The rise of media rebates in the United States has put agencies under a harsh spotlight, thanks in part to the Association of National Advertisers’ June agency transparency report. But relatively little attention has been paid to the role of media sellers in driving the practice. Take Google, for instance. Long before “rebate” became a […]
The Association of National Advertisers’ crusade for greater agency transparency entered phase two on Monday, when marketing analytics firm Ebiquity and its subsidiary, FirmDecisions, released an anticipated set of guidelines for advertisers on how to maintain transparent relationships with their agencies. The overarching message: Agencies may have crossed a few lines, but the onus is […]
Agency rebates were a common theme during holding company earnings calls this week, with both Publicis and Omnicom fielding kickback questions from investors earlier in the week. On Friday during IPG’s Q1 call, CEO Michael Roth found himself under the interrogation lights. “This whole issue is not new to IPG,” Roth said, adding that IPG began […]
When holding companies Publicis Groupe and Omnicom reported their respective 2015 first quarter earnings on Tuesday, each had to field investor inquiries about agency rebates and kickbacks. Omnicom outwardly denied participating in the controversial activity, at least in the US. “Our media agencies in the US don’t seek rebates,” Daryl Simm, CEO of Omnicom Media […]
The Association of National Advertisers has distanced itself from comments former Mediacom CEO Jon Mandel made onstage at its Media Leadership conference last week. In his presentation, Mandel alleged that the practice of rebates or “kickbacks” demanded by agencies from media suppliers and tech partners – common overseas – has in recent years become widespread […]
