Edelman 2025: Expanded Purpose, Creative Momentum

Edelman’s 2025 has seen it branch into new ventures as the agency continually finds new ways to expand its offerings. 

The year saw it create ‘Edelman Sport’ - a new division that puts structure to its long-standing history in sport - alongside its Longevity Lab, led by global chief brand officer Jackie Cooper. The lab introduced ‘The Power of 55’ - a dynamic, ever-evolving list of creators that are over the age of 55: a category that Edelman believes to be one of marketing’s biggest blindspots. 

This growth extended to its new leadership; Julian Payne was named as CEO after Ruth Warder stepped down, from his previous role as Edelman EMEA’s global chair of crisis and risk and chair of corporate affairs. 

New hires included Claudi Aru as UK omnichannel strategy director from Inizio Evoke London, and Kate Stanners as chief creative officer, international, from Saatchi & Saatchi.

Creative Salon spoke with Edelman’s CSO Jay Gallagher about the agency’s year.

Jay Gallagher, CSO, on Edelman UK's 2025

Creative Salon: What three words would you use to describe 2025? 

Jay Gallagher: Turbulent. Transformative. Inventive. 

It’s been a year defined by volatility, but also by a remarkable willingness from brands to rethink how they show up in the world. When the ground moves, people get more resourceful. The best work this year reflects that. 

Talk us through some of your agency’s highlights this year. 

Much of our momentum has come from doubling down on the effectiveness of earned. As a category, we need to get better at demonstrating the measurable advantage an earned led approach can bring to brands. Last year, we released the Earned Effectiveness Paper with WARC, which put real proof behind what we’ve believed for a long time: culturally salient, earned-first ideas don’t just build relevance, they build results. This year we’ve been building on that to show the halo effect earned creates across whole portfolios, and the commercial difference it makes when you participate in culture rather than simply comment on it.  

We also launched Edelman Sport, formalising a capability that’s been building across the business for years. Sport has always been a live arena for passions, but now, the way brands engage and contribute to sport is meeting scrutiny like never before. Fans have unprecedented access to athletes, to dressing rooms, to the moments brands used to tightly control. Helping clients both promote and protect their reputation in this environment requires judgement, cultural intelligence and an understanding of the expectations of modern fandom. The work we’re doing across football, motorsport, fitness and major sporting organisations is a reflection of this complexity. 

And we can’t not talk about creators! It’s been so heartening to see the conversation move beyond “creators = youth” We’re building creator programmes for B2B, for professionals, for niche communities and for older audiences who want expertise, not just entertainment. With the rapid global scaling of our creator offering, we’re increasingly helping brands work with voices that carry trust in their world, a cybersecurity engineer, a midlife finance educator, a runner with a point of view on training and mental resilience. It’s creators as a strategic lever, not a channel tactic. 

And running through all of this is what we’re seeing in our 2026 Tipping Points report: people going quieter, more private, more discerning about what and who they let into their lives. Brands are recognising that trust is earned differently in a world where people share less publicly and expect more from the interactions they do choose. That’s influenced a lot of our work this year. 

What is one thing you are proudest of this year? 

Our ability to adapt without losing our centre of gravity. Clients are navigating political uncertainty, cultural fragmentation, economic pressure and an AI-accelerated media environment. Through all of that, we’ve kept pace with the change while staying ahead of it, helping brands keep their footing when the context shifts faster than planned. 

This year has also been defined by the early signs of the fallow periods that precede renewal, and the behaviours of that renewal, whether that’s people reconnecting offline, rediscovering the value of friction, or gravitating back toward human fingerprints in a world of synthetically generated everything. Helping clients interpret and navigate those undercurrents has been a privilege, and the trust they place in us to guide them through it is something I’m genuinely proud of. 

And what’s been your biggest challenge? 

Trying to survive the endless stream of LinkedIn hot-takes on AI. There’s only so many posts declaring the end of civilisation or the dawn of a perfect world that one strategist can process before breakfast. It’s here, it’s happening, it’s neither of these: it’s a tool, and we’re far better off getting on with the work, than working the opinion mines. 

