17370: BHM 2026—Kellogg’s.

It might not be an official BHM 2026 tribute, but MediaPost reported Kellogg’s gave Tony the Tiger a hip-hop reboot.

 

The campaign underscores how White brands, White advertising agencies, and White critters love hip hop.

 

Cultural appropriation is Gr-r-reat!

 

Kellogg’s Gives Tony The Tiger Hip Hop Reboot

 

By Sarah Mahoney

 

In an effort to encourage kids to tap their inner tiger, Kellogg’s is rethinking a classic mascot — and his theme song. The new effort positions the big cat as one of the original “Day Ones,” a long-time friend to teens looking for a mood boost at the breakfast table.

 

Hip-hop artist J.I.D. reimagines Tony’s iconic 1990s jingle, “Hey Tony,” tying it to a limited-edition Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes release. To build cultural buzz, the brand is also introducing Tony the Tiger x J.I.D. “Day Ones” merchandise, along with a special “Day Ones” cereal box featuring J.I.D. on the packaging. A QR code takes people to a full-length version of the track on Spotify.

 

The drop includes a full-length version of the track, with original verses designed to echo Tony’s signature motivational energy — a reflection, the company says, of the confidence and optimism the brand hopes to inspire.

 

“Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes and Tony the Tiger have always stood for encouragement and belief,” said Laura Newman, vice president of brand marketing at WK Kellogg Co., in the release. “Hip-hop is a culture built on that same energy, so teaming up with J.I.D. was a natural connection for us to bring back ‘Hey Tony’ in a way that honors helping to bring out your greatness for a new generation.”

 

The packaging also includes a QR code linking to the track on Spotify. The song is set to debut next week at the brand’s “Day Ones” Bowl Game, a showcase featuring a marching-band-driven pep rally, including a performance by Stephenson High School’s “Sonic Sound” Marching Band from Stone Mountain, Georgia, J.I.D.’s alma mater. Four local teams will compete in a 7-on-7 football playoff for the title.

 

WK Kellogg Co., home to numerous breakfast cereal brands, was acquired last summer by the Ferrero Group for $3.1 billion. The Luxembourg-based company, best known for its extensive candy portfolio, described the acquisition as part of its growth strategy to expand across more consumption occasions “with renowned beloved brands and strong consumer relevance.” 

17369: Reverend Jesse Jackson (1941–2026).

 

From The Guardian…

 

Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader, dies aged 84

 

By Melissa Hellmann and Martin Pengelly

 

The Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil rights campaigner who was prominent for more than 50 years and who ran strongly for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, has died. He was 84.

 

“Our father was a servant leader – not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said in a statement.

 

“We shared him with the world, and in return, the world became part of our extended family. His unwavering belief in justice, equality, and love uplifted millions, and we ask you to honor his memory by continuing the fight for the values he lived by.”

 

No cause of death was given.

 

Jackson had had progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) for more than a decade. He was originally diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. He was also twice hospitalised with Covid in recent years.

 

A fixture in the civil rights movement and Democratic politics since the 1960s, Jackson was once close to Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

 

In an interview with the Guardian in May 2020, Jackson said: “I was a trailblazer, I was a pathfinder. I had to deal with doubt and cynicism and fears about a Black person running. There were Black scholars writing papers about why I was wasting my time. Even Blacks said a Black couldn’t win.”

 

Twenty years after his second run for president, the first Black president, Barack Obama, saluted Jackson for making his victory possible. Obama celebrated in Chicago, also home to Jackson.

 

“It was a big moment in history,” Jackson told the Guardian, 12 years later. In an interview with NPR, Jackson said: “I cried because I thought about those who made it possible who were not there … People who paid a real price: Ralph Abernathy, Dr King, Medgar Evers, Fannie Lou Hamer, those who fought like hell [at the Democratic national convention] in Atlantic City in 64, those in the movement in the south.”

 

During the Covid pandemic, Jackson campaigned against disparities in care and outcomes, asking: “After 400 years of slavery, segregation and discrimination, why would anybody be shocked that African Americans are dying disproportionately from the coronavirus?”

