Cheryl Crilley

We’re thrilled to announce Brave Bison’s acquisition of leading strategy and insights consultancy MTM!         With an impressive client roster featuring the likes of Google, Samsung Ads, Figma, Formula E, England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Sky Sports and BBC, MTM is a trusted audience strategy and insights partner for major global businesses. 🌎      MTM helps some of the biggest names in technology, entertainment and sport scale new business models, evolve products, shape positioning and reframe their relevancy in line with rapidly evolving consumer behaviours, cultural trends and commercial realities. As they join the Brave Bison universe, we become “uniquely positioned to help tomorrow’s super brands capitalise on complexity,” as our CEO and Executive Chairman Oli Green puts it.       Operating alongside but independently from our existing marketing and technology divisions, MTM will form our new insights and consultancy division. This will combine MTM’s depth of industry knowledge and breadth of research methodologies with our agile operating model and proprietary AI tooling across Brave Bison, SocialChain and Engage Digital Partners.      Welcome to the herd team MTM! We can’t wait to get started together on this new chapter. 🤝    Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ejHDNS93

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How should brands navigate AI search? 🔎 In the latest episode of The Media Leader Podcast, Paul Bland, Chief Digital Officer at Havas Media Network UK, unpacks how AI-driven search is rewriting the rules of brand visibility. This conversation follows the launch of Brand Insights AI, Havas Media Network UK’s custom-built tool designed to help brands understand and optimize how they appear across leading AI platforms. Listen now and discover how to stay visible in the evolving search landscape https://lnkd.in/e6RmgHrj 🎧 #HavasProud #AISearch #AI #ConvergedAI #BrandInsightsAI The Media Leader UK | Havas Media UK

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What a day! Yesterday Thinkbox Vision’s event saw many marketeers gather to explore the TV industry and the role advertising continues to play.   Our Chief Commercial Officer, Rak Patel was amongst the industry experts reflecting on the current state of play, speaking on a panel alongside commercial leads from Sky Media UK, ITV and Disney to discuss where TV is going and how it will better serve brands.   Key takeaways from the session include: - Reach, Trust & Effectiveness: TV remains a trusted platform, delivering reach and reliable results for brands in a fast-changing environment. - Industry Collaboration: Initiatives like Project Lantern are driving progress, creating universal measurement standards and increasing accessibility—especially for SMEs. - Positive Regulation: Governance and oversight provide brands with the confidence to invest in TV, knowing their campaigns are in a safe and effective space.   Attendees then got to hear the latest news from Project Lantern, a joint measurement initiative between Sky, ITV and Channel 4. As well as insights into the Educating Yorkshire series with Mr Burton sitting down with Twofour’s David Clews and AJ Odudu.

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UK ad spend is rising faster than the economy. The latest Advertising Association / WARC Expenditure Report has dropped and it shows that adspend is up 8% in Q1 2025, led by growth in search (+12.3%) and online display (+10.1%). That gap says a lot about where marketers are placing their bets: short-term performance, measurable outcomes, and formats that can flex with shifting priorities. It also reflects the pressure brands are under. With sluggish GDP growth and tighter scrutiny on budgets, advertisers are looking for ways to do more with less - reallocating spend toward agile, efficient digital channels. But that shift only works if the underlying infrastructure can support it. Without full visibility into how spend is delivered and what value it returns, performance-led buying can quickly become performance assumed buying. That’s where transparent, efficient programmatic systems make a real difference. When every impression is trackable and every pound accountable, brands can react faster, spend smarter, and build trust into every transaction. More ad spend isn’t the full story, how that spend works is what really matters. Read the full AA/WARC Expenditure Report here: https://lnkd.in/eermZHYX

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In an interview with MediaCat UK, our group head of strategy, Emily Fairhead-keen, and strategy partner, Dan Holt, explore how brands can reconnect with real people in an era dominated by data and automation.    As marketing has become increasingly distanced from the people on the other side of the screen, Human Experience (HX) offers a reset. A way to design media that’s empathetic, useful, and trustworthy.   At the heart of HX are five core human levers that brands should engage with: 🌱 Growth 🏆 Esteem ❤️ Love 🎭 Distraction 🔒 Certainty    These levers reflect the underlying needs that media should serve, not just target. A great example is our work for Ocado Retail’s #LifeDelivered campaign, where we prioritised high-attention, positive channels like cinema and podcasts to deliver entertaining and useful media that resonates deeply.   HX is our call to rethink how we connect, communicate, and create value through media.   Read the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/drJjvepq #HumanExperience #HX #MediaCatUK #MakingMediaMeanMore #CloserToPeople #CustomerCentric #MediaStrategy

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