Oh, and holding the line of calling the audience of 15-29 year olds Gen Zed rather than Gen Zee. It’s very much my ‘old man shouts at cloud’ moment, but I’m determined in my own futility. 

What are you most looking forward to in 2026? 

Working even more closely with Kate Stanners, Edelman’s new Chief Creative Officer for International, and our creative leadership to push our earned creative across the region. We’ve built a strong foundation, now it’s about elevating the ambition, broadening the canvas and showing what earned-first creativity can achieve when it’s firing at full scale. As an example, the work our South Africa team did for Women for Change: The Unburied Casket, which has prompted significant civil society engagement leading the SA government to declare femicide and gender-based violence a national emergency. It’s important to remember the power of what we do in our industry to really create change through culture and creativity. 

And what one change would you most like to see in our industry next year? 

Our Tipping Points work suggests that next year will be shaped by reactions: people closing the curtains (privacy), slowing down (friction), rethinking what’s healthy (wellness), and bracing for geopolitical whiplash: all of which demand our industry shows sharper judgement to ensure relevance, and earn the permission to engage.  

So, I strongly believe we need to place a renewed premium on judgement. Many of the things we take for granted: tools, channels, crafts, are in flux and will continue to be. But the ability to read a room, understand a moment and make the right creative or strategic call is still what separates the work that moves culture from the work that simply fills space. In essence that’s what the industry has always depended on, and simply can’t be commoditised. 

If we centre judgement, the rest follows. 

Creative Salon on Edelman 2025

The PR powerhouse’s year began with its annual Trust Barometer research - its findings proving ever more salient, reflecting global attitudes towards trust in government, business, media, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Among the revelations it showed that trust is in trouble more than ever. 

Later lessons from the seventh edition of its Brand Trust Report revealed that brands are more trusted than traditional institutions, and that consumers are turning to them at a growing rate to fill the distrust void. 

At Cannes Lions 2025, Edelman UK won a total of six Lions with work for clients including Dove, Heineken and Hellmann’s.

Creative work from ECDs Jamie George Cordwell and James Woods, who stepped up after Emma De La Fosse’s retirement at the start of the year, was prolific.

Work for Unilever’s 'Dirt Is Good' produced an innovative out-of-home campaign in Turkey that was designed to show kids that playing ‘out of home’ rather than indoors and on screens will help them discover the world around them. 

Its work with Sure (globally known as Rexona) saw the announcement of a new brand ambassador with Chelsea and Lioness footballer Lucy Bronze, encouraging girls to get moving. 

Dove’s debut creator-first campaign, ‘#ShareTheFirst’, brought to life its ‘Real Beauty’ messaging in an OOH takeover at Liverpool Street station in London. Based on the insight that nine in 10 women take up to 50 photos before posting one online, Dove encouraged woman to share the first - unfiltered and unedited. 

Taking a bronze at this year’s Cannes Lions was Hellmann’s ‘Mayo Exchange’. The campaign looked to tackle the unfair reality mayonnaise lovers face: fast food chains give out ketchup even if it isn’t wanted. ‘Mayo Exchange’ allowed mayo fans to exchange unwanted ketchup sachets in exchange for Hellmann’s mayonnaise.

Edelman's work with PayPal saw actor Will Ferrell take centre stage in ‘Check Out PayPal’. The campaign taps into the optimism around summer spending during the holiday months.

Edelman also helped multinational finance company Allianz reintroduce its insurance offer to the UK with ‘All the Experts’. With a Wes Anderson-esque feel, the campaign deliberately breaks the mould of traditional insurance ads.

Creative Salon says...  Less than a year into the CEO role, Julian Payne has shown clear intent to grow Edelman. With the introduction of its sports division and the continuation of its Longevity Lab, its an agency always looking to new areas. 

Its blend of creativity and looking to answer some of society’s most poignant questions proves as effective (and resonant) as ever, and is bound to continue into 2026.