But here’s the truth: the best ideas in media don’t start with an award entry. They start with an insight, a business challenge a brief that asks not just for reach but for disproportionate results.

And it’s often at peak spend periods: Christmas, Black Friday, Back to School – where the stakes are highest, and the difference between predictable returns and standout growth is made by one thing: creative media thinking.

The Myth of Media as “Just Placement”

Media has long been pigeonholed as distribution. Buy the right spots. Optimise the numbers. Reach enough people. Tick the box.

Think of John Lewis’ Christmas campaigns. The TV spots grab headlines, but the ripple effect comes from how media amplifies the creative: partnerships, experiential, retail tie-ins, social storytelling.

Or consider Spotify’s “Wrapped.” Yes, it’s a digital-first product experience, but the brilliance is in how the campaign exploded across social, PR, and OOH. The medium itself – data-driven personalisation – was the message.

Peak Spend Doesn’t Reward Safe Plans

Every brand fights for attention in the same high-pressure moments: November’s retail frenzy, Christmas gifting, the summer of sport.
But here’s the trap: in those moments, the gravitational pull is toward the obvious. “We’ll just spend more.” More impressions, more TVRs, more CPMs.

And yet, more often than not, the brands that cut through aren’t those who spend the most, but those who think of the customer AND the data. The magic is created when the customer is kept front-of-mind when interpreting the data.

Take Aldi’s Christmas work in the UK. They’ll never outspend Tesco or Sainsbury’s. But year after year, their media choices: nimble, witty, culturally tuned, help them punch above their weight. According to Kantar, Aldi overtook Morrisons in 2022 to become the UK’s 4th largest supermarket, partly powered by these disruptive strategies

Creativity in Media is Measurable

There’s a lingering scepticism that ‘creative media’ is fluff. But the data tells a different story.

• The IPA’s landmark “Media in Focus” study shows campaigns that balance creativity in both media and message are 60% more effective long-term (IPA, Binet & Field, 2017).
  
• Attention research from Lumen demonstrates that creative placement and context can double memory encoding versus standard inventory (Lumen, 2023).
  
• And Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM) consistently reveals that smartly designed media moments deliver outsized ROI relative to spend.

In other words, creativity isn’t a ‘nice to have.’ It’s a multiplier.

Awards Aren’t the Point (but They’re a Signal)

The hardest sell for a CMO isn’t the consumer. It’s the board.

When agencies pick up trophies, what’s being celebrated isn’t the case study deck. It’s our thinking that turned ordinary budgets into extraordinary results.

That should matter to every brand, especially in 2026 where growth budgets will face tougher scrutiny, and “efficiency” alone won’t win.

Because the real test isn’t what judges think, it’s what the market does. Do people notice? Do they care? Do they buy?

Four Questions to ask in Peak Periods

As you prepare for the next awards cycle, or the next Christmas, the next cultural moment, here are four questions worth asking:

1. What problem are we solving? Not the media plan problem. The business problem.
   
2. What context can we own? A moment, a mindset, a cultural cue that’s bigger than inventory.
   
3. How can distribution become the idea? Media as part of the creative, not the afterthought.
   
4. What’s the disproportionate upside? If we’re not making a small budget feel bigger, or a big budget work harder, are we really being creative?

Closing thought

At the heart of every standout case study isn’t scale, or spend, or even creative brilliance alone. It’s media thinking that refuses to be average.

Because in the moments that matter most – whether it’s a campaign launch, a cultural event, or the peak trading season – creative media thinking is what separates those who merely spend from those who truly win.

Need a partner who thinks can build your brand? Let’s talk : +44 (0)20 7257 2600 or hello@smithfieldagency.co.uk (https://smithfieldagency.com/contact/)

But here’s the uncomfortable truth: most brands don’t fail because they didn’t spend enough. They fail because they didn’t plan to win.

Planning is more than allocating budget lines and booking channels. Planning is deciding where the brand will compete, how it will matter to people, and how the team will defend their choices in the boardroom.

As we head toward 2026, the context for CMOs is more complex than ever. Inflationary pressure, consumer fragmentation, media disruption, and cultural volatility aren’t going anywhere. Planning has to do more than keep up. It has to lead.

Here are four principles to help ensure your next plan isn’t just a spending spreadsheet, but a winning strategy.

