Advertising Matters 15.05.20

Coronavirus update (still a C thang)

On Sunday evening we heard the Prime Minister outline his conditional plan to ease the Covid-19 lockdown, which encouraged people to go to back to work if they could not work at home and revealed that unlimited exercise and sitting in a park would now be okay. In response to this announcement, our Chief Executive Stephen Woodford said: “The Prime Minister’s statement yesterday evening showed the hard journey ahead before we will approach normality again. As our projections on adspend for the year ahead also showed, we are in for a very difficult few quarters in advertising, but I am 100% confident in our creative entrepreneurial abilities to see this crisis through.” Read the statement in full here. Stephen also wrote an op-ed for The Drum on the announcement and on some of the conversations that we are having with government about next steps for the advertising industry here.

Following that, on Tuesday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed the extension of the Job Retention Scheme until the end of October. Stephen commented: “The news that the Chancellor has today confirmed the extension of the Job Retention Scheme until the end of October with the option for people to return to work from Furlough on a part-time basis is a hugely positive step.” You can read his statement in full here. You can also read  more on what the announcement means for our industry here.

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. If you need to know it, we’ve got it covered and will ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ right 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.

Life of da party

This week is truly the end of an era as we say a huge thank you to Karen Fraser MBE for all of the work that she has done over the last ten years as Director of advertising’s think tank, Credos. But she will still be as active as ever in the advertising industry as she moves to focus on her new venture – Advertising Works – alongside Helen Weisinger. I’m sure you will join us in thanking her for all the work she has done to demonstrate the value of our industry to the UK economy and society via her work on the Advertising Pays series of reports and the work into issues surrounding body image and diversity, all of which have been hugely valuable. ‘Ain’t No Fun’ saying goodbye during lockdown, but we all wish Karen all the very best of luck!

AA council: ‘The next episode’

Yesterday we held our latest AA Council meeting to discuss the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown, return to work measures and Government support plans. Council also discussed the idea of proposing a tax credit for advertising and marketing services to stimulate investment in advertising post lockdown and help boost the economy. The meeting was chaired by our President Keith Weed, who in other news this week announced that he is joining the Sainsbury’s Board as a Director. Congratulations, Keith, let’s raise a ‘Gin and Juice’ in his honour! Read more on the appointment here.

Ad Pays 8: The Coronavirus Response

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, read our Front Foot member GroupM’s predictions on how media and consumer behaviour will evolve and what it ultimately means for brands here.

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