US vs UK Advertising: Can You Run Your American TV Ad in Britain?

Can You Use a US TV Advert in the UK?

Potentially, yes.

But you shouldn’t assume that an advert approved or previously broadcast in America will automatically comply with UK advertising rules.

The US and UK both regulate advertising. In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) requires advertising claims to be truthful, non-deceptive and supported by appropriate evidence, and the UK has its own system.

For broadcast advertising, the UK Code of Broadcast Advertising (generally known as the BCAP Code) sets the rules that television and radio advertisements need to follow. This creates an important distinction for American brands entering the UK.

The question changes from:

“Has this advert already been broadcast successfully in America?”

To becoming:

“Does this version of the advert comply with the rules for advertising in the UK?”

In this article we will explain all the rules you need to adhere to, so you can run your US ad successfully in the UK.

Who Regulates TV Advertising in the UK?

There are several organisations that US businesses may encounter when adapting an advertising campaign for the British market.

Ofcom

Ofcom is the UK’s statutory communications regulator.

It licenses UK broadcasters and provides the statutory framework behind broadcast regulation. However, contrary to what is sometimes assumed, the day-to-day regulation of TV and radio advertising content is handled by the Advertising Standards Authority under a co-regulatory arrangement.

ASA – Advertising Standards Authority

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is the UK’s advertising regulator.

It administers the advertising codes and can investigate complaints about advertising that may be misleading, harmful, irresponsible or otherwise in breach of those codes.

Its remit extends well beyond television.

The ASA also regulates many forms of advertising across websites, social media, paid digital advertising, posters, print and other media.

CAP and BCAP

The Committees of Advertising Practice write the UK’s advertising codes.

There are two particularly important codes to understand.

• CAP covers non-broadcast marketing communications.
• BCAP covers broadcast advertising, including television and radio.

If we’re preparing a commercial for UK television, the BCAP Code is therefore particularly important.

Clearcast

And this is where the experience can feel very different for an American advertiser.

Clearcast pre-clears commercials for the majority of UK commercial television broadcasters.

Before a TV advert reaches people’s screens, its script and finished content can go through a clearance process to establish whether it complies with the BCAP Code.

This means an advertiser may need to provide more than just the finished video.

Claims made within the advert may need supporting evidence. Wording may need changing. Qualifications may need adding. On-screen text may need adjusting. Certain creative choices can also affect when, where or to whom an advert can be shown.

That’s why adapting an American commercial for British television can become considerably more involved than simply creating a new edit.

The Biggest Issue We Encounter: Advertising Claims

This is where things often become interesting. Advertising naturally makes claims.

A company might say its product is:

• “The UK’s number one…”
• “Proven to…”
• “Better than…”
• “The fastest…”
• “The most effective…”
• “Save up to 50%…”

These statements might only occupy two seconds of a 30-second commercial, but they can create a substantial amount of work behind the scenes.

Under the BCAP Code, broadcasters must hold documentary evidence for objective claims that are capable of substantiation.

If you make an objective claim in a UK TV advert, you should be prepared to prove it.

That’s something we have to consider when taking an existing US commercial and preparing it for UK television.

A Claim Isn’t Just What the Voiceover Says

One of the most important lessons from producing advertising is that a claim doesn’t necessarily have to be spoken.

Imagine an American advert contains a product demonstration. The voiceover doesn’t explicitly say that the product performs better than its competitors, but the visuals appear to demonstrate exactly that.

That can potentially communicate a claim.

Likewise, graphics, statistics, customer testimonials, supers, before-and-after sequences and product comparisons can all contribute to the overall impression created by an advert.

So when we’re adapting a US commercial, we have to look at the complete message, not just the script.

What is the viewer actually being told via audio and the visuals?

“But We’ve Already Used This Claim in America”

This is something international advertisers understandably question.

The advert may already have run successfully across the United States. The company might have spent a significant amount of money developing it. The claim may have been used throughout its American marketing.

But previous use in America isn’t evidence that the same execution will satisfy UK requirements.

The UK version needs to be considered against UK rules. In some cases:

• the claim itself can remain but supporting evidence is required.
• it needs to be qualified.
• the wording needs to become more specific.
• a graphic or piece of superscript needs to be changed.

Sometimes the simplest solution is to remove or replace the claim altogether.

This is why it’s beneficial to consider UK compliance before completing the UK version rather than waiting until the final edit. However, this scenario is not always possible, especially if you have a business which expands into the UK market through opportunity rather than pre-planning. You already have an advert (created for an American audience) but no plans to advertise in the UK. Now the opportunity to advertise in the UK presents itself, unfortunately you don’t have the will or the budget to create a completely new advert for a UK audience.

This is where we can help!

We have helped several US clients get their adverts aired by repurposing their existing assets into UK-ready and UK compliant ads.

Evidence Can Become Part of the Production Process

This is one of the less obvious differences for international clients.

When producing a UK TV commercial, compliance can become part of the creative workflow.

If a script says a product is “proven” to achieve something, for example, the evidence behind that statement may need scrutiny.

If it makes a comparative claim, we need to consider what comparison is actually being made and whether it is appropriately supported.

If a statistic appears on screen, we need to know where it came from.

If an offer has significant conditions attached to it, those conditions may need communicating appropriately.

Clearcast can request supporting material for claims during the clearance process.

That means the production team, agency and client sometimes need to work together to assemble supporting information before the commercial is approved.

This can be surprising to companies entering the UK advertising market for the first time.

Small Print Isn’t a Magic Solution

Another misconception is that almost any advertising claim can be fixed by adding a disclaimer at the bottom of the screen.

It can’t.

