Glamorous: Betty and Don Draper in TV drama Mad Men about American advertising executives
Think of Britain’s most iconic adverts and a gorilla drumming for Cadbury or Diageo’s surfers and horses might be the first thing that comes to mind. These famous TV commercials are part of a rich heritage that saw the so-called Medialand in the heart of London become a world-famous hub in the 1980s and 1990s.
New York’s Madison Avenue advertising executives first dubbed themselves the “Mad Men” which gave rise to the American TV drama of the same name. But the UK’s own ‘Mad Men’ are still thriving in an increasingly competitive – and online – global stage. And they help boost the country’s exports to boot.
Foreign groups spent a record £15bn on UK advertising and related services in 2021, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics analyzed by the think tank Credos. This is already well above the £11 billion recorded in 2019 before the pandemic rocked the business world.
Ministers praised the sector, with Trade and Trade Minister Kemi Badenoch praising it as ‘one of the UK’s strongest exports’. Badenoch said the record numbers will provide a “major boost” to government targets of selling £1 trillion worth of goods and services to the rest of the world a year by the end of the decade.
Mark Read, CEO of the world’s largest advertising agency WPP, says: ‘British advertising has long had an outrageous impact on the world stage and the demand for our creativity and skills from international clients has never been greater.’
Madison Avenue has been the global advertising center and was brought to life in the TV show by main characters Don Draper, Roger Sterling and Peggy Olson.
But the shine of New York’s ad agencies isn’t quite as strong as it used to be and big American brands are instead tapping creative minds in Britain.
America is the largest spender of ‘advertising and market research services’ in the UK at £3.9 billion. Picking up US clients Cadbury – once British owned but now part of US giant Mondelez – and PepsiCo’s Walkers helped independent London-based VCCP take over Britain’s largest advertising agency.
American companies spend on advertising services in different ways. Maybe they’re just paying a UK group to make ads for the UK. But an increasing boost to exports is when a US brand is looking for a global campaign that can be used here, in the US and around the world – with a new voiceover and a spelling change, for example by adding a Replace ‘s’ with a ‘z’ in America.
VCCP, which has opened offices in New York, was given the global bill in 2021 for US alcoholic fizzy drink White Claw, which only launched in 2016 and has generated revenue growth of £3.2 billion a year in the Americas alone.
The ads, from London director Sam Brown, show a surfer negotiating a crowd of beach lovers fleeing a storm so he can find the perfect wave. The agency’s co-founder, Adrian Coleman, explained why people like White Claw choose ads made in Britain.
He said: ‘The UK is known for its support for the underdog, for its love of irreverence and individualism.
Crisp product: Gary Lineker advertising Walkers chips; the surreal gorilla ad for Cadbury; and the Guinness commercials for surfers and horses
“These are key ingredients for successful challenger brands and we believe they help export British creativity.” Charles Vallance, who co-founded VCCP with Coleman in 2002, added: “Every company has to constantly reinvent itself in order not to be caught up.
“If you act like an incumbent, the challenger brand behind you will soon be ahead of you.”
Brands seem to agree. Last year, VCCP won 37 new accounts, including those from Tex-Mex-style food maker Old El Paso, animal welfare organization Dogs Trust, and Thames Water.
It just launched a new ad for Tango – a modern take on the Tango’d ads from the 1990s.
A police raid on a Breaking Bad-style “Tango Dark Berry lab” leaves an officer “all Tango’d” after tasting a drop of the soda.
Last year, VCCP increased billing by 34 percent year-on-year to £483 million – £100 million more than closest rivals, according to the industry bible Campaign’s latest annual report.
Disruptors: Charles Vallance and Adrian Coleman at VCCP
It took over first place from Adam & Eve, who dropped to fourth. Saatchi & Saatchi, which partners with Toyota, Visa Europe and American travel company Expedia, and McCann UK came in second and third.
While America is by far the largest foreign market for the UK advertising business, Germany follows with £1.36 billion a year, and Ireland comes in third with £894 million a year. Advertising bosses have ambitious goals to reach more countries, especially after the UK became the first European country to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the trade bloc that spans 11 Pacific states with a population of 500 million.
Alice Enders of Enders Analysis said that the fact that English is such a global language will always keep the UK at the forefront.
She added: “There is also a pool of well-educated young people who have the right skills.”
But Enders stressed that the data is more complicated than it first appears, as the Office for National Statistics does not provide a detailed breakdown. In addition to direct advertising sales, it also includes conferences and events, making it more difficult to measure the impact of specific parts of the industry.
It should also be noted that the UK imports advertising services, but at £12bn a year this is an annual net profit of £3bn.
UK exports are expected to continue to grow by a third every year.
And the strength of the UK’s wider creative industries, such as video games, a major new platform, is enabling the country to keep up with the shift from traditional TV advertising to digital marketing.
Sir Martin Sorrell, the founder and long-time boss of WPP who now heads digital media-focused advertising group S4 Capital, describes advertising as ‘one of the great British success stories, one of our top sectors’.
He said, “It’s simple, all the great creative minds are here.”
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