Pladis, home to many of the nation’s most-loved snacking brands, has appointed Uncovered social agency in the UK following a competitive pitch. Uncovered will be responsible for working closely with pladis’ in-house social and marketing teams to lead social strategy and creative across pladis’ portfolio of brands, which includes McVitie’s and Jaffa Cakes. Pladis will continue to partner with MG OMD who lead on paid media for the portfolio. The pitch process was managed by Ingenuity+.
Waitrose has taken over Piccadilly Lights – London’s famous landmark and Europe’s largest advertising screen – with a 3D anamorphic showcase (783.5m2 screen|) for its new brand campaign, The Gastronaut. Created by Wonderhood Studios and brought to life by MG OMD, the activation translates the cinematic sci-fi world of the television advert into a high impact real world execution. The astronaut Michael, along with the ingredients from his iconic prawn linguine (for which searches are up 291% on Waitrose.com since the ad launched), appears to burst from the curved Piccadilly Lights screen in an out of this world media moment. Running as part of the wider launch of The Gastronaut, the build showcases how the campaign’s big screen ambition has been reimagined for one of the most premium and technically advanced digital OOH locations in the UK, with expected views of 2.9 million impressions.
Leading drain care brand Buster is back on UK screens with a new advertising campaign as part of a wider marketing push to spotlight its most powerful Bathroom & Kitchen Unblockers to date. Now live across major UK broadcasters including ITV, Channel 4 and Sky Media, the campaign puts Buster back in front of millions of households, driving awareness for its best-ever formulas and reinforcing the brand’s position as a market leader in drain care. Running for eight weeks across January and February, the campaign features a suite of 10- and 20-second creatives spearheaded by content agency Bruizer. The advert will air across popular daytime programming including This Morning, Lorraine, A Place in the Sun, Four in a Bed and Come Dine with Me, running until 22 February.
Hamptons, one of the UK’s leading estate agents, has launched a new multi-channel brand campaign created by Atomic London, continuing its ‘It’s a journey, we’ll get you there’ platform. The work is rooted in the insight that buying, selling or renting a home is one of life’s biggest decisions, yet the process is often defined by stress and uncertainty. At the heart of the campaign is a 20-second TV spot, voiced by actor and comedian Robert Webb, of Peep Show fame. The campaign is running across TV (Sky AdSmart), out-of-home, digital, social, direct mail, owned channels and estate agent window displays. Media planning and buying is handled by Mediaplus UK. The campaign runs across the UK, with a focus on London and the South of England.
London marketing agency SoBold has made a ‘bold start’ to 2026 with the acquisition of Epik LLP’s development business unit and delivery team. Epik is expected to be the first of a number of strategic acquisitions by SoBold this year as the business looks to accelerate growth and scale globally. The purchase of Epik, a senior-led brand studio, follows a record 2025 for SoBold, which saw the company increase revenues by 55% to establish themselves as one of fastest-growing agencies in the UK. Epik’s delivery team will move across to SoBold, maintaining continuity for Epik’s clients throughout and beyond the transition. Both businesses will continue to operate independently, working collaboratively where appropriate to ensure a seamless experience for existing clients and to unlock new opportunities moving forward.
With over 400 restaurants serving customers Nationwide, Pizza Hut UK is turning heads on the streets of London with the ‘Vertical Pizza Box’ – a playful, social-first campaign created by Iris, designed to spark curiosity and fuel speculation around a seemingly impossible invention: the world’s first vertical pizza box. The rollout is designed to build momentum over time, starting with publisher pages to kick-start conversation, followed by influencer-led content to amplify speculation and drive shares, before Pizza Hut steps in on its owned social channels to respond to the buzz and bring the story to a close. Early sightings will be seeded through Archbishop of Banterbury and TikTok food news creator Food with ASB. The ‘Vertical Pizza Box’ campaign will run exclusively on social, with content designed to feel authentic and ’in the wild’, driving intrigue and shareability as the idea spreads. Later in the campaign, Pizza Hut will close the loop by addressing the speculation, confirming the ‘Vertical Pizza Box’ is a prototype concept and keeping the conversation open for future possibilities.
