BBB National Programs President & CEO Eric D. Reicin provides opening remarks on industry self-regulation and introduces National Advertising Division Vice President Phyllis Hurwitz Marcus to welcome attendees to NAD 2025 and share information about CLE credits.  

National Advertising Division attorneys provide an overview of trends and recurring issues from industry self-regulation in cases over the past year, including monitoring and compliance cases and regulatory referrals.  

From ambitious and aspirational claims to comparative claims and disclaimers, substantiation is the backbone of compliant advertising. This session will deliver a comprehensive A-Z on substantiation. Using a fictitious product as the starting point, the panelists will walk through product development and promotion, product testing and discussion with company stakeholders, and finally, how the claims fare when challenged at the NAD. 

Teens are a unique, growing and powerful audience—both as consumers and as the next generation of brand loyalists. This panel will examine trends in marketing to teens and increases in their market share, relevant NAD decisions, and recent FTC and State Attorneys General actions. The panel will also explore how brands in various industries communicate responsibly and build trust with young consumers. 

Brands large and small rely on influencer marketing to promote their products. From nano influencers to high-profile celebrities, this panel will explore the rapidly evolving business of influencer marketing and examine both the challenges brands face and the best practices that help ensure consumers receive truthful information about the relationship between the influencer and the brand.  

Learn about updates and proposed changes to the NAD process and procedures. 

This session will address the current AI innovations driving change in marketing and confront the critical legal and ethical questions facing ad agencies, from intellectual property rights to the substantiation of AI-driven claims. Through the use of a case study detailing how U.S. Bank partnered with Supergood to leverage its proprietary AI platform, Supercharger, to develop, test, and launch a successful brand campaign, the session will demonstrate how combining AI-driven data analysis and predictive testing with human strategic and creative insight leads to not only more efficient and effective marketing outcomes, but also a more rigorous and defensible process. 

Bureau of Consumer Protection Director Christopher Mufarrige will provide an update on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and highlight recent cases on critical advertising law topics. 

Applying traditional advertising law principles to evolving technologies and new platforms can be challenging. This panel will explore recurring issues at NAD – from product demonstrations to comparative performance claims – and how they apply to new technologies, including AI and social media platforms.  

With over 90% of consumers reading online reviews before making a purchase, brands are under growing pressure to harness the power of user feedback. This panel will explore the practical challenges brands face when leveraging consumer reviews—from featuring glowing testimonials in advertising to moderating user-generated content. Speakers will discuss the role of various parties in the reviews ecosystem and offer concrete tips on how to maximize the value of reviews while navigating FTC and NAD standards. 

The National Advertising Review Board (NARB) appeals process provides independent industry peer review of cases, helping promote truthfulness and accuracy in national advertising. This session will provide a bird’s eye view of the appellate process, with diverse perspectives from NARB, a panel pool member, and a practitioner.  

NAD case decisions represent the largest body of advertising guidance in the U.S. This panel will explore the precedential value of NAD case decisions and how they are used to provide guidance to the industry and what value judges and other agencies place on NAD precedent. 

Many advertising challenges before NAD involve products (and claims) that are heavily regulated at the federal, state, or even international level. This panel will explore the nuance of marketing products in highly regulated industries, including trends impacting regulated product categories and claims, how companies manage these trends when developing marketing claims, and how NAD navigates reviewing those claims. 

The new Vice President, National Advertising Division, Phyllis Hurwitz Marcus, sits down with BBB National Programs’ head of policy to discuss their shared FTC background, NAD first impressions and lessons learned, and a vision for the year ahead.