 

He also said all past presidents had failed to “end the virus of white superiority and fix the multifaceted issues confronting African Americans”.

 

Born on 8 October 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson became involved in politics at an early age as he navigated the segregated south. He was elected class president at the all-Black Sterling high school, where he also excelled in athletics. In 1959, he received a football scholarship to the University of Illinois. The Chicago White Sox offered the young Jackson a spot on their baseball team, but he decided to focus on his education instead.

 

During winter break his freshman year of college, Jackson returned home to Greenville and tried to obtain a book needed for his studies from the white-only Greenville public library, but he was turned away. The experience stayed with him. A few months later on 16 July 1960, Jackson and seven Black high school students entered the Greenville library for a peaceful protest. After browsing the library and reading books, the group later known as the Greenville Eight were arrested for disorderly conduct and later released on a $30 bond. A judge eventually ruled that they had the right to use the publicly funded institution, and the Greenville library system became integrated in September 1960.

 

Jackson did not return to the University of Illinois after his first year, and instead transferred to the historically Black North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro, where he played football as a quarterback, was the national officer for the Black fraternity, Omega Psi Phi, and was elected the student body president. While earning a sociology degree, he also continued his activism by participating in sit-ins at restaurants in Greensboro.

 

“My leadership skills came from the athletic arena,” Jackson told the Washington Post in 1984. “In many ways, they were developed from playing quarterback. Assessing defenses; motivating your own team. When the game starts, you use what you’ve got – and don’t cry about what you don’t have. You run to your strength. You also practice to win.”

 

During college, Jackson met his future wife Jacqueline, whom he married in 1962 and later had five children with – Santita, Jesse Jr, Jonathan Luther, Yusef DuBois, and Jacqueline Jr. He would later go on to have a sixth child, Ashley, during an extramarital affair with Karin Stanford in the early 2000s.

 

Jackson first met King, who would become his mentor, at an airport in Atlanta in the early 1960s. King had followed Jackson’s student activism from afar for several years.

 

In 1964, Jackson enrolled at the Chicago Theological Seminary, as he continued to be involved in the civil rights movement. Jackson travelled with his classmates to Selma, Alabama, to join the movement after he watched news footage of Bloody Sunday, where nonviolent civil rights marchers who crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, were then beaten by law enforcement officers. Impressed by Jackson’s leadership at Selma, King offered him a position with the civil rights group that he co-founded, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).

 

After a couple of years, Jackson put his seminary studies on hold to focus on SCLC’s Operation Breadbasket, an economic justice program that harnessed the power of Black churches by calling on ministers to pressure companies to employ more Black people through negotiations and boycotts. In 1967, Jackson became Operation Breadbasket’s national director, and was ordained as a minister a year later.

 

“We knew he was going to do a good job,” King said at an Operation Breadbasket meeting in 1968, “but he’s done better than a good job.”

 

Tragedy struck soon after Jackson gained a leadership position at SCLC. On 4 April 1968, Jackson witnessed King’s assassination from below the balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

 

The experience stayed with Jackson for the rest of his life. “Every time I think about it, it’s like pulling a scab off a sore,” he told the Guardian in 2018. “It’s a hurtful, painful thought: that a man of love is killed by hate; that a man of peace should be killed by violence; a man who cared is killed by the careless.”

 

Following King’s death, Jackson continued to work for SCLC until 1971, when he created his own organization to improve Black people’s economic conditions, People United to Save Humanity (Push). The organization hosted reading programs for Black youth and helped them find jobs, and also encouraged corporations to hire more Black managers and executives.

 

In 1984, Jackson ran as a Democratic candidate for president, becoming the second Black person to launch a nationwide campaign following Shirley Chisholm more than a decade earlier.

 

“Tonight we come together bound by our faith in a mighty God, with genuine respect and love for our country, and inheriting the legacy of a great party, the Democratic party, which is the best hope for redirecting our nation on a more humane, just, and peaceful course,” Jackson told an audience at the 1984 Democratic national convention in San Francisco, California.

