Advertising Week Europe - Our Takeaways
By Team Bluestripe
Last week, the Bluestripe team took a trip to Advertising Week Europe, which was better than ever this year! We all attended a number of sessions across the week, and here are the key takeaways:
Driving Attention - Lucy Figiel, PR Associate Director
Tuesday morning at Advertising Week Europe started with a session all about attention from Uber Advertising and Lumen Research. With a full house in the Innovation Lounge, Paul Wright took a deep dive into research that showcased the ride-hailing and delivery app as a high-attention platform for brands. He was then joined by Mike Follett, CEO of the eye-tracking research company that supported the study, to discuss what exactly the metric means. He highlighted that, in fact, attention almost exactly predicts profit. I thought this was an engaging session to kick off the week!
Organising the Unorganised Web - The Future of Advertising - Nell Martin, PR Account Manager
The debate over the future of cookies within the advertising industry has taken over conversations at conferences like AWE for years. Whether cookies stick around in earnest or not, marketers need to start widening their nets to ensure they’re capitalising on all relevant opportunities. Mateusz Rumiński at PrimeAudience kicked off Tuesday on the Tech Stage by outlining why Generative AI is the tool we all need to revolutionise the audience targeting. More than anything, the future of advertising surrounds understanding people and their needs, as everyone in the audience realised during the session.
Boring Is the New Bold - Rethinking Disability Representation in Advertising - Vicky Squires, Sales Executive
This session found me questioning more than I realised. The speakers, Chris Lynch and Rich Miles made a very interesting point that you never see the ‘boring’ represented in advertising by the disabled community, such as changing a lightbulb or feeding their pet, which come to think of it I haven’t seen this representation on my TV but never really thought deeply about it. Their goal is to stop the disabled community from being sensationalised and instead to be shown more authentically, which is a really important topic to highlight to ensure everyone is represented equally in advertising. I found this session very insightful as it proved the need to show the ‘boring’, but make it creative.
Ensuring Long-Term Success - Joe Campbell, PR Senior Account Manager
On the morning of Day 2 at AWE, the Empower Lounge (sponsored by Adform) hosted a candid discussion on the critical need to move DEI from mere policy to tangible action. Chloë Davies, Founder of It Takes a Village Collective; Clare Gleeson-Landry, Head of Strategic Partnerships at GoodLoop; Chris Dunne, CEO of Outvertising; and Charlotte Kure Juul, Chief HR Officer at Adform, addressed the troubling trend of businesses either abandoning DEI initiatives or engaging in superficial efforts. They emphasised that genuine business success is rooted in fostering an equitable culture that permeates every level of an organisation. The panelists advocated for strategies such as continuous feedback mechanisms, ongoing education and awareness programs, and equitable recruitment and promotion practices. Their message was clear: DEI must be integrated into the core operations of a company, not treated as an optional add-on.
Tuning into Tomorrow: TV’s Evolution - Paige Brewer, PR Account Executive
The CTV landscape is merging into the broadcasting industry. The focus on Gen Z is becoming increasingly significant, and because of this, linear TV has evolved, with content drifting more into social media and streaming platforms. Collaboration amongst key ad tech organisations is also becoming more essential in making this happen, and with it being the first generation driven by algorithms, it’s important that the demand for authenticity is met. It’s fascinating to see how television has developed over the last few years, and it's even more exciting to see how the future will be navigated.
Inside the CTV Evolution - Nkechi Agu, PR Senior Account Manager
One of the standout sessions at Advertising Week Europe was The CTV Experience: Reaching the Modern Consumer, presented by LG Ad Solutions. The panel explored the rapid evolution of the streaming ecosystem, highlighting the shift from subscription-only models to ad-supported formats like AVOD and FAST. As CTV continues to gain scale, advertisers are drawn to its targeting potential, though challenges around measurement, fragmentation, and standardisation persist. Speakers emphasised the importance of quality content, personalisation, and attention metrics, while also noting growing interest in shoppable content and interactive formats. With consumer expectations rising and competition intensifying, the streaming space is clearly entering a new era of innovation.