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The Front Foot Scotland group met yesterday at STV in Glasgow. The sun shone (apparently it is always like that in Glasgow!) and we had a marvellous view from the meeting room which overlooked the Clyde.
STV’s new Chief Executive, Simon Pitts, gave the welcome, stressing the importance of having a group that brings together the constituent parts of the advertising industry in Scotland around common objectives.
Led by Brian Coane from The Leith Agency, Front Foot Scotland’s Chairman, we discussed all that had been achieved in the last two years with the Scottish Front Foot programme, with the Credos Advertising Pays 5 report having delivered for the first time an authoritative account of the contribution that Scottish advertising makes to the Scottish economy, culture and jobs. We had significantly raised awareness among MSPs and Scottish opinion formers by communicating this via the ‘Nae Bad for an Ad’ campaign.
We discussed the wider political landscape at Holyrood and Westminster, acknowledging the regulatory challenges on food and alcohol advertising and how the industry must play a part in the wider solutions to the societal problems of obesity and alcohol harms in Scotland and the wider UK.
We had a vibrant discussion about the industry’s plans for a pilot scheme aimed at encouraging SMEs to go for growth through multi-channel advertising campaigns. The Scottish working group is up and running and plans are advancing to find the first SMEs for the pilot, which we will be launching at a reception in Edinburgh with the Business Minister, Paul Wheelhouse MSP on 6 June.
Please get in touch with David if you are interested in attending.
Wednesday saw the latest meeting of the Promote UK working group. Promote UK is a group that was formed by the AA in March to further position the UK as the top global hub and centre of excellence for advertising. The meeting looked at the positive recent economic news from the UK ad industry, such as record export figures, and the latest highly encouraging AA/WARC adspend stats.
There was also discussion of the opportunities that China holds for UK advertising to further grow on a global scale, as shown by the recent signing of the MoU between Chinese tech giant Tencent and the UK (represented by DIT Secretary of State Rt Hon Liam Fox MP), as well as AA Chair James Murphy and Janet Hull of the IPA’s recent presentation at the Shanghai International Advertising Festival.
The group also spoke about the upcoming launch of the Createch event in June (see more in the Events section) and how this can further boost the UK’s already high standing on the global ad stage. Watch this space for more exciting news from the Promote UK group!
Channel 4 also announced on Wednesday that its Diversity in Advertising Award for 2018 will focus on the portrayal of women in advertising. The award scheme is a commitment to help improve diversity in advertising each year until 2020 and offers £1m of commercial airtime to the winning creative idea.
This year, it is inviting brands and creative agencies to develop a campaign exploring both the proportion of representation and how women are represented in adverts. The launch event included Shadow Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, Dawn Butler MP and included a presentation by Leila Siddiqi, Head of Diversity IPA and Lindsey Clay, CEO Thinkbox.
The deadline for this year’s entries is 9 July and a shortlist will be announced on 17 July. Finalists will pitch their ideas to a judging panel chaired by Channel 4 CCO Jonathan Allan, and including among others Claire Beale, Global Editor-in-Chief, Campaign; Dan Brooke, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Channel 4; and our very own Karen Fraser, Director of advertising’s think tank, Credos.
The winner will be announced in September and the campaign will be on air in early 2019. Read more on how to enter here.
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