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.

This Week: UK Advertising in the Media 28.04.23

/ April 28th 2023
Industry News

UK adspend growth forecast slashed by AA/Warc 

The downward turn includes a fall in social media spend. 

WFA says marketing is not moving fast enough on climate change 

New research from the WFA and Kantar points to marketing’s role in driving sustainable behaviors – but marketers don’t have the skills to back it up. 

What Brands Can Learn from Diageo’s Sustainability Journey 

This Earth Day, the beverages giant talk about the lessons they’ve learned, how an innovation gap drove them forward and how they’re steering clear of greenwashing. 

Media Business Course 2023 opens registrations 

The Advertising Association’s Media Business Course (MBC) will return in summer 2023 to the Grand Hotel Brighton. 

Editor-in-chief of British Vogue has ‘turned down ads’ over inclusivity 

Edward Enninful says he was told ‘inclusivity equals downmarket’. 

Les Binet: Long-term brand building plus creative advertising is the key to firmer pricing 

Brand building gives companies greater flexibility in setting the prices that customers will pay, but the strategy requires commitment, says Les Binet. 

KLM pulls ‘Fly Responsibly’ ads after greenwashing lawsuit 

The Dutch airline has scrapped an ad campaign telling customers to ‘Fly Responsibly’ after law firm Client Earth accused it of greenwashing. 

Why AI is different now: we’re the ones being trained, not the machines 

Serious media investment and thinking is going into AI for all sorts of use cases. The tech is not particularly new but, critically, our culture is. 

Hello Year Three: It’s Our Birthday 

Creative Salon is two years old this week and rocking. We want to take the opportunity to say thank you for getting us this far and remind you why we’re here. 

Work of the Week: 21/04/23 

A food and drink theme runs through this week’s best creative work from around the world, as well as some more socially conscious spots, writes LBB’s Nisna Mahtani. 

Corona foreshadows its transition to solar energy with illuminating imagery 

Bottled beer brand Corona is acting as a ray of light in renewable energy by promoting its transition to 100% solar power in its breweries from 2024 onwards. 

Adam & Eve/DDB hires Helen Andrews as CEO as Tammy Einav becomes exec chair 

Miranda Hipwell has also been promoted to chief client officer. 

Most Creative Marketers: Emma Botton 

Tesco group brand, proposition and marketing communications director talks Clubcard, creativity, cost-of-living, and customers. 

Agencies paying less attention to mental health, Great Pitch Poll finds 

However, more agencies are enforcing ways of reducing burdens, such as no emails at weekends. 

UK Government to ‘create a regulator overseeing Big Tech’ in draft bill 

The UK Government will reportedly legislate to create a new regulator overseeing tech giants like Google and Meta. 

The Earth Day campaign ‘reclaiming the commercial break’ to change consumption habits 

A campaign by advertising reform group Purpose Disruptors imagines how we might change our habits for the sake of the planet. 

How Adland Is Tackling the Environmental Impact of Its Media Buy 

Experts from the Advertising Association, EssenceMediacom UK, Wavemaker, Starcom, dentsu, Media.Monks, Ocean Outdoor and Clear Channel discuss the challenges of and solutions for reducing the carbon usage of the media buy. 

The 5 biggest issues facing media execs in 2023 according to the WFA 

The new WFA Media charter reflects the major issues advertisers have to address in 2023. 

Addressable TV ads, sustainability, loyalty: 5 interesting stats to start your week 

We arm you with all the numbers you need to tackle the week ahead. 

Pets At Home Celebrates UK Pet Lovers In Latest Campaign 

The&Partnership updates Pets At Home’s brand identity and creative platform. 

WPP delivers 2.9% organic growth in ‘positive start’ to year 

Holding group says it remains on track for 3-5% growth over 2023. 

IPG underperforms vs other groups with 0.2% fall in organic revenues 

UK agencies outperformed US operations. 

Social media ad spend drops for the first time 

The sharp decline in spend in the second half of 2022 coincided with social media companies such as Meta and Snap reporting declining demand from advertisers. 

Government stops short of gambling ad ban but demands more action on targeting 

The government’s long-awaited gambling white paper, released today, has called for more action from the industry on targeting, promotions and data use. 

Revealed: Winners of The Media Leaders Awards 2023 

Karen Stacey, CEO of Digital Cinema Media (DCM), Zenith UK, and Ozone each took home two awards at the Media Leader Awards, while Jeremy Bullmore was awarded posthumously for his massive contribution to the advertising industry. 

BT’s Laura Dexter: sustainability is still not as high on the agenda as it should be 

The telecoms giant’s head of brand capabilities tells The Drum why education is key to actioning sustainable transformation. 

WPP CEO Mark Read: ‘I wouldn’t be here now if it were not for Jeremy Bullmore’ 

WPP’s CEO Mark Read said he would not be where he is in his career without the influence of Jeremy Bullmore, who was given a special posthumous award by The Media Leader for his outstanding contribution to advertising. 

The Fishbowl: Matt Salmon, Snap 

The Media Leader’s interview series asks the media industry’s top salespeople 10 revealing questions, drawn from our fishbowl. The questions will be drawn at random and contain some tricky posers set by the commercial chiefs themselves. This week is Matt Salmon, director of UK sales at Snap. 

Going For Green: Is The Ad Industry Moving Forward On Climate Crisis? 

We ask if the industry is gearing up for a serious reckoning with climate impact. 

“Advertising Is Making Our Climate Emergency Worse”: How Can We Serve the Future? 

The Purpose Disruptors Earth Day Advertising Summit revealed why Brian Eno is excited by “the biggest movement in history”, how to talk about elephants and many more provocations for a brighter future, writes LBB’s Alex Reeves. 

The Woodsman Whisky 

The first major TV campaign for The Woodsman Whisky celebrates the woodcraft at the heart of the product.