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.

A A A

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.

Ad Matters 14.04.2023

/ April 14th 2023
Industry News

INDUSTRY EXPORTS HIT £15BN JACKPOT

We are proud to announce our industry’s latest exports figures, showing the UK exported a massive £15bn in advertising and market research services in 2021.

With a 32.5% increase in year-on-year growth, this result is the highest seen since Credos, the advertising industry’s think tank, began tracking the industry’s export figures in 2018. These new figures bring export value back in line with our pre-COVID trajectory, making the UK second only to the USA for ad exports worldwide.

Kemi Badenoch, Business and Trade Secretary, congratulated us on the latest figures, citing the advertising industry as one of the UK’s strongest services exports.

A huge thank you goes to the Department of Business and Trade for their support of our UK Advertising Export Group programme, to our some 60 UKAEG members and industry partners, who have all worked tirelessly to promote the UK as a global centre of excellence for advertising and marketing services.

Head to our dedicated Data Centre here to check out the latest facts and figures!

JUMP ABOARD THE ADVERTISING EXPRESS!

This year, our Ad Net Zero UK team has put a call-out to anyone planning to attend the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to join them on the train from London to Cannes.

Ad Net Zero is encouraging the industry to book a place on ‘The Advertising Express’, something that will help reduce their travel footprint. At the same time, travellers will be able to take advantage of networking opportunities on board.

Data from AdGreen, which runs a carbon calculator for the advertising production industry, suggests that taking the train is 30 times less carbon-intensive than flying.

Book your tickets here!

WHILE IN CANNES…

We are pleased to announce the winners of our UK Young Lions competition after receiving an impressive 250 entries this year.

The prize for this year’s Young Lions is the opportunity to take part in the prestigious Global Young Lions Competition in Cannes, this summer!

Congratulations to the winners across 6 teams and 6 categories:

Design: Dali Aboul Housn, Senior Medical Copywriter, Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness UK and Kiran Sagar, Designer, Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness UK

Digital: Chelly Brown, Social Creative, AMVBBDO and Hannah Tudor, Social Creative, McCann Manchester

Film: Matt Nicholas, Senior Creative, VCCP and Nick Archer, Creative, Sky Creative

Marketers: Ciara Hagan, Customer Propositions and Media Events Manager, Tesco/dunnhumby and Tom Chard, Media and Campaign Planning Manager, Tesco

Media: Bryoney Miller, Associate Strategy Director, Initiative and Katrina Blanthorne, Associate Strategy Director, Initiative

Print: Joe Sayer, Art Director, The Leith Agency and Marion Miranda, Copywriter, The Leith Agency

Check out the winning work via our website here.

OUR CEO FEATURES ON THE HOW I BECAME PODCAST

Our CEO, Stephen Woodford, was part of Episode 14 of the ‘How I Became’ podcast!

Hosted by Ashley Samuels-McKenzie and Charles Parkinson, Stephen takes us through his journey in the advertising industry. Stephen talks about how businesses can get through a recession, trying to change the advertising industry for the better, how he became AA’s CEO and much more.

Listen to the full podcast here!

AA PARTNERS UP WITH PROGRAMMATIC PIONEERS

We are pleased to be an official media partner for the Programmatic Pioneers Summit on 25 May in London. It’s Europe’s biggest programmatic and digital media event for brands, agencies, publishers and tech companies.

With over 30 insightful sessions led by more than 60 senior programmatic media experts from some of Europe’s biggest brands, you’ll gain practical insights that address your biggest priorities to help you future-proof your programmatic strategy.

Our members can use our exclusive online discount code: PPSAA10 to get 10% off!

Don’t miss out! Book your tickets and see the full agenda here.

ON THE MONEY

We’re delighted that our CEO, Stephen Woodford, will be a part of On the Money’s panel discussion by M&C Saatchi.

Joining M&C Saatchi’s Chief Strategy Officer, Sophie Lewis and Deliciously Ella’s Strategy Director, Mike Corlett, Stephen will be discussing changing consumer behaviours during the cost-of-living crisis.

On the Money’s insights will give us a deeper understanding of all the unique ways people are tackling rising costs and how brands can help.

The discussion will be taking place on 26 April from 6-8pm at The House of St. Barnabas in London.

You can RSVP here!

STILL TIME TO TAKE PART IN CLEARCAST’S SURVEY

With support from the AA, Thinkbox, ISBA, the IPA and the British Arrows, Clearcast launched its ‘Accessible ads for all’ campaign on World Hearing Day 2023.

As a part of the campaign, Clearcast has also launched an anonymous survey, and the closing date has now been extended till 18 April!

The survey aims to understand how people feel about the accessibility of ads and existing practices, with the results being revealed in May.

Take the survey here!

OUR NEW FRONT FOOT MEMBER – MEDIALINK

We’re delighted to introduce MediaLink as the latest addition to our Front Foot community! MediaLink is the media and marketing industry’s most trusted and connected strategic advisory firm, specialising in identifying areas of opportunity, optimisation, and ultimately growth for its clients. Helping brands and businesses navigate change, MediaLink covers the core areas of marketing transformation, data and technology solutions, growth strategy, private equity advisory and executive search and talent advisory.

Over 90 companies are Front Foot Members and they receive extensive benefits such as early access to research, invitations to exclusive events, and access to our Public Affairs briefings.

If you’d like to find out more about joining the FF community, head here.

THIS WEEK: UK ADVERTISING IN THE MEDIA

It’s our specially-curated selection of must-reads from across our industry media.

Check it out here.

AD OF THE WEEK

You made it this far – why not check 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’.