 

“This is not a perfect party. We’re not a perfect people. Yet, we are called to a perfect mission. Our mission to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to house the homeless, to teach the illiterate, to provide jobs for the jobless, and to choose the human race over the nuclear race.” He lost the Democratic nomination to former vice-president Walter Mondale, with the incumbent Republican president Ronald Reagan ultimately winning the election.

 

After his first presidential run, Jackson created the National Rainbow Coalition to push for voting rights and social programs. In the mid-1990s, Jackson merged his two organizations together to form the multiracial group Rainbow Push Coalition, which focuses on educational and economic equality. Throughout the years, the coalition has paid more than $6m in college scholarships, and gave financial assistance to more than 4,000 families facing foreclosures so that they could save their homes, according to their website.

 

Jackson ran for the Democratic nomination for president a second time in 1988, performing strongly but losing out to Michael Dukakis, the Massachusetts governor, who was beaten heavily in the general election by George HW Bush.

 

In 2000, the then president, Bill Clinton, awarded Jackson the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his decades of work focused on increasing opportunities for people of color.

 

Jackson took King’s work forward, staying to the fore in the worldwide civil rights movement through a tumultuous half-century of American history, through to the election of Donald Trump and the rise of Black Lives Matter.

 

“Dr King believed in multiracial, multicultural coalitions of conscience, not ethnic nationalism,” Jackson said in 2018. “He felt nationalism – whether Black, white or brown – was narrowly conceived, given our global challenges. So having a multiracial setting said much about his vision of America and the world, what America should stand for as well as the world.

 

“The arc of the moral universe is long and it bends towards justice, but you have to pull it to bend. It doesn’t bend automatically. Dr King used to remind us that every time the movement has a tailwind and goes forward, there are headwinds.

 

“Those who oppose change in some sense were re-energised by the Trump demagoguery. Dr King would have been disappointed by his victory but he would have been prepared for it psychologically. He would have said: ‘We must not surrender our spirits. We must use this not to surrender but fortify our faith and fight back.’”

 

This article was amended on 16 February 2026 because an earlier version incorrectly suggested that the first Selma march, known as Bloody Sunday, was led by Dr Martin Luther King Jr.

17368: Additional Thoughts On Omnicom 4Q WTF BS.

 

MediaPost reported on the Omnicom 4Q report featuring an upcoming $2.5B Fire Sale, whereby the White holding company will unload non-strategic and underperforming assets.

 

The report sparked additional thoughts from this blog’s editorial board.

 

Wonder if any non-White assets—e.g., minority-owned enterprises like Spike DDB or alma—will be deemed non-strategic or underperforming.

 

What is the impact on psychological safety and morale as Omnicom drones wait to learn if they are part of non-strategic or underperforming assets—and experience their ultimate employment fates?

 

Omnicom Chairman and CEO John Wren is changing his honorary title from Pioneer of Diversity to Pioneer of Divestiture.

 

Omnicom To Sell $2.5B In ‘Non-Strategic,’ Underperforming Assets

 

By Steve McClellan

 

Omnicom issued its fourth quarter and full-year results late Wednesday without providing formal organic growth figures or its outlook for 2026.  

 

The firm said there would be more to come on that at an investor day event in March, although it’s likely that the firm will not be issuing formal organic growth estimates — seen by many as a key metric of ad industry health — throughout 2026. Informal estimates on earnings calls are more likely. 

 

One reason: Planning for this year is not yet complete because executives have been busy wrapping up the Interpublic Group merger and integrating its businesses into the company. 

 

On an earnings call, CFO Phil Angelastro estimated that fourth-quarter organic growth was about 4% for the businesses that the firm intends to hang on to for the long term. 

 

Not included in that growth estimate are businesses that Omnicom is planning to dispose of — about $2.5 billion (revenue) worth of businesses in the combined portfolio.

 

It also plans to reduce its ownership to minority stakes in another $700 million worth of businesses, mostly in smaller markets. The latter actions are more about “simplicity issues,” than underperformance, Angelastro said.  

 

The outright sales are related to both non-strategic and underperforming assets. The firm has already sold about $800 million of that total, including experiential marketing firm Jack Morton. 

 

The integration of the company’s major platforms — including Omni, IPG Interact, Flywheel and Acxiom ID — are expected to be completed by the end of the current quarter.  