HOKA®, a maker of running gear, unveiled a striking, UV-responsive mural on Great Eastern Street, Shoreditch, in East London to mark the latest chapter of its global “TOGETHER WE FLY HIGHER” campaign. Created in partnership with its digital agency Jellyfish, OOH specialists Billups, and the advertising agency Global Street Art, the activation brought the “Night Run” experience to life through innovative, light-reactive technology. As runners navigated the colder, darker months of January, the mural served as a beacon of inspiration for those maintaining their New Year’s resolutions. The artwork utilised a combination of reflective paint and UV light accents to transform as the sun sets. By night, the mural glowed, highlighting runners’ headlamps and reflective apparel details, mirroring the technical performance of HOKA gear designed for low-light conditions. The mural was live from early January until 7th February at Great Eastern Street, Shoreditch.
Jungle Creations, a London-based social and influencer publishing agency, has opened its first Manchester office. This marks a further step in its UK growth strategy and investment in northern talent, following the launch of its remote Manchester team which grew by 80 per cent in its first year. Located on King Street in Manchester city centre, the office provides a permanent base for Jungle Creations’ expanding northern team and strengthens its social, influencer and publishing capabilities outside of London. The business now employs 106 full-time team members and works with a growing roster of northern clients including DFS and Tommee Tippee.
Beyond, the independent creative, media and innovation company, today announced its reappointment as media agency for housing and homelessness charity, Shelter. Following a statutory pitch process, the appointment extends a powerhouse partnership that began in 2019, focused on tackling the housing emergency. Over the past six years, Beyond and Shelter have spearheaded sector-leading marketing and communications campaigns. This began with the 2021 ‘Fight For Home’ brand relaunch, which delivered an 11% increase in consideration to support. Beyond has also become a specialist in political campaigning for the charity, using hyper-targeted media to surround policymakers and opinion formers.
Nest Commerce, a tech-powered performance marketing and creative agency, and Urban Outfitters, the leading global lifestyle brand, have announced a new strategic partnership focused on accelerating performance and scaling creator content across five key European markets. The collaboration sees Nest Commerce take on the management of Urban Outfitters’ full-funnel Paid Social strategy and delivery across key platforms including Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and Pinterest. The activity will be focused on driving customer growth and revenue in five major European markets: the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, and France. The long-term agreement follows a highly successful initial partnership on TikTok, which proved the approach, scaling spend and driving growth.
AMS Media has been appointed as the new media agency partner for Red Funnel, the original Isle of Wight ferry company and a cornerstone of the Island’s tourism economy for more than 163 years. The win follows a competitive pitch as Red Funnel seeks to increase UK visitor numbers and re-establish the Isle of Wight as a top domestic holiday destination. AMS Media will deliver full-funnel media strategy, planning, buying and analytics across paid search, programmatic, paid social, digital display, OOH, print and broadcast channels. The focus will be on restoring consideration, strengthening brand salience and ultimately increasing visits to the Island in 2026 and beyond.
Visa Direct has launched a new B2B campaign focused on stories from clients designed to translate the platform’s broad money movement capabilities into real-world use cases for banks and fintechs. The campaign, created in collaboration with Iris, builds on Visa Direct’s Move Money Your Way platform, launched in October 2024, which established awareness of Visa Direct’s expanded proposition. This next phase focuses on how those capabilities are applied in practice through real client experiences. The B2B campaign was developed for senior payment technology decision‑makers across financial institutions, designed to build market confidence in Visa Direct as a strategic partner for modern money movement. The campaign runs globally across LinkedIn, YouTube and visa.com, in addition to media partnerships, with the first Checkout.com story going live on 12 February 2026.
Ahead of Valentine’s Day, Specsavers has unveiled the ultimate ‘Relationship Aid’, the most powerful innovation in couples’ connection. Which is, surprise, a hearing aid. The subversive campaign by Golin London for Specsavers, reimagines hearing aids as the nation’s must‑have ‘couples’ device’, borrowing the knowingly suggestive tone usually reserved for adult retailers to launch a bold stunt that reveals a simple truth: good hearing (achieved through state-of-the-art hearing aids) can help couples reignite their spark. Specsavers revealed all in a provocatively misdirected film and 60 second radio ad that could easily be mistaken for launching an intimacy product. A comprehensive social media and paid media programme – produced by Tangerine and MG – harnesses the power of expert voices to reinforce the audience perception shift.
