The latest Campaign quarterly magazine is a bumper edition that combines The Annual, Campaign’s review of 2021, and the Year Ahead, which looks at the industry’s predictions for 2022. The cover of the 112-page magazine was inspired by Netflix’s Squid Game and features some of the top advertising and media leaders who have written on the Year Ahead for their Winter 2021/22 issue; this included VCCP international CEO and vice chairman and IPA president Julian Douglas.

Campaign asked Douglas – known to many as ‘Dougie’ – to give his view on what the industry can anticipate for 2022. For him, an industry comeback is more than likely – but noted there are key ingredients that will ensure it happens.

In Dougie’s piece, he begins by addressing the question on everyone’s minds – will the advertising industry regain its stance after a difficult two years? He immediately expresses optimism for a comeback. “Will 2022 be the year of the fightback? Well, I think it has already begun. 2021 started badly but improved a lot. From the misery of the third national lockdown announced on 4 January, we picked ourselves up, pressed the reset button and got on with it.” From Bond returning to cinemas to the ad industry descending upon Glasgow for COP26 and Ad Net Zero in October, to the latest Bellwether Report showing that marketing budget growth increasing to its strongest rate in more than four years, the industry making a strong comeback looks to be on the cards.