Industry bodies revise guide to digital-ad practices

Three industry bodies, The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and the Media Federation of Australia (MFA) have released the second version of the 2020 Australian Digital Advertising Practices. This handbook outlines digital practices to support advertisers make informed decisions and build trust in the digital advertising supply chain.

The practices have been endorsed by the boards of these bodies. Developed by a cross-industry team of advertisers, media agencies, digital publishers, adtech companies and subject matter experts, the practices offer guidance, checklists and links to specialist sources and build upon and update the first version which was published in July 2018. 

The guide now also includes market and regulatory updates and additional information on consumer privacy. The guide outlines five principles (below).

“Programmatic advertising is now an established choice within most marketers’ media mix," John Broome, CEO of AANA said in a release. "Yet it’s a complex and ever evolving supply chain. A cross industry approach to best practices that also includes embedding them through training and advancing capability is a powerful way to build trust, confidence and better business outcomes for all."

A recent report from Edelman pointed to the yawning trust gap Australians struggle with. The industry itself has struggled recently, with spend hit by the double whammy of the bushfires and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

To try to boost awareness of these issues, an education and training program is being developed to help marketers understand the these practices better and help learn how to put them into practice.  There will be a number of training options including e-learning, face to face and workshops that will explore the six key issues addressed in the Australian Digital Advertising Practices: the digital value chain, viewability, ad fraud and brand safety, data governance, and consumer privacy.

“Given the rapid pace of change the inclusion of the strong framework of agreed standards and practices for digital advertising is an important step in continuing to build trust and instilling confidence in the digital advertising value chain," said Gai Le Roy, CEO of IAB Australia.  

This document could be useful across the marketing ecosystem, industry representatives added. Sophie Madden, CEO of MFA, said that for agencies, this practice is a valuable tool and will help guide conversations with clients and should lead to improved effectiveness and better outcomes for clients.

"As an indicator of how important we consider the practices to be, the MFA requires all relevant media agency staff to undertake training to ensure they're across the updates," she added. The MFA Board has also committed to ensure all their relevant agency staff undertake the Australian Digital Advertising Practices training program and complete a proof of knowledge to ensure they are across the updated best practice standards.