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.

AA President Keith Weed’s LEAD keynote speech

/ January 30th 2019 /
Public Trust in Advertising

London, January 30, 2019: Advertising Association President, Keith Weed, today delivered a keynote speech to 300 UK advertising industry leaders at King’s Place to close the industry’s annual summit. His theme of ‘Building a Sustainable Future for our industry’ called for a system change within the UK advertising industry to address the long-term decline in public trust of advertising.

It included the announcement of the publication of a white paper at the ISBA Annual Conference on March 5 which will set out, in detail, the key initiatives to be taken up by a cross-industry group made up of advertisers, agencies and media owners and led by the Advertising Association, the IPA and ISBA.

Keith Weed, President, Advertising Association, said: “Ultimately, advertising does good but with trust in decline, we risk it losing that positive influence. A brand without trust is simply a product and advertising without trust is just noise. The Advertising Association is pioneering a change to rebuild public trust in advertising but success requires collaboration from all industry players. It’s trust or bust and I choose trust.”

The keynote address covered Weed’s views for the long-term decline in public trust of advertising, referencing research from the UK advertising industry think tank, Credos, among others.

Key initiatives planned by the UK advertising industry include:

1. Reducing the negative impact of bombardment

2. Best Practice to address excessive frequency and retargeting

3. Raising awareness of self-regulation of advertising content

4. Raising awareness of effective regulation of data usage in advertising

5. Gathering industry-wide support advertising as a force for good

Stephen Woodford, Chief Executive, Advertising Association, said: “Trust is at the top of our agenda this year and in the years ahead. The time has come for a collective effort, a true system change, to ensure the long-term health and sustainability of our industry for future generations of creative talent.”