Grey London 2025: A Collaborative And Creative Force For Excellence

It has been a year of change and growth for Grey, testament to its outstanding creative legacy.

The year kicked off with the appointment of the inimitable Helen Rhodes from BBH London as chief creative officer. And in May, the agency joined forces with Ogilvy, moving away from the AKQA group.

Following his second year at the helm of the agency, CEO Conrad Persons was given another promotion, becoming chief of staff across parent network WPP.

Creative Salon On Grey London's 2025

Following Conrad Persons' promotion to CEO, the Grey London team was further bolstered. Amongst the highest profile signings was creative powerhouse Helen Rhodes, who is known for her wide array of work including Tokyo 2020 Olympics work with BBC Creative, to Girl vs Cancer with BBH and bringing back KFC's Colonel with Wieden + Kennedy Portland, as CCO. She has subsequently overseen the delivery of exceptional work at the agency. Another recent recruit was Monty Verdi in the role of group creative director who joined at the tail end of 2024.

Among its awards, Grey took home a Gold Lion at Cannes in the out-of-home category for 'The Sip Of Sanctuary' for Stella Artois; this was just one of 22 Lions that the agency won at Cannes this year.

The team has also produced ongoing work for some its major clients - including a film for Helly Hansen and Vodafone.

Further work included 'Mildly Glorious' an integrated campaign for farmer-owned co-operative Arla.

"Creating cut-through in Greece, Spain, and Poland has been an ongoing challenge for us. It was great working with Grey London on this campaign to unify our cheese brands through one salient message - making a dull meal into a mildly glorious one.," explained Sue Huebner, international category director, Arla Foods.

Beyond that, this year also marked 20 years of its partnership with Haleon-owned dental brand Sensodyne. So successful has that partnership been, that WPP has also been retained on Haleon’s global creative roster.

“We both understand the business very well because of our model featuring real dentist testimonials around the world, unscripted," said Ignacio Notivol Delso, vice president and global business lead, Sensodyne and Pronamel.

December brought the 'Happy Christmassacre' campaign for Peta, the charity battling animal cruelty. The gruesome central film featured a quintessential Christmas dinner scene before transforming into a horror-inspired depiction of the hidden violence behind the feast.

Supporting activity produced three limited-edition jumpers, each depicting the brutal reality faced by cows, pigs and turkeys over the festive season.

The jumpers were illustrated in collaboration with Rave Growl and will be worn by a line-up of vegan and vegetarian celebrities across social media and press appearances, including David Walliams, Bimini Bon Boulash, Romesh Ranganathan, Jon Richardson, Sadie Frost and Lou Sanders.

Creative Salon says... Joining forces with Ogilvy is a smart move - it allows Grey London to sharpen its creative offer with an entrepreneurial streak and the strength that network has to offer. This sets the agency up to continue with its dynamic and collaborative approach and build on its success into 2026.