For CMOs and procurement leaders, the Publicis fight with The Trade Desk is a “watershed moment,” said ID Comms CEO Tom Denford, speaking Friday on the company podcast #MediaSnack that Denford co-hosts with company chief client officer David Indo. 

The squabble erupted into public view last week when a Publicis Groupe memo leaked that indicated it was no longer recommending that clients use The Trade Desk for DSP and related services.  

The holding company said that TTD had failed an audit conducted by FirmDecisions and that TTD had violated its master agreement with the company and had also charged hidden fees and opted clients into buys without consent. TTD strongly denied all of Publicis Groupe’s accusations. 

On their podcast, Denford and Indo stressed that the bigger issue is not about taking sides, but is rather an opportunity to “quantify exposure, close governance gaps, and convert non-working programmatic spend back into working media value,” as they put it in a follow-up note post podcast. 

They laid out five steps for marketers to take: 

Quantify exposure to The Trade Desk and other DSPs. Start by reviewing the last 12 to 18 months of activity. How much spend flowed through each DSP and what total fee load was paid at each layer? Ask for detailed data, not just summary invoices. 

Review every DSP contract and audit clause. Check whether audit rights are up to date and “truly enforceable.” Is there an automatic right to audit fee structures, data costs and tool add-ons, and does that right sit with the client directly versus the agency? 

Understand the operational impact of changing platforms. If you are a Publicis client, what happens to biddable media delivery if the Trade Desk is removed from your plan? Where can spend move without hurting reach, frequency or performance? 

Map the full path of media expenditures. Do not stop at the DSP. Follow spending through SSPs, exchanges, verification vendors and intermediaries.  

Plan to bring critical contracts in-house. Over time, move master services agreements with major platforms from the agency directly to the client. “That shift alone changes the power dynamic and makes it much easier to insist on clear, enforceable transparency rules.”  

More from the podcast episode, including a transcript, can be found here.