Established in 1905, the American Advertising Federation (AAF) protects and promotes the well-being of advertising. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., it acts as the “Unifying Voice for Advertising.”

The AAF is the oldest national advertising trade association, representing 35,000 professionals in the advertising industry. It’s a national network of over 150 local professional chapters and more than 140+ college chapters across the country.

The organization also has more than 60 corporate members that are advertisers, agencies and media companies, comprising the nation’s leading brands and corporations. 

One of the main functions of our organization, often in coordination with others, is to work on behalf of the industry to provide comments and testimony on newly emerging and evolving legislative and regulatory issues affecting the advertising community. Issues include data privacy, advertising taxes, First Amendment rights, artificial intelligence, and other areas of concern.

Our AAF Tampa Bay chapter’s mission is to transform Tampa Bay by empowering the advertising industry and our city’s makers and shakers. We accomplish this through grassroots efforts of local leaders and businesses in all disciplines of the advertising profession, working together.

We are also part of the 4th District of the American Advertising Federation (AAF), one of the 15 District affiliates of the national organization. AAF District 4 comprises local federations across Florida and the Caribbean, representing nearly 1,000 members.

AAF District 4 has a long history of contributions made to the advertising industry. Most notably, it created the American Advertising Awards competition back in 1960, which is now the largest creative competition in the world.