Advertising: A Key Engine for Growth
With 60% of UK jobs based outside of London and ad spend reaching £40bn, in times of tight budgets the advertising and marketing industry’s ability to drive growth and generate revenue for the Exchequer should not be under-estimated.
As the Government looks to all sectors to help leverage growth and prosperity across the nations and regions of the UK, the advertising industry is already playing a pivotal role in achieving these ambitions. Advertising’s economic and social contribution is key to the Government’s five missions – whether that is through driving innovation, generating revenue, or supporting vital public services.
An Economic Powerhouse for the Whole of the UK
The advertising supply chain – from production to agency to media output – has a far-reaching presence across the UK. Initiatives such as the ITV Academy in Salford helps funnel talent from all backgrounds to our living-rooms, while Channel 4’s headquarters in Leeds nurtures a long-term pipeline of talent to ensure that creative excellence is not just confined to London. Local journalism and creative output, from newspapers to commercial radio, is often only possible due to funding from advertising. Advertising businesses are increasingly investing around the country – with WPP’s 82,000-sqft campus in Manchester and VCCP’s Stoke Academy, which backs young people from Staffordshire, training them up ready for a creative career.
A Revenue Generator for Other Industries
Advertising’s economic impact extends far beyond its own sector, by providing vital funding for culture, sport and music venues – all components of a vibrant British society. On the ground, advertising funding is a major lifeline for grassroots sports, providing the platforms for our next Olympic and Paralympic heroes, and also celebrating these sporting events through great ads such as Aldi’s Kevin the Carrot by McCann Manchester (pictured above). Meanwhile, over three million SMEs use advertising – whether that’s your local hairdresser, coffee shop or florist – to connect with customers, support jobs and boost the economy.
The advertising and marketing sector offers a substantial contribution to the UK workforce, directly employing 780,000 people – much larger than other successful British industries like UK steel (34,000).
Creativity flourishes across the UK: Lloyds Bank’s iconic ad by agency adam&eveDDB was filmed in Beadnell Bay, Northumberland
A Force for Good in Society
Beyond the economic contribution, advertising can be harnessed to address societal challenges. When government is looking to achieve critical public health goals– such as persuading hard-to-reach communities to get their winter flu vaccine or encouraging cervical cancer screenings, our industry is the port of call to get this done. During two years of the Covid pandemic, online advertising alone generated 19 billion impressions and 95 million clicks to Government/NHS sites – helping to provide vital information and save lives. Charity spend on advertising has increased 44% to £611m from 2018-2023, reflecting the importance of our sector for the public good – whether that is the British Heart Foundation raising awareness of cardiac risk in the young or Cancer Research UK leveraging advertising to support fundraising.
A Global Leader in Creativity
One of the most-asked questions is how do you ‘export’ advertising?
Quite simply, advertising is like any other professional service. The difference is advertising finds ways of connecting people with their customers to help grow their businesses. We use a combination of creativity, strategy and technology to do this which is why advertising has a powerful role at the heart of our economy.
We are the second-largest exporter of advertising services in the world. In fact, advertising exports are worth eight times the value of UK TV exports and four times that of UK music exports. This success has been boosted by our work with Government on DBT-backed trade missions and we look forward to continuing this in the future.
Advertising is an industry like no other. It is one that sits within the professional services sector but also within the creative industries. It is growing year-on-year, receives no government subsidies, generates a large amount of tax revenue for Treasury and brings revenue that helps to fund jobs in fellow creative industries.
The statistics speak for themselves: our industry has been working hard to develop a long-term pipeline of regional talent to create the first-class creative outputs we see on the world stage. It also has a world-class self-regulatory system which ensures ads are legal, decent, honest, and truthful.
These facets can be harnessed by policymakers seeking to create a more innovative, inclusive and prosperous nation. The advertising industry is a powerful partner for Government as it sets out its industrial strategy and looks to secure the highest sustained growth in the G7.
If you would like to find out more about how advertising powers growth in your constituency, the Advertising Association will be hosting various events at the upcoming party conferences. Please get in touch with PGA@adassoc.org.uk for more information.
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