Industry Bodies Release First Collaborative Digital Working Practices For Advertisers

The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Media Federation of Australia (MFA) have released the industry’s first agreed set of digital working practices to support advertisers, agencies, publishers and digital platforms.

The Australian Digital Advertising Practices clearly articulate the areas of responsibility and requirements for all involved in the ecosystem from advertisers and partners including media agencies, media owners, publishers and platforms.

Openly available to all, the Australian Digital Advertising Practices have been specifically designed for Australia and provide clear guidance to help re-balance the way digital ecosystem partners work together, to build trust, establish a common language and extend confidence in the digital advertising value chain.

Developed by a working team made up of advertisers, media agencies and publishers assisted by additional subject matter experts and reviewed through extensive industry consultation, the Practices are for practical everyday use.

They include guidance, checklists and links to specialist sources to provide access to deeper knowledge and detail across five digital advertising value chain areas.

These include digital transparency; viewability; brand safety; ad fraud and data transparency.

According to AANA John Broome, the Australian Digital Advertising Practices offer practical guidance for marketers seeking to drive effective and efficient digital ad investments.

“Our collective goal was to create a common language and set of best practices that could be used by all participants throughout the digital ecosystem.

“AANA, IAB and MFA and our combined membership cover all points in this ecosystem and working together, as opposed to separately, offers us the best prospect of achieving positive change.

“The approach we are taking means that that the right questions and right discussions can now be had between advertisers and their partners.

“These will deliver better outcomes for all.”

IAB CEO Gai Le Roy commented, “With the continued growth of people accessing digital media as well as the corresponding increase in digital ad investment, these Practices provide a set of clear and practical and usable solutions that are flexible enough to fit individual advertiser and partner needs.”

MFA CEO Sophie Madden added, “The Practices are the culmination of months of cross-industry collaboration driven by a common motive to build a solid and robust infrastructure for the digital advertising industry.

“Today’s release is the first step in our journey and we will be working together to regularly update them to reflect emerging opportunities and issues as they arise.”

Nestle head of marketing Michelle Katz said, “There is a shared responsibility for all of across the digital ecosystem from advertisers and partners alike to take responsibility for their own knowledge and understanding.

“The Australian Digital Advertising Practices provide an excellent resource to support all in the digital value chain and will ultimately drive elevated trust and confidence in how and where to invest in the eco system.”

The Australian Digital Advertising Practices are based on five key operating principles:

1. Champion the consumer experience. A better user experience will not only lift key quality metrics but also overall campaign effectiveness.
2. Educate to inspire change. Inspire change through best practice education, communication and a clear understanding of the metrics. We cannot force or mandate change.
3. Shared ownership & responsibility. No one part of the value chain can deliver the goal without the other parts. Shared ownership and shared responsibility are required to solve the issues. All participants in the value chain need to take responsibility for their own knowledge and understanding.
4. Every value chain is unique. Each advertiser’s needs are different. The approach to improving the value chain needs to be optimised for each advertiser’s needs and partner arrangements. The advertiser is accountable for their individual value chain.
5. Fair value for outcomes delivered. Value is created through quality and price. Adopting best practices to deliver better outcomes may cost more.

The Australian Digital Advertising Practices are not mandated solutions and nor do they propose the same answer for every advertiser or partners.

The Boards of the AANA, IAB and MFA have collectively endorsed the Australian Digital Advertising Practices and encourage the adoption of these best practices by the whole industry and see training, continuous improvement and verification and accountability frameworks as next developments.

The three organisations plan to update the Australian Digital Advertising Practices on an annual basis.

The Australian Digital Advertising Practices can be downloaded from the AANA, IAB and MFA websites from Tuesday 2 August.