Welcome ‘Origin’, ISBA’s cross media measurement programme
Phil Smith
ISBA, the trade body for UK advertisers, has today launched a new cross media measurement programme as advertisers seek to challenge the status quo and ultimately improve the way investment is planned across all media.
Dubbed ‘Origin’, the programme remains in its infancy, and is the first national execution of the global principles set out by World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) in October. Its aim is to develop cross media measurement consistently across the globe to meet the changing requirements of major advertisers.
“Cross media measurement has for some time been a key priority for our members and for ISBA,” said Phil Smith, director general of ISBA, as he announced the project during the 2019 asi International TV & Video Conference in Prague.
“As a core contributor to the WFA programme, we are delighted to be launching Origin, a critical project to spearhead the development of a cross media measurement tool.”
Smith said ISBA now wished to work with advertisers, publishers, broadcasters, digital platforms and agencies to develop a “comprehensive solution”, ultimately to plan investment across all media.
“It will be critical that the UK approach is consistent with global principles,” he added, “especially in respecting consumer privacy and complying with current and future regulation in this area. We look forward to further discussions with broadcasters, publishers and UK JICs to establish how this can support and enhance existing media currencies.”
Last month, a group of advertisers including P&G, Unilever, EA and Mastercard launched a new global initiative to establish principles that can underpin more effective and transparent cross-media measurement.
The Cross Media Working Group is made up of key brands from the World Federation of Advertisers’ Global Media Board, as well as digital platforms and publishers including Facebook, Google and Twitter.[advert position=”left”]
ISBA and its US counterpart, the ANA, were also named as part of the initiative, which hopes to speed up the implementation of more consistent measurement without having to invent a separate solution for every market.
The Origin project is backed by Unilever and other major brands and will see the UK take a leading role in translating a measurement approach developed by the WFA and its member organisations into a practical, privacy-safe solution which will allow advertisers to better manage their media investments for maximum value and growth.
Keith Weed, Advertising Association president and formerly chief marketing and communications officer at Unilever, said he was “delighted” to see ISBA taking a “pioneering role” with the WFA and leading advertisers on “progressing towards a global, holistic media measurement solution.”
The next step for Origin will be to work with the WFA to translate the emerging principles developed in September across four workstreams – measurement, privacy, governance and pipework – into a working design and operating model.
Commenting on this week’s announcement, asi’s research director, Richard Marks, highlighted the gap between discussing guidelines and actually putting a measurement system in place.
“ISBA’s announcement of the Origin project is hugely significant for the UK industry,” he told Mediatel News. “It marks a move from theory to action when it comes to cross media measurement. It is also refreshing to see the advertisers putting their money where their mouth is in backing this initiative.”
Meanwhile, the IPA, which represents UK agencies, said it welcomed the news.
“The IPA has been supportive of the ISBA UK Cross Media Measurement initiative for the past year,” said IPA director of media research, Belinda Beeftink.
“It is clear that both advertisers and agencies want better and more measurement of all video and we will be working closely with ISBA to ensure that any development in measurement adheres to JIC standards of accountability, transparency, quality and independence.”
However, Beeftink added that it was worth noting the difference between the IPA’s TouchPoints and ISBA’s initiative because the TouchPoints survey has been providing cross media measurement for over ten years.
“TouchPoints is used as a planning tool and can provide data to better understand what BVoD adds to campaigns. The new ISBA initiative, Origin, will focus on campaign evaluation. So they should complement each other well.”