I Said What I Said: The Year of Radical Honesty

Dear people of adland,

As the final days of 2024 unfurl and we edge towards the cusp of a new year, I find myself reflective, as always, and writing letters. This being one of them.

Last year, I invited us to make 2024 The Year of Magical Thinking. We rediscovered that magic – the unrelenting pulse of creativity, the whisper that dares us to dream and defy – is not just a seasonal flourish. It is the quiet, constant force that helps us reimagine what’s possible. Magic is the lifeblood of our industry, the thing that gives creativity its power.

But even magic needs a stage to play on. As we step into 2025, I want to talk about the foundation we build that stage on. I want to talk about Truth.

 

This past year has made it impossible to deny how fractured our world has become. Reality competes with illusion; half-truths thrive in the shadows of algorithms; trust feels brittle, slipping through the cracks.

And yet, we’re an industry built on the audacious art of captivating people at scale. 

Storytelling is what we do. It is our greatest gift and, occasionally, our sharpest edge. In a time when opinions masquerade as facts and curated perfection is the norm, the question looms:

 

What is our responsibility?

It’s simple: to tell the truth—and tell it well.

To make what’s undeniable unforgettable.

 

Radical honesty doesn’t ask us to abandon imagination. It asks us to anchor it in something real.

Truth isn’t sterile or cold, a collection or recitation of facts. It is a lived experience, a shared emotion, a connection that says, “I see you”. It is the thing that gives our stories weight and our messages power, the reason people carry them forward. Truth is the alchemy that transforms campaigns into movements, ideas into legacies.

 

Last year, I turned to my favourite writer, Joan Didion’s ‘The Year of Magical Thinking’. This year, I can’t help but think of George Orwell, who wrote: "In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act."

Decades later, these words are impossible to ignore. In the noise of misinformation and the allure of convenient narratives, truth is not just a virtue – it’s rebellion. And it’s exactly what our industry needs

2025 calls on us to stop mistaking clicks for connection, impressions for impact. It calls on us to reclaim the stories that matter, the ones that last- not because they’re loud, but because they’re true.

 

So here’s to a year of radical honesty.

May 2025 be The Year of Radical Honesty. A year where we stop chasing what’s easy and start creating what’s real.  A year where we remember that magic needs truth to shine.

 

Happy holidays. May they be unforgettable.