On Thursday 12 June 2025, the IPT were delighted to take a group of parliamentarians on a visit to ‘Adland’ in partnership with the Advertising Association. The tour aimed to give a snapshot of the advertising supply chain including the impact of Artificial Intelligence in the advertising industry. The visit was attended by Richard Holden MP, Damian Hinds MP, and Lord Gilbert of Panteg.

The visit began at dentsu, a global growth and transformation partner specialising in marketing, technology, and consulting. Annette Male, CEO of dentsu UK&I, opened with an overview of the business and its diverse client portfolio. Flora Kong, Client Managing Director, then introduced a campaign by dentsu’s media agency Carat for Co-op Funeralcare. Aiming to break the stigma around death, dentsu co-created Celebrity Send-Off, a Channel 4 series where celebrities planned each other’s funerals, balancing humour with empathy. Based on the insight that 66% of people have considered their own funeral but only 7% feel comfortable discussing it, the show earned critical acclaim, with The Guardian calling it a “must-watch”.

Next, Alexander Jones from dentsu’s Merkle shared a case study on their campaign for Kellanova (Kellogg’s). By targeting families, they launched Kellogg’s Town, an interactive digital world accessed via QR codes on cereal boxes. The campaign was a great success, with over 300,000 visitors and a 27% return rate. After, Nicole Basra, Diversity and Inclusion Manager, spoke about dentsu’s inclusive culture and support for marginalised communities. The session concluded with Alex Hamilton, Innovation Director, who introduced Dentsu Lab, the company’s creative R&D arm. He showcased Scrolling Therapy, which uses facial recognition to turn social media scrolling into therapeutic exercises for people with Parkinson’s, blending human insight with cutting-edge tech.

Then, we had a short walk over to Bauer Media UK. We began the visit at Bauer with a presentation and roundtable discussion from Simon Myciunka, CEO, Bauer Media Group. We learned about Bauer’s rise in the UK – from their origins and early growth to their current position and ongoing expansion. We went on to discuss the changing landscape of radio, with the rise of online streaming platforms and podcasts, and learned that 85% of the UK population still listen to radio, and radio remains the most trusted news platform. Parliamentarians also questioned the role of new, tighter legislation in restricting advertising.

George Butler, Head of Commercial Marketing and co-host of tech podcast AI Haven't a Clue, then led us on a tour of the building. We began by going into one of the Kiss Radio studios, where we met with radio presenter Jordan Lee. Following this, we visited the Greatest Hits Radio studio, where we met radio presenter Ken Bruce and watched him present live!

We would like to thank the parliamentarians who attended, as well as Advertising Association, denstu and Bauer Media for facilitating this visit.

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