National industry associations from 35 countries gather remotely

On 3 April, 47 heads and representatives of 35 national industry associations from around the world gathered remotely for the National Associations Council (NAC) meeting to address the challenges the marketing industry is facing and share insights and ideas on how national associations are supporting marketers in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting kicked off with a group discussion on contingency planning during the global health crisis. Several national associations shared how they are addressing the economic impact of COVID-19 on the advertising and media sectors. An overview of national developments and initiatives can be found here.

Jean-Luc Chetrit (Union des marques, France), Riikka-Maria Lemminki (Marketing Finland) and Hanna Riberdahl (Sveriges Annonsörer, Sweden) shared initiatives and remote services they recently launched to support their members and the marketing community during these challenging times. An overview of national association actions and initiatives can be found here.

The meeting concluded with a session on the future of measurement. WFA gave updates on the work of the Cross Media Research Group, a global cross-industry initiative launched in 2019 which aims to find cross-industry consensus on key global principles for measurement. Lars Gibbe (OWM, Germany), Phil Smith (ISBA, UK) and Chris Williams (ACA, Canada) shared on initiatives they are leading on to promote greater consistency of measurement at a national level.

The winners of WFA President’s Awards 2020 were also announced during the meeting. The annual awards look to recognise initiatives led by national industry associations that have delivered outstanding contributions to the marketing industry.

The 35 participating associations were AAG, Guatemala; AAI, Ireland; AANA, Australia; ABA, Brazil; ACA, Canada; AEA, Spain; ANA, US; ANDA, Colombia; ANFO, Norway; ANZA, New Zealand; APAN, Portugal; ASA-SWA, Switzerland; BGA, Hungary; bvA, The Netherlands; CAA, Argentina; CANA, China; Dansk Annoncørforening, Denmark; GAM, Morocco; IMA, Israel; ISA, India; ISBA, UK; JAA, Japan; MAA, Malaysia; Marketing Finland; OWM, Germany; RVD, Turkey; SDE, Greece; Polish Advertisers Association; Sveriges Annonsörer, Sweden; TULI, Estonia; UBA, Belgium; Union des marques, France; and UPA, Italy.

WFA is organising a series of remote sessions in the coming weeks on topics that matter most to national industry associations. National Association Council members can register for the May 4^th session on addressing the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the advertising industry and local media here.

For more information and a copy of the presentations, please contact Laura.