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

/ June 18th 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!

UK Government & Industry open doors of UK House to celebrate best of Cannes Lions 2021

UK government and the advertising industry have partnered to create a unique opportunity around Cannes Lions for all UK advertising and marketing services companies looking to build international revenues.

UKAEG supports creative industry’s international ambitions with Global Reach sponsorship and chance to secure free Cannes Lions passes

The UK Advertising Exports Group (UKAEG) has come on-board as Associate Sponsor of Prolific North’s ambitious Global Reach 2021 Report, as it releases 150 year-long Cannes Lions membership passes which ambitious creative businesses can apply for.

All In: Creating the inclusive workplace we want and need

Sharon Lloyd Barnes, Commercial Director and Inclusion Lead at the Advertising Association on how the industry can achieve inclusion together.

Time to have a proper debate about the Digital Services Act

An article by our very own Konrad Shek on why it’s time to have a proper debate about the Digital Services Act and personalised advertising.

New Dove Men+Care initiative supports dads’ mental wellbeing ahead of Father’s Day

With a growing body of research pointing to the potentially dangerous implications of the pandemic on mental health, Dove Men+Care unveils a new Father’s Day campaign focused on providing dads with resources to help them care for themselves — so they can offer better care for their kids.

What impact will brands snubbing GB News have long term?

Analysts argue the decision by brands such as Kopparberg, Ikea and Nivea to pull advertising from GB News could be “a dangerous game to play” but suggest it will likely blow over quickly in the same way the Facebook boycott did last year.

April 2021 new business accelerates and surpasses 2019 levels

Global activity grew 77% from last year and 43% from April 2019, Campaign AI data shows.

Gin, set, and match.

Sipsmith’s Mr. Swan (voiced by Julian Barratt) reckons attack is the best form of defence, turning Wimbledon into “the official tennis” of his distillery.

Govt Covid-19 radio campaign insights to be revealed at The Future of Audio

The OmniGov team at Manning Gottlieb OMD will reveal key insights into the UK Government’s Covid-19 tiering system radio campaign at The Future of Audio next week.

Hanging on the telephone.

The trend for elaborate squad announcements continues with this stirring piece of work for the Football Association.

Jodie Marsh among first influencers on ASA ‘name and shame’ list for flouting ad rules

The Advertising Standards Authority is naming and shaming prominent influencers whose content has fallen foul of rules regarding promotional posts.

Ageism in adland… an age-old problem to address

The ‘All In’ Census has highlighted the problem.

The great return to the office experiment part II: Dentsu, MediaCom, AMV, Engine and more reveal their plans

Look towards September for realistic return-to-the-office plans, agency leaders say.

How are UK agency bosses reacting to lockdown lifting delay?

With a return to offices further delayed across the UK, how are company bosses feeling about the lockdown easing being postponed yet again?

Advertiser boycott of GB News is spineless stupidity

The channel, which was good enough to pass the stringent tests set by broadcasting regulators, has been deemed beneath the standards of corporate giants such as Ikea, which have pulled their on-air advertising

National Institute for Data Science and Office for National Statistics seek real-time data

The national statistics agency is joining forces with the Alan Turing Institute to produce better and faster estimates of changes to the economy.

BT Enterprise “All business. No drama” by Now

BT is promoting its ‘unbreakable’ business wi-fi services with a slapstick TV ad created by Now as part of a multichannel campaign.

The Ozone Project adds HELLO! to alliance 

Publisher-led advertising platform, The Ozone Project has revealed HELLO! is the latest partner to join its alliance in a move that will bolster the view of celebrity, culture and lifestyle content consumption.

Stella McCartney, Stella Artois, TfL: Everything that matters this morning

Marketing Week’s round-up of the news that matters in the marketing world each day.

Ad industry must do better and walk the talk on ESG

It’s time for adland to go beyond simply talking the talk when it comes to environmental, social and governance issues.

Big brands take their ads off GB News amid scrutiny over launch

The channel outperformed both Sky and BBC News on its launch evening.

Agency teams need diversity targets at every level for real change

MediaCom’s UK CEO explains how the media agency is setting targets for teams – not just across the business – as well as sponsoring Black and Asian talent.

Should adland fear or welcome the privatisation of Channel 4?

Government is reported to be considering a sale of the broadcaster sooner than expected.

The month in advertising: awards juries should embrace advertising’s raison d’être

All the big issues in adland this month…

Unilever, Rolls Royce, Premier League: Everything that matters this morning

Good morning and welcome to Marketing Week’s round-up of the news that matters in the marketing world today.

No vaccination mandates in adland: here are the holding companies’ vaccination policies

US companies can force employees to get vaccinated, according to legal experts. This begs the question: will agency holding companies issue a mandate requiring employees to receive a Covid-19 shot before returning to work? Here is what each of the five major holding companies had to say.

Global adspend to grow 19% in upgraded GroupM forecast

Global advertising will soar past pre-pandemic levels this year, GroupM’s mid-year forecast has found, driven by a surge in new companies building their businesses on digital media.

Father’s Day 2021

Dads come in all shapes, sizes, and guises. Send something special to yours this Father’s Day: https://send.royalmail.com/

Britain must put words into action over emissions, CBI warns

The director-general of the CBI has urged the government to put its green rhetoric into action so companies can reap the benefits of moving to net zero.

April’s most effective ad revealed: Walkers ‘CrispIN or CrispOUT’

Walkers is behind April’s most effective ad campaign, winning over the public by tapping into “unspoken behaviour” and scoring high on both long and short-term effectiveness measures, according to The Works study.

ASA to ‘monitor’ recent increase in children’s gambling ad exposure

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) says it will ‘monitor’ a rise in the number of gambling ads to which children are exposed after documenting an increase from 2.5 in 2019 to 2.8 in 2020.

Google Commits to Opening Up Its Ad Stack, Marketers Remain Skeptical

A recent ruling from France could trigger a chain of global antitrust charges.

Joyful Halifax ad anticipates end of lockdown with second phase of ‘It’s a people thing’

Absence of masks and social distancing is a deliberate move in work by NCA.

Target our pockets to make ad industry more diverse

“Hands up who isn’t here?”, like all not very funny jokes, needs a bit of explaining. It’s the supposedly mildly amusing phrase I use at the start of large meetings (or for the last 15 months of video calls) to work out who hasn’t yet joined, and figure out why.

Advertising Association: “Inclusion is actually for all of us”

Last week, the Advertising Association, ISBA, IPA, and Kantar revealed the results of UK advertising’s first industry-wide census focused on diversity and inclusion. The survey was delivered back in March following last year’s introduction of the Inclusion Working Group, which features representatives from Pearl & Dean, Saatchi & Saatchi, Channel 4, GSK, and Creative Equals, alongside the Advertising Association, ISBA, and IPA.