Cannes Lion has set new rules and guidelines for its Awards, including a three year band for agencies submitting “false or misleading work” following the DM9 scandal.
The advertising festival launched an investigation into DM9, a São Paulo-based agency that is part of the Omnicom Group-owned DDB network, after Ad Age reported that a video sent to the publication from an anonymous source claimed that the Brazilian agency “altered certain aspects of the video”.
DM9’s ‘Efficient Way to Pay’ campaign for Whirlpool won Grand Prix for Creative Data Grand Prix and 11 other lions. But the agency returned the awards after admitting to using AI-altered versions of a TED Talk by North Carolina State Senator DeAndrea Salvador and a Brazilian CNN report.
Following its investigation of the DM9 entry and review of its framework, Cannes Lions is enforcing new rules and measures for its awards that aim at ensure greater accountability, rigour, and trust in recognising creative excellence.
“The industry landscape is changing at lightning speed,” said Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS. “And, in common with the rest of the industry, Cannes Lions is adapting at pace to meet this.”
“At the heart of the Lions is creativity that drives growth. These renewed standards reflect our responsibility to both provide a platform for, and protect the value of creativity, and reinforce that creative excellence should be synonymous with creative integrity.”
Cannes Lion is introducing five integrity standards across Cannes Lions and associated awards in 2026, which will be continually reviewed amid fast changing in the industry.
The standards include declarations of two-tier fact-checking system with AI and human analysis, the roll out of an AI Integrity Handbook and an annual creative benchmark integrity audit to ensure transparency.
Cannes Lion has also included tough consequences for misrepresentation in campaign submissions.
The Awards will disqualify or withdraw any awards entry at any stage of submission or judging process, even if a Lion has already been awarded when material misrepresentation is found.
Cannes will also impose a three-year ban for companies found to be “wilfully submitted false or misleading work” and “jury eligibility may also be revoked”.
Cook said: “Creativity is only valuable if it’s credible.”
“And credibility must be earned, not assumed. These timely changes mark the beginning of a new era for us all – not just for Cannes Lions, but for the future state of global creative marketing.”
Icaro Doria at Cannes Lion 2025
Icaro Doria, chief creative officer of DM9, stepped down from the role in the days after the agency’s admission to using AI-altered footage for its campaign.
The agency said in a statement to ADWEEK: “The decision was made by mutual agreement and marks the end of a cycle that began in 2022, characterised by significant creative achievements and the consolidation of a new chapter for DM9 in the Brazilian market.”
According to the publication, Doria took responsibility for the campaign submission and noted that the agency would be introducing internal safeguards and launching an AI Ethics Committee.
Top image: Simon Cook
In 2024, the Australian Radio Network (ARN) quietly brought in the razor gang.
The broadcaster, still recalibrating after its headline-making $200 million deal to secure Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson for another decade, began a round of internal restructuring aimed at streamlining operations.
Among those affected was National Client Services Manager Tegan Kirkby, known and respected in the industry for her client-first mindset and calm under pressure. For Kirkby, however, the redundancy wasn’t the end of the road… it was a catalyst.
“It gave me the opportunity to something I’d always wanted to do,” Kirkby told Mediaweek. “But like a lot of people, I never quite had the push. This was the push.”
And, so, the mother-of-two launched ‘We Are Marble’.
Learning to fly
Kirkby describes the decision to go solo as instinctive. “The setup and deciding to do it was easy because I’d always wanted to do something like this,” she said.
“In the back of my mind, I’d always wanted to start my own business, so I could have the freedom and pace to achieve a good work-life balance and create meaningful work for myself.”
That seed of an idea soon turned into a concrete plan: she built a website, shaped the offer, and got to work. But, as she puts it, “The actual setup of the website and so forth was the easy part. The hard part comes afterwards when you realise you need to make it work. It’s like building the aeroplane’s fun, but making it fly is the hard part.”
Fortunately, Kirkby’s flight plan was grounded in experience. “I was also lucky because I’ve had the opportunity to run a couple of surfwear brands over the years, so I had the background knowledge to establish the stepping stones that accompany building a brand and a business.”
From there, she started pressure-testing the idea with peers and industry insiders. “I bounced the idea off several people who understand the industry, and I received some excellent feedback,” she explained.
“One thing that stood out to me was the question of where my bread and butter is going to come from, and for me at this stage, it’s a plugin for senior strategic thinking. So, that could be anyone from a media agency to a publisher who doesn’t have a senior person on the books but needs strategic support, albeit not every single day.”
