• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, March 4, 2009

NEW ORLEANS -- A task force under the aegis of the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Interactive Advertising Bureau that examined how to alter business practices for interactive advertising failed to come to an agreement on who owns performance data generated from online campaigns. It was not a surprise--given GroupM's recent push to ensure campaign data is the exclusive property of the advertiser and the agency. But it highlights how difficult it may be to reach consensus on how the industry should overhaul the way it does business.

Formed in 2007, the task force is part of the 4As "Project Reinvention" initiative, which looks to upgrade practices in all media, starting with the interactive and spot TV areas. Trade associations, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Television Bureau of Advertising are key players in their respective sectors.

""It's going to be bloody and ugly," IAB chief Randall Rothenberg quipped about the looming industry battle over data ownership, implying that it would emerge as a central conflict on Madison Avenue. However, he said the online industry is agreeing to changes in practice. Rothenberg said the two sides have a mutual interest and some common goals.

In addition to the data-ownership issue, the interactive group failed to agree on recommendations for how the industry should handle aspects of makegoods, and how to deal with creative that is submitted late. The task force is searching for ways for the industry to cut costs; late creative is a drain on resources.

Rothenberg spoke on a panel at the 4As annual media conference Wednesday in New Orleans, where the recommendations--or lack thereof--were discussed. GroupM chief Irwin Gotlieb also participated.

Interactive task force members include Universal McCann executive David Cohen and CBS Interactive's Zack Rogers, along with many other top buyers and sellers.

The separate task force seeking changes in the spot TV arena appears to have had a far easier time reaching agreement on what must be done. As expected, the group urged the industry to drop its decades-old negotiating currency of a cost-per-point metric and move to a cost-per-thousand--which would put it in line with other media from network TV to newspapers.

Back in the interactive area, that business ironically continues to struggle to find agreed-upon standards, which would allow it to conduct transactions via electronic systems. The result of using email and faxes--as it is in spot TV--is a backlog of paperwork. That leads to massive time spent manually entering data, which can cause numerous errors.

The interactive task force has recommended standard forms for requests for proposal (RFPs), insertion orders and invoices, among other actions, to be placed within an e-business format. And a beta development process is using them, with publishers and system vendors such as Mediabank, Harris Corp. and DoubleClick participating.

One possible benefit: allowing for changes to be made more easily to a campaign while it is still running. Another: reducing discrepancies where a buyer and seller may disagree on whether ads that were purchased actually ran. If there is disagreement, settling on makegoods can take weeks.

In the spot business, its task force recommendation to move to CPMs as currency is viewed as a way to jump-start cross-platform deal-making, where a buyer can purchase on-air spots, as well as banners on a station Web site, in one fell swoop. Buyers could also compare the value of a spot buy with other media more easily, the task force believes.

Similar to the interactive group, the spot task force recommended that the industry adopt a system where the performance of a buy can be monitored once it is up and running. Makegoods can be doled out without waiting weeks.

Spot TV task force members include Starcom's Kevin Gallagher and Hearst-Argyle's Kathleen Keefe, along with TVB executive Abby Auerbach.

Project reinvention has its roots in comments that GroupM's Gotlieb made in late 2006, when he urged the industry to update its business practices on the grounds that its very survival is at stake. On Wednesday, he took that concern to another level, saying changes are more crucial now in a struggling economy. "We really no longer have the luxury of debating some of these issues," he said. "We have to deal with them and get on with it."

He said the troubled economy actually offers a "silver lining," since it could lead to swifter overhauls.

The mild-mannered Gotlieb caused a stir on the panel when he took a swipe at the trade publication Advertising Age. After the IAB's Rothenberg cited an Ad Age editorial this week raising questions about the ad industry's trade associations, Gotlieb said the problem isn't with the trade associations, but with the trade magazine.

"I wouldn't take what that particular trade magazine said too personally, Randy," Gotlieb told his fellow panelist, then added: "I would suspect that their same companies would be asking the same questions about their ROI. They're just trying to pass on the pain."

Gotlieb went on to say that all the trade associations play a very important role in working out conflicts, facilitating industry reinvention, and demonstrating the ROI and benefits of their media.

"As someone who sits on my side of the fence, we wouldn't have it any other way," Gotlieb said, receiving an ovation.

Separately, Rothenberg stridently warned online publishers and agencies that Washington is watching, and urged action. The federal and state governments are "looking for us to protect privacy rights ... in interactive media," he said. He urged industry members to join the six trade associations in creating "an effective and meaningful self-regulatory practice."

Gotlieb said that ensuring privacy is smart business, and protecting it is important for clients: "We can't do the jobs we need to do for our clients if we don't serve the interests of those who protect privacy."

TVB chief Chris Rohrs, who joined Rothenberg and Gotlieb on the panel, said reinventing business practices in the spot business just "comes down to customer service." Agreeing with Gotlieb, he said it's more crucial now than ever.

But Rohrs said that recommendations such as changing the currency and looking for stations to halt preemptions if they can sell inventory for higher rates are "worthwhile and important advances, but they cannot succeed without a robust e-business solution." In other words, changes to how deal-making is done are crucial, but finding the right trading systems to facilitate the negotiations and stewardship of a buy is equally critical.