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Scotland voting for independence would be disastrous for the UK’s £15bn a year advertising market, according to the heads of leading agencies including Bartle Bogle Hegarty and M&C Saatchi.
Leading advertising industry figures have raised concerns including what would happen to advertising regulation in an independent Scotland. The Advertising Standards Authority is the UK’s current regulatory body for the industry.
The chief executive of M&C Saatchi, the advertising agency co-founded by brothers Charles and Maurice, which is working for the Better Together campaign against Scottish independence, said that a yes vote would create a “customs wall” with Scotland, which would be bad for business.
“Clients and ourselves would be much happier if there is a United Kingdom next Thurday,” said David Kershaw. “It would not be a good thing for Scotland or our clients if they were to go it alone.”
M&C Saatchi’s biggest client is Royal Bank of Scotland, which has said it will move its corporate HQ to England if voters back independence, but Kershaw said the impact would be negative for all advertisers.
“Any business based in Scotland would undoubtedly have quite significant costs in relocating, and many have said they might move, and those costs mean clients are not investing in marketing,” he added. “It cannot be a good thing, and creating potentially a customs wall between what was a united market cannot be good for trade or for brands. Disruption to clients is what is worrying.”
Sir John Hegarty, the co-founder of BBH which has made award-winning campaigns for clients including Levi’s, Audi and British Airways, said he believed that a yes vote would further increase London’s stranglehold on the creative industries.
“My fear is you would see a greater sense of the communications industry concentrating in London, the same as the financial sector has indicated,” he said. “Historically creative people have always been against raising borders, any borders, if I was A Scottish creative just for economical reasons I would vote no. The emotional heart will leave Scotland [if Scottish brands relocate].”
Concerns about the the impact of a yes vote in next Thursday’s referendum are also shared by Isba, the UK advertisers’ trade body.
Ian Twinn, Isba’s director of public affairs, cited issues including differing advertising rules in the two countries and a divide making UK companies less competitve globally.
“Advertising helps build and maintain markets,” he said. “Independence will fracture the UK market in terms of taxation, ad rules and access to media. It will raise costs and help British business to be less competitive.”
There will also be issues with advertising compliance and regulation, which is handled by the ASA, with different rules likely to be introduced for each country.
“The ASA is a national self regulator funded by British advertisers and a [yes vote would see] the levy income cut. And the rules would not apply in Scotland unless their new government opts in to our rules. The alternative is self regulation in Britain and government regulation in Scotland. Those rules might well be different and even stricter bringing fresh problems to advertising to Scots.”
An ASA spokesman said: “We’re in ‘wait and see’ mode. Amongst the innumerable questions that a vote for independence would raise, I don’t think we can say with any kind of certainty or confidence what it might mean for ad regulation in Scotland.”
Last month Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of the world’s largest marketing services company WPP, voiced his concerns over the impact of the uncertainty surrounding the future of Scotland.
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