Tegan Kirkby from We Are Marble
A flexible layer
Kirkby’s pitch is sharp: short-term or project-based expertise for companies who don’t need another full-time headcount, but do need someone with experience and objectivity.
“They might already have brilliant planners and buyers on the ground who service their clients amazingly,” she said. “But when they get a brief that comes in the door, and they say, ‘This isn’t just about buying media … we will need to remodel who the audience is, or do a whole lot of research to prove the category is going to be open to this idea’, that’s when I come in.”
And she’s confident that the right clients will see value. “Companies can benefit from having someone with 20 years of experience in media at the table, without having to pay the additional full-time salary.”
She continues: “Both internally and externally, teams and clients can always benefit from different or outsider thinking. There’s always an opportunity for that fresh idea or just a third party point of view that maybe hasn’t been thought of. I know, because I’ve spent so much time in agencies, it’s easy just to start not seeing the forest for the trees.”
Why Marble, and why now?
Kirkby says her ultimate goal is about building something solid, creative, and enduring… something with weight. Her approach is adaptable, but deeply strategic. “It doesn’t matter what company it is either, because we’re bringing in what are essentially transferable skills,” she said.
“I’ve a comprehensive depth of experience across various categories that I’ve serviced and worked on. A lot of my work is audience-centric, so I think about consumers and how they behave and think.”
And that, she believes, is the key. “That strength in understanding consumers and how they tick can be translated across any amount of legacy that a brand might have. So even if there’s someone in-house who has serviced them perfectly for 15 years, it is still super beneficial to just bring in a little bit of provocative thinking to shake things up. Plus, I know my heartland and our results will speak for themselves. I’ve got a lot of confidence in what I can bring to the table with the right type of client.”
For agencies and publishers navigating talent shortages, tightening budgets, or overloaded teams, We Are Marble might be the plug-and-play solution they’ve been quietly hoping for.
WPP has today announced the appointment of Cindy Rose as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Company, effective 1 September 2025.
Rose succeeds Mark Read who will step down as CEO on the same date. Read announced his departure as CEO in June and announced that he would finish up in his role on 31 December. He will work with Rose to aid in a transition process through to the end of the year.
She will work out of both London and New York.
A joint British and American citizen, Rose has spent the lat nine years working in London in senior positions at Microsoft. In her current role as Chief Operating Officer, Global Enterprise, she works with the world’s largest companies in their use of digital technology and AI to drive business transformation. Previous roles at Microsoft included serving as President of Microsoft Western Europe and CEO of Microsoft UK.
Rose has experience working at world-leading brands across technology, telecommunications, media, entertainment, and creative industries gained at world-leading brands. Other previous roles include Managing Director of the UK consumer business at Vodafone and Executive Director of Digital Entertainment and Media Sales at Virgin Media. She also spent 15 years at The Walt Disney Company which culminated in her role as Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Disney Interactive
Media Group, EMEA.
She is not a stranger to WPP, having served as a Non-Executive Director on the WPP Board since 2019. It is not her only board appointment – she is an Advisory Board Member at Imperial College Business School in London and McLaren Racing.
In 2019, she was awarded an OBE in the 2019 New Year Honours in recognition of her services to UK technology.
Philip Jansen, Chair of WPP, said: “Cindy is an outstanding and inspirational business leader with extensive experience at some of the world’s most recognised companies and a track record of growing large-scale businesses. She has led multi-billion-dollar operations across the UK, EMEA and globally, built enduring client relationships and delivered growth in both enterprise and consumer environments.
“Cindy has supported the digital transformation of large enterprises around the world –including embracing AI to create new customer experiences, business models and revenue streams. Her expertise in this landscape will be hugely valuable to WPP as the industry navigates fundamental changes and macroeconomic uncertainty. Cindy’s appointment follows a thorough selection process that considered both internal and external candidates. As an existing Board member she understands our business and the needs of our clients, and we look forward to working with her in her new role as CEO.
“As he hands over to Cindy, I would like to reiterate my sincere thanks to Mark for his tireless commitment during more than 30 years with WPP and in particular the progress he has made to modernise, simplify and transform the company over the last seven years as CEO. On behalf of the Board and the company as a whole I wish him all the very best for the future.”
