McCann UK

2021 was mayhem. Anyone who tells you different isn’t telling you the whole truth.

But the truth is we got lucky. Lucky with our client roster, with our people, with our culture.

Although it was a tough year, it was one of our best business years. We grew our margin across the UK, welcomed new talent into our new HQ in London, made some world defining work and held 18 Cannes Lions across the UK.

As the UK’s biggest network, we feel what is going on out there. Our feet told us to shift with the fluctuating mood of the nation so that our clients could continue to play meaningful roles in their lives. So, we focused on making advertising which would inspire, inform, enable and entertain. We wanted to be a positive influence.

We connected generations with our Xbox reboxing project, Beyond Generations; championed inclusion by mapping Bristol and Google maps with Goability; created a new focus of sustainability with eBay. We brought joy with Just Eat and Snoop Dogg, and gave the nation what they wanted at Christmas in the form of Kevin and Smyths Toys (voted No1 beating John Lewis by System 1 and No1 most viewed on YouTube respectively).

We created a modern-day bandit on the run – in the form of Cuthbert the caterpillar and helped the UK to be the standout creative powerhouse at Cannes this year. We’re looking forward to another difficult year next year.

It seems to suit us.