 

Omnicom’s total full-year revenue was $17.3 billion — versus about $15.7 billion in 2024.

 

The 2025 total includes 12 months of Omnicom revenue and one month of IPG revenue (the merger closed on November 26, 2025).

 

A more detailed pro forma comparison of the numbers will be provided in the firm’s 10K annual report to be filed with the SEC in the coming weeks. 

 

The pro forma analysis will provide numbers that assume the merger was closed in January of 2024 to provide investors with a more apples-to-apples comparison of Omnicom’s performance over the past year. 

 

On the conference call, CEO John Wren said the company has now determined that it can double the size of achieved synergies to $1.5 billion over the next 30 months. About $900 million in synergies will be achieved in 2026. 

 

About $1 billion of the total synergies will be labor-related, including eliminating duplicative roles, offshoring and automation. The remainder will come from operational efficiencies and real estate consolidations.  

 

In Q4 the company posted $5.5 billion in revenue and an operating loss of $1 billion, due mostly to merger-related costs. 

 

The company is also launching a $5 billion share repurchase program. Company shares were up more than 3% today and another 2.6% in after-hours trading following the earnings release. 

 

Wren said media operations continued to be a standout performer in 2025. He estimated that media and related components (precision marketing and commerce) would account for a “mid-fifties” percentage of the company’s revenue going forward. 

 

When pressed about the impact of AI on jobs, Wren acknowledged that the technology will help cut some positions but that the bigger impact is enabling employees to be more productive.  

 

Company Chief Technology Officer Paolo Yuvienco elaborated that creative teams that used to present three concepts to a client can now present 25 to 50 concepts to that client in the same amount of time. “It’s about the ability to do more with a higher degree of confidence,” he said.

17367: BHM 2026—Canada.

As mentioned in a previous post, Canada celebrates Black History Month in February too.

 

The Canadian 2026 BHM theme reads, “30 Years of Black History Month: Honouring Black Brilliance Across Generations—From Nation Builders to Tomorrow’s Visionaries.”

 

Explore more at the Government of Canada website, which includes a digital toolkit to help promote BHM content and activities.

17366: On Omnicom 4Q WTF BS.

 

Advertising Age reported on the Omnicom 4Q report, which included plans to double its cost-saving target to $1.5 billion, as well as sell or exit unspecified smaller markets and non-strategic operations. Details were not provided, countering the White holding company’s honchos who promised transparency to the troops.

 

To translate and summarize the corporate hype, expect more rampant restructuring, reckless ruin, and radical RIFs—with little rhyme or reason.

 

Omnicom doubles its cost savings target and plans to exit some smaller markets and non-strategic businesses

 

By Ewan Larkin and Brian Bonilla

 

All eyes were on Omnicom’s fourth-quarter report following its acquisition of Interpublic Group of Cos., and on Wednesday, the agency industry’s new giant offered a look at cost savings, plans to streamline its sprawling portfolio and its recent results.

 

The key numbers—and the key missing ones

 

The agency group, now the world’s largest by revenue, announced it is doubling its prior $750 million cost-savings target to $1.5 billion, including $900 million expected in 2026. John Wren, Omincom’s chairman and CEO, said the savings will come from $1 billion in labor cost reductions, including more offshoring; $240 million from real estate consolidation; $260 million from general, IT and procurement efficiencies; and additional savings from automation and AI.

 

Omnicom did not provide a 2026 forecast and did not include organic revenue growth figures in its latest report, citing the recent close of the IPG acquisition. For the same reason, Philip Angelastro, Omnicom’s chief financial officer, said the company will not report organic growth metrics in its 2026 quarterly presentations.

 

“Had we calculated organic growth consistent with our prior practice, excluding planned dispositions and assets held for sale, organic growth in Q4 2025 would have been approximately 4%,” Angelastro said.

 

Omnicom reported fourth-quarter 2025 revenue of nearly $5.53 billion, up 27.9%—or nearly $1.21 billion—from a year earlier. Full-year revenue rose 10.1%, or $1.58 billion, to $17.27 billion. The results were boosted by just over one month of revenue from IPG. Omnicom posted a net loss of $941.1 million for the fourth quarter and of $54.5 million for the year.

