Advertising Week Europe: Our key Takeaways!

While Advertising Week Europe is known for its focus on traditional advertising, we, as a brand experience agency, walked away with key insights that speak to the future of authentic connection and impactful engagement.   

Keep reading for our key takeaways from the week, including insights on how brands can connect more authentically, why fearless creativity is needed in today’s crowded market, and why brand experience is more essential than ever in standing out.   

Managing Director, Louisa O’Connor: 

Advertising Week for me highlighted a core fact: Marketing is still led by advertising, by a long shot.  

The time, budgets, and attention poured into advertising far outweigh what’s invested in experiential marketing. Big-budget ads are filmed with multiple endings, edits tossed, and final cuts toured around cinemas just to get stakeholder buy-in.  

Meanwhile, the budget funnel starts broad and generous, then narrows until experiential sits at the very bottom, often left with a fraction of the funds and the same ROI expectations.   

After a multi-million-pound ad campaign, you might be handed £100k to activate it - without the luxury of test builds, alternate versions, or creative flexibility.  

Unfortunately, experiential doesn’t get to play with retakes. We’re expected to deliver the emotional punch... with whatever’s left.  

Client Services Director, Natasha Broady:  

Rawdon Glover, Managing Director of Jaguar, session was stand out for me. He delivered a powerful message: "Our change had to come from revolution, not evolution”.   

With the launch of their 00 concept car and the tagline “Copy Nothing,” Jaguar went all in on a bold repositioning. Once fading in the luxury car space, the brand realised they needed more than just refinement - they needed reinvention.   

Their two-year strategy kicked off with a controversial teaser that reached 1 billion OTS. From Miami to Paris Fashion Week, Jaguar made some bold, culturally driven moves that helped redefine their identity and connect with a new audience.   

They knew the car would make people uncomfortable and they welcomed it.  

In a saturated market, sometimes bravery might be the only way to truly cut through. Whether it works in the long run, we’ll see - but the lesson is clear: playing it safe doesn’t always get you noticed.   

Marketing Manager, Sarah Showler: 

This was my first time attending Advertising Week, and it was fascinating to get under the hood of some of the world’s most loved brands. 

One of my key takeaways, from a brand perspective, was the importance of staying true to who you are, what you stand for, and your core purpose. While brands need to evolve and pivot to stay relevant for new generations, long-term survival depends on never losing sight of why the brand exists in the first place. This sentiment echoed throughout several sessions, but it particularly stood out during a talk by Katie Jackson, CMO at Channel 4, who spoke about their decision to bid for the 2012 Paralympics. It was an expensive risk no one had attempted anything on that scale before, but it was the right fit because it aligned perfectly with the brand’s founding purpose of ‘representing unheard voices.’ - and to this day it remains one of their most iconic campaigns. 

Another standout theme for me was the idea of fandom. KFC unpacked the creative thinking behind their recent ‘Believe in Chicken – ‘All Hail Gravy’ ad campaign, a deliberately divisive ad aimed at their most devoted fans, rather than the masses. They understood that to generate the right level of talkability and cultural relevance, they needed to lean into their ‘cult’ community and embrace what makes their brand distinctive. 

What struck me most was that while every brand marketer I heard from spoke about the need to stay relevant, memorable, and maintain a cultural advantage, not a single session I attended mentioned experiential marketing. Which raises the question - can you truly achieve any of those things without including the one tactic designed to foster deeper, more emotional connections with your consumers? I know what my answer is… 

Jay Davis, Creative Strategist:

Advertising Week vividly illuminated the challenges content and streaming brands encounter in the wake of the new frontier of audience fragmentation. The rules of the game are more nuanced now; less broad-brush strokes for big, ATL hitters like TV and more nuanced flicks of the brush to make sure your comms are coming across in the right way. While it may seem simple, it doesn’t mean it is easy; it necessitates an evolution from the old way of thinking to maintain your sharp competitive advantage.  

The key question to ask is: how do you evolve to match consumer needs while ensuring your proposition remains attractive to your advertisers? “Legacy linear businesses” face significant challenges in this regard and are beginning to prioritise consumption styles by platform and device over channel choices.  

It’s evident that although fragmentation presents formidable challenges, it also opens up multiple opportunities with the right strategic approach. 

Copywriter, Salomé Tucker: 

This year reinforced a clear direction for brands: a shift toward targeting niche communities and fostering authentic, meaningful connections. 

Even tech leaders like Samsung, despite their significant investment in AI, highlighted the importance of keeping innovation human centred. 

As Louise McEwen, CMO at McLaren shared, they continue to use brand experience to engage audiences beyond traditional touchpoints. By taking the brand into city centres, they’re connecting with people who might never attend an F1 race - bringing the brand to them, understand a high proportion of their audience will never attend a race. 

Brands also spoke about partnerships designed to reach new and unexpected audiences, like Lego’s recent F1 collaboration, which bridges two seemingly different communities in a way that feels fresh and relevant. 

What stood out, though, is how brand experience, though rarely mentioned explicitly, remains one of the most powerful tools for building real connection. It meets people where they are, creates emotional impact, and turns passive audiences into active participants. 

It begs the question: Why isn’t brand experience getting more of the spotlight? With the right investment and strategy, it is the key to breaking through today’s fragmented audience.