The UK’s advertising sector and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) will join forces to showcase the global strengths of UK advertising as the world’s creative leaders gather at Cannes LIONS from June 19 – 23.
The partnership is led by a campaign and two trade missions to help companies take their business global from across the sector, with businesses offering services ranging from creative, e-commerce, B2B, AdTech, production, social, media, immersive, events, and sports marketing.
Companies are invited to join the trade missions, whether they are scaling quickly or just beginning to test the waters for international growth. The UK Advertising Exports Group (UKAEG) is providing the first trade mission for businesses to expand their international client rosters. UKAEG is working with partners such as the American Advertising Federation, The Marketing Society and Campaign to host several exclusive networking events during LIONS including roundtables, meet-ups, plus the GREAT global dinner to facilitate global conversations on the future of the creative economy with UK industry leaders.
Additionally for 2023, UKAEG and DBT have announced a second trade mission designed primarily for businesses who have not visited Cannes LIONS before, to provide support and guidance on how to get the best results from the world’s biggest festival of creativity.
A dedicated campaign will run in support showing how UK advertising is setting the standard for the global creative economy and the results it can deliver. It has been developed by the GREAT Global Trade campaign in association with UKAEG and will be supported online across DBT and industry channels as well as on-the-ground during the festival.
The UK Advertising @ Cannes LIONS campaign is backed by industry partners including the Advertising Association, Clear Channel UK, TikTok, BENlabs, UKAEG and DBT.
The collaboration between UKAEG and DBT is part of a wider initiative to ensure the UK advertising industry is at the cutting edge of global advertising innovation as it prepares to secure the next decade of growth for the sector. Cannes Lions comes following UKAEG’s biggest trade mission yet at SXSW in Austin, Texas. For the first time UKAEG and DBT collaborated on a campaign which specifically targeted North America and showcased the work of UKAEG members to tell the story that the UK is a creative hub for advertising, creativity and innovation.
Applications to join the trade missions are open until Tuesday, May 30th – for more information visit the UKAEG’s dedicated Cannes Lions website hub.
Stephen Woodford, CEO, Advertising Association, said: “As the UK representative for Cannes Lions, we are proud to be launching this trade mission, which is another example of the fantastic partnership we have with our DBT and our industry supporters. Cannes Lions is one of the best places to do business internationally as we prepare to secure the next decade of our industry’s export growth, following our record exports figures from 2021. We want our industry to be represented in the most creatively effective, innovative and sustainable way possible.”
In April, the latest release of data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) showed that the UK exported £15bn in advertising and market research services in 2021. The figures highlighted a strong rebound from 2020 and represented a 32.5 per cent increase in year-on-year growth – the highest seen since industry thnk tank Credos began tracking export figures in 2018. The new figures brought export value back in line with the industry’s pre-COVID trajectory, making the UK second only to the USA for exports worldwide.