 

Selling and exiting certain markets, businesses

 

Omnicom announced plans to sell or exit certain smaller markets and non-strategic operations, though executives speaking on the company’s conference call did not specify which ones. The company will reduce its ownership in smaller markets representing about $700 million in annual revenue, Wren said, with Angelastro emphasizing that the move is about simplifying the organization.

 

“Those businesses are solid businesses. They service some of our important clients,” Angelastro said during the call. “We just don’t need to be in all the markets with subsidiaries that come with a lot of compliance requirements.”

 

Omnicom will also sell or exit “non-strategic or underperforming” businesses generating roughly $2.5 billion in annual revenue, having already completed deals for businesses representing more than $800 million in annual revenue, Wren added.

 

Experiential agency Jack Morton recently separated from Omnicom in a private equity-backed transaction, and the remaining deals are expected over the next 12 months, Wren said.

17365: BHM 2026—Book Club Toronto.

 

Book Club Toronto presents Black Influence In Advertising: Black History Month on February 26, 2026, at Sheeep Studio in Toronto, Ontario.

 

Incidentally, Canada also celebrates Black History Month in February. The 2026 BHM theme in Canada reads, “30 Years of Black History Month: Honouring Black Brilliance Across Generations—From Nation Builders to Tomorrow’s Visionaries.”

 

According to the Government of Canada website: “The theme celebrates three decades of Black History Month in Canada by highlighting the enduring contributions of Black Canadians across time. It acknowledges the foundational role of nation builders—those who fought for civil rights, advanced social justice, and shaped Canada’s cultural and political landscape. At the same time, it looks forward to tomorrow’s visionaries, the emerging leaders, innovators, and changemakers who are redefining excellence in every field.”

17364: Viva La Bullshit! Cannes Lions ‘Country Of The Year’ Honor Goes To France.

 

MediaPost reported the 2026 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity will honor France as Country Of The Year.

 

The dubious award marks its second year, having gone to Brazil in the inaugural 2025 presentation.

 

Can’t help but wonder what revenue-generating scam Cannes Lions will cook up next. Hemisphere Of The Year? Planet Of The Year?

 

France Wins ‘Country Of The Year’ Honors At Cannes

 

By Steve McClellan

 

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has named France “Country Of The Year,” the annual accolade launched a year ago that recognizes a country’s “exceptional and enduring commitment to creativity.” Brazil was inaugural winner of the prize. 

 

As part of the recognition the 2026 Festival (June 22-26) will feature French creative showcases, celebratory events, dedicated stage talks and French-led activations. 

 

Also, the prize enables French delegates to gift one complimentary Festival pass to a French-based colleague who has never attended. 

 

Cannes Lions CEO Simon Cook noted that since 2020, the French government has invested nearly $12 billion in funding to creative businesses, and that the country’s cultural and creative industries generate close to $109 billion in annual revenue.  

 

“On the global stage at Cannes Lions, France has consistently ranked in the top 10 performing countries, and last year ranked 4th,” noted Cook. 

 

Cannes, France has been the Festival’s permanent home since 1984.  

 

This year Creative Country of the Year festival events are being supported by Publicis, Havas, the IAA and Le Club des Directeurs Artistiques and other groups. 

17363: BHM 2026—Mickey D’s.

 

Is Mickey D’s celebrating BHM 2026 at all? A search on McDonalds.com yielded no results. And Black & Positively Golden features content from 2024—although students can apply for the annual HBCU scholarships.

17362: 2025 IPA Agency Census Data Exposes Delusional Denial.

 

The 2025 IPA Agency Census yields both obvious and obviously crazy results, demonstrating how data can be craftily interpreted and twisted—especially by those purporting to be data-driven enthusiasts.

 

Granted, IPA focuses on UK Adland; however, White advertising agencies in the UK and US tend to share fundamental characteristics.

 

The official report headline reads:

 

IPA Agency Census 2025 shows workforce declines while diversity improves

 

Wow. That’s a sparkling example of performative PR, warranting a deconstruction of delusional denial.

