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 27.10.2023

/ October 27th 2023
Industry News

OUR NEW FRONT FOOT MEMBER – NEVERLAND

We are delighted to introduce Neverland as the latest addition to our Front Foot network, but that’s not it – they’ve also joined the Ad Net Zero community as its supporter!

Neverland is an award winning independent creative agency founded by Jon Forsyth and Simon Massey. They bring together brand strategy and creative communications to make campaigns that are popular, made to be seen and importantly, work.

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 Policy and Government Affairs briefings.

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

DEBATING ADVERTISING AND THE ECONOMY IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

On Tuesday, The Debating Group held its debate on whether a strong advertising industry is key to bringing the UK economy to good health, which was chaired by Damian Collins OBE MP.

We heard some great speeches from our speakers, who made strong points both for and against the motion, but in the end, the debate finished with the motion being narrowly defeated.

We were pleased to sponsor the debate and put forward the case for advertising alongside our friends at the International Advertising Association (IAA). A big thank you to our speakers Tammy Einav from adam&eveDDB, Dominic Carter from The Sun, Patrick Foulis from The Economist, Sue Unerman from EssenceMediacomX, as well as everyone who was able to join us!

THE IPA IS BACK WITH ITS iLIST

Our member, the IPA, is bringing the iList back this year in partnership with Campaign!

The iList celebrates gamechangers across every level and every discipline in the advertising industry. It highlights intersectional role models and offers open- source tried and tested solutions to D&I business concerns to help accelerate the transformation to a more inclusive and, therefore, effective advertising industry.

Join in for an evening of inspiration, meet the iList community, the new judges and hear a lively panel discussion on the current state of play in the industry.

The launch event will be taking place on Wednesday 8 November at 6pm for a 6:30pm start, at the IPA on 44 Belgrave Square SW1X 8QS.

Check out the full details and register here.

WE’RE HIRING!

Are you an experienced engagement, supporter, or project manager, with a passion and knowledge for inclusion and talent? If so, you could be the perfect candidate for our new Engagement Manager – Talent and Inclusion role!

We are looking for someone with great stakeholder management skills to join our Commercial Team, who can manage all aspects of the AA’s inclusion work for the sector.

The role has an exciting mix of building from our established All In Inclusion workstream and contributing to the shape of newer workstreams and initiatives across the Talent remit.

Get your applications in by 12 November and find out more about the role here.

FANCY A TRIP TO CANNES?  

As reps for Cannes Lions, we’re busy gathering all your nominations for Cannes Lions Jurors – so don’t forget to get your forms in here by 9 November!

In the meantime, Lions are conducting their annual State of Creativity survey, one of the biggest of studies its kind. A fully anonymous survey, it offers a global view of the challenges and opportunities brands and agencies are currently facing.

So, what’s in it for you? All participants will have the opportunity to win a comp ticket to Cannes Lions 2024! And to thank those for taking part, Lions will also invite participants to a preview of the top line findings following the launch of the report in January 2024.

Head here to take part in the survey before 31 October.

JOIN THE HUNT FOR GHOST ADS

Finally, with Halloween just around the corner, we loved this initiative from Historic England which is calling on the public to keep an eye out for ‘ghost signs’ across the country.

‘Ghost signs’ are typically old adverts for products and shops that were hand-painted onto buildings and are now a fascinating part of our urban surroundings.

If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, then why not keep an eye out in your local area and see what hidden history you can add to Historic England’s online map here!

Happy exploring!

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’.