Ad Agency

The transparency debate and distrust between advertisers and media buying agencies has been a topic in C-suites since Jon Mandel's 2015 speech at the Association of National Advertisers' (ANA) annual media conference, yet ANA's work on transparency dates back to at least 2011. Interest took a new, unprecedented turn on October 10, 2018 when the ANA notified its members that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) asked the ANA to inform its members about the investigation and to ask its members to consider cooperating with the FBI investigation if they believed they might have been defrauded by their agencies.

Virtue, the creative agency born from VICE, and El Rey, the entertainment brand founded by Robert Rodriguez, have joined forces to launch LA REYNA, an agency partnering with brands seeking to connect with the rising US Hispanic market.

Who would want to be at an agency these days?  Pitch after pitch after pitch, controversy after controversy, new vendors every time you turn around, competition from (comparatively) new entrants.  It's no life for someone after a quiet life, that's for sure.  And now along comes a new threat: clients taking parts of the media agency role in-house, reducing their reliance on their partners and threatening agency revenue.  By Brian Jacobs

The latest headlines, based on the Association of National Advertisers research, notes that three out of four marketers have in-house capabilities. The same research also acknowledges that 90% of ANA members still have a relationship with an agency, proving that agencies endure as we undergo the most massive transformation the industry has ever experienced. It’s also worth pointing out that some of these respondents may work at in-house agencies-the industry should be wary of reports where respondents are rating themselves.

Vertical3 Media, the Miami-based digital advertising and marketing agency, announced today that it is launching a new division, Vertical3 Travel, to boost the already booming hospitality and travel sector in Miami.

The number of marketers with in-house agencies has grown substantially over the past five years among members of the ANA (Association of National Advertisers), according to a new ANA study.

The ID Comms 2018 Global Media Transparency Survey has found that just 10% of advertisers rate levels of trust with their agency partners as high or very high. By contrast, the number who believe that trust is low has shifted from 29% to 40%, while the number who believe it is average has fallen by 12%.