The efforts of the Australian Association of National Advertisers (ANNA) to get better transparency in media buying was recognised with a President’s Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Marketing Industry at the World Federation of Advertisers’ (WFA) Global Marketer Week in Toronto.

The AANA’s Media Contract Guidance Note was the initiative that secured the prestigious award for the industry body.

The award is made every two years and was presented by David Wheldon (pictured above), CMO of the Royal Bank of Scotland and president of the World Federation of Advertisers, to AANA chief executive Sunita Gloster (pictured above) at a gala dinner in Toronto last Thursday.

“The AANA should be commended for taking a collaborative approach with all the marketers’ partners in the media supply chain to address transparency issues,” he said.

“Despite the uncomfortable conversations, this approach must have brought to the surface, collaboration with our agency partners is a prerequisite for success on this agenda item, and the AANA’s open and transparent initiatives should be recognised.”

WFO chief executive Stephan Loerke said: “The WFA has long advocated greater media transparency globally, and the AANA’s initiatives in this space, in particular the Contract Guidance Notes, should be recognised for advancing this agenda.

“It is an initiative we believe could be scaled globally to help advertisers through this challenge.

Gloster said: “The media challenge has been a priority that the AANA has leaned into this year, and we are delighted to have our efforts recognised globally.

“Our approach to helping marketers navigate and define the parameters of value allocation was guided by the principle of open dialogue with media partners about the contractual terms that really matter. Ultimately, this focus should lead not only to fairer contracts, but also to stronger, more enduring relationships.

“It’s great to have our initiatives recognised, but more so to learn that many AANA members are putting them to good use, and that the WFA is encouraging other national bodies to share them with their members.”