Why Advertising Needs to Believe in Itself Again

Our industry has lost confidence in itself, and is it a surprise?

AI has rattled everyone, budgets are consistently cut, global doom and gloom dominate the headlines, and the uncertainty is everywhere: mergers, redundancies, leadership churn, cost‑of‑living crises, and political instability. Even Cannes feels more about platforms and tech than creativity. But without confidence, there’s no creativity… and without creativity, as we all know, we’re finished.

Creativity should be naïve, silly, joyful. It should come from a space of safety and fun. Yet we’re losing that space, and losing the creativity that depends on it, at a time when we need it more than ever. Confidence isn’t about swagger or brashness. It’s not about being the loudest voice in the room or the 'confident dickhead' stereotype. It’s about belief. Belief in our work, belief in our people, belief in the power of ideas to change things.

And we should have belief, because the work is there. When I chaired the IPAs Effectiveness event last year I came out astounded. The work on display was astonishingly good. How could we ever doubt ourselves when the evidence of our impact is right there? We’re mad not to be confident in this industry when you see how effective it can be.

Just look to the Christmas ads if you need more proof. Or Campaigns lists. The evidence was right there as the year rounded to a close.

We need to rebrand confidence. It isn’t about extroversion or macho bravado, but about creating conditions where people feel safe enough to be silly, experimental, and creative. Confidence is collective, not individual; it’s the culture of an agency rather than the personality of a CEO. Leaders can’t simply instruct people to 'be confident' - it has to be modelled through belief in your team, shielding them from constant gloom, and carving out space for fun and experimentation. When people feel safe enough to fail, they also feel confident enough to create. My role is to build that safety net: a supportive backstop where ideas aren’t crushed by fault‑finding or financial targets, and where, sometimes, against the grain of modern leadership’s obsession with transparency, you protect your people from the noise so they can rediscover the joy of creativity.

Confidence isn’t only the responsibility of agency leaders; industry bodies like the IPA, support organisations such as NABS. The trade press all have a role to play - ensuring they build up rather than breaking down. The IPA has already put creativity back on the agenda, while NABS continues to support the well‑being that underpins confidence. Together, these forces can help rebuild belief in advertising, and that belief is what unlocks creativity. When confidence fades, ideas dry up; when it returns, the whole industry feels alive.

And this has to come from a conviction that the work we do matters, that our ideas can change things, and that this industry is still brilliant. Hold onto that, and we’ll bring back the joy and brilliance that made us fall in love with advertising in the first place.