The CEO of the Advertising Association, Stephen Woodford, has expressed optimism about collaborating with the new, incoming Labour government to drive “sustainable growth across the UK’s regions and nations”.

As a result, he advocates for maintaining the UK’s leadership in the data-driven economy through regulatory certainty and robust support for the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

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Additionally, Woodford has also called for educational and skills policy reforms to ensure the industry has access to top creative and digital talent, “essential for sustaining success and expanding jobs and investment”.

He stated: “UK advertising is big business, a £36bn powerhouse industry which is growing year on year, delivering investment and jobs up and down the UK – from Bristol to Manchester, Leeds to Edinburgh. In 2023, our services exports grew 15% to reach £18 billion across key markets in Europe, Asia, and North America, highlighting our world leading creativity.

“Advertising plays an important societal role too. Recent examples of this include raising awareness of the need to register to vote, increasing vaccination uptake across hard-to-reach communities, raising awareness of mental health issues, encouraging behaviour changes around areas such as food waste reduction, and providing vital funding to culture, media and sport.”

He concluded: “As we wait for the new Prime Minister to meet the King and ask permission to form the next government, we congratulate the Labour team on the election result.

“As one of the UK’s top growth industries and service exporters, we look forward to working with the Prime Minister and his Cabinet to help deliver sustainable growth across the UK’s nations and regions.”