New CAN Members
This year we welcomed Little Moons, UK Stop Ad Funded Crime Group (UKSAFC), VeraViews, giffgaff, Responsible Marketing Agency, Bulla Co, and PMG as CAN members.
By joining CAN, they’ve made a commitment to creating a healthier media landscape through conscious advertising, led by our 7 Manifestos. We’re thrilled to have these new members on board and look forward to further collaboration with them over the next year.
This year’s key takeaways were:
- 73% gained an understanding of navigating ethical issues in advertising
- 62% joined CAN to learn more about how to advertise ethically and consciously
CAN at VideoWeek
We were delighted for Marsha Jackson (CAN’s Project Director) to moderate a discussion at VideoWeek’s New Video Frontiers event which focused on the current state of inclusion across the media and advertising industry. Joining her on the panel was Chris Dunne (Outvertising), Elizabeth Anyaegbuna (16×9 Media), and Ryan Afshar (LG Ad Solutions). The panel explored the importance of viewing inclusion through the lens of intersectionality, and celebrated industry initiatives that are working hard to improve the opportunities for underrepresented talent.
CAN at RISE 2024
CAN attended Creative Equals’ RISE event which covered how to drive inclusion and social impact throughout the marketing chain. CAN co-founder, Jake Dubbins presented an ignite talk on the environmental and social impact of AI’s double edge sword. Jakes thoughts were also featured in Creative Equals RISE Trend Report by Creativebrief (flick to page 30!)
CAN at Advertising Week Europe
CAN co-founder, Jake Dubbins attended this year’s #AdweekEurope2024 to take part in a panel discussing “Why We Must Stop Advertising-Funded Trolling”. A 2022 UK study found that 36% of people have said they’ve been victims of trolling, the panel explored how the ad industry can ensure it’s not funding hate.
You can learn more about CAN’s guidance on this by reading our Hate Speech manifesto.
The Cost of Confusion Report
We teamed up with CAN member dentsu to create The Cost of Confusion Report which explores the impact climate misinformation has on public perception, corporate trust, and policy support in the UK. Climate communication has been a huge topic for us this year, and we’ll continue to encourage the advertising industry to acknowledge the role they play in combating this issue.
Find out more on our blog piece.
United Nations Global Principles for Information Integrity
CAN was incredibly proud to be part of the consultation process for the UN’s Global Principles for Information Integrity. With the rise in technological advances and the speed at which information can be accessed online, we are seeing an increase in the spread of mis/disinformation and hate speech.
To find out more about the principles and what you can do as an advertiser, head here.
CAN at Cannes Lions
Our Cannes Lions experience was an extraordinary mix of impactful panels, thought-provoking discussions, and meaningful networking, where we highlighted the critical role of conscious advertising in today’s evolving digital landscape. From tackling AI-driven misinformation and climate concerns to building powerful new partnerships, this week reinforced our mission to drive positive change while setting the stage for even bigger waves next year. Explore our Cannes Lions Unpacked blog post to see everything we got up to here.
Children’s Rights & Wellbeing Manifesto Relaunch at MAD//Fest
In the summer we relaunched our Children’s Rights & Wellbeing Manifesto to help advertisers prioritise children’s consent, agency, and privacy. Based on 6 guiding principles, the relaunch of the manifesto is here to help protect not only children’s rights, but to protect them from online harms.
As part of the relaunch, CAN co-founder Jake Dubbins attended MAD//FEST and moderated a panel discussion titled: “Everyone’s Web: detangling the internet for the next generation in ten steps.” The discussion featured current issues for children using the internet and spotlighted industry case studies from Andy Burrows (Molly Rose Foundation), Victoria Ryan (Initiative/LEGO), Alvin Hussey (SuperAwesome), and Catherine Russell (Vodafone). Check out MAD/Fest’s write up here.
CAN’s Project Director, Marsha Jackson featured on a panel discussion facilitated by Mobsta. The discussion, titled ‘Talent Crisis in Adland’ was led by the question: “Does the talent crisis in adland require a fundamental shift in agency culture, business models, and talent strategies?” . Marsha was joined by Rachel Forde (TheZoo.London : The Consultant Collective), Jane Stephenson (what3words), and Sophie Lewis (Mobsta Ltd) to discuss the need for a culture shift to address burnout; prioritising mental health; AI upskilling; and creating a more inclusive, flexible, and purpose-driven industry to attract top talent.
CAN at the Better Marketing Conference
This year was the launch of the first ever Better Marketing Conference in Athens. CAN co-founder, Jake Dubbins spoke about the critical need for transparency in the advertising supply chain, and for CMOs, CFOs and CEOs to wrestle back control of their investment in media. You can watch his keynote speech here.
Inclusion Impact with Total Media
Nafisa Norris (CAN’s Membership & Engagement Account Director) and Eline Yara Jeanné (CAN’s Investigations Manager) were delighted to team up with CAN member, Total Media, for their Inclusion Impact initiative which spotlighted the vital role we play in promoting inclusion through advertising. Our talk reinforced the importance of representation in media and how we can collectively create healthier media environments with guidance from our Diversity manifesto. The launch also included breakout sessions from BA Diversity Media Inc and others.
In addition to Total Media’s Inclusion Impact event, Nafissa and Eline were excited to also present at Stagwell’s Lunch & Learn event, where we delivered a session on information integrity. This was a great opportunity for us all to be able to chat openly and candidly in a safe space, which is utterly priceless. After the lunch, Stagwell also hosted their Future of News event, which of course we attended too as supporting partners. The event highlighted the value of news and maximising impact through tailored marketing, along with debuting research on the power of news for UK marketers.
CAN on Climate Change
A major focus of our year has been working on projects aimed at protecting the integrity of climate information. To further this goal, we attended three important events: Climate Week, COP29, and the G20 Summit.
All three events were an opportunity for us to raise further awareness of the advertising industry’s role in climate communication and the effect it has not only towards climate change, but to our businesses too. CAN’s Head of Advocacy, Alex Murray attended COP29 and featured on a panel discussion to share his thoughts around this. He also discussed the need for us to understand the systemic incentives and the economic model of attention, scale and opacity often paid for by advertisers.
At the G20 Summit, CAN co-founder Jake Dubbins spoke on stage about the crucial role advertising plays as the economic backbone of our information ecosystems, ahead of the launch of the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change. Check out our blog piece here.
CAN at the Responsible Advertising Summit
CAN were excited to attend the first ever Responsible Advertising Summit in December, which we were also media partners for. The summit was Europe’s first forum dedicated to elevating standards in sustainable, inclusive & accessible marketing, media and advertising.
CAN co-founder, Harriet Kingaby took part in a compelling fireside chat with Jack Goss Senior Strategist at VCCP. Together they explored ‘The Role for Advertising in Protecting TfL Employees’, based on the ‘Abuse had Consequences’ TfL campaign in partnership with VCCP.
You can download a complimentary report on building the business case for responsible advertising, which CAN co-authored with our friends at the Responsible Marketing Agency here.
We were thrilled to see so many of our CAN members at this 2-day inspiring event and hope to see it run again next year.
Well, that brings us to the close of an incredibly exciting year! Thank you to all the individuals and organisations who have continued to support us, including our amazingly supportive pro bono PR partners Propeller Group! We wish you all a happy holiday season and a consciously creative new year.
#TogetherweCAN