Cindy Rose said: “WPP is a company I know and love – not only from my six years on the Board but as a client and partner for many years before that – and I couldn’t be happier or more excited to be appointed as CEO. I began my career in the creative industries and this feels like coming
home.
“There are so many opportunities ahead for WPP. We have and continue to build market- leading AI capabilities, alongside an unrivalled reputation for creative excellence and a preeminent client list. WPP has the most brilliant, talented, creative people and I can’t wait to write the company’s next chapter together.
“I am grateful to Mark for his many contributions to the business over the years and I look forward to working together to ensure a smooth handover.”
Mark Read said: “Having worked closely with Cindy for the last six years, I am delighted to see her appointed as CEO of WPP. From her time on the Board, she has real insight into our business and knows many of our clients, people and partners around the world.
“She brings deep experience of technology and AI and its transformational impact on business, and has successfully run large global organisations with talent at their core. After seven years as CEO, I know that I am leaving WPP in excellent hands.”
By Paul Sinkinson, Managing Director (Australia & Asia), Analytic Partners
In today’s high-pressure marketing environment, few things are guaranteed. Budgets are under scrutiny, channels are multiplying and media effectiveness is harder to pin down than ever.
But amid all this complexity, one truth remains: creativity is still one of the biggest drivers of marketing ROI – and most marketers are underestimating just how much impact it can have.
We’ve been conditioned to obsess over marketing mix models, attribution, optimisation cycles and click-through rates. All of those have a part to play, but the simple truth is no matter how well you target or how precisely you place it, a forgettable ad will still deliver subpar results.
Decades of data show that great creative is one of the most powerful – and often underleveraged – growth levers available to brands. In fact, a recent survey found that in some cases, creative alone can drive up to 70% of a campaign’s ROI. And yet, it’s rarely given the strategic attention or commercial rigor it deserves.
So why aren’t more marketers doubling down on creativity?
The system makes it hard to be bold
Marketers and agencies believe in the power of ideas. That same survey quoted above found that more than three-quarters of marketers and 91% of agencies agree that bold creative is essential to a business’ marketing efforts. But belief doesn’t always translate into action – or approvals.
Approval processes are often described as slow, inconsistent and subjective. According to the survey, less than 30% of agencies say they feel inspired by client briefs, and just 10% of all respondents agree that creative ideas are evaluated against clear criteria.
Meanwhile, the average number of revision rounds has ballooned from three to five in recent years, draining time, budget and energy – and too often resulting in watered-down work that underdelivers.
That kind of inefficiency isn’t just frustrating – it’s commercially costly. It also signals a more conservative mindset – generally the more revisions you get, the more watered down a creative idea is going to be.
Creativity is a business driver
There’s a persistent misconception that great creative is a luxury: something you invest in when the budget allows. But the data tells a different story. Strong creative doesn’t just lift short-term performance – it drives pricing power, brand equity and long-term revenue growth.
We’ve seen this play out time and time again. Take search, for example. As traditional search behaviour evolves – with consumers increasingly turning to platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and even ChatGPT – the cost and complexity of performance marketing has grown.
But one of the most effective ways to improve your search ROI? Invest in strong brand creative. It generates more branded search traffic, which is cheaper, more effective and more likely to convert.
In tough conditions, when marketers are looking to protect margin or avoid discounting, creativity becomes even more important. We’ve modelled price elasticity for hundreds of brands and found that when a strong brand presence is in market, businesses can raise prices with far less volume loss than those without. That’s not just brand lift – it’s bottom-line resilience.
So how do we make creativity work harder?
One of the best examples comes from a global brand we worked with. In building a full commercial analytics model for McDonald’s, we looked at everything from media investment and product mix to weather and macroeconomic trends. But what stood out most to McDonald’s’ Chris Graham was when we showed them the impact of creative.
Depending on the format, creative can drive up to 70% of potential ROI. But we found that what really moved the needle was the ability to tailor and optimise creative by channel – to match the message to the medium and get smarter about what formats work where.
Over time, this creative and media intelligence helped McDonald’s double its ROI as they stated – not through massive spend increases, but by making the creative work harder across the board.
What marketers can do right now
It’s time to bring creative into the commercial conversation. That doesn’t mean reducing it to a metric or stripping away the magic. It means creating a system where great ideas are not just recognised, but protected and championed.
Here’s where to start:
● Make feedback better, not just louder. Most teams aren’t trained to evaluate ideas objectively. Bring structure to the process with clearer briefs and shared evaluation criteria.
