Three Crucial Signals From Advertising Week Europe

By Terry Rand, UK Head of Marketing, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions

As a Financial Narrative board member and UK Head of Marketing at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, I have a particular interest in how financial services brands are navigating an increasingly complex marketing landscape. Last week at Advertising Week Europe in London, three themes emerged that I think deserve direct attention from anyone leading marketing or communications in this sector right now.

AI is changing how brands get discovered

Both humans and AI models are being influenced by trusted voices, verified sources, and real experience, and that is changing how brands get discovered and chosen. 

Where community-driven platforms have historically played a strong role in surfacing information, AI tools are now placing greater weight on credibility and accuracy of source material. LinkedIn has emerged as one of the most-cited domains for professional queries in AI search, reflecting the quality and trustworthiness of content shared by professionals.

This shift is materially changing discovery dynamics, and it is something financial services marketers should be paying close attention to.

Video and creators make the most impact

There was a time when creators thought LinkedIn wasn't the right platform for them. That's changing fast, and it's changing in both directions. Creators are finding a real audience and tangible value, while brands are recognizing the impact of credible voices. 

This one surprised some people in the room, I think, but the data is hard to argue with. Video is 20 times more likely to be shared on LinkedIn than any other format. And we're seeing creators who build audiences around their perspective and expertise becoming central to how brands show up with credibility.

Brands are realizing that someone else conveying their message with personality and context lands differently than a polished corporate post. For financial services specifically, where content can feel compliance-flat, that's an opening worth thinking about.

Measurement is evolving and financial services is behind

Financial services face more obstacles here than most industries. Regulatory constraints limit data sharing, which makes it harder to validate audience targeting and justify spend. Compliance approval processes slow down the adoption of tools that other industries take for granted. That's a structural challenge, but it doesn't mean measurement has to stay foggy. We just have to be smarter about our tools and approach.

We launched a new brand campaign at AdWeek called Bullspend. The name says it all, really. Too much advertising budget is still going to audiences that will never convert, in environments that don't add value. We're trying to be direct about that because the problem is real and it's costing marketers credibility with their own CFOs.

VIDEO HERE https://youtu.be/bsz1OeEHN0g?si=ejncXOTk_4poEvuT

Budgets are tighter and CFOs are closer to the work than ever. The question has shifted from "did this perform?" to "did this move the business?" Here is what "bullspend" actually looks like:

• Reach without relevance. Campaigns blasted broadly to audiences that are technically relevant but functionally wrong

• Spend disappearing into low-quality placements or environments that undermine the message

• Vanity metrics filling dashboards while pipeline doesn't move, buying groups don't engage, and revenue doesn't follow

• Reports that travel well internally but fall apart the moment a finance leader asks a follow-up question

The measurement conversation has shifted from "what can we measure" to "what actually helps us make better decisions." The answers require better signals, stronger alignment to revenue, and a move away from surface-level metrics. For financial services, that path is less straightforward, but the pressure to do so is the same as every other industry.

Terry Rand is Head of Marketing, UK at LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, where he has spent six years across a range of senior marketing leadership roles spanning financial services, EMEA, and global growth verticals. He is also a longtime board member of Financial Narrative.