Our Monthly Round-up of the key marketing pieces for July includes: – six articles; an AI, media & podcast section, the Work, & our Back to Henley chapter. The marketing landscape is shifting away from isolated campaign tactics toward connected, agent-driven systems and a renewed focus on human-centered authority in an AI-saturated world.

Our July highlights:

1. Our top pick comes from Rishad Tobaccowala’s: The Future Does Not Fit in the Containers of the Past, which is read now by nearly 32,000 people, (available at https://rishad.substack.com/). He is a great author, the latest episode is on Gifting. Here he re-organises the top 100 pieces curated and organized into 4 Lenses and 12 categories. Each piece is a five minute read and an entire category is like a self contained book on the subject and takes about an hour to read, and as he says, it will make you more productive and effective.

Here is the link: https://rishadtobaccowala.com/100

2. Secondly, we have picked the IPA Bellweather report and a piece of positive news revealing that UK Companies were revising their Marketing Budgets Up in Q2 2026. UK companies revised their marketing budgets up to the second highest level in two years in Q2 2026, despite economic and inflationary headwinds remaining at large. After a strong start to the year, 23.8% of respondents reported an increase to their marketing spend, in comparison with 16.9% who recorded cuts. The resulting net balance of +6.9%, slightly below Q1’s +7.3%, pointed to a historically strong expansion in budgets. Meanwhile, approximately 59.4% of respondents left their marketing budgets unchanged in Q2.

Here is the link: https://lbbonline.com/news/IPA-Bellwether-Report-Q2-2026

3. Thirdly, Sir John Hegarty continues his substack on ‘the business of creativity’. In this episode of The Business of Creativity Series, Sir John sits down with Ryan Serhunt to discuss what it takes to build a modern business. Their conversation explores performance, entrepreneurship, purpose, brand building and why the most successful businesses are often created by people bold enough to think differently.

Here is the link: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/dont-wait-sun-light-fire-conversation-ryan-serhant-sir-john-hegarty-nhfpe/

4. Fourthly, we pick a piece this month by DEPT’s Partner, Global Chief Client and Growth Officer – Andrew Dimitriou, where he argues that consumers have already adapted to permanent instability, while many brand strategies still depend on an economic recovery that may never arrive. Dept. are growing fantastically well, and the DEPT Futures Club have some really interesting speakers.

Here is the link: https://www.thedrum.com/opinion/andrew-dimitriou-consumers-have-accepted-uncertainty-marketers-haven-t

5. Fifthly, is the Agency shortlist changing? We are often faced by the conundrum of how many holding companies should be considered for a pitch. And the inference that independent agencies are having in displacing this list. We have picked this piece by Ivan Fernandes from his Linkedin with his perspective… if only it was that easy.

Here is the link: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7489722475849785344/

6. Sixthly, are clients being more demanding? when it comes to agency new business, it’s all about graft! and years of it. Who better to give her perspective than the genius Stephanie Brimacombe: ‘Where Graft Meets Growth’. VCCP’s group chief growth officer and CEO of VCCP Roar talks about bringing brand and reputation together, and the farming values that shaped her leadership. It’s an exceptional and enlightening read.

Here is the link: https://creative.salon/articles/features/steph-brimacombe-vccp-profie

AI: WPP’s Daniel Hulme gives us his powerful perspective on intelligence and affective consciousness – the balancing of talent and machines. https://www.hulme.ai/blog/could-the-machines-were-building-already-be-suffering

Media: A great article in Media Leader this week, writes Chris Herbert-Lo. https://uk.themedialeader.com/the-climate-isnt-someone-elses-brief/

Podcast: We like the CMO Podcasts from Jim Stengel, formerly of P&G. Artificial intelligence is reshaping marketing at a pace unlike anything we’ve seen since the birth of digital. But as today’s guests remind us, the fundamentals of great marketing haven’t changed. Recorded live at the Infillion Café during Cannes Lions 2026, Jim sits down with Marie Gulin-Merle, Global Vice President of Ads & Commerce Marketing at Google, and Anda Gansca, Co-Founder and CEO of Knotch. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marie-gulin-merle-google-anda-gansca-knotch-the-new/id1460604334?i=1000775937261

Time for the Work: Its congrats to Monzo and BBH this month. Monzo launched the “Get busy living,” its first global brand platform and largest integrated marketing campaign to date, created with BBH London. https://lbbonline.com/news/Olivia-Colman-Monzo-Get-busy-living-BBH

Back to Henley: It’s been a really busy Summer in Henley – we have been spoilt with simply great weather. Our fortnightly feature in the Henley Standard continues where we interview local entrepreneurs. It’s called Let’s Get Down to Business. We were delighted this month to interview Belles Berry, who is actually an author in her own right, and the daughter of Henley’s favourite Mary Berry.

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Kind regards,

Will