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It is a strong line Truth when wellexpressed has considerable power But in the media world we naturally know better We prefer to play by a different set of rulesThe truth is what you make it say it often enough and loudly enough and it becomes soI sometimes think that in the commercial end of the media business we relish misunderstanding Truth often goes handinhand with simplicity and to paraphrase the great Irwin Gotlieb and not for the first time quotIn confusion lies marginquot If an industry can have a single positioning statement there is the traditional media man39s riposte to McCann39sKeeping it simple in media is not always popular How much better to shout about ambitions for our business that everyone wants to achieve To campaign for outcomes which we can all get wholeheartedly behindTake a few of the great media debates of our time Diversity Sustainability Disassociating advertising from harmful contentAll of these are worthy important topics Making progress in all three is extremely hard and highly desirable and kudos to the likes of the Conscious Advertising Network and to any number of committed individuals for the work they do Their achievements are impressiveBut if I may raise a tentative hand in the air these are all societal problems They need solving in all walks of lifeThe ambitions we have in these fields are easy to agree with even if they may be extremely hard to achieve Noone will stand against you everyone will cheer you onEarlier this week The Media Leader which by the way is fast establishing itself as a mustread featuring a list of regular columnists covering an array of topics that put their competitors to shame carried a piece on ad fraud by Nick Swimer He is a Partner at Reed Smith the law firm where he specializes in broadcasting lawThe essence of the piece was to ask quotWhy arenamp8217t advertisers shouting about ad fraudquotIt is by any objective measure a bizarre state of affairsWe are in a recession marketing budgets are being cut and according to Nickamp8217s piece quoting Juniper Research 68bn will be lost to ad fraud this year 68bn may be at the low end The ANA in the US has quoted 120bn although they promptly quotdisappearedquot that figure when it started to attract attention68bn is a lot not to worry overmuch aboutISBAamp8217s work through PwC demonstrated how even topend sophisticated clients39 ads appeared on an average of over 40000 websites Mostly nonpremium Many selected to the benefit of fraudstersWhyI find it hard to understand how any media agency professional or client marketer for that matter can possibly condone such activityAgency quotYes we know we have told you that reach is key That accountability and measurement are essential That context counts That understanding audience behavior is a cornerstone in everything we do But we believe your interests are best served by leaving media placements up to a programmatic system we donamp8217t control or fully understand and which will place your ads on this very beautiful site selling Nepalese Prayer Flags a real example surfaced by the PwC workquotWherever you look online advertising is questionable From audience measures that are not verified To the platformsamp8217 failure to control or edit hateful content To a misappropriation of ad language attribution measures that are nothing of the sort metrics that mirror those used elsewhere whilst meaning something different To the disintermediation of agencies To promoting gross numbers to nonspecialistsWhy donamp8217t the agencies those professional advisors tell the truth Shout it from the rooftops fraud is rife we canamp8217t control it and we may as well take that fact into account in how we spend your moneyAudience measurement in online is questionable and shouldnamp8217t be compared with data from the independent verifiable systemsWhy not put as much effort into delivering the best advice as you do into standing up for sustainability or a diverse workforceWhy notBecause itamp8217s hard and because the unfortunate unpalatable fact is we39re all to blame We39re all complicitThis whole thing will come crashing down when the nonspecialist grownups in the CSuite start to ask the necessary awkward questions on the effectiveness of marketing spendThe McCann line was often mocked by those working there bastardized to quotTruth Well OldquotGiven the way that old media ideas keep being reinvented even if theyamp8217re mistranslated and twisted out of shape quotTruth Well Oldquot might not be a bad ambitionClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160

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Brian Jacobs

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