Guides for the United Kingdom
Brand strategy guides for the UK
The United Kingdom regulates the claim rather than the campaign. A practice has to know what its professional body permits, what the advertising codes treat as misleading, and what the competition regulator expects of a price or a review. These guides answer those questions from the published rules.
23 guides in this lane
- A company name is not a trademark: what UK founders confuse before it costs themCompanies House will happily register a name that infringes someone else's trademark. The two systems do not talk to each other, and the founder who assumes registration means ownership usually finds out during a rebrand, not before one.
- How to advertise a counselling or therapy practice in the UK under ASA and BACP rulesUK therapists can use testimonials, name the issues they work with and describe their membership, yet each of those freedoms has a precise boundary. The ASA, the CAP Code and your professional body draw it, and most practice websites cross it in the first paragraph.
- Dental practice advertising in the UK: what the GDC and ASA require on your websiteGDC guidance sets five things every UK dental practice website must show, limits who can be called a specialist, and adds a line to every treatment post on social media. The ASA then checks the photos and testimonials. Most practice sites miss at least one.
- Physiotherapy clinic advertising in the UK: HCPC, CSP and ASA rules in one placeA UK physio clinic answers to three rulebooks: HCPC standards on honesty, CSP rules on the Chartered title and logo, and the CAP Code on every health claim. Here is what each one asks of your website, and where clinics most often slip.
- UK healthcare advertising rules compared: therapy, dental, physio, chiropractic, osteopathy and aestheticsEvery UK clinic answers to the CAP Code, and each profession adds its own layer on top. Here is how six professions differ on testimonials, titles and condition claims, and the one check a mixed clinic should run before publishing a team page.
- Chiropractic advertising in the UK: what the GCC and ASA allow you to claimCAP publishes a list of conditions UK chiropractors may claim to treat. Everything beyond it needs robust clinical evidence, the title Dr needs a qualifier, and the GCC holds you responsible for every word on your website, whoever wrote it.
- Osteopath advertising in the UK: the conditions you can name and the claims to avoidUK osteopaths have a CAP accepted list of conditions they may claim to treat, a protected title, and one area the ASA watches closely: claims about babies, children and pregnancy. Here is what a practice website can say.
- Aesthetics clinic advertising in the UK: what you can say about botox, fillers and offersBotulinum toxin is a prescription only medicine, so UK clinics must keep it out of every ad, post and hashtag and promote the consultation instead. Here is where the line sits on websites, price lists, fillers, offers and photos.
- SRA Transparency Rules: what a law firm website must publish, and how to make it work for the brandEvery SRA regulated firm must show its SRA number, the digital badge and its complaints procedure. Firms offering any of nine listed services must also publish prices in a set format. Most firms treat this as a compliance page; the better ones treat it as positioning.
- The UK fake reviews law: what the DMCC Act asks of any business that shows reviewsSince April 2025, fake reviews and hidden incentivised reviews are banned practices in the UK, and any business that publishes reviews must take steps to keep them genuine. Here is what that means for a website with a testimonials page.
- The Green Claims Code: six tests for an environmental claim before it goes on your brandThe CMA's Green Claims Code sets six principles for any environmental claim a UK business makes. Words like green, sustainable and eco friendly are the ones it warns about most, and they are the ones brands reach for first.
- Veterinary practice advertising in the UK: names, titles and claims under RCVS guidanceThe RCVS treats a practice name as advertising, reserves specialist and advanced practitioner for its own lists, and asks vets who use Dr to say veterinary surgeon beside it. Here is what a UK practice can say, and the one word that trips up most new names.
- Trading name or company name: what a UK business may call itself, and what it must displayA trading name is free to choose and protects nothing. A registered company name is protected only against identical registrations. And whichever name is on the sign, the company's legal details must appear on letters, order forms and the website.
- Influencer ad labelling in the UK: what a brand must make sure every post saysWhen a UK brand gives an influencer anything, every post about the brand is an ad, and both the brand and the influencer answer for it. The ASA expects one plain word up front. Here is what counts as payment, which labels fail, and why #ad is the brand's problem as much as the creator's.
- Drip pricing is banned in the UK: how to show a total price that still sellsSince April 2025 a UK business must give the total price, mandatory fees included, the moment it names a price. Here is what counts as mandatory, how from prices and subscriptions work, and why the honest number is also the stronger one.
- Who can call themselves an architect in the UK, and what that means for naming a design practiceArchitect is protected by law in the UK; architectural designer is open to anyone. The line runs through practice names, websites, social bios and even page metadata. Here is where it falls and how a design practice names itself on the right side of it.
- When a UK business may say free: the CAP Code rules behind every free offerFree is the most tested word in UK advertising. The CAP Code allows it when the customer pays nothing beyond genuine postage, the conditions are clear, and nothing else has quietly gone up in price or down in size. Here is where the rulings have drawn the line.
- Made in Britain, British brand, Union flag: what a UK brand may claim about where it comes fromBuyers pay attention to where a product is made and where a company sits. The ASA treats origin, heritage and the flag as claims that need to be true, and it has ruled on .co.uk shops run from abroad, a Union flag on an Israeli product, and a brand that said British since 1903. Here is where the line falls.
- Best, leading, number one: what a UK brand needs before it says itThe ASA reads an unqualified best, leading or number one as a claim against every competitor in the market, and expects sales or market share data to back it. Here is how the rulings have gone, when puffery is allowed, and why the specific claim beats the superlative anyway.
- The ® and TM symbols in the UK: when a brand may use each, and the offence behind the circleThe circled R says a mark is registered, and in the UK saying so falsely is a criminal offence. TM says only that you treat the name as yours. Here is the difference, what each does for a brand, and how to mark a name that is still an application.
- Was and now prices in the UK: when a saving is genuine, and when the ASA says it is a fictionA crossed out price is a claim that the product usually sells for that price. The ASA checks three months of history, the sales made at the higher figure, and whether up to applies to a real share of the range. Here is how the rulings have gone and what a brand gains from a sale it can defend.
- Running a prize draw or giveaway in the UK: the CAP Code rules a brand must followA social media giveaway is a sales promotion under the CAP Code, and the ASA has ruled against influencers and retailers who could show neither how entries were counted nor how the winner was picked. Here is what the ad must say, how winners must be chosen, and the lottery question to settle first.
- Comparing yourself with a competitor in UK advertising: the rules behind every cheaper than and better thanYou may name a competitor in a UK ad. The moment a reader can tell who you mean, the comparison must be like for like, objective, verifiable and free of denigration. Here is how the ASA has applied that to tick box tables, Trustpilot claims and cheapest Christmas dinners.
See how the United Kingdom engagement works, or read the whole editorial library.