The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has released a ‘Global Media Charter’ that they hope will help to create an improved global marketing ecosystem that benefits both brands and consumers. In the charter they lay out eight ‘principles for partnerships’ that they are asking all advertisers to adhere to.
The eight principles are as follows:
- Zero Tolerance for Fraud – A streamlined process must be made to refund any ad spend that goes to fraud. They hope to use accredited third-party solutions to help verify and expose fraud as early as possible.
- Brand Safety – Platforms and publishers must due the work necessary to ensure their site content is in line with what advertisers require for brand safety.
- Viewability Thresholds – Brands need to be able to trade against an appropriate level of viewability in order to get what they are paying for. Requiring minimum viewability thresholds may reduce overall inventory, it will improve the results of campaigns.
- Supply Chain Transparency – Transparency is required at every step including pricing, fees and costs, placements, data usage, and more.
- Third Party Measurement & Verification – Brands require third party verification on whether ads are viewable, free from fraud, and safe for the brand.
- Eliminate Walled Garden Issues – Allow advertisers to take advantage of third-party buying platforms of their choice.
- Data Transparency Standards – Work with partners to help guarantee that data is ethically and transparently sourced, and that it is secured properly to avoid breaches.
- Improved Customer Experience – Create commercial communication standards that are less intrusive for users, and create a better overall user experience.
The WFA is an organization that works to improve the overall ad industry by creating standards and advising brands, advertisers, and others in regards to best practices. In many ways, these types of demands layed out by the WFA can help to guide the industry forward. This is especially important right now following the many issues the ad industry had over the past year.
