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 29.07.22

/ July 29th 2022
Industry News

UK ADSPEND CONTINUES RECOVERY FOR Q1 

Yesterday, we released the latest Advertising Association/WARC Expenditure Report for Q1 2022. The AA/WARC report is the only source to collect advertising revenue data across the entire media landscape. The first three months of this year were strong for UK adspend, with a rise of 28.3%, reaching £8.6bn. These figures are encouraging, showing the industry’s year-on-year recovery following last year’s COVID-19 lockdowns.

Overall, the outlook for the industry in 2022 has been slightly upgraded to 10.9% growth as adspend is forecast to reach a new high of £35.4bn.

However, when accounting for inflation, real growth is expected to be 1.8% this year. Increased pricing will affect marketing budgets across the industry with the pressures of the cost of living and energy crises likely to hang around into 2023.

“It is important to recognise the value that advertising brings to the economy in supporting competition, innovation and growth at this critical time” said our CEO, Stephen Woodford, on the latest results.

The story was also featured across media including City AMCampaign and the Media Leader, to name just a few.

If you want to find out more about the latest figures, you can check out the full release here. Members can download the executive summary on our adspend hub here.

AD NET ZERO GLOBAL SUMMIT RETURNS FOR ROUND TWO

This week we announced the return of our Ad Net Zero Global Summit, which will take place on November 9 and 10 – in line with COP27. The Summit is a key event for all advertising professionals to join at such a critical decade for tackling the climate crisis. We’re excited to say that, for the first time, the event will be held both in person –  at Park Village in London – and online.

The event will celebrate two years since Ad Net Zero’s launch in 2020 as well as the global rollout of the initiative – announced at LIONS 2022. We expect to see another stellar round of speakers to help drive us through our industry’s work and commitment to tackling the climate crisis.

This year’s Ad Net Zero Global Summit will also serve as an opportunity to recognise the achievements of the winners of the first ever Campaign Ad Net Zero Awards – launched to celebrate the best of our industry’s work in helping build a net zero economy.

For those of you still keen to enter the awards, we’re pleased to announce the deadline has been extended by a week! If you want to showcase how your work is helping to build a net zero economy, then submit your entry for the Campaign Ad Net Zero Awards here by Thursday 4 August!

You can find out more about our Ad Net Zero Global Summit here. Would you like to attend? Then register your interest here.

The news also appeared in our trade press, in publications such as BITEEthical Marketing News and WARC.

PAYING TRIBUTE TO OUR FORMER DG RICHARD WADE 

This week, we have paid tribute to our former Director General, Richard Wade, who passed away earlier this month at the age of 84.

Richard had a distinguished career in the advertising and media industries. He led the association from 1990-1993 following a 23-year service at the BBC, where he held several senior roles including Editor of Tomorrow’s World and the Deputy to the Head of Radio 4.

The AA recorded many achievements during Richard’s term as the Director General, with his strongest legacy being the foundation of the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) in 1992.

Paying tribute, our CEO Stephen Woodford said: “Richard’s work in setting up the EASA was a remarkable achievement and poignant that we remember him on the 30th anniversary of its foundation.”

You can read the full obituary on our website here. Please send in any messages to tributes@adassoc.org.uk

INSIDE THE ‘MOST INFLUENTIAL’ TRAINING COURSE IN ADLAND 

We just can’t get enough of MBC! Earlier this week, we published our Media Business Course 2022 showreel, including interviews, immediate reactions from our delegates and loads more.

Want to get a sneak peak of of the course? Then check out the full showreel here.

The course has also received a glowing write-up from Campaign, who paid a visit to the Brighton Grand Hotel for this occasion.  Head here to gain an insight into adland’s ‘most influential’ training course!

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’ve made it this far – why not treat yourself and watch our ad of the week?

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