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In Coronavirus news this week, Government departments are asking us about plans by industry sectors to get back to work. If you would like to feed into this, please contact Sue to share any plans, including guidance social distancing in the workplace, whether parts of the business or some employees can continue home working.
On Monday evening, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced the launch of a new scheme – Bounce Back Loans – to help businesses affected by the Covid-19 lockdown. In response to this, our Chief Executive, Stephen Woodford, commented:
“Small and medium sized businesses across advertising and marketing services will be relieved at this latest announcement from the Chancellor about the creation of Bounce Back Loans and we are pleased that they have listened to industry regarding the need for further assistance. Given the pressures that businesses are under, we appreciate the efforts the Government has made to ensure this process will be as simple, straightforward and timely as possible.”
On Wednesday, we held a joint roundtable session with the Department for International Trade looking at exports. Minister for Exports Graham Stuart joined Stephen and a small number of representatives from the UK Advertising Export Group to discuss strategies to get the country’s ad industry exporting again; our trading relationship with China; the importance of production services in opening up from lockdown; and the UK’s technological infrastructure.
As ever, we have been keeping our Government advice page on our website up to date with the latest changes and announcements, and have included links to where you can claim for schemes such as the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme. Find more information on our website here. As well as this, we have been tracking the latest news and opinion pieces from industry media on the virus, which you can find here.
Yesterday we published our latest AA/WARC Expenditure Report, which shows that UK adspend rose 6.9% year-on-year to reach £25.36bn in 2019 – the tenth consecutive year of ad market growth.
Despite 2020’s promising start in Q1, the downgrading of projections for the rest of 2020 and 2021 demonstrate the deep impact that Covid-19 has had on advertising since mid-March, as it has the UK economy as a whole. Our Chief Executive, Stephen Woodford, commented: “Instinct might tell businesses to be cautious in their advertising at this time and we all need to be mindful of the unusual times we’re living in. But at the same time, the importance of advertising during a downturn cannot be overstated.”
You can read the press release, which also highlights measures that we are recommending the Government takes to boost the industry and the wider economy at this time, in full over on our website here. The figures were also covered widely across media, in 25 different titles, including The Times, City A.M., Campaign, The Drum and Marketing Week.
On Wednesday morning we hosted our first-ever virtual gathering for the members of our Front Foot network to discuss what Covid-19 means for our industry.
It was led by Front Foot Chair Mark Evans, Direct Line MD of Marketing and Digital, and included discussions with our President and former CMCO of Unilever, Keith Weed, who gave his take on the situation and answered questions from both Mark, and other attendees, surrounding Covid-19 and our industry.
As well as this, Stephen gave an exclusive member overview of the AA/WARC Expenditure Report, before our Commercial Director, Sharon Lloyd Barnes, gave an update on our plans for our new inclusion hub – UK Advertising Needs You – which will be launching soon, and Heather Young, Credos Deputy Director, outlined plans for the forthcoming industry report on climate change.
You can read a full write-up of the event on our website here.
We are delighted to welcome two new members this week!
Punk Creative, an agency based in Edinburgh, has joined our Advertising Association Scotland programme and not-for-profit inclusion consultancy, Creative Equals, has joined our Front Foot network.
We look forward to working with you both in the future – it’s great to have you on board!
In a bumper week for Media Smart, our industry’s education programme has been shortlisted in two categories for The Corporate Engagement Awards – Best Educational Programme and Best Charity, NGO or NFP Programme. Its Director, Rachel Barber-Mack, is also a finalist for the 2020 Global Good Individual Leader of the Year for her work on the programme. Huge congratulations, Rachel!
DM Trust Home Learning Fund’ will offer UK-based employees who have been placed on furlough or made redundant access to fully funded training and professional qualifications. The DM Trust, a charitable organisation that provides funding and support to projects across the data and marketing industry, will invest an initial £100k to the new fund.
The IDM, the learning arm of the Data & Marketing Association (DMA), will match this investment with an additional £100k.
Applicants can apply the funding against the full portfolio of IDM Home Learning options for individuals, including both online learning and virtual classroom options. These are predominantly data and marketing-related courses and qualifications targeted at marketing professionals – with additional options under Business Skills including, leadership & soft skills i.e. presentation skills and stakeholder management etc. Find out more here.
Despite the situation we are currently in, we have never seen a greater push from Adland doing brilliant creative and entrepreneurial work in response to COVID-19. This is why we have now added a dedicated COVID-19 category to our Ad Pays 8 hub, which highlights industry work that has a positive contribution to society. This week, find out the steps that Sky has taken to ensure its costumers have the best possible service during this time here.
You’ve made it this far – why not treat yourself and watch our ad of the week?
Want the full edition to land in your inbox every Friday? Drop us an email on aa@adassoc.org.uk and quote ‘Ad Matters’.
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