The Association of National Advertisers has just released a new set of guidelines for ad agencies and other marketers. The guidelines focus on transparency requirements, which is not surprising given that just about a month ago they published a report that looked at the many ways that ad agencies are not meeting their requirements in this area.
The ANA president and CEO, Bob Liodice, commented on the guidelines saying, “We outlined specific actions marketers should consider to diminish or eliminate non-transparent and non-disclosed agency activities and to ensure that their media management processes are optimized.”
Improving transparency has been a goal of the ANA for quite some time, and it is proving more difficult than maybe they expected. Transparency requires a lot of work, and can make some marketing efforts less effective, which is why some ad agencies resist the effort. In addition, since there seems to be little, if any, repercussions for most types of issues, there is little incentive to move forward with improved transparency.
Finding ways to make sure that brands are aware of exactly how their advertisements are being displayed is surprisingly difficult. When you look at how many different places ads can be displayed, and the fact that some ad networks use other ad networks to fill open inventory, you can see why it can be so difficult to have any real transparency.
You can see the full report HERE.
