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.

MEMBER CONTENT

Ad Pays 6: World class talent, world class advertising

Advertising Pays Series Media Resource

The UK’s reputation as an advertising powerhouse is built upon an unrivalled wealth of talent. This report, compiled as a result of painstaking research using LinkedIn’s exhaustive user detail, demonstrates the diversity and geographical spread of the UK’s advertising talent.

ntroduction from Josh Graff

UK Country Manager & VP Marketing Solutions, EMEA at LinkedIn

I have experienced first-hand what makes the UK such a creative powerhouse – the people. A hugely diverse and international workforce enables brands and agencies to create campaigns which resonate across international, cultural and socio-economic boundaries to drive real impact.

LinkedIn’s unique member insights indeed shows that the UK, and London in particular, is a magnet for international advertising talent, more attractive it would appear than other hubs in the sector such as Amsterdam, Paris, New York or Sydney. And the sector’s leading creative and strategic thinking is all the better for it.

The findings are also a firm reminder that the industry’s success is not only down to London, as many looking from outside the sector might think. With more than half of the sector’s talent located outside of the capital and nearly a third of international migration in the sector settling beyond the M25, the whole country requires access to top international talent.

As the sector faces unprecedented challenges, both from within and externally, I hope that this report can not only help employers make better decisions about their talent pipelines but that it will also inform policy makers and educators on what’s required to ensure the sector continues to thrive. Access to top international talent is clearly crucial and by ensuring the UK remains a great and vibrant place to live and work, there is no reason why we can’t continue to be a center of excellence for the industry.

Sneak Peak
Sneak Peak

The UK is going global and from a million rubber balls to a drumming gorilla, advertising is symbolic of the UK’s ambition and potential as a nation.

Rt Hon Karen Bradley MP Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

1 in 18 people in London work in the advertising sector

57%
of the UK's advertising talent work outside London