Ad Matters 24.01.2025

We took a 360-degree view of advertising at different events this week considering issues from the past, present and future!

The AdWomen exhibition at the Museum of Brands in West London is a fascinating look back at women in advertising over the last century and features iconic adverts from the 1920s right up to present day. It’s well worth a visit for anyone interested in advertising history and the groundbreaking women who created ads that transformed the industry.

Ensuring public trust in advertising was a key founding principle for the AA nearly a hundred years ago – and it is still as relevant to our work today. This week’s launch of the 2024 Credos Trust Tracker results revealed good news that 39% of the public trust advertising – up from just 30% in 2022. The latest ASA ad awareness campaign research results also continued to show impressive gains in trust metrics, and we are aiming to help galvanise the industry to do more this year. We were also delighted to visit our Front Foot member, Tesco, and share the results face-to-face with their marketing team at their HQ.

Now, to the future. The AA, IPA and ISBA came together on Wednesday to launch a new APPG for the advertising industry. The group aims to raise the profile of advertising with parliamentarians and share more information about its positive economic and social contributions. It was brilliant to gather our members with MPs and Peers to discuss how we can collaborate this year and beyond…(infinity here we come?!).

Our must-reads:

• Good news from our trust tracker, with young people driving an increase in trust in advertising. (Creative Brief)
• Netflix doubles its ad revenue in 2024 and sets its sights for further subscriber growth. (Campaign)
• The Chancellor talks ‘regulating risk’ at the World Economic Forum in Davos, as the Government looks to growth and the future of regulators. (The Times)
• Searching for your next training opportunity? Nabs, TikTok and CAP have added to more than 600 courses on our Training Hub. (The Media Leader)
• The latest figures from the IPA Agency Census are now out – with insights across staff turnover and equality. (IPA)

Our pick of the ads:

• Our Ad in the A is ‘Bursting with Pride’ by Havas London for Jordans, following its factory employees as they create the brand’s cereals in fun and unconventional ways.
• The TVC with BBH Dublin’s thought-provoking Barnardos ad reflects on childhood birthdays and the issues some children in Ireland face.
• Mother has created a series of engaging and relatable out-of-home ads with ‘You’re Almost There’ for Uber.
• Lobster shares a humorous breakfast conversation between a couple with ‘It’s not magic, it’s Kingsmill’.
• Forsman and Bodenfors’ ten-week print campaign for Swedish sportswear brand, Craft Sportswear, shows the positive effect running has on mental health and wellbeing.

Dates for your diary:

• LEAD 2025 is less than two weeks away! We’ll be hosting advertising leaders, political editors, and even the DCMS Minister Sir Chris Bryant, at our industry summit on February 6 at the QEII Centre. Grab the last of the tickets here.

And finally, we’re wrapping up the week by welcoming Spotify Advertising and contextual advertising company Seedtag aboard as our newest Front Foot members.