By Lou Mastria
One of the challenges of media fragmentation is the ability to make advertising accountable anywhere – and everywhere – a particular audio or video advertisement might be presented. As channels have proliferated in the digital realm, such advertising tracking and monitoring has become that much more complex.
This has presented challenges to actors, for example, in securing accurate compensation for their participation in such ads.
Commercials negotiations between the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), and the Association of National Advertisers-4A’s Joint Policy Committee (JPC) representing the advertising industry, have mandated universal adoption of Ad-ID, the industry standard for identifying advertising assets across all media platforms, in order to provide the identification required for fair talent compensation.
From DAA’s perspective, Ad-ID is one more example of the innovation necessary to ensure a long healthy growth for the ad-funded content which consumers have grown to know and expect. Ad-ID shows what can happen when members of private industry, representing diverse interests, work together to achieve a better advertising ecosystem – something DAA was founded to do on behalf of interest-based advertising. With Ad-ID registration expanding to help make contracts consistent, SAG-AFTRA members will achieve more precise compensation – even when those ads are interest-based.
Recently, Bob Liodice, president and chief executive officer, ANA, and a founding member behind the Digital Advertising Alliance, reported on the SAG-AFTRA-JPC agreement. (The 4A’s is also a DAA founding member.) Bob stated:
“As a result of this agreement, all video and audio commercials that feature SAG-AFTRA talent must be registered with Ad-ID, the industry standard for identifying advertising assets across all media platforms. This is a huge step forward for the industry, as the mandate for Ad-ID guarantees accurate and improved measurement of advertising assets across all platforms and ensures fair and accurate payment of SAG-AFTRA talent. A press release detailing the Ad-ID mandate has been issued to the press.
“The new agreement mandates that, after March 31, 2013, all commercials featuring SAG-AFTRA union members must be registered with Ad-ID codes. While there is a grace period until March 31, 2014, to fully convert, to ensure consistency with the contract provisions, we strongly recommend that all commercial production begin using Ad ID codes. Ad-ID has developed extensive educational materials posted here, including webinars, videos, and FAQs to help the marketing community make this transition.”
Ad-ID is a web-based system that generates and manages a unique identifying code for each advertising asset and applies that code to all media, ANA reports. Valid Ad-ID codes can only be issued from the Ad-ID system and include all basic information regarding the advertising asset. Ad-ID has developed extensive educational materials posted on http://support.ad-id.org/support/home including webinars, videos and FAQs to help the marketing community make this transition. For more information about the SAG-AFTRA and JPC agreement, visit the Ad-ID website.
We encourage all agencies and advertisers to ensure their participation in the Ad-ID program.
