This Week's Agency News Round-Up

January 8th 2026 - Mergers, Movers, and Campaign Creators

8 JANUARY 2026

1. Top Stories

PMG, the global independent marketing services and technology company, announced the acquisition of London and New York-based Digital Voices to deliver campaigns that drive measurable business outcomes. With the Influencer Marketing industry expected to increase 10x in the next 8 years, this acquisition marks a continued investment in delivering customer-centric, full-funnel marketing solutions on a global scale. City AM has the details.

Junk food adverts are banned on television and online starting on Monday as part of a drive to tackle childhood obesity.The ban only covers adverts in which unhealthy products can be seen by viewers, meaning fast-food firms will still be able to advertise using their brand name. Here’s the BBC with more information on what this means for Brands and their advertising agencies.

2. Account Moves & Launches

New Agency & brand partnerships

Mother has been appointed as the creative agency for Weetabix, the UK's best-selling cereal brand. Little Black Book Online tells us more.

WPP wins Jaguar Land Rover’s integrated creative and marketing account in one of the most hotly contested global reviews of the year. Campaign explores how it unfolded.

E.ON Next, the UK consumer arm of the energy company E.ON, has partnered with the social media specialists at TSA as it looks to refine social content creation to support its brand and product-led campaigns. Here’s the Little Black Book Online with the info.

3. People & Leadership

Hires, promotions and notable exits

Kim Allain has left Golin, taking on a creative director role at another comms agency. PR Week UK has the story.

Search and AI marketing agency Marketing Signals has welcomed Jade Denby and Jade Williams to its PR and marketing teams as part of the company’s growth aspirations. Prolific North tells us more.

4. Big Collaborations of The Week

Standout campaigns, launches or stunts

WPP announces the launch of Agent Hub on its AI platform for marketing, WPP Open, providing clients with access to advanced agentic AI marketing expertise. Find out more about the launch direct from WPP.

Lancaster’s Noise Agency has achieved national success with its latest campaign promoting a herbal sweet and cough drop for Boots. The Lancaster Guardian has the details.

5. Trends & Talk

Forget Viral & Remember Value in 2026

As the New Year unsurprisingly unfolds with a glut of posts predicting this year’s biggest marketing trends, The Drum took a slightly different approach. Instead of asking senior marketers their predictions for 2026, they asked what stories didn’t get the attention they deserved in 2025.

Could it be that these less shared, less featured and less promoted insights are the real game changers for brands and agencies in 2026? Take a look…