advertising matters 22.03.19

This week, Advertising Week Europe has been the only game in town, and the AA has been busy representing the industry throughout the event. Each day we’ve been looking at a different theme from across our key campaigns this year. Read more in our blow-by-blow account below!

Monday: timeTo – where do you draw the line?

On the first day of Ad Week Europe, our Chief Executive Stephen Woodford took part in a event focusing on one of the most crucial campaigns in our industry today – the timeTo movement to end sexual harassment in advertising.

Other panel members included Kerry Glazer, CEO of AAR; Pippa Glucklich, VP of WACL; Lorraine Jennings from NABS and Helen Calcraft, Founder of Lucky Generals. The speakers talked about the origins of the campaign, outlined research into the extent of sexual harassment in the industry that was conducted by advertising’s think tank Credos, and showed examples of the adverts and other creative materials from the public timeTo campaign. They finally asked for more businesses to join the movement and sign up to the Code of Conduct on behaviour in the industry.

Read more on the event here and find out more on timeTo here.

Tuesday: Exports on the up!

On Tuesday morning, we launched our UK Advertising Exports Report 2019 – the industry’s first-ever annual exports tracker – a Leadership Breakfast at the iconic Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.

Industry professionals were there in force to hear stats within the report, which include a finding that international trade in UK advertising services reached £6.9 billion in 2017. This is an 18% increase on the figure of £5.8bn registered in 2016, outstripping overall UK service exports which grew by 7% in comparison.

The expert speakers for this session included AA Exports Champion James Murphy, Promote UK Chair Janet Hull, Director of Credos, Karen Fraser MBE, Worldwide CEO of M&C Saatchi Moray MacLennan and Sir William Sargent CBE, CEO of Framestore.

The publication of the report formed a key part of our industry’s first ever Export Month, organised by the Promote UK group and in partnership with the Department for International Trade and the IPA, to support the UK’s role as a global hub for advertising. Other Export Month activities this month have included trade missions to SHIAF, SXSW and Tokyo.

The launch of the Exports Report has been covered widely in the media, including a standout piece in the Evening Standard, Marketing Week, Little Black Book and City A.M. To read the full release and request a copy of the report head over to our website here.

Wednesday: Britain’s got ad talent!

The advertising industry is taking steps to mitigate challenges around talent, both homegrown and international. Brexit has also brought a sharper focus on the need for the industry to develop its domestic talent, and it was this issue that was the subject of an expert panel at a joint AA and Microsoft Luncheon on Wednesday.

Ad Week Chief Executive Matt Scheckner kicked off the session with a discussion of the partnership between Ad Week Europe, Microsoft and the AA, before Stephen Woodford took to the stage to state that scaling up efforts to open industry to a more diverse talent base is vital if we are to remain the hub for advertising excellence globally.

Next, the panel, which was headed by Ravleen Beeston, Head of Sales for Bing Ads, and made up of Karen Fraser, Director of Credos, Alex Goat, CEO of Livity and Su-Mei Thompson, Chief Executive of MediaTrust, began discussing the extent to which the industry can measure the issue of talent. The panel then went on to highlight existing programmes and discuss the ambitions and the essential role our industry must make to invest in a more diverse domestic workforce.

Following the panel and bringing the lunch to a close, members of the audience asked a series of questions, which reaffirmed the belief that collaboration is absolutely key.

To read a more detailed account of the luncheon, head over to our write-up here.

Thursday: All Brexits covered

Unsurprisingly, Brexit has been a key talking point at Ad Week Europe, given the far-reaching implications of Brexit on our industry, and the shenanigans at Westminster this week.

Our discussions have focused on the practicalities of ensuring the UK’s continued success post-Brexit, and this was evident at a panel on the creative sector’s response to Brexit held by The Drum at its Drum Arms pop-up space on Thursday.

An expert line-up of speakers consisting of representatives from agencies, media organisations and trade bodies, including Stephen Woodford, discussed everything from why we should be aiming for a ‘Buccaneering Brexit’ to the most likely outcomes of any potential exit from the EU.

The ‘Brexit – what’s next?’ panel was covered in The Drum here. To read our write-up on the session click here.

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