• by Joe Mandese , July 16, 2012

In a surprising development, ANA chief Bob Liodice utilized his opening remarks at the ANA’s Digital and Social Media Conference this morning to warn – and rail against – the practice of “media rebates” and other incentives that are paid to agencies for buying media on behalf of their clients.

Liodice said the essence of the ANA’s position would be released today in a white paper, but said the practice was recently revealed to the ANA by a top board member, and said while it was generally understood and somewhat accepted overseas, it’s increasingly becoming a common practice in the U.S. – “across all media,” including online and social media.

Even though this is essentially an ancient practice in some circles, including the U.S. marketplace, Liodice said the ANA “just became aware of it.”

He defined it as: “Money paid or volume discounts paid to an agency that are not returned to the client.”

He cited statistics from an ANA survey of 225 members indicating that 28% were aware of such practices in the U.S. and 32% were aware of it taking place overseas. He added that 51% of the respondents did not know it was taking place.

“This is a practice that we all need to become more aware of,” Liodice said, adding, that “85% believe that agencies should not keep the rebate or incentive in the U.S.”

Liodice added that one of the biggest issues wasn’t simply financial, but about the “objectivity” of marketers’ agencies involved in business practices that reward them for buying some media over others. He called for “full transparency in the decisions” that agencies use to buy media on behalf of their clients.

Liodice said the ANA is recommending a couple of big changes in the way agencies oversee such practices, including that “your contracts should have extremely clear language to ensure that you have an understanding what whenever a rebate is made, it should be returned to the marketer.”

In addition, he said that clients should “audit” their agencies buying practices and that it is “absolutely critical” that they track when, where and how much their agencies are being rebated for buying media.

“This is happening across all forms of media, including digital and social,” Liodice noted.