New Zealand has a similar law - you can't advertise on a building unless you own it and use it.. i.e. Coke can put a coke sign on their own building, but nowhere else.
I'm confused about this. NZ has billboards. I'm not sure exactly what you're comparing with. Do companies elsewhere just "tag" their names indiscriminately? I haven't noticed any differences between the UK and NZ in this regard.