Dive Brief:

• In the wake of a report that revealed ad agencies were receiving media rebates without passing them on to clients, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has released a new report on media transparency with a set of guidelines for advertisers and agencies. 
• The ANA also developed a template for a media buying contract that advertisers can use to develop agreements with agencies. 
• "The purpose of these guidelines is to provide marketers with prescriptions for addressing transparency issues specific to the K2 Intelligence study," Bob Liodice, ANA president and CEO, said in a statement. "We outlined actions marketers should consider to diminish or eliminate non-transparent and non-disclosed agency activities and to ensure that their media management processes are optimized.”

Dive Insight:

In June, the ANA and K2 Intelligence released a report that pointed out that agencies received rebates from publisher clients that were not passed on to marketers. The report found that markups on media ranged from 30% to 90% and that ad agency holding companies at times would direct media spending without taking into account their clients’ best interests. The ANA’s findings will likely lead to more mistrust and friction between brand-side marketers and their agency partners.

Now, the ANA hopes its new guidelines can help bridge the gap between agencies and their advertising clients. The ANA’s guidelines include establishing "overarching media agency management principles that can be easily understood and executed," regularly assessing the agency/client relationship and the primacy therein, and creating a code of conduct between advertisers and agencies.