Incorporated Society of British Advertisers; ISBA

History

ISBA is the representative body on all aspects of marketing communications for over 400 leading UK advertisers, whose combined spend on marketing communications is over £10 billion each year. Membership includes companies in all areas of business. The single factor binding ISBA members together is their reliance on advertising and commercial communications to communicate with consumers. ISBA champions advertising and all forms of commercial communications, defending advertisers' freedom to advertise and helping its members to do so as effectively, efficiently and economically as possible.

ISBA was founded in 1900 as the Advertisers' Protection Society. Its founding members were mainly from large companies who sought to monitor their advertising, principally by auditing the circulations of the publications in which it appeared.

In 1901 the first issue of APS monthly circular was published and this continued without a break until 1920. In that year APS was incorporated as ISBA and the monthly circular was re-named. From 1927 the ISBA circular became the more ambitious British Advertiser and was published six times a year.

In 1921 ISBA held the first ever National Advertising Conference, with Sir Charles Higham as guest speaker.

In 1931 ISBA helped to found the Audit Bureau of Circulations and the first issue of the Vigilance Bulletin was published.

In 1962 ISBA was involved, in partnership with other bodies federated to the Advertising Association, in setting up the Advertising Standards Authority.

See: http://www.isba.org.uk/

Archive Content

Date range: 1905- present

Scope/formats

An extensive archive of documents and publications comprising: correspondence, APS/ISBA monthly circulars, news sheets and journals, minutes of AGMs and internal meetings, annual reports and accounts, conference papers, press releases and cuttings, ISBA history leaflets and ISBA publications offering industry guidance on many topics..

Periodicals

  • APS Monthly Circular - May 1905 - April 1920
  • ISBA Monthly Circular - May 1920 - March 1924
  • The British Advertiser - 1927-1939
  • ISBA News Sheet - July 1952 - Sept 1960
  • ISBA For Members Only - Jan 1961- Feb 1976
  • ISBA News - Sept 1981-June 1986
  • Vigilance Bulletins - 1969-1976
  • ISBA Nutshell - 1995-1997

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