Growth is one of the most talked-about words in business, yet it’s often reduced to a single metric – sales. But there is more to growth than that. It’s about investment in the future and innovation; it’s about building resilience and moving forward confidently. In a world of uncertainty, growth allows businesses to adapt.
When businesses are growing, they can invest in people, technology, their customers’ experiences, their infrastructure and sustainability. Growing is not just about becoming bigger, it’s about continuing to matter.
I’ve always believed the healthiest businesses grow because they create value for customers, employees and communities alike. Financial growth is the outcome, not the objective.
Advertising is an important part of investing in growth. It builds brands, helps create demand, secures market share and develops trust. And we, of course, are most interested in when that advertising is on real-world media.
For all of us paying attention to the health of our industry, the most recent IPA Bellwether report for Q3 2026 made for some positive reading. It reported that UK businesses revised their marketing budgets upwards – to the highest level they’ve been in more than two years. The net balance of +14.3% marks the third consecutive quarterly increase.
All the five categories of main media spend it identifies showed upward net budget revisions – this is the first time this has happened since it started tracking these subcategories in Q1 2020 – with Out-of-Home at +3.6%.
As an industry, we have an opportunity to demonstrate the enduring value of real-world media at a time when brands are looking for trusted, effective ways to drive growth. Our own vision for growth, Real World Media, has now been presented and shared with our partners and clients. Our first-ever brand advertising campaign, ‘Real makes you feel’, is on our national network of digital screens – demonstrating how we’re applying the brand-building principles we champion for our customers to our own brand. Showing the strength of our medium, through our medium, is a crucial step in our own growth journey.
The timing couldn’t be better. For all the advances in technology, people’s lives are still lived in the real world. They travel, shop, socialise and experience moments together. That’s where brands can be present in more meaningful ways.
Now in the final quarter of the year, we are entering the biggest commercial opportunity period for most brands. Being visible is essential in the golden quarter, brands need to be advertising – to be close to the path to purchase – as people travel and hit the high street and malls to shop. Real-world media advertising ensures that throughout the flurry of high-spend occasions – Black Friday, Christmas, New Year, holiday travel – brands are at the forefront of people’s minds.
The businesses that thrive over the next decade won’t simply react to change; they’ll invest through it. Growth is ultimately an act of optimism – a decision to build, innovate and move forward. That’s good for brands, good for consumers and good for society.
