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EU Referendum Marketing

The creative case for Britain staying in Europe

By Russ Shaw | founder

June 20, 2016 | 5 min read

When speaking about the EU referendum with media and marketing professionals, the conversation inevitably turns to campaign strategy.

russ shaw

Russ Shaw

Media experts are quick to point out Remain’s advantage on the economy, and how it has caused the campaign to roll out a cubicle-load of interchangeable economists and business executives to repeat the numerous ways in which the UK’s economy would suffer from a Brexit. Leave, they reckon, has the public’s support on immigration following recent statistics, but cannot provide a coherent answer on what would actually happen were the UK to leave.

But when I bring up the specific impact on their own industries, many of these creative professionals are less sure of themselves.

All view the campaign with a professional disinterest, and point to overly negative messaging on both sides, and a public whose trust in politicians is low and falling. But marketers and admen are less confident when it comes to discussing the impact on closer to home. Many don’t realise the role the EU plays in the continued success of London’s digital media and the many different ways it has helped the UK to build the biggest creative sector in Europe.

Access to talent

More than any other industry, the value of media companies depends on the individuals who show up to work each day. Advertising and marketing are services industries and UK firms need access to the best talent to remain the leading creative economy in Europe. Many people are attracted to the industry for the ability to work anywhere, and senior executives need the EU to ensure top quality new hires. Freedom and creativity go hand in hand, so the freedom of movement that we currently benefit from in the UK is a considerable benefit to our advertisers and marketers.

London in particular benefits from being a global city, and the city’s creative economy has always been driven by immigrants and dreamers, like the Saatchi brothers. A win for leave will be taken as a mandate to reduce immigration, which would harm creative firms across the UK, potentially crippling those in London which are heavily reliant on attracting talent from abroad.

Digital single market

The most relevant factor in the referendum is the impact of the Digital Single Market (DSM). The UK has been the driving force behind the DSM, and as Europe’s digital capital and the country with the biggest creative sector, we have the most to gain. The DSM is reducing barriers to digital companies trading across Europe, and allowing the UK’s powerful media sector access to a customer base of 500 million, far bigger than that of their competitors in the US.

Part of the reason that the US remains so strong in technology is the access that US startups in all industries have to a market of over 300 million from their inception. The DSM is an opportunity to level the playing field in this area. Despite the benefits of this UK-led initiative, the DSM is not widely discussed and awareness is low even within the industry. Our challenge is to get this message out there and to ensure that professionals in the creative industries have all the facts ahead of this important vote.

How to help

There has been some admirable campaigning on the referendum from the Creative Industries Federation, which recruited household names like Benedict Cumberbatch, Ian McKellen and Kiera Knightley to make the case for remaining in the EU.

Polls of technology and media professionals have consistently shown a lead for Remain, with members of Tech London Advocates backing a yes vote by a massive 87 per cent. We have been focused on encouraging as many young people as possible to register to vote and ensuring that they can join tech professionals and entrepreneurs as “the voice of the future” backing a Remain vote. In the run up to the vote we will be raising awareness for the positive benefits of remaining in the EU, including the digital single market and free movement of people.

I would ask all media professionals to do their bit for the campaign. The creative industries benefit more from EU membership than most, and the UK’s creative professionals have the opportunity to improve on the less than inspiring campaigning we have seen from both sides.

The UK’s digital economy holds a role of leadership in Europe, and London’s CreativeTech industry is emerging as a sector that can lead the world if given the right access to talent and funding. This led us to recently launch TLA CreativeTech, and the success of this group has shown the potential this sector has to be a European powerhouse. We can maintain our links with Europe and continue to benefit from the virtuous circle of migration while improving our ability to export digital content. With less than a month to go, it is time that we made our voices heard.

Russ Shaw is the founder of Tech London Advocates. For an alternative view on how you should vote in the EU referendum, read this piece from our editor-in-chief Gordon Young

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