Council Of Outdoor Specialists Replaced By IPA Outdoor

The Council of Outdoor Specialists (COS) has been replaced by IPA Outdoor as the industry group representing outdoor specialists. Announcing the change, key members of the organisation have outlined its 2001 agenda covering accountability, trading and information supply.

Carole Kerman, chief executive of Outdoor Connection and IPA Outdoor member responsible for accountability, said, “The IPA Outdoor Group will be pushing for a fully integrated, electronic process of posting verification.” Other measures receiving support will be the establishment of minimum levels of accountability for all ambient companies, particularly in basic terms of trading and greater transparency and accountability for mixed production and media purchases. “We will be looking at all that is necessary so that advertisers can be confident of the outdoor medium delivering to the highest standards” Kerman concluded.

Eric Newnham, group chief executive of Poster publicity and member responsible for trading said that, despite the benefits seen with consolidation, it is essential to guard against negative influences that could result from an abuse by dominant players in the market. “The IPA Outdoor Group will examine how best to monitor the current and potential situations of increasing market sector ownership.” he said.

Finally, an information source on the industry being developed and will be made available on the internet. “Using the IPA website, the intelligence database will provide an online one-stop-source to ensure ease of access to data across the whole industry.” said Anna Frith. Frith, who is managing director of Meridian Outdoor, will also take responsibility within IPA Outdoor for information supply.

IPA: 020 7235 7020 www.ipa.co.uk

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