It was a privilege to be part of GT2, one of the working groups of the movement in favor of good practices that I had the honor to coordinate, formed from the invitation of the ABA – Brazilian Association of Advertisers – to deepen the discussions for a free, powerful publicity , transparent, ethical and responsible. Deepening the reflection and technical discussion on the current situation of the media purchase and delivery processes, identifying its relevant aspects for proposing best practices and suggestions for the agents of the ecosystem, in a collaborative way, constituted the main objective of GT2. In this way, we sought to delimit vectors that could better guide the relationships and activities that normally make up media purchase and delivery practices, in a holistic perspective, without disregarding the diversity that configures the exercise of the activity and its constant evolution.
The group’s discussion focused on an expanded view of the media ecosystem, covering all relevant forms of advertising (on and off) and their diversity of formats and platforms, as well as their contemporary derivations such as content production, the action of digital influencers , the generation of relationship data and the technology developed, in addition to metrics and models for estimating performance (planning and attributing value) and evaluating results (ROI). For the evaluation, principles were established, among which, valuation and safety of brands, transparency of processes, free negotiation and balance between the parties, combating fraud, good faith in the relationship between the parties and respect for the rights and safety of consumers . As a result of this work, premises were established for the efficient development of specific media purchase and delivery activities, in addition to important considerations about these processes. As far as the purchase process is concerned, the best practice proposals included the prerogative of advertisers in choosing criteria and metrics for evaluating what is being purchased, based on their marketing and communication objectives; making direct purchases with flexibility to cover different models without, however, disregarding any legal restrictions and the principles of transparency; use of more sensitive ROI assessment models and with metrics for context assessment and content classification; principle of media buying guided by regular research, new methodologies and technologies; requirement and practice of transparency of commissions received (eg BV); in addition to recognition and financial appreciation of the support offered by the seller.
In the delivery processes, best practice considerations focused on the declaration of objective and transparent deliveries between the parties; campaign audits with respect to ownership; distinction between econometric and qualitative assessment; prior contract in media actions; valorization of the support offered in the after-sales; objective definition of the components considered as part of the delivery in each action with the purpose of measuring deliveries and valuing the parts; effective ROI assessment models in the dimensions contracted for delivery; and, finally, good practices governed by the principle of free negotiation. In this way, we believe that the relevance of this reflection instrument, more than a set of rules to be followed, is the diagnosis of the current market situation and the defense of the ecosystem’s transparency and ethics, through responsible and increasingly vigorous advertising .
Marco Frade is chairman of the ABA Media Committee and head media, digital & CRM at Diageo
