• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, June 22, 2021

A new media/marketing auditing firm has just hung out its shingle: London-based Media Marketing Compliance.

It is led by former FirmDecisions founder-Global CEO, Stephen Broderick, along with several former members of the FirmDecisions senior management team.

They include Fiona Foy, who will oversee the Americas region, and Elliot Sherrington and Tony Whittingstall, who will manage Europe and other regions. David Reid has oversight of the Asia Pacific region, while Jon Pigden will cover the Middle East and Africa.

The company is declaring its independence after a one-year alliance with MediaPath Network as that company’s compliance division.

Given the heightened awareness and interest in marketing and media auditing services in recent years, it would seem there's room for more players in the space, especially with Accenture's decision last year to shut its media auditing practice. That move followed criticism by agencies and holding companies that Accenture had a major conflict of interest given its own growing media and marketing services division. 

It's been five years since the ANA sounded a clarion call for marketers to be better stewards of contract compliance with its media transparency report. 

Collectively, the Media Marketing Compliance team has decades of industry experience and has conducted audits in over 110 countries. Further expansion is planned for later this year and in 2022.   

Broderick noted: “In an increasingly fragmented sector, we are looking forward to launching our own specialist and highly experienced service. This move allows us to continue with existing partnerships, but also grow and develop, becoming one of only a few marketing auditors and compliance specialists also registered as an accountancy firm [with the UK’s ICAEW]. 

He added the firm will offer compliance services throughout the marketing supply chain, including media, creative, production, field marketing/merchandising, experiential and other categories.