Annual Review 2019: Stephen Woodford – A New Mission For A New Era

Stephen Woodford, Chief Executive, Advertising Association

The AA’s last three-year plan – Further, Wider, Deeper – ended in 2019 and we met many of the aims we had set out to do in our mission to represent our members and be the voice of UK advertising at a national, and increasingly international, level.

Since 2017, we have increased our engagement with the Government and our industry across areas such as public trust, Brexit, HFSS advertising and obesity, domestic and international talent, data and e-privacy, gambling advertising, digital regulation, support for the ASA and self- regulation and promotion of the UK’s booming advertising exports.

But with a new year in 2020 comes a new strategy to lead us forward into the coming three years. The leadership from all our members has been closely involved with its development and it has their whole-hearted support. Our goals for the next three years fall under three broad areas: Responsibility – providing leadership and guidance on what standards are expected of UK advertising; Trust – rebuilding public trust in UK advertising; and Growth – advertising as a key driver of competition, innovation and growth.

To deliver on our Responsibility, Trust and Growth agenda, we believe it is now time to refresh our mission and adopt a phrase that focuses on the importance of our new strategic goals: To promote the role and rights of responsible advertising and its value to people, society, businesses and the economy.

This new statement reflects the centrality of our Responsibility, Trust and Growth agendas. Responsible advertising achieves its purpose of growing businesses and the economy by better serving people and society. At the heart of this is rebuilding and maintaining Trust in advertising. It must also be sustainable and we all have a role to demonstrate how this can be compatible with growth.

This new mission provides a strong platform for leadership and guidance around our priority areas. Alongside stronger ‘responsibility’ advocacy, we must also defend the right to commercial free speech and to advertise responsibly.

We believe this new mission and three-year plan will strengthen advertising as one of the key drivers of sustainable growth and prosperity for the UK and we thank all our members for shaping this plan and delivering it in the future.