On this week’s #MediaSnack we discuss the different types of media auditing, in an attempt to clear up some confusion. What people typically call a media audit (using what’s become known as a media auditor) actually isn’t auditing in the strict sense. Asking a firm to grade your agency’s media buying performance by analysing pricing and quality isn’t actually auditing. This kind of work is best called “Price benchmarking”. Is that clearer? Maybe not. So, we invite a proper auditor onto the show to help clear up the confusion. Adrian Jenkins is a Chartered Accountant (like a CPA for those of you in the US), he’s the founder of an independent company called Financial Progression which conducts contract compliance audits of agencies on behalf of advertisers (including media agencies, creative agencies and many others). FP are long time collaborators of ID Comms. With a lot of concern around over Media Transparency, not least following the ANA’s Media Transparency Guidelines, we have found many more advertisers looking to conduct these types of compliance audits of their agencies, to check that the agencies are fulfilling its obligations as a service supplier to the advertiser. In ID Comms “PostK2" Manifesto we recommend that advertisers need to regularly audit their media agencies [add underlined text as which includes both the ‘price benchmarking’ type and the contract compliance type. Our view is that it is important to consider contract compliance auditing in a holistic way, as part of a mix of accountability techniques to make sure your external agencies are working productively to deliver your marketing and business objectives and operating with transparency. It also typically finds where there are errors, especially important in today’s complex world of automated media buying systems. I ask Adrian to help clarify the different types of audits, explain what contract compliance is and how it benefits the advertiser. It is interesting to note Adrian’s perspective that, far from creating hostility and mistrust between advertiser and agency, a compliance audit can actually benefit the relationship because it removes any uncertainty, provides transparency and aligns both parties for the future. Adrian also gives his top tips to those advertisers who haven’t audited in this way before, and he explains how to start and what to look for.