1. Balance Now and Later (the tension that never disappears)

Marketers have been debating brand vs performance for decades. Les Binet and Peter Field famously argued for a 60:40 balance between long-term brand and short-term activation (IPA, 2018). The evidence is clear: long-term brand building drives growth, short-term activation harvests it.

The problem is, boards don’t want balance. They want results. Fast.

Look at Airbnb. During the pandemic, they famously cut their performance marketing spend by more than half, yet bookings rebounded strongly as travel reopened. Why? Because years of brand investment (“Belong Anywhere”) created resilience that performance spend alone could not deliver (CNBC, 2021).

2. Plan for Attention, Not Just Reach

Reach still matters. But reach without attention is noise. And in a fragmented media landscape, noise is expensive.

Lumen’s attention data has shown that creative context matters as much as media weight. A high-attention ad in a lean-in environment can outperform a low-attention ad in prime-time TV (Lumen, 2022).

That means planning shouldn’t just be about “where can we reach the most people?” but “where can we earn the right to be noticed?”

Think about Duolingo. Their TikTok presence doesn’t just reach Gen Z, it captures them through absurd, funny, consistent content. According to Adweek, Duolingo became one of the most downloaded apps among young people thanks in part to this strategy (Adweek, 2022). It wasn’t about shouting louder. It was about holding attention.

By 2026, media planning will be less about buying spots and more about designing moments. The principle is simple: if no one notices you, you don’t exist.

3. Plan Up and Down the Ladder

One of the most damaging myths in marketing is the idea that brand and performance live in silos. In reality, the best work ladders up and down: from brand to action, and from action back to brand.

Gymshark is a perfect case study. The brand began by working with fitness micro-influencers on Instagram, creating grassroots authenticity. Those same brand cues (community, aspiration, hustle) later scaled into global campaigns, outdoor formats, and sponsorships. The small-scale social assets didn’t just drive sales, they created a brand platform strong enough to expand into traditional channels (The Drum, 2020).

Planning in 2026 has to reflect this ladder. Campaigns should be designed to move fluidly between awareness and conversion, between feed and screen. Success isn’t a one-way funnel. It’s a feedback loop.

So ask yourself: does your brand creative ladder up into something bigger than the moment? And does it ladder down into action that converts?

4. Plan for the Boardroom, Not Just the Market

The hardest sell for a CMO isn’t the consumer. It’s the board.

Spencer Stuart’s 2022 report found the average tenure of a CMO is just 40 months – the shortest of any C-suite role. The reason isn’t lack of creativity, it’s misalignment. Too many boards still see marketing as cost rather than investment.

Winning in 2026 means planning with the boardroom in mind. That means translating marketing metrics into business impact: share of market, pricing power, margin protection.

Look at how P&G reframed its investment story. Instead of talking about GRPs or reach, it began talking about “constructive disruption” and how marketing spend fuels innovation and shareholder value (Forbes, 2019). That’s language the board understands.

Planning to win isn’t just about what’s in the market. It’s about what travels upstairs. The CMO’s job isn’t just to get buy-in once a year. It’s to continually narrate the link between brand, media, and growth in terms that reassure investors and executives.

The Call to 2026

The brands that thrive in 2026 won’t be the ones who simply outspend competitors. They’ll be the ones who outplan them.

They will:

• Balance now and later, treating brand and performance as one engine.
  
• Plan for attention, not just reach.
  
• Ladder their creative up and down the funnel, creating a feedback loop of growth.
  
• Build plans that persuade the board as much as they persuade consumers.
  

Because growth isn’t about media spend alone. It’s about the courage to plan differently.

Don’t just spend. Plan to win.

Need a partner who thinks like a start-up but plans like a strategist? Let’s talk : +44 (0)20 7257 2600 or hello@smithfieldagency.co.uk (https://smithfieldagency.com/contact/)

Growth brands don’t play by the old rules.

They need to develop/adapt/live in the moment, not to wait six months for a post-campaign report. They need to see the impact media and creative are having on their business, not wade through media plans built to impress procurement. They want partners who bring them ideas and tactics to help them grow their brand, not glossy creds and big network logos.

What do they really want?
Speed, clarity, courage, and partnership.

And yet – too many media agencies are still operating like it’s 2013.

1.They Want You in the Room, Not on the Roster

Growth brands don’t want a supplier. They want a partner: someone who’s in the trenches with them and lives their brand like they do. Who can move as fast as they do, and isn’t afraid to speak plainly.

