That the Parliament welcomes the launch of the Advertising Association’s pilot programme, AAccelerate for Growth, to encourage SMEs to advertise more; notes that only 43% of SMEs in the UK advertise, which only constitutes 18% of UK ad spend; understands that, for every £1 spent on advertising in Scotland, it generates £5 for the Scottish economy; recognises that the new AAccelerate programme aims to find 10 to 20 SMEs from across Scotland that are ready to grow their businesses by participating in the multi-media advertising pilot scheme, and to measure its impact on sales; recognises the role that this will play in encouraging investment back into the Scottish advertising and media industries, as well as the potential to help grow Scotland’s exports, and looks forward to reviewing the results of the pilot with a view to it contributing to the Scottish advertising industry’s success.
Supported by: Kenneth Gibson, Richard Lyle, Emma Harper, Stewart Stevenson, Graeme Dey, Fulton MacGregor, David Torrance, Jenny Gilruth