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 16.06.23

/ June 16th 2023
Industry News

Cannes Lions 2023 live blog: all the award winners and festival news

The latest updates from the International Festival of Creativity.

Ad chiefs warn: ‘Advertised emissions’ won’t help our industry to reach net zero

The bosses of the AA, IPA and ISBA say tracking carbon impact is vital but argue Purpose Disruptors’ methodology is flawed because it overstates the emissions attributable to advertising.

UK ad spend to grow 4.8% this year, according to GroupM forecast

GroupM is predicting UK ad spend to grow 4.8% in 2023, ahead of the forecast laid out by the AA and WARC last month.

Great creative will be even more essential as AI develops

When competitors are using the same tech, originality will make a brand win market share, says the Interpublic chief executive in the final instalment of Campaign’s holding company boss interview series.

Is the ASA’s greenwashing crackdown changing the ad industry?

As scientists deliver their “final warning” on the climate crisis, the Advertising Standards Authority tightened its policing of claims to be “carbon neutral” or “net zero” in October 2022, because consumers are unsure of their exact meaning.

Channel 4 “Idents 2023” by 4Creative

All of Channel 4’s new idents are shown looped together in a one-off launch film featuring the specially commissioned words of British writer John Joseph Holt as the soundtrack.

Wunderman Thompson UK recruits head of planning

Ben Worden joins from Adam & Eve/DDB.

Anglian Water TV advert banned due to sewage pollution record

An Anglian Water TV advert has been banned because it failed to mention the firm’s history of releasing sewage into rivers.

Inclusive thinking must be at every stage of the process

In the latest in Campaign’s series on holding company bosses, the Havas chief executive and chairman says a collective focus on inclusivity produces creative work that will make a positive impact on society.

How important is ‘zero-party data’ in a cookieless online advertising future?

As marketers seek to plug the hole cookie deprecation will leave, interest in zero-party data (sometimes referred to as user declared data) has steadily increased, not least among publishers.

Work Of The Week

The best creative, curated

Most Creative Marketers: Jo McClintock

Trainline’s VP of brand, Jo McClintock, predicts strong signals for sustainable travel journeys – by train of course

Why Are So Many Brands Looking Back To Their Heritage In Ads?

A flurry of ads that use cues from the past have broken recently. We ask some strategists why

ROI top effectiveness metric demanded by C-suite

Performance-focused metrics top list of what marketers believe senior stakeholders want to see, with nearly 50% believing the board is too focused on ROI.

Only 15% of brand assets are ‘truly distinctive’, study finds

Distinctive brand assets are widely seen as crucial in creating mental availability for brands, yet a new study classes only a small minority as truly distinct, suggesting brand codes are not being deployed to their full potential.

Increased pressure is driving marketers to focus more on performance

Amid a difficult environment, brands are faced with tough decisions regarding where they direct their marketing budgets.

ASA offers updated guidance on misleading mobile and broadband contract ads

The guidance will take effect on 15 December.