Ad Matters 22.11.2024

It’s been a big week for awards here at the AA, with progress on inclusion and sustainability both celebrated in the same week..

Firstly, a massive shout-out to my colleague, Sharon Lloyd Barnes. Her sterling work on our inclusion workstream, All In, which began during the first lockdown with the original All In Census and led to an action plan being delivered by many companies in our industry, was celebrated by MEFA (Media For All) on Tuesday. Sharon won a special award for Business Transformation, recognising her efforts to transform our industry and make it more diverse. Hugely well-deserved! More info on all the MEFA winners here.

And then more awards yesterday, this time for businesses producing work that is commercially and sustainably successful. The Campaign Ad Net Zero 2024 Award Winners are here and hopefully serve to provide another set of inspirational work for us all to look to and learn from as we work to build a sustainable economy.

Our must-reads:

• The Mirror has asked its readers ‘Who won the Christmas ad war this year?’ in an online poll – with mention of our AA/Warc adspend figures. (The Mirror)
• SheSays has launched a manifesto to tackle adland gender pay inequality. (Campaign)
• Nostalgia, emotion, storytelling: Is this the ‘most consistent’ year yet for Christmas ads? (Marketing Week)
• How can the ad industry retain new talent? With discussion of our ‘Investing in Our Talent’s Future’ report. (Creative Review)
• Why agencies face tougher challenges to retain their All In Champion crowns. (Campaign)

Our pick of the ads:

• Our Ad in the A is the Department for Transport’s ‘Drink a little, risk a lot’, an anti-drinking-driving campaign by VML and 23red.
• Sky Cinema has unveiled its festive campaign, ‘The little girl’, created by its in-house creative team.
• BBC Creative has launched ‘Whoever you are, whyever you stream’, highlighting BBC iPlayer as the go-to streaming service meeting diverse audience needs.
• Peta has rolled out its Christmas campaign, ‘The girl and the cow’, created by Atomic London.

Dates for your diary:

• Our All In How-To Sessions are back! Learn about implementing the updated actions from our inclusion action plan – RSVP to each event here.
• Early bird booking for the Media Business Course is now open! Book your place to learn about the art of media planning and pitching here.

And finally…we assembled our first 5 a side football team to take on the ASA last week and scored a solid win. All goals were ‘legal, honest decent and truthful’. The AA team is now on the lookout for future opponents – so do get in touch if you fancy a match!