According to Groupm, the world’s leading media investment company, the UK is the largest advertising market in Europe. Ad revenue is expected to hit £41.3bn this year and could grow to £50bn by 2028.
The sector exported services worth £15.6bn in 2022 and is expected to grow 4.6 per cent overall this year, outpacing the wider economy by a large margin.
Josh Krichefski, Groupm CEO UK & EMEA, as well as president of the IPA, told City A.M. the UK has a unique place in the world of advertising and media due to its culture and diversity.
“Advertising is quite unique in the sense that it has the power and also the responsibility to accurately represent the world around us,” Krichefski said. “London and all of our cities are incredibly diverse places…and that’s reflected in our industry,” he added.
London has plenty of other advantages. Its central location, English-speaking population, and vast creative industries around the capital all help feed back into the sector, which sits at the heart of Europe and, indeed, the world’s media landscape. There are many thriving hubs throughout the UK, including Manchester, Leeds, and Scotland, where Groupm’s parent, the London-listed WPP, has offices.
The UK is also the world’s most advanced digital advertising economy, a side effect of its existing position in the industry and skilled workforce, especially in and around London.
“The UK has a rich creative history with fashion, art and film advertising, as well as international trading,” Krichefski told City A.M. Advertising is an “innovation-driven industry” he added, and that’s something London and the UK excel at. “Many of our clients have major hubs here,” he added, “[because] we’re easily connected to Europe.”
In addition to advertising, the UK is also becoming a force to be reckoned with in the world of AI, something Groupm and WPP have placed at the core of their businesses.
“We use AI in every area of the work that we do,” Krichefski said. The goal is to help “creative adaptation at scale.” This involves helping with planning and automating basic processes, such as developing media plans and “generating insight from different data sources to understand what motivates audiences.”
“The work that our people go through from beginning to end for campaigns is managed through AI, as well. So it’s really at the heart of our business,” Krichefski added.
But, as Krichefski was keen to point out, it shouldn’t be seen as a risk to creative industries. “You know, the best creativity is something that’s come from a really good human insight,” he said. “Just like the best comedy comes from a really great human insight…that’s something where everyone goes ‘Yes!, Yes! I totally get that.’ AI doesn’t do that,” he summarized.
Krichefski admitted some jobs would likely be lost as a result of the rise of AI, but those would be “the more mundane things.”
The jobs that can’t be replicated, such as creative jobs and sales, won’t be affected, he said: “I think it’s really important for young people starting out in [any] industry to be well trained to utilise AI to their advantage. But actually, I think the skill sets that AI can’t deliver are the ones that I would recommend to my children,” Krichefski said.
“There are multiple skill sets that cannot be delivered by AI that only human beings can deliver,” he concluded.