Stephen Foster

I wouldn't say it's been a stellar year for Cannes-worthy work. Usually by this time of the year, there would be a bunch of guaranteed winners that everyone agreed on.

I wouldn’t say it’s been a stellar year for Cannes-worthy work. Usually by this time of the year, there would be a bunch of guaranteed winners that everyone agreed on. But this season seems a little thin. One that did catch my eye was this beautiful piece for Kit Kat. While there have been a

Lola seems to go its own (very) sweet way whoever owns it: now it's Omnicom following its takeover of IPG and former Lola owner MullenLowe. Once upon a time Lowe (originally Lowe Howard-Spink) was a great agency with a pronounced anarchic streak and the genes clearly live on among Lola's Madrilenos. 'Airplane' for Axe (Lynx

But we can't make ads like we used to. Clients won't buy them: too risky, the media agency doesn't understand them and Mark Zuckerberg says try him instead. How often have we heard this or something like it? So how come Omnicom's Madrid-based Lola (formerly IPG's MullenLowe) gets away with it? In this case a

Publicis Group is buying LiveRamp, which it calls a global data collaboration platform, for $2.2 billion ($2.5bn including cash.) This is Publicis' third big non-advertising acquisition after Sapient and Epsilon, moving the French holding company further away from its ad roots and deeper into data and tech. Publicis says it will become a leader in

McCain and adam&eve in its various guises have made a formidable team, winning various awards on the way for both planning and creativity. Helps that it's a good product of course. Now they're taking on the formidable task of presenting boys and dads as, yes, actually nice; capable of a healthy relationship without beating up

The love-in between JLR and WPP continues apace, with JLR (which makes Land Rovers, Range Rovers and Jaguars) confirming the appointment of the Britishp-own holding company, with the important addition of media planning and buying. WPP will handle the business on an outcome-based model although it's not yet clear how this will work. Sell more

This seems an age and a world away now but Nike's 'Write the Future' from Wieden+Kennedy wrote the book for World Cup ads, here featuring the rise and fall of Wayne Rooney. No such luck for Cristiano Ronaldo but, then, not everything changes. https://www.youtube/watch?v=lSggaxXUS8k 2010 was the year Spain won, England were ejected by Germany

It's all football from now on in, so we may as well go with the flow. But please, so-called England fans, stop banging on about "60 years of hurt." Completely self-inflicted. Anyway the Scots are returning to the finals after 28 years so what do you do if you're Tennents and Scotland's finest, Leith? They're

What is it about football that makes everyone try to define/track down/redefine England? The Gareth Southgate biopic ‘Dear England' is running on BBC and the ads are coming thick and fast.