comparison websites to drive business but recognised an opportunity to grow the number of direct customers. We needed to increase awareness and consideration for Simply Business, ultimately leading to more customers buying direct.

Truant’s creative concept centres around a memorable play on Tina Turner’s 1980s hit ‘The Best’ which captures the feeling of knowing your business is protected. Our media strategy used contextual advertising, placing Simply Business’ ad alongside TV programming that showed the euphoria of success. During a summer of sport, we secured access to premium live events, including the Premier League’s opening game and Paralympics Opening Ceremony. This was supported by spots across what we termed ‘skilled reality’ programming: reality shows that feature an element of competition.

The results of our approach were quite simply… the best! Simply Business has grown to record highs in both awareness and consideration. As of August 2025, the campaign has delivered a 50% and 28% increase in spontaneous and prompted awareness respectively, while consideration levels have increased by 18%. These improvements in brand health are reflected in the Simply Business journey, as branded search has increased by 52%, resulting in a +22% YoY growth in policies sold via brand search.

To read about this campaign in more detail head to our case study page. To see the full awards results, head to The Drum Awards page.

ActionAid UK, the international charity working to achieve social justice, gender equality and poverty eradication, this week launches its bold new fundraising campaign, Side by Side, which champions the inspiring women rebuilding their lives after crisis.

Amid rising anti-refugee rhetoric both in the UK and abroad, the campaign calls on viewers to “stand with women across borders, side by side” by committing to a regular donation that helps displaced women establish new livelihoods.

After two years off air, ActionAid UK returns to TV with a powerful message that centres the authentic experiences of women, amplifying their voices as they tell their own stories in their own words.

The number of forcibly displaced people has almost doubled over the last two decades, standing at one in 67 people globally, according to UNHCR – with women and girls among those most at risk.

ActionAid UK partners with women-led groups who work alongside women refugees, helping them to rebuild their lives with dignity and strength, as well as support other women.

The Side by Side film highlights the compelling stories of two remarkable women:

• Gloria, who fled conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and found refuge in Uganda, where she trained as a tailor and now inspires other women to do the same.
• Leokadia, who escaped the war in Ukraine and found safety in Poland, where she set up a cooking academy to help other refugee women earn an income.

Their stories demonstrate how regular donations to ActionAid empowers women to take control of their futures, support their families and strengthen their communities.

The campaign will run across national TV, with media planning and buying managed by MI Media.

Sabina Basi, Funding Director, at ActionAid UK, said: “At ActionAid, we believe that all women – anywhere in the world – deserve a life of dignity and hope. Side by Side celebrates women’s resilience and leadership, as well as the tangible impact they make to their communities — and calls on all of us to stand with them in solidarity, not as victims of crisis, but as agents of change.”

You can read about media partnerships we’ve developed for ActionAid here and here.

This month’s day in the life is with our finance director, Jerome Charles. In our chat, Jerome speaks to us about the route he took into finance within the advertising industry and how what you see as mistakes changes as your career evolves.

What led you to a career in finance?

I was good at numbers throughout school and a maths degree followed which led me into a career in sales. Unfortunately, while I liked the idea of it, it turned out I wasn’t particularly good at sales. When a job opened up in the accounts department at the same company it was a no brainer, I jumped at the opportunity. Accounting felt so much more comfortable to me. I am far happier looking at a spreadsheet rather than writing a speech or presenting a deck.

That first role was in a company selling knowledge on the property overseas market. After the 2008 recession, the company went through a tricky time and, even though I was still junior, I became the sole person on the finance team. I left to go travelling and when I returned, after a finance role in theatre turned out to be surprisingly corporate, I was offered a role in the media industry. It was an eye opener into a much more interesting industry for me in a far more relaxed environment. I was also lucky to begin working under a great finance director who I followed to subsequent roles.

What does a typical day look like for you?

One of the beauties of finance is that there are specific deliverables which give your days and weeks structure. In my role as finance director, I must strike the right balance between the strategic: planning, forecasting and performance, and the supportive: making sure that every stakeholder in the business has what they need to do their jobs. A huge part of my role is supporting my team and the SLT with their work, I have to manage that while bringing a strategic financial perspective across different areas of the business.

What mistake have you learnt the most from?

As you progress through your career ladder, I think what you see as mistakes changes. I remember earlier on in my career I would have said that accuracy is king. When the primary part of job is transactional then you want to be as accurate as possible. As your career develops you begin to understand that trying to be too accurate can in itself be a mistake. As an FD, you shouldn’t be aiming for everything to be perfect before broaching an idea. It’s far quicker and more effective to develop your ideas until they’re 90-95% there, then open them out to collaboration with your MD and senior leadership team to get them over the line. It’s a mistake for any FD to put the responsibility for anything solely on themselves.

Who’s your role model and why?

My old FD who I have worked with a couple of times over the years, Sukhdev Poonian, was fantastic. We worked together for six or seven years and in that time, he took me from being a quite green in junior accounting to a senior management level. What was nice about our relationship was that while I was on that journey, he had a massive impact on me in terms of technical capability, but I also had an impact on him too as he became a much more extroverted and confident FD. We worked incredibly well together and took a lot from each other. I really enjoyed seeing him grow into both a well-rounded and button-tight, technical accountant while also working on his commercial and personal side. Seeing that example of someone senior that was still developing who they were as a professional has stayed with me throughout my career.