2017 was regarded by many as adland’s annus horribilis as issues over transparency, brand safety, viewability and ad fraud reached fever pitch.
Now, capitalising on the momentum generated by the likes of P&G and Unilever to deliver positive change, the trade body representing UK advertisers has this week outlined its priorities for 2018.
Speaking at the 2018 ISBA conference on Tuesday (6 March) the organisation’s new president, and the MD of Boots, Elizabeth Fagan, said there was still much left to do to clean up some aspects of the ad market, but this year the organisation would take a stronger role tackling digital accountability, viewability and verification, agency and client alignment, and data privacy.
“Critically, I believe we are now setting the agenda and creating a framework for advertisers to operate within that is robust; shaping the industry and not passively accepting the changing environment around us,” Fagan said, while praising the CMOs of Unilever and P&G for pushing for higher standards.
“We will constructively challenge major media tech businesses to ensure they provide a suitable environment for brand advertising,” added Fagan, while calling for “closer alignment of commercial interests” between agencies and clients through contract frameworks, remuneration and incentives.
Fagan – who is ISBA’s first female president since it was established in 1900 – went on to tell delegates: “We, as advertisers, media owners, and tech companies – working with agency partners – must determine the big issues and work together to address them.”
Advertising, particularly in the online world, has faced a difficult 18 months following a series of scandals and a loss of trust. It has led to calls from major advertisers to clean up the market, including, most recently, Unilever which said it cannot continue to prop up a digital supply chain which at times is “little better than a swamp in terms of its transparency.”
However, on Tuesday, Fagan said improvements were being made in a number of areas following “constructive but challenging dialogue” with Google-owned YouTube and other media providers over issues such as brand safety.
“It is clear that Google has been listening from its recent announcements: video by video vetting of Google Preferred, higher monetisation thresholds, regular transparency reporting, and follow through on third party verification.
“These changes have come about at least in part as a result of ISBA and its members speaking to partners at a local level, and these local partners engaging their global enterprises.
“Whilst there is more to play for, these are substantial steps forward.”
As an advertiser, Boots spent £66.8m on media in the UK in 2016, according to Campaign magazine. Just under half was invested in TV, while 15% went towards press, 12% on direct mail, 8% on radio and 6% on outdoor.
