For me, the biggest highlight of 2022 was hosting the Global Advertising Lawyers Alliance Annual Conference. We at Lewis Silkin were delighted to welcome our GALA colleagues from around the world to London for our first in-person meeting since the before the pandemic. And together with our GALA colleagues, we held a half-day seminar for well over 100 of our clients and contacts at the Ham Yard Hotel, with our special guest, Guy Parker, Chief Executive of the Advertising Standards Authority. 

We are now able to provide you with the opportunity to watch some or all of the recordings of the sessions from the Conference. They may not be as life-affirming as Jimmy Stewart's performance in "It's a wonderful life", but we hope they're a bit more informative. And you won't have seen them a hundred times before.

The theme of the Conference was "Global Advertising in an Age of Crisis and Change", and started with my Key Note Interview with Guy Parker, which you can watch here. 

Jeff Greenberg (USA), the Global President of GALA, then moderated a panel called "Climate Change is a Global Crisis", which considered how brands, agencies and regulators are responding to the challenge of promoting new green technologies without indulging in greenwashing. Jeff was joined by Guy Parker and GALA colleagues from the Netherlands, Canada, Finland and Columbia. You can see this session here.

Next, I was back on the stage to moderate a session about "Levelling the playing field", which discussed strategies for combating misleading competitor advertising around the world, particularly where there is no trademark infringement claim. My panel comprised GALA members from Chile, Australia, Mexico, Germany and Spain. Click here to watch this session.

We then moved into a series of breakout sessions, so even if you attended the Conference in person, this is your opportunity to see the breakouts that you missed.

The first breakout looked at the Challenges of the Digital Economy, and particularly at recent developments in the world of advertising in the metaverse, crypto and NFTs. This panel was moderated by Hannah Taylor, another of our members from the USA, with panellists from Brazil, Italy, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Click here to watch this panel. 

Another of our US members, Allison Fitzpatrick, moderated a session on The Obesity Crisis, with GALA members from Argentina, Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom which you can watch here. 

My Lewis Silkin partner, Alex Kelham, hosted a panel about the Challenges to Alcohol Advertising, which considered whether regulators infantilising consumers of beer, wine and spirits; or whether consumers can still make informed choices about their alcohol consumption. Alex was joined by colleagues from  Bulgaria, Costa Rica, France, Poland and the United Arab Emirates (representing the wider Middle East region). You can see their session here.

Then it was time to return for the penultimate plenary session, moderated by Melissa Steinman from the USA, which looked at The Crisis of Trust, asking whether consumers can trust influencers and brands on social media? And what are regulators doing to restore or even create trust in marketing on social media? The panellists came form Egypt, Hungary, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Please contact me if you would like a copy of the recording of this session.

The Conference ended with a feisty panel on the topic of "Making the Future Better Than the Past: How are changing attitudes to diversity being reflected in global advertising?" This was moderated by my partner Geraint Lloyd-Taylor, who was joined by GALA colleagues from El Salvador, Luxembourg, Nigeria, South Africa and two from the USA. Watch their panel here. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Guy Parker and all of my Lewis Silkin and GALA colleagues who helped to make the event such a success. And if you would like copies of any of the presentations, they can be found on the GALA blog.

Finally, season's greetings to you all, and best wishes for 2023.