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.

About The Event

Now in its 9th year and firmly established as the place where advertising meets politics, Our annual summit LEAD brings together the heads of the UK advertising industry to set the agenda for the year ahead in partnership with leaders from across the political landscape.

Don’t just take our word for it – read on for a small selection of testimonials from 2019:

“This is by far the best LEAD event I have attended and quite possible one of the best seminars I have ever been to. Great speakers, excellent content, and an energising variety of topics covered in a timely, but not rushed format.”
Graham Temple, Immediate Past Chairman, IPM

“I wanted to thank you for an excellent conference. I would go as far as to say I thought it was the best conference I have been to for years.  Thought provoking, and genuinely made me realise how important the work you do at The Advertising Association is.”
Juliet Timms, Grace Blue Partnership

“I think I’ve been to every LEAD event and this was the best yet.  The content was virtually all excellent and the atmosphere of frankness about our current challenges was VERY refreshing.  Great job.”
Bob Wootton, Founder, Deconstruction