● Simplify approvals. More stakeholders doesn’t always mean better decisions. Streamline who gets a say and focus on speed, not consensus.
● Treat creative like media. Don’t just optimise placement – optimise the message. Different channels demand different executions. Make creative strategy as precise as media strategy. And if you think you don’t have the budget for making creative for a lot of different channels, the good news is your creative is highly unlikely to wear-out – so rather than making another campaign, make this one better by investing more in the one campaign.
● Measure what matters. Build models that can isolate the effect of creative – not just media performance – so you can demonstrate its true value to the business.
Ultimately, creativity is the human engine of marketing – the thing that connects brands to people, products to meaning and investment to outcome. And it’s one of the few tools marketers have that becomes more powerful over time, not less.
So if you want to grow, and I mean really grow, don’t just fight for your budget. Fight for your big ideas. Because as it happens those people that dream big are the ones who also deliver huge results.
Top image: Paul Sinkinson
QMS unveiled its partnership packages for the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to clients and partners during a special event at the Sydney Opera House.
The OOH company is the official media partner of the Australian Olympic and Paralympic Teams and will offer digital out of home solutions for brands wanting to be part of the excitement and impact of the Games on Australian audiences.
The new packages build on the success of the Paris Games Network, which delivered 24% greater campaign impact for partner brands and significant uplift across key brand metrics.
QMS’ Milano Cortina Winter Games Network is expected to reach 77% of metropolitan Australians, offering brands an unmatched opportunity to connect at scale.
From February 6, 2026 there will be more than 2,900 athletes from 93 countries competing across 116 medal events in 16 Olympic disciplines. Then two weeks later at the Winter Paralympics, on 6 March there will be 600 para-athletes competing for 79 medals in six Paralympic sports.
QMS’s launch event was hosted by Olympic mogul skier Britt Cox and featured a live panel with Olympian and Paralympians including gold medallist Jakara Anthony (moguls), Valentino Guseli (snowboard halfpipe) and Ben Tudhope (para-snowboard), who shared their individual journeys to qualifying for Milano Cortina, and spoke of how much the support from Australia meant to all of them.
“It’s truly special having the country behind you when you’re over there at the games,” said Cox. “We have so many connections through this digital media and we really feel that connection when we are competing and that leads us to the next level.”
The panel at the QMS event at the Sydney Opera House.
The event was attended by major advertisers, agencies and representatives from the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) and Paralympics Australia (PA), including AOC Chief Executive Officer, Mark Arbib, and PA Chief Executive Officer, Cameron Murray.
Guests heard how QMS reached 11.5 million people with nearly 81,500 dynamic creative assets, delivering Olympic content from the podiums of Paris to Australian screens in an average of just 15 minutes.
Ensuring athletes’ journeys are seen, celebrated and supported
QMS Chief Executive Officer, John O’Neill, said: “We’re incredibly proud to continue our support of Australia’s Winter Olympic and Paralympic teams. Following the success of the Paris 2024 Summer Games, we’re excited to be back working hand-in-hand with the AOC and PA as we engage, inspire and unite all Australians outdoors through the power of winter sport.
“The Milano Cortina Games represent a powerful opportunity for brands to reach new heights with the influence of out of home and align with sporting excellence on the world stage. We are confident that our digital-first network will deliver the scale, immediacy, creativity – delivered through the latest in digital innovation – that advertisers need to connect with audiences during those breathtaking Winter Games moments.
“Our Paris 2024 Games Network was a proven success with our partners and with fans across the country, and we’re looking forward to replicating it for the Milano Cortina Games across our rapidly expanding network of premium assets, including digital large format billboards, the City of Sydney street furniture network, The Convenience Network and Gold Coast street furniture assets,” he said.
The Milano Cortina Winter Olympics open on 6 February 2026 and will feature more than 2900 athletes from 93 countries competing across 116 medal events in 16 Olympic disciplines.
The Winter Paralympics start on 6 March 2026, featuring 600 athletes competing for 79 medals in six Paralympic sports. Australia will send a Team of around 60 Olympians in 12 sports and 14 Paralympians in four sports.
Arbib said: “Milano Cortina 2026 is shaping up to be a milestone moment for Australia’s Winter Olympic movement. The stories of the incredible Australian winter athletes – of courage, grit and triumph – will capture the hearts and attention of Australians everywhere.
