Advertising the benefits of the changing advertising sector

Comment John Mclellan

Some 42,000 people in Scotland rely on advertising for their livelihoods, according to the Advertising Association Scotland’s Advertising Pays Scotland economic impact study.

It showed that £1.7 billion was spent on advertising in Scotland in 2015, which generated some £8.8bn for the Scottish economy, 6 per cent of the total.

Six months on from the report’s publication, advertising and media executives will gather today at the Whitespace agency in Edinburgh to discuss if the message of advertising’s importance to Scottish life is getting through to decision-makers. They will plot the next phase of the campaign to raise awareness of the industry’s contribution; advertising advertising, if you like.

As advertising spending continues to rise, agencies are in the fortunate position of being almost immune to changes in the way people consume media if they keep pace with technological development, and the industry remains at the heart of the creative sector.

The internet and mobile technology have totally revolutionised commercial messaging, with almost half (£714 million) of the total advertising spending going to the internet two years ago, an impossibility as recently as 2000. Video is at the heart of the revolution, so advertising is still a launchpad for the next generation of movie giants like Alan Parker (remember Leonard Rossiter spilling Cinzano on Joan Collins?) and Ridley Scott (Hovis).

In 2016, total UK ad spend went up 3.7 per cent, but digital rose by nearly 14 per cent. According to WPP subsidiary Group M, total growth in 2017 will be around 4 per cent and all of it down to expansion of “pure digital” – advertising not tied to traditional publishers and broadcasters.

For publishers it’s the reverse, increasingly reliant on paid-for pure content not tied to traditional advertising. Historically, only national tabloids generated most of their income from circulation, to the extent that editors threw out ads when they didn’t like the look of them. Broadsheets relied on premium advertising, so last week’s Guardian news that subscription and donation revenue had outstripped advertising for the first time is a pivotal moment.

Regional editorial departments kept their distance from their advertising colleagues, despite the obvious link between advertising revenue and their salaries. The prevailing view was that editorial provided the platform and the audience without which advertising wouldn’t exist, despite the fact sales shot up on the days when the big classified platforms appeared.

The truth was that newspaper content and advertising went hand in glove and still do, but the need for strong content has never been greater. But letting people know about it needs, er, advertising. ● John Mclellan is director of the Scottish Newspaper Society and a City of Edinburgh Conservative councillor