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.

I Can’t Fight This Feeling Anymore

/ November 15th 2019 / Matt Bourn

It’s Christmaaaas! Or more to the point, the Christmas Advertising season has well and truly arrived and so it is our opportunity to champion the brilliance of our industry. Here at the AA, we publish our forecast advertising expenditure, in partnership with WARC, for the final quarter of the year and that figure (£6.8b for 2019) is the hook for many media to ask us to speak about this annual phenomenon. That often means talking to radio presenters from across the UK, either via a studio where they’re patched in one after another, or doing them ad-hoc, where we rush to find a quiet space to talk about the latest crop of amazing creative work.

There are common themes in what we get asked. Are they really worth the millions of pounds that the companies spend on them? Haven’t they started even earlier this year? When did this Christmas advertising phenomenon start? What’s your favourite this year? What do you think of the John Lewis ad? And what’s your favourite of all time?

We start by putting some context to the spend. Christmas advertising, like all advertising spend, boosts the economy and creates jobs. All those extra Christmas shifts, supported by advertising spend. We are also witnessing the year’s biggest battle for consumers’ hearts and minds – it is the most competitive time of the year. And these campaigns pay back in multiples which is why we see advertisers returning year-after-year to appear on our TV screens, across newspapers, magazines, radio, out-of-home and in search and social channels.

But, it is also important to note just how spoilt we are in the UK by the sheer quality of this work – you don’t get this in other countries. The world’s best strategic and creative talent is involved in producing these mini-marvels which will most likely, once again, go on to win the world’s biggest awards, not just for creativity, but crucially, for effectiveness, hitting all the right notes of engagement to nurture brand loyalty and drive sales.

We also point out that these advertisements are admired around the world – our talent is lauded by international trading partners like China where we help them understand how UK advertising can support Chinese retailers to create their own Golden Gifting quarter.

By the way, they haven’t started earlier. This first two weeks of November is a thing that has been happening for a number of years now. The big ads drop day-by-day like a snowball gathering mass as it rolls towards the big day. Our research has shown many consumers see the beginning of Christmas as something intrinsically linked to when the seasonal advertising campaigns appear.

This year’s crop of ads are brilliant and personally I think they are more upbeat than previous years, seeking to entertain us, make us laugh and feel good. That might be our industry’s way of responding to the current events around us; maybe we don’t need to shed a tear this Christmas but instead want to feel positive and smile.

I highly recommend kicking back and watching as many of this year’s ads as you can to get you in the festive mood. Check out Edgar’s excitement (and some of the Game of Thrones’ inspired alternative endings out there), Kevin the Carrot’s homage to The Greatest Showman, Ikea’s spectacular grime-inspired ‘Fresh n Clean’ living room makeover, Mariah’s crisp-eating (or is that crisp-sucking?) and the awesome drumming from the daughter and Dad combo in Argos’s ‘Book of Dreams’.

After that little bundle of Christmas advertising cheer, you’ll be ready to write that letter to Santa.