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.

THIS WEEK: UK ADVERTISING IN THE MEDIA

/ February 5th 2021
Industry News

In this weekly series we pull together, in one place, a selection of must-reads from across our industry media. Hope you find it a useful edit of another week in advertising!

Time to reset

Campaign Magazine’s official write-up of our RESET event alongside ISBA and the IPA.

Time to Talk Day: How to talk to colleagues about mental health

Mental health is a growing problem in adland. Nabs provides practical tips for approaching this issue at work.

Building Bridges Between Black British Talent and Brands

Creative and educational creators talk LBB’s Alex Reeves through the opportunities that #BrandShareTheMic is creating by giving brands access to Black talent and perspectives.

Chris Kenna’s Brand Advance unveils diversity-focused creative division

Brand Advance, a media network to get brand ads in front of more diverse audiences, has launched a creative division in a bid to better represent groups within advertising.

Unilever ups focus on direct to consumer as online sales surge

The FMCG giant revealed ecommerce sales surged last year, accounting for 9% of total sales as consumers were stuck at home.

Channel 4 success shows ‘It’s a Sin’ for brands not to follow its lead on inclusion

‘It’s a Sin’ has made Channel 4 and television history by proving LGBT+ content is not just for LGBT+ audiences. Commercial director at Outvertising and volunteer for the WFA’s Global Diversity Task Force, Jerry Daykin reflects on the show’s success, and why ‘It’s a Sin’ for brands not to follow its lead on inclusion.

Funny is power

Why Comic Relief and Pablo turned to the galvanising force of an unexpected giggle for Red Nose Day 2021.

Every 2021 Super Bowl Ad So Far

No real need for an introduction here, is there? The Super Bowl is this Sunday but a whole chunk of the brands have already released their ads. Here are all of them so far.

Brands rally to support marketers struggling with mental health

With motivation low, confidence knocked and resilience being tested by the latest lockdown, marketers are being encouraged to seek emotional support and open up about their mental health.

Let’s get creative to beat the anti-vaxxers

The industry should lend its most creative minds to the task of tackling vaccine hesitancy and provide an antidote to the misinformation that surrounds it.

A perfect planet? Why the BBC hijacked its own billboard by setting it on ‘fire’

To continue the climate conversation Sir David Attenborough started in the finale of his series ‘A Perfect Planet’ this weekend, BBC Creative hijacked its own billboards to demonstrate how humans are a destructive force on the planet.

Amazon’s ad business jumps 64% as Jeff Bezos retreats from CEO role

Amazon’s advertising business has become the fastest-growing division of the e-commerce colossus, after surging 64% year-on-year to reach $7.95bn in the fourth quarter.

Brands are returning to brand building, says Google

Google says money is moving back to brand building on its platforms as brands look to “keep their brands in front of people to stay top of minds”.

Awkwafina, Kenan Thompson and Will Ferrell Give Norway a Piece of Their Mind in General Motors’ Super Bowl Spot

Will unleashes his passion for US electric vehicle adoption and General Motors commitment to EVs in humorous spot from McCann Detroit/McCann Worldgroup.

Amazon Alexa channels Michael B Jordan in Super Bowl spot

It is Lucky Generals’ third work for NFL showdown.

Tobacco Dock turns into a virtual venue for hybrid events

In future events will use both physical and virtual space.

Social experts and digital specialists: The state of the marketing jobs market

With brands on the hunt for ‘digital natives’ and the focus very much on harder skills in digital, data, social and ecommerce, what do marketers need to do to prepare?

The 4A’s on supporting Black talent 365 days a year

The 4A’s talent, equity and inclusion lead Simon Fenwick maps out its plans to help agencies celebrate and create visible career paths for Black talent, all year long.

Adlanders don’t expect quick return to growth – Campaign poll

Creative agencies have the most downbeat read on the coming months.

Publicis pays back Covid salary sacrifices to staff after encouraging Q4

Six thousand staff had taken cuts for up to six months.

Alphabet spells out more record profits

The owner of Google and YouTube has delivered another record quarter after both advertising and cloud computing sales beat analysts’ forecasts.

Ryanair hit with ban after ‘Jab and go’ gets third-highest number of complaints ever

Ad encouraged people to book their holidays now that the Covid vaccines are rolling out.

Kevin Bacon gives unlimited data to housebound pupils in EE campaign

Ad features actor alongside picture of his mum, who was a teacher.

Apple’s Tim Cook: Business cannot turn a blind eye to data exploitation

Apple CEO Tim Cook is calling for the reform of businesses that rely on misleading users, harvesting data and perpetuating extremism in order to avert a “social catastrophe”.

Facebook tests topic exclusions for brands

The brand safety update will allow advertisers to block content associated with broad topics such as “crime and tragedy” or “news and politics.”

WPP and TikTok partner on brand safety and ad innovation

TikTok has been working to improve its brand safety after recent incidents and concerns from major media-buying networks.

Agency staff prefer remote work, despite working longer hours – global survey

Report finds that remote working doubles the time that agency staff can spend in deep, uninterrupted work and leads to a healthier workforce. Despite this, 15% of agency leaders are resistant to offering a permanent remote work policy.

Most CMOs expect role to change as a result of Covid-19, finds LinkedIn

Almost three-quarters of chief marketing officers (CMOs) expect their role to change as a consequence of the global pandemic, according to a survey of 300 senior executives conducted by LinkedIn.

Coca-Cola uses real-life stories in 2021 Chinese New Year ad

You may not be anywhere near the office water cooler right now, but we still want to spotlight the most talked about creative from the brands that should be on your radar.