Virgin

Advertisers Urged to Rebrand Great Britain

Opinion by Sian Conway-Wood argues Britain’s low economic optimism reflects a positioning problem: the country lacks a coherent national identity that brands can borrow from. The piece cites historical branding moments — British Airways’ 1997 livery change, Ben & Jerry’s ‘Cool Britannia’, Britpop and the Spice Girls — to show how cultural movements, not governments, have driven national rebrands. The author calls on the advertising industry to stop relying on nostalgia, to preserve cultural “slack” for new movements, and to treat rebuilding national confidence as a marketing challenge rather than a political one.

Experience Is the Brand — Virgin Voyages at Cannes

This Adweek Marketing Vanguard vidcast episode, recorded live at Cannes Lions 2026, features Nathan Rosenberg, chief marketing and brand experiences officer at Virgin Voyages, in conversation with host Jenny Rooney. Rosenberg argues that the true marketing moment is when customers retell an experience, and he emphasizes experience-led strategy, crew culture, and repeat bookings as central marketing levers. The discussion covers Virgin Voyages’ adults-only positioning as a core differentiator, the trade-off between short-term extraction and long-term loyalty (illustrated by a $3,000 rebooking vs. a $14 cocktail), the role of AI in amplifying creative teams, and the importance of empathy and listening in leadership. The episode was presented in partnership with Edelman and published on Adweek on 2026-07-09.

TikTok urges marketers to target communities, unveils Symphony Agent

At Cannes Lions, Isobel Sita-Lumsden, TikTok’s global head of business marketing, argued that discovery and community-driven content are replacing traditional demographic targeting and interruptive advertising. TikTok presented Symphony Agent, an AI-powered creative suite that connects the platform’s creative tools into a single workflow to make TikTok-first creative production easier. The company cited a claim that creativity drives 47% of sales uplift and urged marketers and agencies to prioritise creator-led content that participates in existing cultural conversations, collapsing the distinction between brand and performance. TikTok highlighted brands such as L’Oréal, Duracell, Dr Pepper and Virgin Voyages as examples of those leaning into creator culture rather than conventional advertising approaches.