Advertising & Marketing Law
Our IP & Media Team work with businesses and advertising creatives every day to help them to craft ad campaigns that are compliant. But we’re not afraid to help people to push boundaries.
What is involved?
Getting your marketing right can reap dividends for your business. But the advertising landscape is constantly shifting and regulators such as the ASA, Ofcom, Phonepayplus, Trading Standards and the ICO are adapting their rulebooks to keep pace with the times. Ensuring that your campaigns don’t fall foul of regulatory or legal rules has never been more difficult.
Our IP & Media Team work with businesses and advertising creatives every day to help them to craft ad campaigns that are compliant. But we’re not afraid to help people to push boundaries.
We understand the importance of traditional media and the nuances of established and evolving online landscapes such as native, social, influencers and adtech. Whether you need clearance advice on new material or help to respond to or initiate a regulatory investigation we’re here to help.
Why choose our advertising & marketing team?
Our daily experience helping ad professionals means that we can work at the coalface with you, to tight production and clearance schedules. Our expertise in comparative advertising and the overlap between trade mark law and advertising regulation in particular is second to none.
And because our advertising expertise is provided by our IP & Media team we can provide a holistic solution to your branding and marketing problems. Our wider team can help with anything from contractual issues, promotional terms and conditions to brand protection and media litigation.
Call our experienced Intellectual Property and Media team to see how we could help you.
“They provide us with measured advice in an understandable manner. The team has exceeded our expectations with their responsiveness.”
Chambers & Partners, 2024
Key contacts
Simon Barker
Partner & Head of Intellectual Property
Get in touch
Our past webinars
AI for ad campaigns: implications on intellectual property
Date of recording: Wednesday 12th June 2024
In the advertising space, tech giants have been increasing capability in their generative AI products, making it easy to utilise AI in advertising campaigns from consumer reach to content creation. But as AI advances at an unprecedented pace, it is raising profound questions about intellectual property (IP) protection. We will discuss common pitfalls and dangers, as well as the good practice to ensure compliant ad campaigns.
Making Wellness Claims
Date of recording: 24th April 2024
The wellness industry is booming, with brands across all sectors all looking to capitalise on the trend. This webinar will look at what happens when wellness claims become medicinal claims, and so subject to stricter regulations. This webinar is relevant to those marketing medicines, devices, food, drinks, cosmetics and therapies in the wellness space.
Ambush Marketing: feeling the buzz around #Paris2024
Date of recording: 14 March 2024
Brands will be seeking to ride on the excitement of Paris 2024, Euro 2024 and other sporting events taking place this year, however they need to take care not to infringe official rules intended to protect sponsors of the events. We will look at what brands can and can’t do and will look at some fantastic ambush marketing campaigns that have managed to get it right.
Sustainability with substance – know your risk in relation to environmental claims 2023
Date of recording: 22 July 2023
This webinar focused on how our planet is facing an environmental crisis, putting huge political and consumer pressure on all businesses to be as sustainable as possible. This is a hot topic for the UK regulators, and they are about to get teeth: the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill is set to grant the CMA the right to impose fines of up to 10% of global turnover for breaches of consumer law. Brands in all industries want to shout about how green they are; this webinar is about mitigating risk and getting your messaging right.
Related legal articles
No offense, but offensive, irresponsible, or indecent advertising
Date of recording: 31 January 2023
Advertising is only effective when it grabs attention! Not surprising then that advertisers sometimes aim to shock, horrify or even excite. Not all publicity is good publicity or is it? This advertising webinar examines the regulators view, the public perception and PR impacts of advertising that has been deemed to cross the line in a world where online safety and social responsibility are hot topics.
Related legal articles
Advertising to children
Date of recording: 29 March 2023
According to the ASA, 93% of 11-17 year olds have a personal account with at least one of the major social media platforms. As the scope to advertise to children increases, regulators are clamping down to seek to protect children from misleading, harmful or offensive adverts. The impact of getting it wrong should be front of mind for anyone responsible for Advertising and Marketing to children.
Sustainability with substance – know your risk in relation to environmental claims 2022
Date of recording: 29 September 2022
Given the environmental crisis that our planet is facing, there is huge political and consumer pressure on all businesses to ensure their operations are as sustainable as possible. Whether in manufacturing, packaging, or transport – this is an issue that affects every step of the supply chain. Consumers want to buy “green” products, but regulators require brands to ensure environmental claims made in marketing, advertising and on packaging are clear, do not mislead and can be substantiated.
Related legal articles
Ambush marketing playing by the rules – innovative or infringing?
Date of recording: 16 June 2022
With global sporting and fashion fixtures now very much back on the agenda, this webinar explores the world of Ambush Marketing and how non-sponsoring brands may look to take advantage of these events to promote their products and services. We will discuss:
- The different types of Ambush Marketing
- What is lawful and legitimate versus activity which could result in litigation
Related legal articles
Working with Influencers
Date of recording: 05 May 2022
Influencers are big business and they are here to stay. As influencer reach soars, regulators around the world are beginning to sit up and take note. What should influencers do to stay on the right side of the line? How can brands maximise the impact of influencer content whilst protecting their reputation? At Freeths we work with brands and agencies to draft and negotiate influencer agreements, as well as advising on the laws that regulate how brands can work with influencers.
Related legal articles
- Assisted a retailer with the successful defence of a complaint filed at the ASA in which it was alleged that the mise-en-scène of a television advertisement misleading implied that the client’s salmon products were free range rather than farmed.
- Provided clearance advice on a nationwide multi-channel campaign (TV, press and online) which contained numerous parodies of well-known films. Running support was provided on the campaign from concept and storyboards through to the end of the campaign.
- Successful informal resolution of complaints filed at the Advertising Standards Authority against a client’s price comparison advertising.
- Procuring the cessation of non-compliant comparative advertising by a client’s competitor by issuing trade mark proceedings in the High Court.
- Trade mark, product and advertising clearance work for a major UK retailer.
Meet the team
Simon Barker
Partner & Head of Intellectual Property
Rebecca Howlett
Commercial Partner & Head of Freeths' Virtual Legal Team
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