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.

Ad Matters 20.01.23

/ January 20th 2023
Industry News

LIONS ENTRIES OPEN… WITH HELP FROM AD NET ZERO 

Entries for Cannes Lions 2023 are now open!

For the first time, the Festival is introducing sustainability criteria in all entries. The move is a significant step forward in promoting sustainable practices in our industry, aligned with Ad Net Zero’s mission of making every ad a green ad. The entries will be analysed with Ad Net Zero input, and although the sustainability question will be optional and for information-gathering purposes only this year – we urge everyone to fill in this section and submit their sustainability data.

To help everyone looking to complete the sustainability section, we have created a dedicated LIONS hub on adnetzero.com. Here you can find tips and advice on measuring and submitting your sustainability data. Best of luck to everyone entering the competition this year!

LEADING THE WAY – OUR NEW 3-YEAR STRATEGY

LEAD is just around the corner! On Wednesday, we’ll be heading to Odeon Luxe Leicester Square for our annual summit, held together with the IPA and ISBA. We have a packed programme, including keynote speeches from Michelle Donelan, DCMS Secretary & Lucy Powell, Shadow Secretary for DCMS.

Make sure you grab your ticket before they sell out. We hope to see you all there!

LEAD will also serve as an opportunity to get to know our new 3-year strategy, which we published earlier this week. The 2023-2025 strategy sets out the priorities that our membership want to see addressed, to make the advertising industry more trusted, more valued, more inclusive, more sustainable and more resilient. Members can download our new 3-year strategy here.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

We gathered on Wednesday evening for a special thank you dinner for two fantastic AA Board members who are stepping down from their respective roles.

Philippa Brown has been an awesome AA Chair for three years and will be fondly remembered by fellow members, particularly for the now legendary President’s Reception in summer 2020, filmed during lockdown with then President, Keith Weed, from the stage of Grange Park Opera House.

Long-standing Vice Chair, Sebastian Munden, is also standing down from the AA Board but remains an ongoing contributor to the AA’s workstreams as our brilliant Chair of Ad Net Zero.

Our profuse thanks to them both for all their guidance and insights these past few years and best wishes for your next endeavours!

LEGAL, DECENT, HONEST, TRUTHFUL. CHEERS!  

The AA team was delighted to join the ASA team as it celebrated its 60th anniversary at its HQ with many figures in attendance who have all helped steer it to its status as the world’s gold-standard for advertising self-regulatory bodies.

Chief Executive, Guy Parker, who has worked at the ASA for 30 years, shared how the organisation has evolved, particularly in recent years, deploying machine learning to review ads online and building out its data science team, all to consistently improve its work on behalf of our industry.

We’re big fans of the ASA – our research shows it is one of the most important ways we can ensure the public trusts our work. And we loved the four cocktails and mocktails on offer too – cheekily named Legal, Decent, Honest and Truthful.

Cheers ASA, here’s to your next 60 years!

PREDICT THE FUTURE WITH PINTEREST 

Want to know the upcoming trends for this year? Then check out Pinterest’s annual Pinterest Predicts report, a selection of the most inspiring trends heading into 2023.

Each month, over 400 million people visit Pinterest to gain early insights and inspiration on the next big trends. This report is the result of months of data analysis on what users are searching for in Pinterest and serves as a way to identify the top trends coming into the new year.

But don’t just take our word for it – for three years in a row, Pinterest has successfully predicted 8 out of 10 trends that came true!

Want to get inspired? Then check out the story and read the full Pinterest Predicts 2023 report to get ahead on future trends, from hobbies and interests to travel and well-being.

FIRST COMMS LEADERS MEETING OF THE YEAR 

Yesterday, we held our first Comms Leaders Meeting of 2023. It was great to be together in-person with our fellow comms colleagues and leaders from across our industry and membership.

We hold these meetings to provide updates on our plans for the year ahead and to gather feedback and build relationships with our fellow communications professionals, while serving as a chance to learn about what’s going on across the industry.

If you’re a Comms Leader and want to be kept updated on our work, then please do not hesitate to get in touch via mariella.brown@adassoc.org.uk

THE TIMES REFLECTS ON JEREMY BULLMORE’S LIFE  

Lastly, tributes have been flooding in across our industry for the late Jeremy Bullmore, our former Chair and chairman of JWT, who passed away earlier this month.

The Times has now published their obituary which is a fascinating insight into the man who changed the shape of adland today.

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’.