Pablo 2025: The Indie That Outgrew the Label

Pablo’s 2025 had the unmistakable aura of an indie growing into something bigger - and doing it without losing the mischief that made its name feared and admired in equal measure. The year brought scale, sophistication and a string of ambitious assignments that hinted at an agency now operating far beyond its kitchen-table beginnings, yet still fuelled by the same irreverent creative instinct.

Behind the scenes, the signals were just as telling: senior hires, elevated creative leadership and the agency’s first operational investment all pointed to a shop gearing up for its next chapter. This year wasn’t about bravado; it was about momentum - the sense of an agency widening its remit, deepening its discipline and quietly preparing to play on a much larger stage.

We asked founder Gareth Mercer to describe the agency's year.

Gareth `Mercer, founder, on Pablo's 2025

What three words would you use to describe 2025?

Creatively charged fun.

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

2025 we went into beast mode. Strap in!

The Poretti harmonica fox owning the lake and casually slipping into the top 10 beer ads of all time. Thundercat turning music videos Upside Down and making them playable for Candy Crush.

Dragons and dinosaurs, Paddington Bear, Spiderman with help from some peeps called Tom Cruise, James Bond, Julia Roberts and John Ceeeeeena (you can’t see me – yes we can!) getting upstaged for Visit Britain.

Gordon Ramsey telling people they can F***king bake with Flora whilst sitting on a cow.

Blitzing hair anywhere for Wilkinson Sword. DFS busting confusion, breaking down walls and going thing-crazy. P&O cruzzzzing its way to best travel campaign – yes Emma M! – brewing up some beautiful work for Tetley – kind regards!

The whole agency and our clients were recognised for their teamwork and forward thinking at the UK and Global Indie Agency of the Year awards – it was emotional, yes, I cried a little bit (I also did at the John Lewis ad, not ours but loved it all the same). Channel 5 got a rebrand, a bear really delivered for Deliveroo, the good Doctor Pepper prescribed cherry weird (pants for every can) and we retained both HMRC and the Cabinet Office. Thank you for continuing to be unbelievable partners.

We’ve continued to recruit ahead, propelled forward by the new people that have flooded into Pablo. We’ve been totally blessed with the energy and talent from the new superstars that have joined our current superstars. That creative department is, well, just unbelievable (and believe me we feel very lucky) but accompanied by real experts with equal creative and strategic appetite. So many legends in the making across the whole agency. And last but not least, Orkestrate – so excited for Sam and Leena and watching them fly.

It’s been a year with a plan, a huge amount of focus. We are so lucky that new clients have also put their faith in us – Honda (squeal!), Aldi Ireland – so excited to finally share this and Candy, Amy K we love you. Thank you to all our clients for being part of our creative family. Not to mention working with Pablo NYC, our sisters from different misters, and seeing them win 4 new clients.

And finally, seeing our creatives Adam and Gus invent a life-saving fabric in response to an experience our totally nails MD Hannah Penn had with melanoma. Watching the whole agency get behind our UV U SEE campaign has been amazing. Check out Hannah on the BBC. So proud of her drive!!

… and breathe.

What one thing are you proudest of this year?

It might sound boring but consistency is Pablo’s biggest win. Highs and lows are all part of the game. But this year we’ve upped the high ratio. The consistent creative height of the work. The consistent high level in team spirit. The ever consistent high in new business and client happiness. It’s taken huge commitment from the agency teams and all client teams, working together in lockstep. I couldn’t be prouder of what they have all created and how well it is working.

Everyone that joins or visits Pablo tells us the same thing about our people and client partners: “Wow what a buzz, what a supportive environment and what talent.” We are very lucky and grateful and intend to keep it going.

And what’s been your biggest challenge?

“No plan survives first contact with the enemy,” said 19th-century Prussian army general Helmuth von Moltke. Or as Mike Tyson put it more succinctly: “Everyone has a plan til they get punched in the face.”

The biggest challenge is always managing the plan. And always planning for the plan to change. And always accepting that we can colour in the plan and make the plan sing and dance across 350 slides but something will come out of nowhere. And embracing that with an alternative solution or twist is just how creativity wants it. It’s the delicate and often frustrating art of rigorous planning for beautiful spontaneity and making things happen.

What are you most looking forward to in 2026?

That weird scaredy feeling you get for a split second on January the first that maybe we can’t top 2025… and then going back in to Pablo and seeing all the amazing work on the brink of coming out and all the exciting conversations with brands and people lined up and knowing 100 per cent that 2026 could be the best year yet if we make it happen. Until 2027 that is. At least that’s our drive.