 

First, the data shows the obvious: jobs in Adland are going down the toilet.

 

Not stated is another obvious point: fewer jobs for White people will lead to waaaay fewer jobs for non-White people in Adland.

 

As for the alleged DEIBA+ improvement, the data analysis reflects a common ploy practiced by White advertising agencies and White media firms.

 

That is, declaring an increase in the historically underrepresented does not equate to fair and equitable representation; rather, it underscores the persistence of underrepresentation.

 

Additionally, keeping the associated numbers unspecific (i.e., no breakdown of racial and ethnic segments) makes the progress fuzzy and misleading. It’s a safe bet White women experienced the greatest benefits.

 

Declines in retention, student recruitment, and apprenticeships—key inspirations for philanthropic propaganda and heat shields—surely adversely impacts DEIBA+ initiatives.

 

Commentary from IPA honchos (included below) qualify as gobbledygook and bullshit.

 

In summation, the 2025 IPA Agency Census shows the only thing bound to significantly increase in Adland is systemic racism.

 

IPA Agency Census 2025 shows workforce declines while diversity improves

 

The IPA Agency Census 2025, published today (11 February 2026), shows that the number of employees in IPA member agencies has fallen year-on-year while progress continues in gender and ethnic representation across the industry.

 

According to the 2025 IPA Agency Census, now in its 66^th year, on 1 September 2025, IPA member agencies employed 24,963 people, representing a 6.8% decrease from 26,787 in 2024. This reduction was driven by a considerable contraction in creative and other non-media agencies, where employment fell by 14.3% from 14,775 to 12,659. By contrast, employment in media agencies increased by 2.4%, rising from 12,012 to 12,304. 

 

Further key 2025 IPA Agency Census findings

 

The decline in employment was more pronounced among part-time employees, men and those aged 25 and under

 

Full-time staff numbers fell by 6.7%, from 25,065 to 23,396, while part-time roles declined by 9% to 1,567.

 

The number of men employed fell by 7.3% y-o-y to 10,820, while the number of women employed decreased by 6.2% to 13,966. In overall percentage terms, men comprised 43.3% of employees and women 55.9%.

 

Numbers of employees aged 25 and under declined by 19.2% from 3,632 to 2,936. This shift contributed to an increase in the average employee age, rising from 35.2 years in 2024 to 35.6 years in 2025.

 

Staff turnover increased across IPA member agencies in the 12 months to 1 September 2025, while staff retention declined.

 

Overall turnover rose to 24.8%, up from 24.1% in 2024, and increased from 21.2% to 24.2% when redundancies were excluded. Turnover in creative and other non-media agencies rose to 27.6%, while turnover in media agencies fell to 21.7%. Overall staff retention declined to 68.6%, down from 74.9% in 2024. Where detailed data was available, resignations accounted for 58.5% of departures, with redundancies responsible for 14.3%.

 

Reflecting the overall reduction in workforce size, reported employee vacancies fell considerably

 

Agencies reported 680 open roles across all levels of seniority, down from 1,149 in 2024, a decrease of 40.8%. Vacancies declined by 47.2% in creative and other non-media agencies and by 34.7% in media agencies.

 

Progress continued in senior gender representation

 

Women now hold more than 40% of C-suite roles for the first time, accounting for 40.8% of senior positions, up from 39.9% in 2024. In creative and other non-media agencies, women’s C-suite representation rose to 39.7%, while in media agencies it increased to 42%.

 

Ethnic diversity across IPA member agencies also improved

 

Among agencies reporting ethnicity data, 25.5% of employees identified as being from a non-white background, up from 23.9% in 2024 and more than four times the level recorded in 2007. Representation was highest at entry level, with 45.5% of trainees and apprentices and 36.8% of juniors and executives from non-white backgrounds. At C-suite level, non-white representation increased to 12.7%, up from 10.5%.