When Liquid Death (yes, the canned water brand with death metal branding) launched, they didn’t hire a traditional agency. They built a team of misfit creatives and growth hackers, and scaled with performance-driven, unorthodox content. Why? Because they needed people who got them, not a holding company that billed them.

Your job as an agency today? Be embedded. Be honest. Be useful.

2. They Want Performance Without the Binary

For years, media has been split into two camps: brand vs. performance.

Growth brands know that’s a false choice. They don’t see media as a funnel,  they see it as a flywheel. Every impression is a chance to build the brand and drive action.

Take Duolingo, a brand that’s mastered this balance. Their TikTok strategy is pure brand storytelling: irreverent, weird, highly memorable. But it drives real results: 82% of Duolingo’s Gen Z users say TikTok ads influenced their decision to download the app (source).

Your media should convert. But it should also compound. One without the other is just wasted potential.

3. They Want Fewer PowerPoints, More Progress

Growth brands don’t need 86-slide decks. They need answers, direction, movement.

As Mark Zuckerberg reportedly said in the early days of Facebook: “Move fast and break things.” Most agencies still move slow and duplicate things.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: the brand you’re pitching in Q1 might not even have the same priorities by Q3.

Speed wins. Simplicity wins. Real-time learning beats rigid planning.

4.They Want to See You Take a Risk

Not on their budget – but on your thinking.

In a world where everyone has the same tech stack, the same CPMs, the same targeting tools…your point of view is your power. What do you believe about how growth works in this category?
Where are you willing to challenge the brief?
What are you prepared to stand for?

5. They Want You to Understand Their Pressure

Growth brands aren’t just fighting competitors. They’re fighting investors. Time. Burn rate. Hype cycles. Category fatigue.

They need media partners who get the stakes, and who operate like business allies – not channel guardians.

When Gymshark launched in the UK, they didn’t focus on big-budget TV. They focused on community-building through paid social, micro-influencers, and razor-sharp measurement. Their agency understood what mattered: scale, sure, but with accountability.

So What Do Growth Brands Really Want?

They want:

• A partner, not a pitch machine
  
• Ideas that ladder up and down – from brand to action
  
• Progress over process
  
• Opinions, not just optimisation
  
• Commercial fluency, not channel fluency
  

They want agencies who are built for today and ready for tomorrow – not still playing by yesterday’s playbook.

And here’s the good news: you don’t have to be the biggest agency in the room.

You just have to be the one that moves fastest, thinks bravest, and cares most about growth.

Need a partner who thinks like a start-up but plans like a strategist? Let’s talk : +44 (0)20 7257 2600 or hello@smithfieldagency.co.uk (https://smithfieldagency.com/contact/)

We sat down with Smithfield’s Head of Clients, Brandi Stevens, to reveal five ways Cannes may occasionally fall out of step with the evolving media landscape and some reflections on where the industry might look next.

1. It champions creative, but often sidelines distribution.
Big ideas rightly get attention but too often, the focus stays on the idea and not how it reached people. In the day-to-day reality of marketing, distribution is a major factor in determining success. Creative without strategic media placement is like a symphony with no speakers. Artist with no gallery to share.

2. Film takes centre stage, while functionality plays in the wings.

Cannes naturally gravitates toward cinematic work often with a strong emotional punch. But some of the most effective campaigns come from quieter, less glamorous formats: the perfectly timed paid search campaign, the well-planned proximity of an OOH execution, or the integrated media plan that delivers sustained mental availability.

“I want to see more of why that billboard campaign resonated so well or what targeting made those social ads succeed,” says Brandi. “That’s what drives results in the real world.”

3. Media innovation deserves more of the spotlight.

While Cannes Lions now includes a Media category, it can still feel overshadowed by the more visible creative showcases. Yet some of the most exciting innovation in our industry is happening in media, in how we earn attention, build trust in a privacy-first world, and plan for fractured, distracted audiences.

“Clients today are thinking about formats, but there is bigger discussion about how a campaign shows up in people’s lives,” says Brandi. “That kind of strategic thinking deserves just as much celebration.”