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

Economic uncertainty. Ever-declining print media. Death of traditional advertising. Automation and AI landgrab. Short-term thinking. Long-term panic — phew — yet the UK ad industry is still one of the highest spending in Europe and still expected to grow in 2026 overall by 6.6 per cent (2026 ASA/WARC expenditure report.)

So, the one thing I would change in the industry is the relationship to change itself. Change is constant. It’s the single thing you can rely on. Not something to beat yourself up with. Don’t fear Change. Embrace Change. Make Change your friend. Lead Change. Really get to know Change. Play with Change, don’t leave Change out! Ask Change what it’s doing next Thursday after pilates. Hold hands with Change. Stare into Change’s eyes and let Change stare back into yours. Let Change sleep in the family bed. Cuddle up to Change in the middle of the night. Let Change lick your face in public. Become a CFF (Change Friends Forever.)

Creative Salon on Pablo's 2025

There aren't many agencies of recent times whose names alone can cause both admiration and mild anxiety in their rivals. Pablo is one of them. The indie that Gareth Mercer started at his mum's kitchen table in Leicestershire now ends 2025 looking unnervingly like a serious grown-up. But, of course, it’s a grown-up that still knows how to have fun.

Campaign’s School Reports named Pablo the fastest-growing agency in the UK in 2024, clocking up 11 new clients and more than £100m in new billings. That kind of number would be impressive for a network, let alone an independent still run on creative instinct rather than holding-company calculus.

What’s most interesting is the kind of work those wins have brought in - thoughtful, complex, reputationally sensitive assignments.

The big headline, naturally, was Honda Motor Europe. In September 2025, Pablo was appointed lead brand agency across automobiles, motorcycles, marine and power products following a highly contested European pitch. That’s a proper grown-up win by any standard: strategic, multi-market, and a potential creative showcase to add to its already impressive roster.

Closer to home, the HMRC re-appointment, alongside Unlimited, demonstrated the agency’s credibility in large-scale behaviour change. This is stable, mission-critical government work.

More interesting still is the breadth of creativity across the rest of the year - so let's start with a romp through the work.

For Betfair, Pablo launched Safe Sub - a simple idea where a singing substitutes board reminds bettors that bets can roll on if their chosen player is taken off.

For P&O Cruises, Pablo and Wavemaker UK delivered a special-build OOH installation on Westminster Bridge - bringing the Norwegian fjords to central London. It captured the brand’s promise of 'Holiday Like Never Before' with theatrical confidence and proved Pablo’s growing appetite for experiential work.

Nation-building came next: VisitBritain’s 'Starring Great Britain' enlisted Oscar-winning director Tom Hooper to frame the UK as a real-life film setl. It shows Pablo applying cinematic flair to strategy-heavy briefs with elegance.

One of the agency’s smartest pieces of lateral thinking arrived in May with ‘UV-U-SEE’, a high-visibility vest whose UV-reactive sections alert construction workers when sun exposure reaches dangerous levels. Created with the Considerate Constructors Scheme, it is a deceptively simple idea.

And then there was Poretti, the Italian beer brand that wanted to stand out in what it called a “sea of sameness”. Pablo responded with 'Welcome to the Lake' - a beautifully surreal campaign set in Northern Italy, directed by Jeff Low, scored with Adriano Celentano’s eccentric Prisencolinensinainciusol, and studded with offbeat visual wit. It is stylish, unexpected and confident - exactly where Pablo thrives.

Matching this creative energy was a meaningful shift in senior talent. In September, Dan Watts was promoted to chief creative officer, while Dan Norris and Ray Shaughnessy were elevated to executive creative directors. Together they form a creative leadership spine capable of handling the agency’s increased volume, complexity and ambition.

Earlier in the year, Pablo also made a marquee hire: Heather Cuss, formerly managing director at Droga5 London, joined as group managing partner. These moves signal a shop that understands scale doesn’t just happen - it has to be built with thought and interlligance.

Pablo also made its first external operational investment - in consultancy Orkestrate - a quiet but meaningful move that brings new rigour to delivery and client services. It’s pragmatic evidence that Pablo’s ambition now reaches beyond mischievous ideas into sustainable growth.

Creative Salon says: Pablo ends 2025 with enviable velocity. Its transformation from disruptive indie to pan-European contender is now underpinned by both creative depth and operational maturity. The biggest new opportunity sits with Honda Motor Europe - if Pablo can turn that appointment into a culturally resonant, behaviour-shaping platform, it will cement the agency as a serious global partner rather than a clever UK independent. With fresh leadership and expanding craft, Pablo enters 2026 with more pathways into culture than ever.