June 2019 marks the third anniversary of the U.S. Association of National Advertisers’ (ANA) study into transparency in the U.S. media market. The report marked a milestone for advertisers, as the report identified non-transparent trading practices in this critical advertising market for the first time. The publication of the study resulted in a desire among brands to address the issue.
Since the release of the study, we have seen many leading global and national advertisers – as well as industry bodies including the ANA, ISBA and the WFA – take direct action and form working parties to deliver better levels of transparency, in part by introducing template industry contracts.
A lot has changed in the past three years, and while the conversation has moved beyond just transparency, the debate now focuses on trust more broadly. Trust cannot be forged without transparency, and since the ANA report, the conversation has not necessarily moved in a positive or negative way. Rather, it has evolved in an increasingly complex environment, where advertisers need to be constantly vigilant to innovations in the market.
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First featured on 10/06/2019.