“In QMS, we have a partner who not only understands the power of those stories but has the scale and creativity to bring them to life across the country. Its world-class digital network gives Australians the chance to experience the Games as they happen in the moments that matter. It’s a partnership we’re proud of, and we’re excited to see how it inspires Australians.
“Through our partnership with QMS, we’re ensuring those athletes’ journeys are seen, celebrated and supported,” he said.
Murray said: “We are thrilled to have QMS back in our Paralympics Australia family for the Milano Cortina Winter Games to continue playing a key role in sharing the unique stories of our Winter Paralympians’ strength, unity and triumph of the Games to every corner of Australia.
“Now more than ever, our Australian Paralympic team resonates with Austalians and our continued partnership with QMS will help us connect our Paralympians and their remarkable stories with more Australians as they represent us on the global stage.”
Top image: John O’Neill, Valentino Guseli, Jakara Anthony, Ben Tudhope, Adrian Venditti, Tim Murphy
This year’s State of Origin ignited a surge of online chatter, with New South Wales edging out Queensland in total mentions, but the Maroons leading key moments, according to new data from Meltwater.
The three-match series drove 246,000 social mentions between 21 May and 9 July, a 142 per cent spike compared to the preceding 50-day period. The daily average hit 4,910 posts, peaking during the decider match.
NSW accounted for 177,000 mentions and ultimately claimed the overall volume lead by 10,000. However, Meltwater found that Queensland dominated the State of Origin conversation in the most emotionally charged and newsworthy moments.
Billy Slater led individual engagement with 33,900 mentions, overshadowing NSW coach Laurie Daley, who tallied 12,000.
Nathan Cleary received 25,400 mentions, much of it critical, while new Maroons captain Cameron Munster drew 19,400 mentions.
Munster’s captaincy announcement generated strong engagement in The Courier Mail, and his post-win embrace with Slater featured in The Daily Telegraph, reaching 1.78 million people.
Billy Slater mentions
Nathan Cleary mentions
Mentions of Munster
Cameron Munster engagement
On 18 June, the “grub” exchange between Aaron Woods and Slater sparked 1,660 mentions, with a total of 3,570 dominated by negative sentiment. Nine’s article on the feud reached 5.19 million and received over 83,000 views.
Daly Cherry-Evans mid-series omission — the first Origin captain dropped this century — attracted 1,940 mentions on 9 June and sparked over 80,000 engagements via The Guardian.
Josh Papali’i’s return from retirement drew 81,300 engagements, also via The Guardian, following the 30 June announcement.
Overall, the data points to a high-emotion series that played out as much in media and social channels as it did on the turf — underscoring how strategic moments, not just match outcomes, are driving engagement in today’s sporting narratives.
Engagement on Woods v Slater feud
Daly Cherry Evans mentions
Josh Papalii return
Top image: Billy Slater and Cameron Munster
Whether it’s a childhood jingle that you can still sing word for word, or a campaign that influences the way you work today, everyone has an ad that has really stuck with them.
Mediaweek has been asking the industry to take a trip down memory lane to find out all about the ads that have stuck with them.
RTA – Pinky
Sure, a heap of ads have introduced phrases that define what it means to have grown up DownUnder: “how many do you do?”, “not happy Jan”, “you wouldn’t steal a handbag”.
But only one ad has introduced a simple, silent gesture so powerful and deeply coded that it can still set off a bunch of P-platers – mainlining Mother and tailgating you at 30km over the speed limit – even if none of them were born when it aired.
In 2007, the RTA delivered a piece of diamond-crusted cultural contagion when they transformed a raised pinkie from tea-party-faux-pas to genuine prophylactic for testosterone-fuelled shenanigans behind the wheel.
It was direct, targeted and a perfect example of why comedy is the sharpest knife we have in the drawer. Comedy happens fast. It relies on communicating context and information – often lots of it – in a way that it so to the point that audiences can understand in a heartbeat. It relies on assumed knowledge and activation of common memories, before rapidly subverting them in a way that surprises and delights. That’s precisely what makes it such a powerful tool in behaviour change if you can get it right: it’s the quickest way to a core memory and gives you a dopamine kick when you repeat it. But equally well, if you don’t know how to handle a sharp knife, well, you get the analogy.
The ramifications of speeding are by no means hilarious, but the behaviour that drives speeding was fair game. For an otherwise very serious advertiser, this was a leap of faith that stuck the landing and changed Australian hand gestures for the foreseeable future. To communicate all that without uttering a word is just magnificent. It’s also the only example in Australian advertising history to advocate for bullying being ok.
