UK Advertising Exports Reception

On Tuesday, May 17^th, the UK Advertising Export Group (UKAEG) brought the industry together to host a celebration of its innovation at the exclusive Carlton Club. The event was held as part of Advertising Week Europe in partnership with Digital Tories.

The event featured immersive demos from Nexus Studios and Happy Finish. Speakers on the night included Stephen Woodford, Advertising Association, CEO, Matt Scheckner, Founder of Stillwell Partners and Global CEO of Advertising Week, Marco Longhi, MP, Dudley North and Trade Envoy for Brazil, Aisling Conlon, International Trade Director, Advertising Association, Julian Douglas, International CEO & Vice Chairman, VCCP; Deborah Casswell, Creative Director, Nexus Studios, Jerome Botbol, Head of Immersive (XR), Happy Finish and Matt Warman, MP.

Over the course of the evening, we were reminded that the UK’s creativity is its greatest currency on the world stage. Matt Scheckner informed the room of political representatives about why he has hosted Advertising Week Europe in London for many years and why he believes London is the creative capital.

“When we looked to expand outside of the States, we looked at London first. To those of you in a leadership position and trying to make a vital decision about the future of your company and the economy, we never looked back once about our decision to come to London”.

Marco Longhi, MP, Dudley North, and Trade Envoy for Brazil agreed that UK creativity is a strong seller. He noted that “Brazil and the UK have a strong economic relationship, with total trade including imports and exports currently standing at £6bn … there is demand for UK digital & technology businesses.”

Aisling Conlon, International Trade Director, Advertising Association, revealed that international trade in UK advertising and market research services was worth £11.7bn in 2020, and sustained the same level as the pre-pandemic conditions of 2019.  Despite the challenges of a global lockdown faced by exporters in the UK advertising industry, balance of payments remained steady, bringing the UK a healthy £5bn trade surplus.  “These figures tell a story of success, creativity, opportunity, and innovation.”

Julian Douglas, Deborah Caswell, and Jerome Botbol shared their experiences of growing and working for a global business that has embraced the shift towards digital trends which have been accelerated during the pandemic. Three in every four pounds spent on UK advertising today is invested in one of a wide range of online formats – only China has an equivalent online share of this proportion.  The panel agreed that the pandemic had encouraged UK advertising to embrace innovation across the board. However, it is time for the sector to look ahead to the next decade growth, “With our creativity, finance, technology sectors the UK has the opportunity to be global leaders with Web 3.0.” Talent, global events such as UK House at SXSW and further support from Government were key to ensuring we remain as global leaders.

Aisling announced that UKAEG would be collaborating with Matt Scheckner at Advertising weeks to showcase UK advertising around the world, in addition to hosting its biggest trade mission to Cannes Lions this year they are launching a new marketing drive that aims to increase the number of UK companies speaking on main stage slots at next year’s SXSW.  Full details of the latter will be in announced in June.

The session was closed by Matt Warman, MP who held the remit for digital infrastructure in the DCMS, once again stating that “the UK’s creativity is its greatest currency on the world stage.”

If you are interested in joining the UK Advertising Exports Group, please get in touch with Aisling. If you don’t want to miss any of our upcoming events, head here.