Meetings with APA members give us the opportunity to appraise you of the
latest issues and APA initiatives and to hear your views on them.
The agenda has gone out to members for a meeting for the whole membership on
Thursday 5th June (9.30am at The Groucho Club, 45 Dean Street, W1).

We also have meetings coming up to address issues and opportunities for
groups from the membership with particular specialisms:
APA Post Group meeting 10am Tuesday 13th May
Animation Group Meeting 3.30 pm, Thursday 15th May
Music Production Meeting 10 am, Tuesday 20th May

If you missed our event at BAFTA, where we assembled the best speakers to bring you up to date with the opportunities for our members outside TV- or you want to remind yourself of the facts, figures and insights the speakers shared. Presentations include Guy Phillipson and Keiran Matthews from the Internet Advertising Bureau, Rory Sutherland, ECD at Ogilvy, Blake Chandlee, the commercial director of Facebook and Luis Climages, the European head of marketing for Fiat. To view go to www.nitmesh.com

We announced this project at the APA December member’s meeting. The project will identify 100 advertisers which have not used television to advertise and develop a strategy to demonstrate to them that commercials are now within their reach and that our members have the expertise to help them reach potential customers using the uniquely effective means of audio visual advertising.
For the many businesses which have not advertised through TV because of the cost, niche channels, the internet and new media generally give them the opportunity to use audio visual advertising- and the creative and production expertise of our members- for the first time.
The first meeting of the 100 new customers steering group will take place in January 2008 and the APA has recruited media guru Mike Yershon to share his expertise with us and to help us make the project as effective as possible in building the market for our members expertise.

The Shanghai London Advertising Forum 2007 saw a party of 36 producers from London meet advertising agencies and production companies in Shanghai.

We received a warm welcome from them and the London and Shanghai delegates filled the spectacular venue- Creek Art, Shanghai, full to its 150 person capacity to hear two days of presentations.
The event provided delegates from London with the chance to learn about advertising in China from a series of fascinating speakers from Chinese agencies: CEO’s and ECD’s and production companies, gaining insights into the fastest growing advertising market in the world and an understanding of both the potential of that market and what agencies and production companies in China are looking for in overseas production/post production partners.

Evidence of the spectacular development of Shanghai itself was plentiful and provided the context for the presentations.

The presentations from delegates from London gave the Chinese delegates an understanding of the quality of the work APA members produce, their adaptability, in terms of shooting around the world and ability to create solutions for tight budgets and developments in new media, as well as showcasing the latest visual effects techniques.

Through the two days of seminars, visits to agencies, the opening reception hosted by the British Consul, Shanghai and the finale shots party (sponsored by Smoke and Mirrors) delegates from Shanghai and London were able to develop connections with each other which are the foundations on which business relationships between Shanghai agencies and production companies and London production and post-production industries will be built.

Our friends at MoganKane organised The APA Show, Sweden, which took place at Oscar’s theatre, Stockholm on 6th November

Stockholm’s advertising community turned up en masse to see the best commercials of the year from the UK- in the APA 07 Collection.
The audience enjoyed watching it and the dinner and party afterwards, featuring top Swedish pop star Miss Li.

The event was part of the APA’s schedule of events around the world, which together with the distribution of the DVD with shots, ensures that the best commercials our members produce are seen by as big an audience as possible.

Media guru, Mike Yershon, presented the latest session from the APA Branded Content Group, at Framestore CFC on 2nd October.

Mike shared his thoughts on new media and its potential for APA members,
drawing on his experience of nearly 40 years in advertising, including
founding one of the original media companies.

Such is the enthusiasm to see the great commercials our members produce, we have been invited to screen the APA 07 Collection around the world, following the London premiere…and where better to start that Bradford.
The National Media Museum in Bradford screened the APA 07 Collection with a Q&A on Friday 28th September. The screening was sold out and the Collection well received.
It will now be seen in Stockholm (6th November), Shanghai (20th November), Tokyo (23rd and 24th November) and Copenhagen (6th December).

See two films of the APA Show- featuring the presentation of the APA 07 Collection, interviews etc at www.cannesfringe.com

12th September- ZenithOptimedia (part of Publicis) have upped their forecast for advertising spend for 2007 and 2008.

While online continues to grow- by 26.8% in 2007- traditional media continues to grow too. For television, those growth figures are 0.5% for 2007 and 2% for 2008. Not spectacular but proof that advertisers continue to get value from TV advertising.