Annual Review 2021: Recovering from the Covid-19 Pandemic

By Philippa Brown, Chair, Advertising Association and Worldwide CEO, PHD

The UK’s advertising landscape changed so much throughout 2021, that it is easy to forget we started the year with our nations entering their third coronavirus lockdown. The road ahead looked steep. However, we were certain in the knowledge that, as an industry, we were prepared to do everything we could to support the economic and social recovery of the UK economy. From delivering vital public health messages to rebuilding consumer confidence and helping businesses drive their growth.

In addition, the UK entered the new year with a Brexit trade deal and the association continued to represent the interest of its members throughout the transition.

We were pleased to facilitate conversations on behalf of the UK advertising industry with ministers and civil servants through our regular Covid-19 calls – a vital forum of engagement for Government departments and our industry.

Our quarterly AA/WARC datasets enabled us to properly map and forecast the recovery of the advertising sector, as well as acting as a litmus test for the wider economy. The figures show that we bounced back from UK advertising’s £1.8bn decline in 2020 and recorded the fastest ad trade recovery of any major European market in 2021.

By Q4, annual growth in adspend for 2021 had been revised to a projected 24.8%, a record rise. There was also another record prediction for Christmas advertising season: welcome news for sectors which had faced months of shutdown.

As the adspend figures proved, the UK has one of the most digitally advanced advertising markets, but we need the skills to complement this. Alongside industry trade bodies, the Advertising Association called on the Government to acknowledge the role of industry training in bridging the skills gap following the Chancellor’s budget in October. We also were consistent in our calls for the need to support all businesses in the phased lifting of restrictions, and we saw the extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme until September and the implementation of further Recovery Loans.

As companies began to return to offices – aided by the UK’s swift roll-out of the vaccination programme – the advertising industry kept its creative drive by building on the tools gained during the pandemic.

The UK’s Advertising Exports Group has provided the launch for a series of virtual UK House on Tour events promoting our country’s advertising as a leading export across the world, whilst engaging with the Department for International Trade to sell British creativity and ingenuity on the world stage.

Creativity is great and it is even more important that when we build back better, we are supporting the wider societal drive to build a world fit for the future. This year’s progress in the All In Census and Ad Net Zero make the UK advertising industry a world leader for such initiatives.

There is a bright outlook for advertising in 2022, with a further record for adspend set to reach £31.5bn. All the more important then, that we should use the tools we possess to support businesses and gain public trust and confidence, by building back from the pandemic in the most sustainable and inclusive ways.