Qualifications can clarify a claim, but they shouldn’t contradict the overall message the advert gives the viewer.

The presentation also matters.

If important information technically appears on screen but consumers can’t reasonably read or understand it, that can still cause problems.

So adding another paragraph of tiny text to the bottom of an existing American commercial isn’t necessarily the answer.

Sometimes the creative itself needs to be changed.

Compliance Can Affect the Edit

This is where having a production company that understands the UK advertising process becomes particularly valuable.

Imagine that we’ve been supplied with a completed 30-second US commercial but a claim needs to be qualified. That qualification now requires additional on-screen information, but the original shot only lasts two seconds. We now have a production problem as well as a compliance problem.

• Do we extend the shot?
• Can we restructure the edit?
• Can we simplify the wording?
• Do we replace the claim?
• Do we need a different graphic?
• How will changing the duration affect the voiceover or music?
• Can we still fit the entire ad within the 30-second runtime with this additional information?

What looked like a simple compliance issue can quickly ripple through the entire commercial.

That’s why we prefer to think about clearance as part of production rather than something that happens afterwards.

UK Compliance Isn’t Only About Television

There’s another important point for US companies.

Not every advert shown in the UK goes through Clearcast. Clearcast is particularly relevant to television and certain video-on-demand advertising. Online and social advertising operates differently.

However, that doesn’t mean a video is outside UK advertising rules simply because it’s being used online.

The CAP Code applies to many forms of non-broadcast advertising, including paid digital advertising and marketing communications on companies’ own websites and social media channels where those communications fall within the Code’s remit.

So if you’re adapting a US campaign for the UK, the first question we need to establish is:

Where will the advert appear?

• Television?
• Video-on-demand?
• YouTube?
• LinkedIn?
• Instagram?
• Paid social?
• Your own website?
• Digital display?

The answer affects the compliance route we need to consider.

It’s Not Just Regulation. British Audiences Are Different Too

Passing compliance is only half the job.

An advert can be completely compliant and still fail to connect with a British audience.

US and UK audiences share a language, but that doesn’t mean they always respond to advertising in the same way.

• Humour can be different.
• Tone of voice can be different.
• Terminology is different.
• Cultural references don’t always translate.
• Prices, currencies, dates, measurements, product availability, telephone numbers, web addresses and calls-to-action may all need changing.

Even the way a brand talks about itself can feel different.

A creative approach that feels completely natural in the US can occasionally feel exaggerated or overly promotional to a British audience.

So when we’re adapting an American commercial, we’re considering two separate questions:

“Will it comply in the UK?” and “Will it actually work for a UK audience?”

How We Adapt a US Advert for UK Television

When a US client approaches us with an existing commercial, we don’t automatically assume that we need to start again. Often, much of the original production can still be used.

The process is about identifying what needs to change. We start by understanding where the commercial will be shown and reviewing the existing creative from a UK perspective.

We look at the script, voiceover, claims, graphics, supers, demonstrations, offers and calls-to-action.

If the advert is destined for UK television, we factor the clearance process into the production schedule and identify areas likely to require supporting evidence or changes.

From there, we can determine the most efficient production approach.

That could involve:

• re-editing the existing master;
• replacing graphics or supers;
• adapting claims;
• recording a UK voiceover;
• changing the call-to-action;
• replacing particular shots;
• adding appropriate qualifications;
• creating UK-specific end frames;
• or, where necessary, filming new material.

The objective isn’t to change things unnecessarily. It’s to preserve as much of the successful original campaign as possible while creating an advert that is appropriate for the UK market.

Why It’s Better to Plan for Both Markets From the Beginning

If you know a campaign will eventually run in both America and Britain, tell your production company before filming begins.

It can save considerable time later.

• Scripts can be reviewed with both markets in mind.
• Alternative lines can be recorded.
• Clean versions of shots can be captured.
• Graphics can be designed so they can easily be replaced.
• Extra handles can be left in the edit.
• Different calls-to-action can be filmed.
• Claims that might create compliance issues can be identified before they become embedded throughout the creative.

You can then create different US and UK masters from the same production rather than trying to dismantle a finished American commercial months later.

That is generally a much more efficient way to work.

American Advert. British Market.

Bringing a successful American advertising campaign to the UK doesn’t necessarily mean starting again.

But it does mean doing more than changing the accent.

You need to understand what the advert claims, what evidence supports those claims, which UK advertising code applies, whether broadcast clearance is required and whether the creative itself makes sense to a British audience.

Our experience of producing advertising for clients on both sides of the Atlantic has taught us that the earlier these questions are asked, the easier the overall process becomes.

Treat the UK version as a market adaptation, not simply another export of the US master.

The result should still feel like the same campaign.

It just needs to work on this side of the Atlantic.

Summary

An advert that has successfully run in the United States isn’t automatically ready for the UK.

The UK and US both regulate advertising, but the systems are different. In the UK, TV advertising must comply with the BCAP Code, with the ASA administering the advertising rules and Clearcast providing pre-broadcast clearance for commercials carried by most major commercial broadcasters.

For US brands, the biggest practical issues can include substantiating objective claims, adapting qualifications and on-screen text, changing graphics or wording and making sure the overall impression created by the advert complies with UK requirements.

Digital advertising also needs consideration. Although online adverts don’t simply follow the same Clearcast process as television commercials, many forms of UK digital marketing fall within the CAP Code and ASA remit.

Finally, compliance doesn’t guarantee effectiveness.

A US commercial also needs to make sense culturally to a British audience.

Our aim when adapting an American advert isn’t to unnecessarily reinvent a successful campaign. It’s to identify what needs to change and create a UK version that retains the strength of the original creative while being suitable for the market in which it will appear.