Plus, there was this (highest form of flattery and all) – Top Gear Australia Magazine
Pears 2 in 1 shampoo
It was impossible to get through a school excursion bus trip in the early ’90s without this jingle being belted out at screech-level volume by me and my friends. Whether we were on our way to school camp or Thursday afternoon sport, it became the unofficial soundtrack to every bus ride.
And the jingle clearly worked. I have vivid memories of that shampoo bottle living in our bathroom through every rebrand, reformulation and packaging update for the better part of a decade, until a hairdresser in my late teens gently suggested I start using something more suited to my hair.
I often walk into my kitchen and forget why I went in there, but I still remember every single word of that jingle to this day.
Budweiser – “Wassup?”
The Budweiser “Wassup?” ad premiered in 1999, and I was only 10 years old when I first saw it – not exactly the target demographic but I always found it to be a really funny advert. So much so that I recall buying a Budweiser interchangeable phone case for my Nokia 3310 – which was my first mobile phone – with “Wassup?” printed on the back. Total nostalgia!
Top image: Andrew Knowles, Julie Wright, Tommy Glover
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Past editions of The Ads That Made Us.
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RØDE Microphones has stepped in to rescue SydneyMusic.net, Sydney’s leading independent online gig guide, from permanent closure just days before it was due to shut down.
The platform, which has chronicled over 16,000 live events in the past three years, announced earlier this year that it would cease operations on 13 July due to financial difficulties. The news triggered an outpouring of community support — and caught the attention of RØDE, a global creative technology company headquartered in Sydney.
In response, RØDE has committed to funding a significant portion of SydneyMusic’s operations for the next two years. The sponsorship allows the grassroots platform to continue serving Sydney’s live music scene, while deepening ties between two organisations with strong local roots.
“Live music is the lifeblood of this city,” said Kalinda Atkinson, Sales and Marketing Director at RØDE. “SydneyMusic has been instrumental in keeping that lifeblood flowing by spotlighting the incredible talent and venues here. We’re proud to be part of this next chapter for SydneyMusic and the scene it celebrates.”
Joe Hardy, Director and Co-Founder of SydneyMusic, said the support from RØDE came at a crucial moment. “Following our shutdown announcement, RØDE reached out and provided a meaningful and substantial way to support a way forward – right when we thought we’d run out of options,” Hardy said. “We’re over the moon to breathe new life into this project and continue helping people discover and access live music at all levels across our city.”
With the new funding, SydneyMusic plans to expand its gig coverage, invest in technology upgrades, and deepen engagement with local artists and audiences. The platform is also encouraging Sydneysiders to get involved, by spreading the word, attending shows, or signing up as monthly supporters.
This partnership reflects a broader mission shared by both organisations: to empower creators and sustain Sydney’s cultural ecosystem. RØDE, part of the The Freedman Group, designs and manufactures audio products from its Sydney headquarters and exports to over 100 countries worldwide.
Stan has released the official trailer for Outlander: Blood of my Blood, a new prequel to the globally popular series Outlander, premiering August 9 exclusively in Australia on the streaming platform.
The new series has already been renewed for a second season ahead of its debut. Produced by Sony Pictures Television, Outlander: Blood of my Blood blends epic romance and historical drama across two intertwined timelines: the battlefields of World War I and the politically charged Scottish Highlands of 1714.
Set decades before the events of Outlander, the prequel focuses on the origins of two key families. The series follows Julia Moriston (played by Hermione Corfield) and Henry Beauchamp (Jeremy Irvine), the parents of Outlander’s Claire Randall, and Ellen MacKenzie (Harriet Slater) and Brian Fraser (Jamie Roy), the parents of Jamie Fraser.
Additional cast includes Tony Curran as Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat; Séamus McLean Ross as Colum MacKenzie; Sam Retford as Dougal MacKenzie; Rory Alexander as Murtagh Fitzgibbons Fraser; and Conor MacNeill as Ned Gowan.
While the prequel stands alone, it also serves as an origin story for some of the franchise’s most beloved characters, offering new insights into events that shaped the early seasons of Outlander.
The series has been designed to welcome viewers unfamiliar with the original series, providing a fresh narrative perspective and introducing a new ensemble cast.
