ISBA - The Voice of British Advertisers

ISBA members understand that the freedom to advertise responsibly is a crucial element of a healthy economy.   By informing, educating and enriching our society advertising adds to the quality of life.  A vocal minority disputes this view and governments and regulators are increasingly put under pressure to impose restrictions that are both unjustified and disproportionate. 

ISBA represents the collective voice of responsible British advertisers and works hard to sustain a robust self-regulatory framework to protect advertising freedoms.

ISBA is the voice of British advertisers.  What does that mean? Quite simply, ISBA is the only body focused single-mindedly on protecting, and leveraging the collective interests of Britain’s advertisers across their marketing communications.

We have 431 of the UK’s foremost advertisers, from all industry sectors, in membership representing in the region of  £10billion in marcomms spend.

On behalf of more than 400 of Britain’s foremost advertisers - and with over 60 chairmen, MD’s and Marketing Directors from our member companies shaping our agenda – ISBA sits right at the heart of the UK advertising industry.  ISBA represents members on more than 20 industry committees including bodies that cover advertising codes of practice, media measurement, pre-clearance and other decision making bodies.

ISBA understands the media landscape with single-minded focus on the advertiser’s interest within it.  Recognising that the lion’s share of a marketer’s budget goes on exposure in the media and that the arena is becoming ever more complex, we provide whatever information and help they may need.

Our in-house experts, with fifty years' experience in media and regulation, work to ensure optimum conditions and costs savings for members.  

As a result of pressure from ISBA, the Contract Rights Renewal mechanism (CRR) has saved advertisers an estimated £2bn since 2003.  The recently announced OFCOM review puts this firmly back on the agenda.

In addition to CRR there are further issues on our agenda spanning all media covering threats to online advertising, media ownership, trading, measurement, verification and trading which deliver cost savings or increased efficiencies to advertisers.

Many of our members receive great value by sharing experiences and expertise through one, or more, of ISBA’s action groups.  The action groups include TV, Radio, Print/Outdoor, Digital, Direct Marketing & Sales Promotion, Sponsorship, Sustainability and Public & Regulatory Affairs.  Chaired by senior people within member companies – these groups are a core part of ISBA and set ISBA’s policy on all issues.  We welcome representation from all our members on these groups.

Through our regular industry briefing sessions members are kept informed of key changes within the industry.  Our expert speakers brief members on important issues of the day – most recently DEFRA’s Green Claims Code, the ramifications of the EU E-Privacy Directive and the new Bribery Act plus our very successful mobile and digital teach-in session. 

You will provide your teams with access to a range of services and resources to get the most out of your marketing communications. ISBA provides members with extensive support and guidance on any matter relating to marketing communications.  Our comprehensive service is a confidential resource highly valued by members.  With an extensive knowledge-pool of best practice and expert guidance, we handled over 2500 projects for members last year – including full agency search and selection advice, access to template contracts and benchmarking data.  ISBA’s consultancy team continuously strives to push best practice learning back to our members with best practice member sharing sessions and by publishing best practice guidance notes. We have added to our 50 strong suite of guidance notes, publishing new guides to social media, mobile marketing, digital measurement and integrated marketing communications. 

Through COMPAG (Communications and Marketing Procurement Action Group), our specialist group for procurement professionals members have access to a unique support network that develops and shapes the marcoms procurement function.  Members learn from each other by discussing the challenges they face; a recent survey has shown that as a result 43% of COMPAG members had introduced new initiatives into their organisation.  ISBA launched its innovative quarterly networking forums aimed at brand & marketing managers in early 2011.  These events give members the opportunity to meet, share and learn in the company of their industry peers. Photos of COMPAG and other ISBA Action Groups can be found on our Google+ page: gplus.to/isba

Members can obtain free advice from Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP, a European law firm, based in the City of London, comprising some 142 partners and over 240 lawyers. It offers all the services one would expect of a City firm. In particular, it has a specialist promotions, marketing and sponsorship law group and offers a fully integrated intellectual property and trade mark agency service.

Lewis Silkin also offers free legal advice to members in relation to the ISBA’s Digital Services Contract.

ISBA runs a series of two-hour CPD-accredited seminars for in-house lawyers and marketers who need to keep up-to-date with changes in advertising and consumer legislation.

A core part of our role is about enhancing our members’ ability to do their job.  Our comprehensive calendar of over 45 CPD accredited training courses delivers the skills in every aspect of marketing communications in which they and their teams need to excel.  In addition they can take advantage of our member only bespoke in-house training.

“ISBA membership enables me to access the latest thinking and developments in marcomms. Benchmarking data and networking opportunities really adds value.” Jon Eggleton, Marketing Director, United Biscuits

“The environment in which we all operate is changing radically, on an almost day-to-day basis, and it is vital that we keep on top of new trends. ISBA training courses enable marketers to do just that. Run by first-rate, industry leading facilitators, the content of these interactive workshops is both topical and relevant to our workplace.”   Sara Bennison, Director of Marketing Communications, Barclays Bank Plc 

“Being a member of ISBA is a fantastic way to become connected to a community of experts, passionate about marketing effectiveness and best practice.”  Pete Markey, Chief Marketing Officer, RSA Insurance Group

"Kimberly Clark joined ISBA this year to ensure that we could influence policy and understand the changing  regulatory landscape first hand.  In addition, a number of the team are active members of the action groups to further their development and receive early warning of the threats.” Jon White, Marketing Director, Kimberly Clark

How much is ISBA membership?