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.

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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.

Annual Review 2019: Keith Weed – Rebuilding the bond of trust

/ February 17th 2020
Public Trust in Advertising

Keith Weed, President, Advertising Association

The past 12 months have been a landmark year for our industry as we tackle the most crucial issue we face, that of public trust in advertising. As AA President, I am committed to working with our members on a system change that will help rebuild the hugely important bond of trust between our industry and the consumer.

In March we published our paper on ‘Arresting the Decline in Public Trust in Advertising’. This document was the result of ground-breaking research by Credos and has been developed by our Trust Working Group, chaired jointly by the IPA and ISBA, whose members have been hugely supportive in our drive to tackle this issue together.

The paper outlined five key goals to restore public trust in advertising, including reducing bombardment and excessive frequency, supporting the role of ASA as advertising’s self-regulatory body, and ensuring that people’s data privacy matters. These goals are crucial to the future of our industry and I urge everyone who works in UK advertising to rally fully behind them. We have already seen significant progress in achieving our aims through initiatives like supporting the implementation of IAB UK Gold Standard, industry backing for the ASA’s new digital-focused five-year strategy, and a forthcoming best practice white paper addressing frequency capping and retargeting. In 2020,
we must build on this and keep up momentum as we look forward to demonstrating the social contribution that advertising makes to our country.

Beyond public trust and our industry’s contribution to society, we have taken a leading role in advising industry on preparations for Brexit and in representing our members to Government on this crucial issue. We have also been active in ensuring our country is rightly seen as the global hub for advertising and in encouraging exports of UK ad services to international markets.

As we prepare for another year that is likely to bring profound change for our industry and our country, we must do our utmost to work together, united in our determination to see a healthy, sustainable future for advertising. A future where we are trusted by the public and contribute wholeheartedly for the greater good of society.