Matthew B. Roberts serves as showrunner and executive producer, alongside Ronald D. Moore, Maril Davis, and Jim Kohlberg. The series is produced and distributed by Sony Pictures Television.
Outlander: Blood of my Blood premieres August 9, with new episodes every Saturday, only on Stan in Australia.
Nils Leonard (Founder, Uncommon Creative Studio), Mim Haysom (CMO, Suncorp), and Dave Bowman (CCO, Publicis Groupe ANZ) will headline a panel at Cannes Download 2025, a national roadshow highlighting work from this year’s Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.
Cannes Download, presented by Advertising Council Australia and Val Morgan, will begin in Sydney on August 13 at HOYTS EQ as part of AWARD’s This Way Up festival of creativity, before hitting the road with events in Melbourne (Aug 19), Brisbane (Aug 20), Adelaide (Aug 27), and Perth (Sept 2).
The sessions will showcase the most awarded and talked-about campaigns from this year’s festival, followed by a panel packed with intel and insihts from the jury rooms and festival.
Cannes jurors Esther Clerehan (Founder, Clerehan), Pip Smart (EP and Partner, Revolver), and Ali Tilling (CSO, VML ANZ) will join the roadshow in select cities, with more guests, including the 2025 Young Lions, to be announced.
“This year’s Cannes Lions work offers a powerful lens into what creativity can achieve, from commercial impact to cultural influence,” said Bowman. “With Cannes Download, we’re making that global inspiration accessible and relevant to creatives, clients and strategists across the country.”
Val Morgan, presenting partner of Cannes Download, also supported the Young Lions Film Competition, recognising and celebrating the next generation of storytellers.
“Val Morgan is proud to present Cannes Download as part of our commitment to creativity that moves audiences,” said Guy Burbidge, Managing Director, Val Morgan.
“At its core, cinema is the most powerful storytelling platform, giving brands full attention, visibility and scale to deliver cut-through in a fragmented and confused ecosystem.
“The core message from Cannes was that creativity is one of the key elements that can drive brand growth, and when combined with cinema’s visibility superpowers, it becomes a potent partnership.”
LinkedIn is also the B2B supporter of the Cannes Download 2025 national tour.
Zitcha is set to provide its retail media platform to THG Ingenuity and its beauty and wellness business THG Beauty.
THG Beauty, behind brands such as LOOKFANTASTIC, Cult Beauty and Myprotein, will use to Zitcha’s platform connecting beauty brands with more than 10 million wellness and beauty customers, driving unprecedented access to a large-scale, highly targeted audience.
THG Beauty Media’s new offering reflects the need for more sophisticated retail media tools, supporting its partners’ full-funnel campaign activations.
THG Beauty Media is expanding its technology, data, insight and workflow systems. The integrated strategy gives brands a range of digital onsite and offsite solutions, as well as media, event and influencer marketing options, all driven by customer insights for precise targeting.
Through its partnership with Zitcha, THG Ingenuity and THG Beauty Media will have faster response times, simpler media bookings and smoother collaboration experiences.
Troy Townsend: ‘THG Ingenuity and THG Beauty are setting a new standard, and we’re proud to power that shift.’
“This partnership is a perfect example of what retail media should look like – customer-first, tech-enabled, and results-driven,” Troy Townsend, group CEO and Co-Founder, Zitcha said.
“THG Ingenuity and THG Beauty are setting a new standard, and we’re proud to power that shift. Our team is passionate about delivering more than just tech, we’re here to help businesses like THG Ingenuity and retailers like THG Beauty unlock the full potential of their media networks and build lasting value for their brand partners.”
Tom Mills-Webb, CCO, THG Beauty, said: “We’re incredibly proud of our retail media offering as we move to the next stage of its evolution with THG Ingenuity and Zitcha. Over the past year, we’ve onboarded multiple partners and increased investment in our marketing services to revolutionise our proposition.
“We’re excited to see the evolution of THG Beauty Media over the next 12 months as we continue to grow and enhance our offering, providing better ROAS for our partners.”
Mark Bouris teams up with NOVA to expand Mentored podcast network
Australian businessman Mark Bouris
Talk about an offer neither party could refuse.
NOVA Entertainment has announced it’s joining forces with Mentored Studios, the podcast company founded by Australian entrepreneur Mark Bouris AM.
The agreement will bring five Mentored titles into the Nova Podcast Network, including Straight Talk, Project 100, and long-running series The Mentor.
