Bellwether reaction: 'The rise of the wise investment'

This week’s IPA Bellwether Report has revealed that UK companies are continuing to bolster their marketing spend, revising their budgets up to the second highest level in two years in Q2 2026 – with events, direct marketing and video leading the way – despite economic and inflationary pressures.

The report authors suggest this upward adjustment shows firms are taking a more strategic, longer-term view rather than getting bogged down in short-termism.

But what do those at the sharp end see? Decision Marketing asks leading industry professionals for their take on the Q2 adspend report.

First up is Sky Media director of client and marketing Karin Seymour, who said: “In a market that has undergone profound structural change, this quarter’s report is an encouraging sign that advertisers continue to see the value of video, even amid ongoing economic uncertainty.

“As audiences increasingly consume content across broadcasters, streamers and online platforms, advertisers have more choice than ever before about where they invest. The continued strength of video reflects its enduring role in helping brands build awareness, capture attention and create lasting business impact.

Uber Advertising head of restaurants UKI Shane Buckley, meanwhile, points out that consumers don’t live in channels; they live in moments, and, as the purchasing journey fragments across platforms and devices, the industry needs to focus on understanding those moments that influence decisions.

Buckley sees video’s surge in investment as proof point of that: strong creative earns its place in everyday moments that shape behaviour – deciding where to eat, making plans with friends, travelling across a city or preparing for an event.

He continues: “These are moments when relevance matters; advertising that shows up in the right context, with strong storytelling, adds value and builds lasting brand awareness.

“The opportunity for brands is to combine that high-quality creative with richer, full-funnel data, to deliver ads that feel more timely, useful and connected to what consumers are actually doing. That same data is also what lets advertisers keep sharpening the creative itself: testing formats, making campaigns more interactive, and iterating based on what’s actually driving action. That’s what turns relevance into measurable outcomes, whichever channel it’s delivered through.”

For Adform country manager UK Phil Acton, however, the real game-changer is AI, including advanced, LLM-capable tools that can automate complex media workflows and trading tasks.

He explains: “Instead of replacing human talent, this technology is liberating them from manual optimisation and freeing up agencies and brand teams to focus on the creative work that stands out.

“What’s more, these agentic solutions can help marketers embrace the full potential of omnichannel. Where OOH and audio have lacked investment, they can now be seamlessly paired with other formats. In a challenging economic climate, the winners will be those who use this agentic technology across their whole media plan, and deliver engaging and measurable campaigns to consumers, no matter the touchpoint.”

LiveRamp SVP Publishers and Platforms, International Luke Fenney is another who highlights the rise of AI.

He says: “The continuous resilience of marketing budgets shows brands have learned from consecutive economic shocks: cutting ad spend is not a viable solution for revenue protection.

“The report points to AI as one of the clearest opportunities for marketers to support that resilience. These autonomous systems unlock unprecedented scale, efficiency, insight, and measurement, helping brands navigate increasingly fragmented customer journeys – which now also include many AI surfaces throughout. However, investing in AI without addressing your data foundation is a strategic dead end.

“AI is only as good as the signals it receives, and no single business can provide the full picture on its own. To set AI investments up for success, these autonomous systems require robust collaboration networks powered by structured, permissioned data. Only then can they make the trusted decisions required to navigate complex customer journeys and prove incremental outcomes, leading to sustained boosts to marketing.”

Meanwhile, Herdify CPO and co-founder Ed Barter says the report shows investment is being spent where real-world connections matter most.

He explains: “Events are leading the way with strong performance, showcasing that brands know that people value human-to-human connections. Similarly, there is a steady commitment to direct marketing, proving a focus on building awareness among communities, where word-of-mouth spreads.

“In an industry which has been disrupted by AI, real, resilient growth is happening in the places where social connections matter. The brands investing in connecting with their audiences in real life, creating social proof and building contagion are the ones that will benefit in the long run.”

Even so, Incrmntal CEO & co‑founder Maor Sadra reckons the report is not really a story about resilient budgets; it is a story about rising standards.

He continues: “Businesses are less confident, but marketing investment is holding up because CMOs know growth still requires investment. What has changed is their tolerance for waste.

“That’s why the industry is shifting from measuring activity to measuring decisions. It’s no longer enough to know what happened – you need to know where the next pound should go. In this market, that’s the difference between protecting budget and protecting growth.”

The final word goes to esbconnect chief executive Suzanna Chaplin. She believes brands are understanding the value of marketing – they are not cutting spend, but investing more wisely to stay front of mind.

Chaplin explains: “Brands are asking more and better questions and moving budget to channels and platforms that deliver incrementality, rather than attribution. Channels that enable advertisers to measure the value they deliver, even if they don’t always deliver the last click.

“Video is a good example. The numbers show that it is enjoying an increase in investment, even though it has always consistently underreported contribution in platform attribution. This shows that more marketers are looking at whether the channels they invest in deliver true incrementality and not just whether they deliver the last click.

“It’s interesting also to see direct marketing seeing increased investment. Brands are spending less on generic marketing, and looking for less noisy ways to reach users, like email and direct mail. These channels enable them to have direct conversations with consumers. In short, marketers are not spending less, they are just spending differently, being more selective, and not just following the playbooks of the years gone by.”

Bellwether reaction: ‘The rise of the wise investment’

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