Annual review 2021: Action Stations

By Alessandra Bellini, President, Advertising Association

I’m delighted to join the Advertising Association as President at this incredibly exciting and pivotal moment for the UK advertising industry. It’s a huge honour to drive forward the fantastic work of my predecessor Keith Weed, working alongside the industry to build trust, be more inclusive and take important action on climate change. This work to reinforce the responsibilities of advertising to make a positive social contribution, as well as economic, was set in train before the pandemic hit.

The impact of Covid-19 has been significant. It has affected every part of the advertising industry. But it has also impacted every business, community, colleague and viewer across the UK. I’m very proud of the role our industry has played through the pandemic, and I know we have a greater role to play as we adapt to life post Covid-19.

At RESET 2021, I reflected on two very simple principles that have been really important for me and my team at Tesco: truly understanding your customers and responding to their needs at pace. These principles resonate with my role at the Advertising Association and I look
forward to working alongside Stephen and the whole association to make sure we are taking tangible action where it’s most needed.

Looking back on 2021, we have a clear set of actions right across our core workstreams of Trust, Inclusion and Climate Action and you can read more about each of those in the pages of this Annual Review.

On trust, we are the most well-informed industry of all our international peers in how the public feel about advertising. We know the positive and negative drivers of trust in our work, and we need to follow-through with support for the Advertising Standards Authority and a consistent strive for creative excellence while tackling the issues of bombardment and concerns around suspicious techniques.

We also need to build on the positive aspects for the public of the social contribution that our work makes, and we can do this in two big, impactful ways.

The first is through the Ad Net Zero Action Plan as we drive the operations of the industry to net zero by the end of this decade and ensure our work makes a powerful, positive contribution to the achievement of a net zero economy.

I’m delighted to see the Ad Net Zero supporter base has asked for certification standards to be introduced this year as proof that genuine change is coming. I’m also excited to see how Ad Net Zero is feeding into the plans of our international colleagues as we all work together and get to grips with this global issue.

The second is through the delivery of the All In Action Plan, with its series of clear actions based on the results of the All In Census. I want to see companies from across our industry achieve All In Champion status in 2022, making good on the commitment we have all made to build a workplace where everyone is included. Critically for me, I want us to build a more engaged talent base as I believe this will only strengthen our industry’s future success.

My presidency will include the setting of the association’s new three-year strategy, covering the period 2023-2025. I’m intrigued by the thought of what we will want our industry to be like by the middle of this critical decade and how much progress we will have made on the work so far. What I want to do is explore how people working in our industry think and feel about the work they do and really develop our thinking around how we can attract more
talent. This new three-year strategy will be published in late 2022 / early 2023 and addressing the challenge of talent will be at its heart.

As I reflect on the association’s work to date in championing these issues, I believe we are well set to deliver. At Tesco, we’re obsessed with our customers and our colleagues. I feel the same here. If we truly understand our customers and our people, we can motivate the industry to put plans into actions and make a positive difference.

Click here to download a copy of our full 2021 Annual Review.