Tom Denford and David Indo from ID Comms: why advertisers need a chief media officer

On this week’s #MediaSnack Tom and David discuss ANA’s Media Transparency Guidelines, which were finally published this week.

This is the final stage in the Association of National Advertisers’ year-long project to identify the scale of rebate and other non-transparent practices among US-based media agencies and to offer guidance to those advertisers (pretty much everyone) who may have been exposed to this practice or was entirely unaware of the risk.

Tom and David review the ANA’s key advice to marketers, including the idea that brands should have a Chief Media Officer, someone internally who can champion the role of media within the company, have more accountability for media as an investment for growth and someone who can define the relationship with the agency beyond just buying cheap media.

They predict that many brands will now upgrade their media skills and capabilities, something that ID Comms have been recommending for many years.

The ANA has also adapted the ISBA best practice media agency contract for the US but they suggest that this will be hard for advertisers to implement unless they have sufficient negotiation leverage over agencies to get them to accept these terms.

Tom and David argue that the contract is critical because it, more than anything else, defines the relationship with the agency and the type and quality of work they do.