ANA relaunches US Origin equivalent as separate entity

The US Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has spun off the division that has been working on its cross-media measurement (CMM) solution.

Aquila is now a separate business that will govern, operate and execute the CMM system.

It has also announced two partners as it develops the initiative. Aquila is working with Kantar Media to build a single-source audience panel in the US, while Accenture has been tasked with the roll-out of the CMM solution and its technological requirements.

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According to the ANA, the project could save $50bn in waste due to excess frequency over a three-year period. It aims to deliver improved media productivity and an improved ad experience for audiences through transparent measurement.

The World Federation of Advertisers’ overarching project to develop CMM solutions is called Halo.

In the UK, it is known as Origin. The initiative is run by Isba, the UK equivalent of ANA, and is also in the process of being separated into its own company.

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Aquila will be led by a coalition of ANA member companies and platforms including Google, Meta, Amazon and TikTok. Bill Tucker will oversee Aquila’s work as president.

He said: “After sufficient testing and validation, Aquila is moving the CMM initiative to the next phase of bringing a scaled CMM solution to the US. This will unlock substantial value for all stakeholders and deliver an improved ad experience for all audiences and segments through transparent measurement.”