Nearly 20 days after rolling out the second phase of its Media Charter, the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) has released the playbooks on the four critical areas that have emerged as significant challenges in the evolving digital landscape – brand safety, ad fraud prevention, viewability standards and ethical use of first-party data.
The ISA Media Charter Playbooks represent a collaborative effort from industry leaders and stakeholders, encapsulating their collective expertise and commitment to fostering a media ecosystem that prioritises safeguarding the interests of brands, consumers and the advertising community.
Each playbook addresses critical issues in digital advertising, acknowledging the escalating challenges in an increasingly complex and rapidly growing digital media landscape.
“In today’s digital age, where advancements and a multitude of media channels present both opportunities and challenges, these playbooks serve as a comprehensive guide to navigating this complex environment. They underscore the ISA's dedication to maintaining the highest standards in advertising practices.
“We believe these resources will empower advertisers to make informed decisions and enhance the effectiveness of their campaigns,” said the ISA chairman Sunil Kataria, ISA Media Forum Chairperson Tejas Apte and Media Forum Co-Chairperson Ankit Desai in the foreword for the playbooks.
The launch of the ISA Media Charter Playbooks reaffirms the organization’s commitment to promoting efficient and effective advertising practices, ultimately safeguarding the interests of advertisers, they said.
This second phase of the Media Charter follows the introduction of the Model Media Agency Agreement last October, which marked the first step in a broader initiative to enhance the media landscape, Kataria, who is the CEO of Raymonds Lifestyle, had told exchange4media earlier.
He had said that digital media's footprint in India has surged dramatically over the past seven years, now commanding 40 per cent of the total advertising expenditure.
The ISA, the apex national body representing advertisers across the country for seven decades, has spearheaded this initiative with an aim to foster a responsible and effective digital advertising environment.
“The job of ISA is to disseminate information, knowledge, and work with the industry ecosystem to create a very healthy and responsible and effective way of doing advertising. So, we have identified four challenges, which include how to manage brand safety and brand suitability and ad frauds. As technology evolves, malpractices also evolve on their own, right? So, how do you ensure there's ROI for the brands and avoid or mitigate any possible ad frauds?” Kataria had said.
“Third is viewability. Because finally, it's all about, you're not just serving impressions, you're trying to serve views. So, how do you define viewability and stay on the course for viewability and get ROI? And last is, how do you build an ethical, transparent, first-party data playbook? So, these are the four themes that have been picked up, which are very crucial to running a good or responsible digital ecosystem advertising. We can also call them the key challenges,” he had explained.
Adding to this, Ankit Desai, who is also the head - media digital marketing and brand PR, Marico had said that there are glaring challenges that advertisers face which is why this charter was rolled out.
“I think the key reason why we picked it up is, while there were global conversations and norms around it, I don't think we had enough appreciation, education or conversation about what stands or what holds best for the Indian environment. And I think that's really what we try to address with this charter,” Desai had said.
Speaking about ensuring creativity and responsibility together in the times of artificial intelligence and digital advancement, Tejas Apte, general manager - media, South Asia, Unilever, had said that AI complements human capabilities and is relevant for advertising.
“I think what AI does well is; it acts as a complement to human capabilities. So, let's take generative AI, which I think is most relevant for the advertising industry. In a lot of places now, instead of people using artists to illustrate a storyboard, people give prompts and generate a storyboard. Or to get your design thinking started on how the product should look, either on the shelf or the packaging itself. You can easily get 10 ideas using generative AI.
So, I think what generative AI has done is, it's an aid to human creativity,” he said adding that AI is used to make decisions on what to serve on a consumer's mission, which is gauging consumer's interest and showing the most relevant content to them.
In August 2023, the ISA rolled out one initiative, the Model Media Agency Agreement, which is a template for agreements between advertisers and media agencies to establish detailed and precise agreements, considering substantial media flow and complexities of the ecosystem.
In May this year, Kataria announced releasing the four other initiatives of the charter which were announced on Tuesday.
The Indian Society of Advertisers has been the peak national body for advertisers for 70 years and represents the interests of organisations involved in the Indian advertising, marketing and media industry.
It aims to promote, maintain and uphold ethical and economic discipline in advertising.
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