EASA & ICAS joint biannual meetings in Istanbul

27 April 2023

More than 50 attendees from all over the world joined us in Istanbul from 24 to 26 April for the ICAS and EASA meetings, hosted by our member RÖK. Representatives of SROs, industry and digital associations attended sessions on key topics in the advertising field and had the opportunity to network and exchange ideas.

Day 1 kicked off with a workshop on influencer marketing led by our host RÖK, with the participation of high-level speakers from the Turkish ministry of Trade and the academia. EASA’s Director General Lucas Boudet joined as a speaker, presenting the European perspective on the topic of influencer marketing, and how to help ensuring it is responsible. The workshop was followed by the ICAS Open Meeting. This meeting focused on two topical issues: Diversity & Inclusion in ads, and Dark Patterns. As in the previous session, this meeting was joined by external speakers such as Sara Denby, head of the Unstereotype Alliance, UN Women, Stefanie Liebner, Attorney of the US Federal Trade Commission, and Nicholas McSpedden Brown, Policy Analyst of the OECD. A key point that emerged from the panel discussion, and as highlighted by Sara Denby, is that advertising self-regulation can play a key role in making sure that diversity is included in ads, and in tackling harmful stereotypes.

We wrapped up the day in the beautiful Feriye Palace with a Gala Dinner and the Global Best Practice Awards. The Global Best Practice Awards awarded innovative and inspiring projects from SROs across the globe. All the submitted entries were outstanding, and choosing a winner has been a very difficult task. Congratulations again to the winners AUTOCONTROL, ASA, ASCI and ARB, and to all the other SROs who submitted their projects.

Day 2 began with the ICAS General Assembly, which confirmed Guy Parker as its President for a new mandate. In the early afternoon, our members attended the SR Committee – Global Tour de Table, where they exchanged ideas and recent initiatives and developments on the most topical issues in the advertising ecosystem, such as influencer marketing and digital marketing communications. During this session. EASA’s SR Development Officer Tudor Manda presented updates on the EASA Best Practice Recommendations, and an overview of European Cross-Border Complaints. This session was then followed by the EASA Board and General Assembly, and we ended this second day with a dinner. During the dinner, we took a moment to say thank you to members that are leaving and moving into a new chapter: Sue Eustace from the Advertising Association, Elly Guerganova from the Bulgarian SRO NCSR and Jani Yates from Advertising Standards Canada. The awards we gave them are just a token of our appreciation towards their commitment over the years.

On Day 3, our members joined the sessions of the WFA Global Marketer Week. We take this opportunity to thank again WFA for this successful cooperation; in the morning, the members discussed policy during the Policy Forum, to then move to marketing issues in the afternoon, at the Better Marketing conference. In the morning, some members could also enjoy the beautiful old town of Istanbul as part of our social activities.

We would like to thank our host ROK for the exceptional hospitality, the speakers and all participants who joined us in Istanbul.

We will see each other soon – Mark your calendars now and join us in Athens from 19 to 20 October for the next EASA biannual meetings!