Ad Matters 09.02.2024

Well. What a day that was. We hosted more than 400 of our industry’s leaders at the QE2 Centre in Westminster, London, in partnership with our fellow trade bodies, IPA and ISBA.

LEAD 2024 was quite the event.

Probably the first time in one day I’ve heard from a former PM, a Secretary of State, a Shadow Minister, a Lord, a Dame, leaders from UK plc, big tech companies, big advertisers, big media owners. It was a truly holistic look at UK advertising in 2024.  After all the weeks and months of prep, we’re now digesting it all to find ways of sharing what we’ve heard and learned to keep things moving forward for the industry and our members this year.

It was fantastic to see so many members in the room, and of course, many of them demonstrating leadership in important workstreams up on stage.

So, while we say ‘job done’ on LEAD 2024, the summit, there’s plenty more to come. And all roads lead to LEAD – what we do over the next 12 months and the progress our members make on the critical industry workstream, whether that’s public trust, the online advertising taskforce, inclusion, sustainability, skills, AI, will all serve to shape LEAD’s agenda for 2025.

Our President’s closing words of the day stay with me – that to have the best industry where the best people want to build their careers, we are interdependent – we all need each other to make every workstream a success.

Here’s our top articles from the day: 

• Gordon Brown launched a call to arms for his Multibank initiative, stating that media and advertising will play a key role in addressing poverty (The Media Leader). If you want to get involved and support the Multibank initiative, more details here.
• Ofcom chief Lord Grade tells advertisers to “get ahead of harm” when navigating brand safety and the online ad landscape (Campaign)
• Digital skills training will be essential – and Google has launched AI training for marketers (New Digital Age)
• CBI boss warns against large-scale tax cuts driven by ‘short-termism’ (The Guardian)
• Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer’s speech about the strength of the advertising industry (Gov.UK)
• Check out all our responses to the keynotes of the day in our Media Centre

LEAD was also full of ads, including:

• Channel 4’s Diversity in Advertising prize winner, “Me, My Autism and I” from Havas and Reckitt
• eBay’s partnership with ITV’s Love Island to promote pre-loved fashion and change behaviours
• The phenomenal success of alcohol-free beer, Lucky Saint and its Dry January campaign
• VCCP and Cadbury’s heartwarming anniversary tribute “Birthday”

And finally. Get your game faces on.

The world’s biggest ad breaks will be taking place this weekend during Super Bowl LVIII. We might think Christmas advertising season is big, but state-side, the big brands are rolling out the big ads, many packed with the big stars, to entertain those soccer fans during the game. We’re going to call out this one by Dove which we think nails how advertising can help build a world where everyone is supported to be the best that they can be.

Have a great weekend!