The Advertising Association promotes the role and rights of responsible advertising and its value to people, society, businesses and the economy. We represent UK advertisers, agencies, media owners and tech companies on behalf of the entire industry, acting as the connection between industry professionals and the politicians and policy-makers.

A A A

The Advertising Association focuses on major industry and policy areas that have huge ramifications on UK advertising. This section contains our work around Brexit, HFSS and gambling advertising, data and e-privacy, trust, the digital charter and our Industrial Strategy campaigns.

Credos is the advertising industry’s independent think tank. It produces research, evidence and reports into the impact and effectiveness of and public and political response to advertising on behalf of UK advertisers in order to enable the industry to make informed decisions.

Front Foot is our industry’s member network of over 50 businesses across UK advertising. It aims to promote the role of responsible advertising and its value to people, society and the economy through a coalition of senior leaders from advertisers, agencies and media owners.

We run a number of events throughout the year, from our annual LEAD summit to the Media Business Course and regular breakfast briefings for our members. We are also the official UK representative for the world’s biggest festival of creativity – Cannes Lions.

Ad Matters 17.09.21

/ September 17th 2021 / Ellie Mason
Industry News

AD NET ZERO’S FIRST BIRTHDAY 

Behind the scenes we have been busy planning Ad Net Zero’s first birthday party – a special 2-day Global Summit on the 3rd and 4th of November – and guess what… You’re all invited!

This very special event will be streamed live from STV’s studios in Glasgow at the same time as COP26 when the world’s leaders gather to look at measures needed to tackle the challenge of climate change. It will be free to attend for any advertising professional from around the world and will provide inspirational content through thought leadership sessions and practical workshops – not your average party!

As we won’t be able to hand out physical party bags, we’ll instead give you free access to a new Best Practice Guide for all businesses in the advertising supply chain to help track, measure and reduce their carbon emissions. It has been created and rigorously tested by the Ad Net Zero supporter base and will be free for all in the industry.

In other Ad Net Zero news, later this year, we will also be launching the first training qualification for advertising professionals to fully equip people with the understanding to take responsibility for carbon emissions as well as helping organisations consider the role their work plays in promoting sustainable products and services.

You can read more about the announcement here and register your place at the Summit here. This was also covered by titles such as Campaign, Little Black Book, New Digital Age & more.

UK HOUSE GOES ON TOUR

Starting 28 September, our UK Advertising Exports Group, in partnership with UK Government, is introducing #TradeTuesday via online venue UK House!

#TradeTuesday will be a weekly event for all UK advertising and marketing services companies looking to grow their international customer base. These special sessions will take place in countries such as India, Brazil, Nigeria and Japan, with more expected to be added to the tour.

In addition, UKAEG and the Department for International Trade have 100 LIONS Membership passes available to companies keen to start their export journey. Applications for Cannes Lions membership and/or to attend or speak at UK House are now open and companies can apply here.

Julian Douglas, International Chief Executive and Vice-chairman of VCCP and IPA President, commented: “The creativity coming out of the UK is truly world class – and now is the time to capitalise on this success and secure a second decade of growth. I urge all companies looking to grow their international revenues to get involved in the Export Group and participate in UK House.

Read more about UK House and the tour here. Register your place for any of the events here.

RESPONDING TO CHANNEL 4 CONSULTATION

On Wednesday we submitted our response to the consultation on the Government’s plans to privatise Channel 4. You can download our response in full over on our website here.

Our Chief Executive, Stephen Woodford, commented: “There are many questions that need to be answered by the Government about why it believes Channel 4 should be privatised now. The advertising industry is clearly concerned about the implications and there haven’t been any clarion calls from members for privatisation prior to the announcement of the consultation. We urge DCMS to listed to all views from the industry before it makes a decision that could change the shape of the UK advertising market.”

BRIEFING OUR FRONT FOOT MEMBERS

Yesterday we held a Front Foot insight session with the Organising Committee of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 to discuss the advertising and trading restrictions that will be in place during the Games.

The exact details on the time and location of the restrictions will be set out in the advertising and trading regulations later in the Autumn, and the Organising Committee will produce guidance on the practical operation of the restrictions. A recording of the session is available to our members. If you would like to know more, please contact Ed.

WELCOMING OUR NEW SECRETARY OF STATE

Welcoming the new DCMS Secretary of State, Nadine Dorries MP, our Chief Executive, Stephen Woodford, commented: “Advertising is a hugely successful engine of our economy. The pandemic has shown how vital advertising is to our national life; however, this is dependent on a number of factors, including ensuring that any further regulation on advertising in areas such as HFSS and gambling is proportionate and enabling the UK’s diverse advertising market to continue to flourish. As the Department progresses with its Online Advertising Programme, we hope it will take into full account the value of the ASA self-regulatory system in setting responsible and well-enforced advertising standards that are so important to public trust in advertising.”

Read the comment in full on our website here and in The House magazine here.

RECOGNISING THE BEST SUSTAINABLE CAMPAIGNS

In partnership with Ad Net Zero, The Data & Marketing Association has created a new Awards category – ‘Best Sustainability Campaign’ – to recognise campaigns driving meaningful change to society.

This new category is for both B2B and B2C marketing campaigns that are working to raise awareness of sustainability and drive a change in behaviour. It will help highlight the important campaigns making a difference across the data and marketing industry, while also providing inspiration to other organisations.

Our Chief Executive, Stephen Woodford, commented: “It’s brilliant to see the DMA taking the lead on climate action in the most positive way possible by rewarding and celebrating work which leads to more sustainable behaviours. Our industry has a huge responsibility to not just change the way we work to reduce the carbon emissions involved, but to help all parts of our economy respond to the challenge of climate change. The greater the number of successful campaigns which genuinely shift consumer behaviour towards a more sustainable way of living, the greater the contribution our industry will make.” Read more here.

ON YOUR MARKS, GET SET, SPRINT!

On Wednesday we had a team of runners take part in the Marketing Society’s Sprintathon, in aid of Stand Up To Cancer.

Each team of four runners completed a relay of 400m back-to-back, to collectively run the distance of a marathon in under two hours! A huge well done goes to Team AA and the 300 runners who took part, and to all who were involved in the brilliant event.

Over 100k has been raised to help beat Cancer faster and we are proud to have been involved. You can read more and check out some pictures from the Sprintathon here.

THIS WEEK: UK ADVERTISING IN THE MEDIA

In our weekly series we are pulling together, in one place, a selection of must-reads from across our industry media.

Click here to find out more!

AD OF THE WEEK

You’ve made it this far – why not treat yourself and watch our ad of the week?

Want the full edition to land in your inbox every Friday? Drop us an email on aa@adassoc.org.uk and quote ‘Ad Matters’.