FOI - Advertising and publicity campaigns [Jun 2025]

Your request 

I am writing under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information regarding advertising campaigns associated with the promotion of the Mayor of London over the past 12 months, or the most recent 12-month period available):

1. A list of all advertising and publicity campaigns that have been run which were explicitly or implicitly intended to promote the Mayor of London or his policies.
2. For each campaign, please provide:

• The name or description of the campaign.
• The dates during which the campaign ran.
• The total cost of the campaign (including development, production, and distribution).
• The platforms and locations where the campaign materials were displayed or broadcast (e.g. TfL sites, social media, television, print media, billboards).
• The procurement process used (e.g. agencies or contractors involved).
• Any performance or evaluation data available (e.g. reach, engagement, or effectiveness metrics).

Our response

• Mayor of London

The GLA does not spend money on advertising or publicity campaigns promoting Sir Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London.

• Policies/work of the Mayor of London

The GLA communicates through a number of channels to keep Londoners informed, engaged in and supported by the work of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. To achieve maximum impact for Londoners, media is purchased dynamically throughout the lifecycle of individual campaigns rather than within specific time periods. A budget is agreed annually for marketing campaigns , which covers a broad spectrum of marketing and communications ­related activity, including research; creative services; advertising; digital; print and production; and content production. 

MD3272 GLA Marketing Budget 2024-25 | London City Hall

Please note this does not cover all communications activity undertaken by the GLA; some areas may carry out activities outside of the central marketing budget. 

Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested would exceed the 'appropriate limit' of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. 

Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described and equates to 18 hours of work. 

We have estimated that it would significantly exceed this limit to provide a full response to your request. This is due to the extent of financial analysis required between the GLA and contractors/stakeholders to identify advertising spend by campaign; and the detail required in relation to locations. 

We have therefore refused this request under the cost limit provisions of section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act and this letter therefore constitutes a refusal notice under section 17(1) of the Act. 

Please note your secondary request "if this request exceeds the cost limit, please prioritise by total campaign cost, beginning with the most expensive" is not a valid request under the terms of the FOI Act. As set out in the Information Commissioner's guidance Recognising a request made under the Freedom of Information Act (section 8) | ICO, a request framed by the cost limit is not a valid request. 

• Advice and assistance about refining your request: 

To bring the cost of responding to your request to within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing the scope of your request so that we can more easily provide the information you are seeking. For example - by asking about a specific public information campaign or topic rather than any/all campaigns. 

• Further advice/assistance: 

Marketing services are primarily bought into the GLA through a Group-wide Framework Agreement, with a single supplier ensuring best value for money. In February 2023 it was announced that Wavemaker was appointed as our media planning and buying agency.

The GLA may work with other agencies on an ad hoc basis for marketing services like creative development and video production.

• The GLA’s spending over £250 is published on our website and searchable by payee: Our spending | London City Hall
• Details of the GLA’s contracts over £5,000 are published on TfL’s website: Contracts greater than £5,000 - Transport for London
• You can find examples of FOI requests where the GLA has released details about individual campaigns on the GLA’s FOI disclosure log | London City Hall e.g. FOI - London for everyone [Jan 2024] | London City Hall