WFA discusses value of advertising, ad standards with Chinese Vice Minister

A World Federation of Advertisers delegation led by Stephan Loerke, WFA CEO, met yesterday in Marseille with Chinese Vice Minister Gan Lin of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC) %u2013 the state administration that oversees advertising in the People's Republic of China. The Vice Minister was accompanied by the Director-General of SAIC, as well as by the President of the China Advertising Association (CAA). The meeting was set up with the help of the China Association of National Advertisers (CANA), the WFA member in China.

On this occasion, WFA presented the initial results of the global Value of Advertising research mandated to Deloitte. The recently conducted study highlights the multiplier effect of ad spend on economic growth, as well as the direct and indirect employment effect of ad spend across major ad markets %u2013 EU28, Korea, Australia, Canada. The Vice Minister showed great interest in the results and acknowledged the relevance of conducting similar research in China.

The WFA then led an in-depth discussion on developing advertising standard programmes in China. Experts from the European Advertising Standard Alliance and WFA member companies Mars and Pernod Ricard detailed some of the specific mechanisms through which industry can support SAIC's efforts in China. The promotion of advertising standards has been high on WFA's agenda in China and APEC more broadly, engagement that culminated in APEC Heads of State endorsing WFA's vision for effective ad self-regulation in 2015.

The Vice Minister expressed her hope that Chinese brands flourish internationally and acknowledged the importance of building effective ad standards mechanisms, which reflect the cultural, social and economic specificities of China, as a foundation for the sustainable growth of the country's ad industry.

The Chinese dignitary told the WFA delegation that she supports self-regulation as an indispensable complement to the regulatory framework and referenced the new ad law adopted a year ago, which includes, for the first time ever, a reference to 'self-regulation' and encourages industry organisations to systematically develop industry-led advertising standards. The Vice Minister informed the delegation that CAA had started to work on 'responsible ad standards' and invited WFA to contribute its expertise to the initiative. New digital advertising rules were being developed, the Chinese official also told WFA.

Vice Minister Gan welcomed a bigger presence of WFA in China, saying that there is a lot of potential for WFA to play a role in facilitating an experience exchange between Chinese brands and their international peers %u2013 and invited Stephan Loerke to attend the China Advertising Festival, due to take place in Hainan on 22-24 October 2016.

For more information, please contact WFA's Director of Public Affairs, Adam Gagen, at a.gagen@wfanet.org