This Week's Agency News Round-Up

December 3rd 2025 - Mergers, Movers, and Campaign Creators

3 DECEMBER 2025

1. Top Stories

The Drum breaks the news as Omnicom confirms post-IPG leadership, DDB, FCB & MullenLowe sunsetting and job cuts. Read the details in their LinkedIn post.

Alphageek, an award-winning digital marketing agency has broken all its Black Friday records before the day has even begun, thanks to exceptional early sales activity. Read more about their success on Love Business.

2. Account Moves & Launches

New Agency & brand partnerships

Northern Artillery share that James Hare, Britain’s leading luxury fabric specialist, appointed them to deliver a full Shopify replatforming of its global ecommerce and trade website. Here’s the announcement.

AVEVA proudly announces an exciting partnership with Porsche Motorsport as the Technology Partner of Porsche’s Formula E Team. Here’s how they shared the news.

Hull-based marketing agency Summit has retained its contract with home improvement retailer Wickes. Marketing Beat has the story here.

3. People & Leadership

Hires, promotions and notable exits

Apple has hired Amar Subramanya, an artificial intelligence researcher who was most recently an executive at Microsoft (LinkedIn's parent company), to lead its AI efforts. LinkedIn has the story.

Creative agency Nothing has named Loewe’s chief marketing and communications officer, Charlie Smith, as its new chief brand officer. Learn more right here.

4. Big Collaborations of The Week

Standout campaigns, launches or stunts

BIG Partnership has confirmed an official partnership with Prolific North for 2026, marking a significant commitment from the full-service communications agency as it continues to accelerate growth across the North of England. Read the full story on Prolific North.

Following their work designing Aiming Higher’s new brand identity, Blackpool based marketing agency Happy Creative, joined the charity at their VIP launch for the official unveiling of their new brand identity. Take a look here.

5. Trends & Talk

What’s Next: The Early 2026 Forecast

What better timing for a look ahead to 2026 than the very first Agency News Round-up in December?

It’s no secret 2026 is shaping up to be the first year where AI, consumer behaviour, and commercial pressures collide, and as always, the agencies that win will be the ones that prepare now.

With UK ad spend surging towards another record Q4 of £12bn, brands are entering an era of extreme festive competition where “safe” creative risks becoming invisible. Remember, it’s time to kill boring.

Retail media will continue its rapid ascent, becoming one of the fastest-growing channels in the UK. As The Drum reports, this will force agencies to build retail-ready creative, commerce-centric content, and stronger measurement frameworks,

But the real tension point for 2026 will be personalisation. UK consumers are officially pushing back: in 2025, more than half of UK consumers (57%) stated personalised adverts make them feel “creeped out”. The opportunity isn’t “more personalisation”, it’s better context. Agencies that blend creativity, context and human insight will define the campaigns that truly connect.

Commercially, the ground is shifting fast. The IPA warns that time-based pricing is already misaligned with AI-driven speed, while WPP’s Open Pro launch signals a future where brands can generate work directly inside platforms.

In short: 2026 will reward the bold, the contextual, and the connected.