Great stories have always been at the core of great advertising – but are we telling the right ones about our industry?
Opinion
On the centenary of the Advertising Association, its president Andria Vidler, also CEO of National Lottery operator Allwyn, says that we need to back our own industry more.
The Ad Association’s centenary year is a time for reflection, and I am struck by how, when it comes to advertising, it can feel like everything has changed. And yet, at the same time, nothing has.
In 1926, the first emerging national and international brands were using the first real mass media to reach large audiences. Amongst the big advertisers of the day were Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, Guinness and Lever Brothers, and whilst the tech platforms have now taken their spots in the top ten, many of those names from 1926 remain firmly in the frame as our biggest advertisers.
The best adverts from across the past 100 years told the best stories whilst staying true to their brand and principles. And they have stood the test of time. The Guinness ‘Surfer’ ad, for example, first aired on St Patrick’s Day 1999, and I still enjoy watching that today.
The Cadbury’s ‘gorilla’ advert came out in 2007, but it just won the ‘People’s Arrow’ award, meaning it’s officially been classed as Britain’s favourite advert from the last 50 years in 2026. It also drove 7-10% sales growth.
Brilliant modern adverts still have the power to inspire strong emotions, whether they come from individuals, online, or big public media. McCain’s and Ribena are great examples of recent ads that don’t overcomplicate the message or hammer home the product, focusing more on characters and emotions.
And I believe people are still inspired by individual stories rather than hearing about an invisible mass. At the National Lottery, we brought back our much-loved original tagline, ‘It could be you’, used at launch in 1994.
We have also re-energised it through our new campaign featuring Claudia Winkleman as our ambassador-in-chief, by using the tagline ‘Because of you’. Through this campaign, we are really joining the dots and getting into the individual impact of the good causes right across the country – the fact is that 70% of our National Lottery grants are for £10k or less – but they still have a huge impact on people’s lives.
As an industry, we can tell fantastic stories for our clients and about our brands, but we can be better at telling great stories about ourselves and our contribution to the wider UK economy. We are playing our part in addressing this at the Ad Association through a new series we have created called ‘The Success Files’ to really dig deep into the stories behind advertising success and what drives it.
We are highlighting the stories of brilliant ad campaigns that contributed to job creation and business growth across all sizes of business from all across the UK. The AA team would love to hear from you if you have a great story to tell.
Credos research into what drives public trust in advertising consistently shows us that the number one driver of trust is enjoyment of the adverts – and the number one driver of distrust is bombardment.
Making enjoyable ads is driven by creativity, and I firmly believe that the better the brief, the better the creative idea, the better the ad will be. When it comes to bombardment, we can control it far more now, and we do need to remember the old adage that advertising is like an uninvited guest in someone’s living room – so be polite and charming.
At Allwyn, we take that responsibility seriously. We work hard to make sure our campaigns are well‑judged and respectful, reaching the right people without overdoing it because long-term trust matters more than short-term noise.
Great advertising still fuels growth, just as it did a hundred years ago. Its central purpose has remained constant: to enable competition, stimulate innovation and support economic growth. When advertising works well, it lowers barriers to entry, helps new ideas find an audience, gives people better choices and drives down prices. That is as true today as it was a century ago. At a time of anaemic growth, this matters.
Advertising is not a trivial add‑on to the economy; it is an essential driver of it.
So, I want to challenge all of us in the industry to champion what we do from the craft, the creativity, the effectiveness, and the economic contribution. We also need to work harder to attract and retain the best talent, and that starts with telling our own story better.
Because if we don’t, we leave a vacuum for others to fill.
Andria Vidler is CEO at Allwyn and president of the Advertising Association