4. Risk-taking looks different in media.
Cannes loves boldness but it tends to reward a particular flavour of bravery: cinematic storytelling, star power, high production value. Today’s most courageous work sometimes looks more subtle: resisting hype cycles, challenging default media mixes, or pushing for a more evidence-based approach.
It’s not always loud, but it’s brave in its own way

5. It’s a rear-view mirror, not a crystal ball.
The work awarded at Cannes often took place many months ago. Meanwhile, media continues to evolve at breakneck speed. Formats, platforms, and human behaviours shift quickly — and success today requires constant adaptation.

Final Thought

Cannes remains a vital celebration of what makes this industry special: ambition, creativity, and optimism. But it’s worth remembering that modern media success also depends on strategy, effectiveness, adaptability and clarity of thinking.
As we admire the work honoured this year, let’s keep asking the quieter but critical questions:

• Did it reach the right people?
• Did it resonate in the moment?
• Did it deliver what mattered?

The answers may not win trophies but they do build brands.

For decades, the unspoken rule in brand marketing was simple: if it’s not on TV, it’s not real brand work.

That idea still echoes through boardrooms and budget meetings — like a hangover from the 90s. But today’s consumers aren’t living in that world anymore. Neither should your media plan.

As Sarah Coften, Head of Innovation and Digital Strategy, puts it:

It’s Not Just Reach – It’s Remembered Reach

The platforms have changed, yes. But so has attention. And attention, right now, is everything.

As Sarah explains:

“Lumen’s studies back it up: if no one notices you, you don’t exist. Gen Z gets this instinctively; they notice the brand that makes them laugh at 7am more than the one airing at 7pm.

For Gen Z, attention is currency – and they spend it wisely. They reward consistency, creativity, and cultural fluency. You’re not buying airtime anymore, you’re earning relevance.”

The best ads aren’t just those people see. They’re the ones people remember. And those impressions are just as likely to be built in Stories, Reels, or YouTube Shorts as they are in an ad break during Bake Off.

Creative Consistency > Channel Comfort

It’s time to break the binary. The idea that brand and performance are on opposite sides of the spectrum is not only outdated – it’s limiting your effectiveness.

As Sarah puts it:

“Brand and performance aren’t separate campaigns, they’re different stages of the same journey. We’ve found that when brand cues carry through into activation assets, conversion gets easier, faster, and cheaper. It’s not just top-down; it’s inside-out.”

Consistency isn’t a tone of voice exercise,  it’s a commercial advantage. Because when the brand you build is the brand people recognise at the point of conversion, you’re not spending, you’re compounding.

From Feed to TV and Back Again

TV isn’t obsolete. But the path to it is changing.

In fact, some of the most effective brand platforms today don’t start on TV – they earn their way there.

“We’ve found that some of the most effective creative platforms start in social, where ideas are pressure-tested in real time. When something resonates there, it often earns the right to scale into bigger brand formats, including TV.

Done right, brand building moves both ways – from the feed to the sofa, and back again. When creative is connected across formats, channels, and funnel stages, you’re not just laddering up to TV, you’re laddering down to action.”

That’s what modern planning looks like. Not silos, but systems. Not formats, but flows.

Planning for Attention, Not Assumption

Forget the decades-old CPM benchmarks. Planning today means knowing where attention lives, and earning it creatively.

“Lumen’s attention data shows what we already feel as planners: the right creative in the right context outperforms legacy assumptions. High attention doesn’t have to mean high spend – it just has to mean high relevance.”

“We proved the business impact through our MMM study for a Smithfield client, where high-attention formats delivered outsized ROI relative to cost.”

What worked on TV in 2012 might underperform on TikTok in 2025, not because the creative’s bad, but because the context has changed. Attention isn’t bought. It’s won.

So What’s Holding Us Back?

Not data. Not channels. Not platforms.

“The media mix isn’t the issue – mindset is. If you still think brand means telly and digital means sales, you’re not planning, you’re time-travelling. And you’re taking your growth ambitions with you.”

We’ve never had more tools to build brands that scale across platforms and performance curves.

“Brand isn’t a TV ad. It’s a pattern of consistent impressions, emotions, and actions – stitched together across screens, formats, and contexts.”

The Takeaway

Brand building isn’t dying. It’s evolving.
It’s not about choosing TV or TikTok. It’s about designing systems that work across both.
It’s not about big vs. small. It’s about what builds memory, earns attention, and drives action – wherever it happens.

The truth is: TV didn’t define brand building. It just dominated it – until now. Because today, the brands that grow are the ones who know: It’s not where you show up. It’s how and how often.