See ISBA President Elizabeth Fagan's opening speech at the ISBA Annual Lunch:
"A brand and an organisation that is over a century old affirms that there is a defined important and relevant role for ISBA in today’s society. If anything, the need for ISBA to truly represent advertisers has never been greater.
When ISBA was formed back in 1900, advertisers were dissatisfied with the information they were being given by the newspaper publishers.
They wanted to know just how many people were actually buying the paper not simply how many were being printed.
As the budget holders for advertising it was the brands themselves that could bring about change and shape accountability in a burgeoning and hugely important industry.
Advertisers held the publishers to account and this new form of measurement went on to form the basis of what is now the Audit Bureau of Circulation or ABC.
Fast forward to 2019 and many of the challenges are similar if not bigger given the global nature of our communication industry.
ISBA continues to be at the forefront ensuring that the industry Is held to account by the advertisers who spend the money.
We constructively challenge all comers to ensure we are provided with an appropriate advertising environment for our long-nurtured brands; one where audiences can be planned and reported confidently, where regulation is effective and where our partners can be relied upon to act with a genuine sense of responsibility.
But never before have marketers been operating in such a volatile environment. So not only are we dealing with the exponential increase in the speed of technological change and the challenges that brings in terms of measurement and control but we are also dealing with political and economic uncertainty; something our speaker Tim Shipman will be exploring with us later.
As well and maybe because of these many factors recent Credos research showed that public trust in advertising has hit a record low. Favourability has almost halved since 48% in 1992.
So we are facing big issues within our industry and we have to take action. It is after all advertisers money that is being invested.
As marketers we have a duty to identify and tackle these issues we are working with partners to both facilitate and demand the change required.
To do this we are working with our agency partners, other trade bodies and the media and digital platforms.
Our work on trust with the IPA and the Advertising Association is one example of how we are collaborating to tackle this critical issue.
I believe ISBA has never been more relevant and there has never been a more important time for us to come together with one voice. Lets work together to ensure our voice is clear, concise, pragmatic, collaborative, informed and most of all heard.
Thank you again for your support. Enjoy your lunch.
This lunch wouldn’t be possible without our sponsors Comscore who are supporting us for the second year running."