Ad Matters 02.02.2024

It’s less than a week to our advertising industry summit, in partnership with the lovely folk at the IPA and ISBA.

There aren’t many events in our industry’s calendar where in one line-up of back-to-back sessions, you will hear from a Minister, a Shadow Minister, a Lord, a former Prime Minister, the CEO of the CBI, big brand advertisers, representatives from two of the world’s biggest tech companies, and the biggest commercial media companies, our self-regulatory body and much, much more.

For those in the know, LEAD is the event which brings all parts of advertising together to discuss the biggest issues which affect us all. For those that haven’t experienced LEAD yet, check out the short film from last year’s event.

This year’s LEAD is packed with so much rich content, we had no choice but to extend it to a full day for the first time in the event’s history.  There are a handful of tickets left, but you need to be quick to be part of the 400-strong cohort of industry leaders who will gather at the QEII Centre in Westminster next Thursday.

Big moments at LEAD next week include:

• An exclusive address to businesses: from former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown
• A look ahead for the UK economy: from the CBI’s Chief Executive Rain Newton-Smith
• A preview of political plans for our creative industries: from Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer and Shadow Creative and Digital Minister Sir Chris Bryant
• Building trust in advertising: with our Chair Dame Annette King DBE and the ASA leadership team
• Shaping the online world: with Ofcom’s Lord Michael Grade
• Greener growth in the future economy: with Kate Waters from ITV, Eve Williams from eBay, and Chiara Manco from System1 Group
• Bridging social impact and business success: with C4’s Veriça Djurdjevic, Havas’ Elliot Harris and Reckitt’s Cigdem Kurtulus
• Unlocking AI’s potential: with Google’s Debbie Weinstein and Meta’s Derya Matras
• Plus, a look at how all this helps drive responsible growth: with our very own President Alessandra Bellini.

 Four key items from across the media:

• The latest winner of The Works – our partnership to improve public trust with Kantar and Marketing Week is live now. Just Eat’s campaign on YouTube used ‘distinctive assets’ to capture the audience’s attention. (Marketing Week)
• WPP have re-structed their budgets, earmarking £250m a year to invest in technology and AI (Campaign), while Publicis unveiled its €300m plans for AI. (Campaign)

• As Superbowl hots up over the pond, Victoria and David Beckham capitalise on their ‘Be Honest’ moment with a teaser for Uber Eats. (AdAge)
• And the very latest on politics this week with Sunak’s new business council and Labour’s business conference. (Financial Times)

Dear diary…

• Registration’s now open for our UK Young Lions Competition. If you’re ready to compete to land a week in Cannes, sign up here before February 29.
• The first Young Lions Competition Masterclass will be taking place next week as a Zoom webinar – you can RSVP here and view the details here!
• And if you want to be a judge, head here!

Before we go, the AA is now on TikTok! Check it out here and give us a follow.

And finally, did I mention it’s LEAD next week? Grab the last few tickets here!