Campaign Asia's most-read stories of 2025

Here they are, the year's top stories as read by you, the Campaign Asia-Pacific readership. With mega-mergers and restructuring galore this year, there was no shortage of big agency holding company news this year, and our readers gobbled it up like an all you can eat seafood bar. 

As we've seen over the years, our most read list at any given time will often have a brand blunder story and this year was no exception. Two brand misfires made our annual popularity list this year. 

And it should come as no surprise that the most popular story of all should relate to one of the most popular pop-culture crazes of the year. 

Enjoy this year's most-read list: 

1. Labubu, the art toy craze and why grown-ups can't get enough

This wasn't even close, with three times the readership as its closest competitor, this article was our runaway number one. Everyone is curious what is fueling the Labubu obsession and this article dug deep into what's behind it, comparing Labubu to other kidulting icons like Hello Kitty.  

2. WPP Media: How did one of the world's biggest comms companies mess up the messaging?

Readers like a strong opinion, and when one of our most opinionated (but fair) columnists dug into how the news about WPP sunsetting the GroupM brand was leaked, the industry was curious to know more.

3. WPP's McKinsey moment might be its smartest decision in a decade

Another opinion piece from a popular columnist about how publicly WPP is framing its restructuring. Notice a trend here? 

4. Did the strategic planner just kill the advertising agency?

Was it Adam Ferrier's haunting stare, or his critical focus with fellow Thinkerbell thinker Gerry Cyron on why strategic planners are killing ad agencies that had folks reading?  Strats certainly took notice in droves. 

5. McDonald’s Japan’s Pokémon promo backfires, ends in scalping and food waste controversy

The idea of pairing Happy Meals with Pokemon cards sounded like a easy win, until scalpers swarmed restaurants, took the cards and threw away the meals, leading to an early end to the promotion as restaurant customers were not lovin' it. 

6. GroupM restructures across Asia, Indonesia leadership impacted

As GroupM was reshaped into WPP Media, Campaign Asia-Pacific learned early of details affecting leadership in several key markets. 

7. Global holdco stories: 
Rebates back in spotlight: Ex-WPP CEO sues, alleges firing over kickback complaints 
More than 150 ex-Dentsu employees plan legal action for data breach 
Omnicom reveals huge agency shake-up, unveils new leadership, cuts 4,000 jobs

These were most popular stories written by our global Campaign colleagues and republished on Campaign Asia-Pacific. Not surprisingly, all three related to big holding company news, including the huge Omnicom-IPG merger, with the other two stories involving controversy and legal action. 

8. Bitter chocolate: The fallout of a poorly planned promo on Chocolate Finance's reputation

Another brand misfire story involving an overly-popular promotion in Asia, that led to big headaches for the company.

9. APAC Power List 2025: The region's most powerful brand leaders

Everyone wants to know which Asia-Pacific brand marketers have stayed, made or exited our Power List of top CMOs each year. 

10. Chinese prosecutors seek lengthy prison sentences for former GroupM executives as scale of bribery allegations revealed

Details of the media rebate scandal in China have been difficult to come by. Campaign's reporting on the court hearing of former GroupM executives shed light on just how seriously Chinese authorities were taking the allegations.

Most read by subscribers only: Agency Report Cards 2024: We grade 25 APAC networks

Only subscribers can read Campaign's full assessments of agency performances each year. With full access to all premium content, our subscribers were again drawn to this critical resource above all else that graded the top agencies in the region in categories like business growth, innovation, work for clients and working environment. Watch for our upcoming 2025 agency reviews coming in the new year.