Uncomfortable Growth® Uncut. Season 3, Episode 6: Wayne Brown, Cureative Founder
What if healing wasn’t a destination, but a daily practice?
In this powerful episode, Wayne Brown—founder of Cureative—shares his journey from a traumatic childhood in Southeast London to deep personal healing. He opens up about growing up with violence and emotional neglect, facing early mental health struggles, and experiencing profound loss in young adulthood.
Forced to confront his pain during what he calls “the breakdown,” Wayne made the bold choice to leave London and travel. His healing accelerated in Australia, where Buddhism, therapy, and self-reflection helped him rebuild his life from within.
You can listen to the whole chat here:
Nine Audio reveals new national commercial leadership team
Amanda Unwin, Christine Lester, Michael Graham, Noel Quick
Amanda Unwin, Christine Lester, Michael Graham, and Noel Quick will lead Nine Audio’s commercial operations across the four metro markets, as the business completes a national leadership restructure aimed at capturing growing demand for both broadcast and digital audio.
The appointments, announced this week, are part of Nine Audio’s new sales model, designed to streamline operations and strengthen its go-to-market strategy nationally.
Half-Arsed History marks seven years with book and bonus series
Riley Knight
Half-Arsed History, the independently produced Australian podcast created by Riley Knight, has reached a new milestone, celebrating seven years since launch with over 9.6 million total downloads and a book deal on the horizon.
The thrice-weekly show, which began in 2018 as a solo passion project, has grown into Australia’s most listened-to history podcast of 2025. Known for its irreverent tone and deeply researched storytelling, the podcast covers some of the oddest and most entertaining events in history.
To mark the anniversary, Knight has launched a bonus mini-series on the French Revolution, one of the most requested topics among his audience
See, the show is produced by Dreamchaser, the company co-founded by the broadcaster’s very own managing director, Hugh Marks.
Keeping up?
Well, as Mark Di Stefano reports in The Australian Financial Review, it’s the first ABC project to be publicly announced since Marks took the helm in 2023, and the optics don’t look good.
According to new research from Julie Inman Grant’s office, 76% of Aussie kids aged 10 to 15 use YouTube, and more than a third of them say that’s where they’ve seen or heard stuff that’s potentially damaging.
But, as Josh Taylor writes in The Guardian Australia, creators, unsurprisingly, aren’t thrilled.
As Ange Lavoipierre details on abc.net.au, changes were quietly introduced at the end of June that forced platforms to verify the ages of logged-in users as part of a broader push to keep kids away from harmful content.
And, as John Buckley writes in Capital Brief, the timing is no accident.
With sweeping age restrictions set to land in December, the company is in the middle of a local leadership reshuffle and looking to bolster its influence in Canberra.
As Kevin Perry reports in TV Blackbox, Claudean Bernadette Uamaki-Mu, who appeared on the 2023 season of the Seven reality show with her husband as the “married battlers,” has been charged with multiple sex abuse-related offences.
The indictment includes 12 counts of rape, six counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, two counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent treatment of children.
According to Anita Singh and Robert Mendick in The Sydney Morning Herald, his legal team argues that producers were aware of his condition for years and failed to support him, only to now cut ties over behaviour he says was misunderstood banter.
Wallace denies any serious wrongdoing.
As Rosemary Neill writes in The Australian, Garner will be joining forces with acclaimed true crime authors Chloe Hooper and Sarah Krasnostein, Garner will explore the case that shocked Australia and lit up headlines worldwide.
Text Publishing revealed the trio tracked every twist of the courtroom drama in Morwell, even bunking down in the Latrobe Valley to swap notes and unpack the bigger themes: revenge, marriage, money, and, yes, mushrooms.
The cast and crew spoke with David Knox from TV Tonight (who will also be live blogging the final day), opening up about the emotional weight of saying goodbye to a show that’s been an Aussie TV staple for decades.
As AP’s entertainment writer Andrew Dalton details, The Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld co-creator will executive produce, write and star in six half-hour episodes produced by the Obamas’ Higher Ground company.
Gotta admit, it sounds pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good.
As Joe Otterson writes in Variety, Zach Braff is back as JD, joined by Donald Faison and Sarah Chalke, with whispers that more familiar faces will rejoin the hospital comedy’s revival.
The new series will follow JD and Turk navigating a very different Sacred Heart hospital: new interns, new challenges, but the same classic bromance at its core.