After six consecutive years, UK marketing budget growth finally came to an end in the final quarter of 2018, according the latest IPA Bellwether report.

ForwardPMX combines the two independent businesses across North America, EMEA and APAC, pooling 700 staff across 20 offices.

Spencer Berwin and Philip Thomas will leave their roles at the end of March and will remain with the business, while Chris Collins and Dallas Wiles step up.

The new executive chair of Newsworks tells Mediatel she wants to “extend the fan-base and ultimately tell a different story about news, because the current narrative is too focused on the old world and the decline.”

WPP has today published its hotly anticipated strategic review, with CEO Mark Read announcing a mission to turn the beleaguered holding company into a “creative transformation” business.

Brian Lesser, the former CEO of GroupM in North America, has said media agencies are unable to do their best work because the contracts that they have with advertisers rely too much on simply driving down costs.

In a wide-ranging interview at Mediatel’s Future TV Advertising Forum, television bosses outlined the challenges and opportunities they face – and their strategies for growth.

Industry bosses have been warned without agreed standards out-of-home will be bogged down by needless complexity at a time when it was seeking to grow its share of market through investment in digital screens.

In another effort to simplify its group structure, WPP is to merge J. Walter Thompson – the world’s oldest advertising agency at 154 years – with digital network Wunderman.

Despite strong opposition from the ad industry’s lobbying body, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has confirmed he is to press ahead with a ban on junk food advertising on the capital’s transport network.