St Luke’s 2025: The Independent that Keeps Punching Above its Weight

St Luke’s spent 2025 quietly proving why independence still carries weight. Without noise or theatrics, the agency delivered a series of warm, witty and deeply public-facing ideas that reminded the market how effective emotionally intelligent advertising can be when it’s built for real people rather than for show. It was a year that felt unmistakably “St Luke’s” - British at heart, human in tone and deceptively clever under the surface.

Inside the business, the agency simply kept its footing: steady client relationships, selective wins and a creative culture that remains confident in its lane. 2025 wasn’t about reinvention or scale; it was about consistency - the sort that comes from knowing exactly who you are and what your ideas contribute to the world. St Luke’s ends the year not louder, but surer, and that assurance is what continues to set it apart.

Creative Salon on St Luke's 2025

For a fiercely independent agency, 2025 was the year St Luke’s reminded the market why independence still matters. The London shop spent the year creating quietly brilliant, public-facing work that combined warmth, wit and commercial clarity - the kind of advertising that earns attention without shouting for it.

The headline moment came in autumn with Heathrow Airport’s 'Must Be Love', which resurrected the airport’s much-loved teddy-bear couple, Doris and Edward Bair. The 60-second film and surrounding campaign - its debut for the airport - captured the emotional pulse of travel with understated charm, showcasing Heathrow’s modernised experience.

The work was as British and heartwarming as any Christmas campaign gets - nostalgic, sweet and technically polished - and a reminder that St Luke’s remains one of the best in the business at making sentiment feel smart.

Earlier in the year, the agency turned its behavioural-change muscles to more grounded territory with South Western Railway’s 'Dodge the Fare, Pay the Price'. The OOH-led campaign replaced station-board destinations with words like 'Regret' and 'Shame', transforming an everyday compliance message for prospective fare-dodgers into something more psychologically resonant.

It was clever, empathetic and visually arresting - proof that St Luke’s can make public-service advertising every bit as interesting as any other category.

And then there was Star Pubs’ 'Takeover' - a spirited content series for Heineken UK that invited famous faces like Nicola Adams and Farmer Will Young to run a pub for a day.

Equal parts recruitment, entertainment and brand storytelling, the films explored the idea that “everyone has a pub inside them,” blending social reach with commercial purpose. It’s the kind of light-footed, populist work that demonstrates how St Luke’s earns its reputation for ideas that travel.

Meanwhile, in the first ad campaign for KP Nuts for three years, St Luke's introduced a maverick gang of three rapping woodland creatures to lift the nation’s mood. The spot also introduced KP Nuts' premium Signature range.

Taken together, these campaigns reveal an agency that consistently produces: emotionally intelligent, audience-first, and deceptively mainstream. There’s no creative grandstanding here - just solid, well-crafted ideas that work in the real world. That’s what makes St Luke’s such a consistent presence on the UK landscape.

2025 wasn’t a year defined by new-business fireworks (although winning Whole Earth Foods was a boost), but by consistency - St Luke’s held onto its enviable client roster and reinforced its reputation as a rare indie that feels both emotionally intelligent and commercially grown-up.

Creative Salon says: St Luke’s continues to prove that independence and intelligence make a potent mix. 2025 saw the agency lean into its strengths: emotional craft, cultural intuition and ideas built for real people. What links its output is tone - empathy and humanity, delivered without ego. While St Luke’s remains smaller than its network rivals, its work feels bigger than its size, consistently earning attention through insight rather than scale. St Luke’s ends 2025 as the shop that still makes advertising feel warm, witty and unmistakably British.