The advertising industry’s tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The advertising industry has been paying tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II since the news of her passing on September 8, 2022.

We have recorded the ways in which our industry is marking Queen Elizabeth’s dedicated service to our country during her long reign.  

In the United Kingdom, our industry paused as a mark of respect for HM The Queen, while advertisers across the world showed their respects.

The response across commercial enterprises has been broad, with broadcasters suspending advertising for up to 48 hours and adapting their schedules to provide extensive coverage on the story. Newspapers were late to newsagents as production teams moved print deadlines to ensure the timely delivery of special editions with front page tributes.

With regards to OOH, we’ve seen a collaboration between Global, Clear Channel, JCDecaux and Ocean Outdoor. These four media owners suspended their outdoor screens, replacing them with a single tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II – consisting of an official portrait provided by Buckingham Palace.

Below is a gallery of photos showing the OOH response and tribute in the UK to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Some of the responses from across commercial media owners and coverage include:

• Front pages of national newspapers respond with sombre mastheads on the morning after Her Majesty’s death 
• The BT Tower in London is illuminated with a rolling banner marking Queen Elizabeth II’s life 
• Clear Channel pays tribute to the Queen through digital out-of-home messaging through its sites across the country
• ITV dedicates its programming to rolling news coverage and suspended advertising on its main channel until at least 24 hours after the news first broke 
• Channel 4 temporarily suspends advertising and sponsorship on Channel 4 and All 4’s online hub
• Sky temporarily suspends advertising across its main channels with its news channel covering the events as they broke
• Mail Metro Media is ceasing to run advertisements across its print and digital platforms for at least 24 hours after the news, while its publications including the Daily Mail, The Metro and the i have dedicated special newspaper editions with tributes to Her Majesty 
• Ocean Outdoor, owner of the iconic Piccadilly Lights, has replaced all ads on digital screens in favour of tribute messages to The Queen
• Outdoor media owner JC Decaux has suspended all digital screen ads on the evening the news broke – from bus stops to railway stations – replacing them with messages remembering The Queen until the Saturday morning after her death. There will be a special plan for route of the funeral and again all sites will feature tribute messages
• Twitter placed a moratorium on advertising by suspending ads in the UK for 48 hours
• Snap paused all advertisements across its news content on Discover in the UK for 24 hours
• Google’s homepage in the UK carries a black ribbon with its logo marked in a new a shade of grey to reflect the national mourning period.
• Spotify has created a playlist in honour of HM The Queen to help listeners with their reflections 
• Reach’s newsbrands across the UK and Ireland paid tribute to Her Majesty on their front pages on Friday. They include the likes of national titles the Daily Mirror and the Daily Express as well as regional titles the Manchester Evening News and Liverpool Echo. For example, commercial banners on the Mirror website have been switched to messaging remembering The Queen. 
• Bauer Media has suspended all commercial messaging across its radio stations from Kiss FM to Magic
• Magazine publishers Hearst (owner of Elle and Harper’s Bazaar) and Condé Nast (Vogue) have removed all digital advertising at least through the weekend 

Below is a gallery of photos showing the front pages of newspapers and their tributes to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Our  trade press came together to mourn the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II with round-ups of our industry’s reaction and tributes:

• The Media Leader: Media and advertising mourn the Queen’s passing 
• Campaign: UK ad industry joins tributes in mourning for the Queen 
• The Drum: Broadcasters, publishers and platforms pause ads following Queen Elizabeth II’s death 
• Adweek: TV shows suspended, ads pulled as world’s second-longest reigning monarch passes away  
• LBB: Industry Responds to the Death of Queen Elizabeth II, with statements from the AA, IPA, ISBA and WPP   
• Marketing Interactive: looking at films in which the Queen has participated along with industry reactions to the news  
• Adweek: tips for brands on how to work during the mourning period, what the media is doing and how it is adapting
• Press Gazette: UK national newspapers pay tribute to the Queen with 426 pages of coverage  
• Campaign: Brands urged to ‘read the room’ as nation mourns the Queen – covering the questions many brands have asked on what type of communications they should put on social media during this period of mourning
• Decision Marketing: Marketing industry pays tribute to Queen Elizabeth II 
• The Guardian: Media firms introduce advertising blackouts to respect late Queen 
• Ad Age: How Queen Elizabeth’s death is affecting the ad industry 
• Marketing Week: Ads paused, plans on hold: How the industry is paying tribute to Queen Elizabeth II 
• The Drum: In pictures: world’s media descend on Buckingham Palace after death of The Queen 
• The Media Leader: UK OOH media owners agree on single tribute to Queen 
• Creative Salon: Tribute to Queen Elizabeth II 
• Marketing Beat: Marketing and advertising industries pay tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, advertising suspended
• The Drum: How PRs guided brands (and saved some from themselves) after The Queen’s death

Thought leadership pieces by Campaign and The Media Leader included tributes from Steve Barret, Robin Wight and Steve Scaffardi who all gave their touching thoughts and opinions on what The Queen meant to them and how our monarch resonated with people from all over the world.

• Campaign: Steve Barret, Thank you for your service: ‘A jewel to the world and not just the UK’ 
• Campaign: Robin Wight, God Bless the Queen of Branding: a tribute by Robin Wight 
• The Media Leader: Steve Scaffardi, Thank you to the greatest leader of them all 
• Campaign: Ajaz Ahmed, Queen’s life of service is a wonderful legacy

Other tributes across our industry include Royal Mail honouring The Queen by looking back across her life in stamps.

• Unilever: global brand mourns Queen Elizabeth by turning its website background black, and issuing a statement reflecting on her ‘unparalelled’ contribution
• Royal Mail honours HM Queen Elizabeth by remembering her life’s trajectory through stamps 
• OMD UK joins the country in marking the loss of our ‘much-loved monarch’ in a tribute message shared across social platforms and website 
• McCann UK joins the world in mourning The Queen in a tribute message on Twitter

As the news of the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II reverberated around the world, TIME magazine announced their next issue will be a tribute to The Queen, with a special front cover. TIME also reflected on their previous issues with Her Majesty as the front cover. Touching tributes were also felt across the globe as newspaper headlines from all corners dedicated their pages to The Queen.

• TIME Magazine: The Story Behind TIME’s Commemorative Queen Elizabeth II Cover 
• How newspapers around the world reacted to the death of Queen Elizabeth II – responses included the monarch’s silhouette backed against a union jack for The New Yorker magazine and France’s Le Parisien summing up The Queen’s legacy under the headline “We loved her so much”.

We also saw tributes and responses from across the industry on the day of HM Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, September 19.

Regarding OOH advertising, media owners such as  Clear Channel UK displayed OOH screens along the route of the funeral procession from London to Windsor.  On TV advertising, ITV, Channel 4 and other national networks did not air ads during the coverage of The Queen’s funeral. Meanwhile, national newspapers’ front pages captured images from the funeral, in what The Guardian has referred to as “the final farewell”. 

This page will be updated regularly over the coming days to reflect on the death of HM Queen Elizabeth II.