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 public health, gambling advertising, data and e-privacy, trust, the digital economy and more.

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 90 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 10.12.21

/ December 10th 2021 /
Industry News

OUR MEDIA BUSINESS COURSE IS BACK!

We are very excited to announce that our prestigious Media Business Course (MBC) will return next year!

MBC has been a highlight in our calendar for many, many years. Traditionally, it has always taken place in Brighton, in November. You’ll be glad to know that we have finally come to our senses and moved it to July, so that we at least have more of a chance of feeling the sun on our faces during the breaks rather than being knocked off our feet by the wind…

The date is not the only thing that is being altered. For the first time, we are aiming MBC at talent with four to five years’ industry experience. This is in response to the results of our All In Census, our work to rebuild public trust in advertising and the industry’s talent crisis.

Throughout the three-day course, delegates will be divided into syndicates to work on a blue-chip client brief and create a full media strategy before pitching against each other to become the coveted MBC winners. They will be guided through the process by tutors and speakers who rank among the top talent in the UK.

Find out more here.

WHAT WORKS? LIFTING THE LID ON AD EFFECTIVENESS

Jaguar’s LGBTQ+ focused magazine ad has been named the most effective ad of October, according to the latest The Works study by Kantar. The bright orange ‘Live Loud’ spread ranked among the top UK ads of all time for its distinctiveness, branding and emotional response.

The eye-catching ad appeared in Attitude magazine and was crowned winner as part of a media partnership established by our Trust Working Group, Marketing Week and Kantar. We’re delighted that The Works partnership will continue into 2022 with the continued aim of putting the public’s experience of advertising on every marketer’s agenda.

You can read Marketing Week’s fascinating write-up here.

WFA’S GLOBAL DEI CENSUS

On Thursday, Sharon Lloyd Barnes, our Commercial Director and Inclusion Lead, spoke at WFA’s event, which revealed the results of their Global DEI Census, which was conducted by Kantar.

The WFA’s survey had more than 10,000 respondents from 27 markets around the globe, and highlighted the vast differences in the lived experiences of different groups across our industry. It was designed to form the basis of local action plans to tackle local pain points, acting as a benchmark for a follow-up survey, which will take place in Spring 2023.

This work credits the UK’s All In Census as its blueprint and the AA and ISBA shared the UK’s learnings with the WFA and associations from 27 countries before it ran this summer. All In had over 16,000 respondents in the UK and these statistics will be added to the global data in due course. The launch event attracted 500 attendees from around the world.

Learn more about the WFA Global DEI Census results here.

40 OVER FORTY 2021

This week the 2021 40 Over Forty list was published. Its purpose is to celebrate talent and experience and tackle ageism with action.

This year, over 6,000 votes were cast to make the selection and it features CEOs, CMOs, Creatives and Brand Managers from agencies and businesses. Sharon commented, “Ageism is one of a number of priority areas that the AA is addressing with positive, actionable steps to help our industry evolve. It’s fantastic to see such a range of talent on this years’ 40 Over Forty list.”

Check out the full list and find out more 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. Check it out here.