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 4th 2022 / Matt Bourn
Industry News

 

Tech giants face being forced to pay for news

Google and Facebook would be forced to agree a price with newspapers for using their stories under new laws being drawn up by the government.

Revealed: Marketing’s strategic importance is on the rise

The 2022 Marketing Week Career and Salary Survey reveals marketing is becoming better appreciated for its strategic role in business, suggesting marketers’ contribution during the Covid crisis and wider effectiveness push is paying off.

What’s behind the ‘unprecedented’ Beijing Winter Olympics whiteout?

Global sponsors have been mostly silent leading up to the Games, but a flurry of China activity is predicted. Here’s a round-up of what we know so far.

WPP Appoints Simon Dingemans to the Board

Simon is a senior advisor at global investment firm The Carlyle Group, with a focus on the healthcare sector as well as investment opportunities in the UK.

Ex-Channel 4 chair Charles Gurassa moves to Guardian Media Group

Charles Gurassa has been chosen as chair of Guardian Media Group (GMG) Board by its sole shareholder The Scott Trust.

Lock and moan.

Three master criminals curse their luck in this stop-motion ad for VanMoof electric bikes. A master lock picker, a cyber security ‘expert’, and an international art thief have enough scores between them to make Danny Ocean blush. However, all the practice in the world could not prepare them for the Dutch brand’s anti-theft technology.

Influencing change, skills gaps, hiring priorities: 5 interesting stats from Salary Survey 2022

From the level of influence marketers have in their business, to the data skills gap and acceleration of restructures, the 2022 Marketing Week Career and Salary Survey reveals how teams and hiring priorities are evolving.

World Creative Rankings: the 200 most awarded ad campaigns of the last 12 months

The World Creative Rankings, in partnership with Twitch, is the definitive guide to advertising’s most creative brands, agencies and people. In the first in a two-week series of dives into this year’s data, here we reveal the 200 most awarded ad campaigns of 2021.

Is it time for Google to spin off its advertising business?

“Google is a company standing at the apex of power in media and advertising, earning revenue over $65bn per quarter, or $712m per day, almost all from advertising”, says one lawsuit against the company. But what would actually happen if regulators and governments forced Google to spin off its advertising business?

Engine CEO Ete Davies exits

Chief executive of Engine Creative joined from AnalogFolk London, where he was managing director, in 2019.

St Luke’s hires 65-year-old paid intern

Mark Denton joined the agency today.

Asahi CMO: Marketers should ‘shut up’ if they’ve got nothing to say on sustainability

Marketers from Asahi, Danone and Credit Suisse agree that overly long-term goals and talking rather than taking action can do more harm than good.

Halifax Celebrates Local Community In New Ad

Created by New Commercial Arts, the campaign focuses on a bench outside a Halifax branch.

How This Agency “Chilinnovated” a 15-Gallon Keg of Cheese For Your Super Bowl Party

BBDO Minneapolis explain how they created a giant Hormel Chili Cheese Keg which will make one lucky fan a “Super Bowl of snacking” hero, writes Ben Conway.

Create single body to tackle plague of fraud, MPs say

Scammers are acting with “impunity” because law enforcement does not take fraud seriously, a committee of MPs has said.

Google owner Alphabet thrives on advertising

Profits and revenue at Google rose by a third in another record quarter as the search engine continued to capitalise on the global boom in digital advertising.

Back to the office (again): is it time to ‘live with Covid’?

Adland is navigating a return to office life following the lifting of the work from home instruction by the government.

Nabs’ guide to surviving and thriving in 2022

Find out what’s strong with you and what’s strong with your teams, and you’ll soon find the resilience we all need to support our wellbeing this year.

Watch the 5 most-awarded ads of the last 12 months

The Drum’s World Creative Rankings report is a one-of-a-kind list celebrating the most-awarded global brands, agencies and individuals that have pushed creative boundaries in the last 12 months.

‘Pulling ad spend isn’t sensible’: media buyers on Spotify’s Joe Rogan controversy

Spotify’s content moderation policies were called into question this week as artists pulled music from the service over its decision to back podcaster Joe Rogan. With #DeleteSpotify trending, advertisers are now also being put under the spotlight. Media buyers weigh in on the potential fall out.

Cleancult: “Thou Shall Not Clean Dirty” 

Extreme environmentalists can feel cultish at times, whether demonstrating a slavish devotion to compost or attempting to cycle unrealistic distances for the planet. Zero-waste brand Cleancult turns that image to its advantage with this new campaign, which offers a look at a white-clad literal cult of clean.

‘A special place in UK culture’: BBC celebrates its centenary

With 2022 marking the BBC’s 100th year in operation, the broadcaster has begun its centenary celebrations, with a film demonstrating the special place the BBC holds at the heart of UK culture.

A third of brands hit by data and analytics skills gap

With a third of marketers saying their business is looking to fill a data and analytics skills gap, brands are prioritising external hires over upskilling existing staff.

Quarter of BAME consumers see ‘no improvement’ in advertising’s portrayal of diverse groups

New research from the ASA identifies three broad potential harms that could arise from adverse portrayals of race and ethnicity in advertising.

 IAB Europe falls foul to GDPR, advertisers may have to destroy data

The pop-up legal forms reportedly used by 80% of Europe’s internet to acquire tracking consent from users have fallen foul of the very GDPR rules they were designed to follow. This means far-reaching implications for advertisers, web users and publishers.

IAB Europe fined over GDPR ‘consent spam’

A leading European data authority has ruled IAB Europe’s consent framework breaks GDPR Rules and has imposed sanctions, including a fine.

VCCP flies higher into metaverse with opening of Roblox office

VCCP has continued its metaverse expansion and opened its latest office on Roblox, the gaming and social platform.

Batman crashes into gigantic Oreo in poster stunt

Oreo is celebrating the upcoming release of The Batman with an out-of-home special build featuring a batarang slicing through a giant cookie.

Back from the brink.

Under Armour: “The Only Way is Through”.

Watch Bud’s epic Super Bowl ad now: ‘A Clydesdale’s Journey’

Budweiser has unveiled its full-length Super Bowl spot after dropping two separate teasers within the last two weeks. Titled ‘A Clydesdale’s Journey,’ the ad follows the story of the brand’s iconic mascot recovering after a devastating injury.

Facebook owner Meta sees biggest ever stock market loss

Facebook’s owner Meta Platforms saw its stock market value slump by more than $230bn (£169bn) on Thursday, in a record daily loss for a US firm.

Hotel Chocolat’s catalogue revealed as most effective Christmas direct mail

The chocolatier’s catalogue scored in the top 2% of all UK ads on persuasiveness, while also proving its ability to drive long-term brand building, according to the latest data from Kantar.

Zaid Al-Qassab: We need to talk about depression

Nearly one in five adults in the UK experiences depression and Channel 4’s Zaid Al-Qassab should know – because he is one of them.

Salary Survey 2022: Brands scramble to solve data skills gap

Companies are prioritising external hires to bridge the data skills gap, with a third of marketers describing data and analytics talent as a recruitment priority. But are brands adopting the right strategies?

Kate Winslet and Helen Mirren deliver raw monologues on self-esteem for L’Oréal Paris

Each ‘Lessons of worth’ film has a L’Oréal ambassador examine the brand’s ‘I’m worth it’ phrase from their own perspective.

Unilever marketing and digital chief Conny Braams crowned WFA Global Marketer of the Year

Unilever’s chief digital and marketing officer Conny Braams has been named Global Marketer of the year for 2021 by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).

Curls just wanna have fun.

Old Spice: “Curls Are Cool”.