Gareth Davies, UK Group CEO, Leagas Delaney issues a 2026 rallying call. It is time for the industry to better fight its corner.
Adobe Stock
I’m not one to take too many sips from the Kool-Aid, but I will confess to being a fully paid-up evangelist for the creative industry. I’ve seen first-hand the influence that it can exert and the change it can bring. I’ve been fortunate to be present when an idea has altered the trajectory of a business, when it has irrationally emboldened its people and created a future previously unimaginable.
Many of us know the power advertising holds. We’ve read the case studies but, more importantly, we’ve felt the swagger of a brand on the march. But recently, even this self-confessed industry faithful has struggled to escape the clutches of the doom-loop that is circling over our industry. The prevailing narrative is that we are in decline, or worse.
And frankly, it’s a hard read.
The optimist in me, therefore, was delighted to see that D&AD recently partnered with Uncommon to launch a fresh provocation to the industry, to prove whether creativity is dead or very much alive.
Advertisement
Amen to that, I say (the latter that is). It takes a jolt to force a change and let’s hope that Nils and the good folk at D&AD can deliver one. Because, at present, too many digital column inches are dedicated to the negative news cycle, with one story compounding and reinforcing the next. With every social post that takes another potshot at advertising, a little more confidence is lost, and ambition weakened. And for an industry that often relies on belief and assertion, there are real-life consequences to this attrition.
Nils Leonard, D&AD Trustee and Uncommon co-founder, sums it up well: “We talk like proud reporters on a slow-motion car crash. Thousand-word essays on LinkedIn mournfully posted late at night about how our castles made of bean bags and free Haribo are falling down around us, about how fragile creativity is, except it isn’t. Yes, we are the passengers on the bus falling at a thousand frames from the bridge, the problem is we are also the drivers. Technology, In-housing and influencers didn’t kill creativity, we did. It dies every time we spend more time wanging on social and every time we start believing our jobs are content solutions. Shut up and make. The biggest threat to our jobs isn’t AI, it is apathy. If we believe creativity is dead, if we believe it is alive, we are right.”
It’s an enlivening call-to-arms and he’s surely right, too. The naysayers, and there are plenty of them, should have no place in the future of our industry.
At our best, we’re advocates for the possible. And rather than seeing threats or imperfections at every turn (which there always are in one shape or another) we’re at our strongest when we reimagine them as opportunities.
Lisa Smith, D&AD president and Uncommon global chief design officer, strikes a similar tone: “As creative leaders, we have a responsibility to protect that spirit – to keep making, experimenting and proving that bold, human ideas still matter. D&AD exists to champion that pulse. To show that creativity isn’t just alive – it’s vital.” That’s the energy that I need on my Linkedin feed, not another mediocre post talking us down and jabbing at the ribs of our collective confidence.
Smith’s argument is also a ready reminder that ideas ‘matter’, and the best ones come with hard commercial impact. In these uncertain times, there is emboldening data to be found in the robust research conducted by the IPA and its review of 500+ effectiveness awards. The research identifies a strong correlation between the brands that describe branding as having ‘very large’ business effects and those that also report very large reductions in price sensitivity. Put simply, what we do has serious, real-world influence.
And while I have a drum to bang, be reassured, this is no tone-deaf crusade. There are plenty of ill winds to face right now. Consolidations, job cuts and profit warnings are widespread. Our industry is undoubtedly under pressure. But the answer to those circumstances is neither retrenchment nor despair. Much is said about talent pointing the way forward - and rightly so. But talent is nothing without attitude, and that’s what we need. Attitude digs in, it keeps going. It asks questions and it looks for the answers, often in unexpected places. And, if apathy is the enemy, as Nils Leonard suggests - keeping us on the dreaded doom loop - then it’s our attitude that will get us off it.