My reflections from Advertising Week Europe 2025, by Meabh Quoirin, CEO and co-owner Foresight Factory.
At Advertising Week Europe 2025, I had the pleasure of leading a dynamic panel featuring brand leaders from Standard Chartered, Jägermeister, and Nomad Foods. Together, we explored a big question: how can brands truly innovate at the crossroads of culture and technology?
It was a high-impact conversation, one that didn’t just skim the surface, but laid bare what’s really shifting in the market, why it matters now, and how some of the world’s most iconic brands are responding.
Culture is fragmenting. Connection is craving a reboot.
As Jägermeister’s @Christian Stindt put it, “…people still want to go out. It’s the last luxury Brits will give up.” And yet, one third of UK nightclubs have closed in the past three years. The traditional anchors of social connection are disappearing, but the emotional need remains. In this vacuum, Jägermeister is repositioning around emotional availability. Their influencers don’t just show up online, they show up IRL, capturing live cultural energy at festivals and amplifying it. It’s a shift from performance to presence, to give consumers the best nights of their lives.
Tech as a ‘disruptive enabler’. Agility as a mandate.
Nomad Foods is not your typical frozen food company anymore. Under CMO @Steve Challouma, the brand is leaning into platforms like TikTok, exploring unexpected collabs with EA Games, and launching new SKUs aligned to emerging eating habits, such as the airfryer, which has rapidly made itself invaluable to 60% of younger, time-poor homes. But what really landed was their response to consumer trust. With 25% of shoppers sceptical about sustainability claims, Nomad is reframing the conversation through Sustainability+, a strategy that’s already seen a shift from cod to Alaskan pollock, delivering a double hit of environmental benefit and health gain (double the Omega 3). Innovation with sustainable credibility? That’s the new currency.
DEI is not an add-on. It’s infrastructure.
Standard Chartered’s @Tim Hulbert shared how operating across 53 markets requires more than cultural sensitivity, it requires structural change. The bank’s recommitment to DEI isn’t just rhetoric, it’s in the policies. Equal parental leave for all genders, global employment standards, and a culture that views diversity as a strategic strength. The results speak for themselves. What’s more, they’re using AI and technology to increase accessibility (even to the CEO) delivering smarter service and faster feedback loops, proving that tech can be an accelerator of inclusivity, not a barrier.
With cultural shifts accelerating, traditional marketing spend is under pressure. I asked the panel whether brands should follow Unilever’s move, cutting traditional media and ramping up influencer spend 20-fold to get closer to people and culture? Not everyone agreed. But what’s clear is this – emotional resonance and cultural agility, combined with foresight, are now essential for relevance and growth.
The Foresight Factory view:
You can’t afford to wait for the future to happen. It’s already taking shape in the ways people connect, the foods they eat, and the values they expect brands to live. Our role? To help you read the signals, decode the shifts, and act with precision.
Talk to us to explore how your brand can lead the next wave of culture-led, tech-enabled innovation.