 

Gender and ethnicity pay gaps narrowed slightly but remain substantial

 

Based on those who supplied gender and salary data, women represent 58.2% of employees but receive 52.9% of salaries, resulting in a gender pay gap of 19.5%, down slightly on 19.7% in 2024. The gender pay gap was wider in creative and other non-media agencies at 22.6% than in media agencies at 16.6%. Employees from non-white backgrounds account for 22% of employees and receive 18.5% of salaries, with the ethnicity pay gap falling to 19.4%, down considerably from 31% in 2024. The ethnicity pay gap remains higher in media agencies at 26.3% than in creative and other non-media agencies at 12.3%.

 

Within senior leadership teams, women from a non-white background hold a higher proportion of roles than their male counterparts

 

At the C-suite, women from non-white backgrounds account for 7%, while men from non-white backgrounds account for 6%. Within the highest level of this C-suite category (Chair/CEO/MD), this figure stands at 7% for women from non-white backgrounds and 4% for men from non-white backgrounds.

 

Hybrid working remains the norm across IPA member agencies

 

Some 70.7% operate a three-day office and two-day remote working model, although most agencies mandate at least some office-based working days.

 

Graduate recruitment declined in 2025

 

Just 43.4% of responding agencies reported employing graduate trainees, apprentices or school-leaver apprentices, down from 56% in 2024. At 60.6%, media agencies were considerably more likely to employ graduates and apprentices than creative and other non-media agencies.

 

The Census also highlights continued underuse of Apprenticeship Levy funds

 

It is estimated that over 85% of levy funds paid by submitting agencies remain unused by those agencies. Media agencies spent 20.2% of their levy funds on apprentice training, compared with 9% among creative and other non-media agencies.

 

Artificial intelligence is increasingly shaping agency operations

 

Overall, 88.3% of agencies reported that AI is having a considerable impact on how they work. While 8% of agencies reduced their workforce in the past 12 months as a direct result of AI, 24% expect to do so in the next 12 months, with expectations of workforce reduction higher among creative and other non-media agencies (30%) than among media agencies (10%).

 

Agencies were asked whether they maintained a central record of employees registered as disabled

 

Just over half (52%) of responding agencies reported that they recorded registered disability, while 45% did not. A further 3% did not know. Among the 51 agencies that recorded registered disability, 3% of their employees were identified as being disabled.

 

Commenting on the findings

 

Paul Bainsfair, Director General, IPA:

 

“This year’s Census reflects an industry making important progress on gender and ethnic representation, while facing some hard truths about the shape of its workforce. Headcount is down, churn is up and the steep fall in entry-level roles raises real questions about future capability, particularly as AI reshapes skills and ways of working. Keeping talent pipelines open, including making far better use of apprenticeships and the Apprenticeship Levy, is no longer optional.”

 

“Agencies that continue to invest in early careers, skills development and retention will be best placed to build resilient businesses and a workforce fit for the future.”

 

Paul Bainsfair, Director General, IPA

 

Leila Siddiqi, Director of D&I, IPA:

 

“The 2025 Census shows the real pressures agencies have faced over the past year, with higher turnover and lower retention leaving teams stretched. It’s a reminder of the importance of supporting wellbeing and building trust. At the same time, exceeding 40% women in C-suite roles and the continued progress on entry-level diversity shows what is possible when inclusion is prioritised.

 

“As AI reshapes the industry, agencies must ensure their teams can apply both technical and human skills in ways that protect creativity and foster diverse perspectives.”

 

“Continuing to invest in a diverse mix of trainees, graduates and apprentices is essential to safeguarding the innovation and inclusivity that will shape the future of our industry.”

 

Leila Siddiqi, Director of D&I, IPA

 

Karen Martin, IPA President:

 

“The 2025 IPA Agency Census offers a fascinating snapshot of an industry in the midst of transition. There’s no denying that we’re seeing smaller teams and higher turnover, but that’s not the full story. As agencies, we’re evolving. We’re more diverse and more adaptable. And let’s not forget, while AI is shaking things up, it’s our human creativity that sets us apart. It’s how we not only navigate change but lead it, delivering innovative, unexpected creative solutions that truly add value and problem solving.”

 

“The key? Investing in and prioritising creativity at every level of our business. That’s how we’ll continue to thrive, no matter how fast things evolve.”

 

Karen Martin, IPA President