Kickbacks, often in the form of all-expenses-paid overseas trips, have a long and endemic history in the media planning business. Recently the Advertising Media Forum (AMF), the body representing the interests of local media planning and buying agencies, forcefully restated its intention to correct this history.
In a document published last week on its website under the heading “Guidelines for media owners”, the AMF declares: “In the past [we] managed to put a stop to certain competitions where the planner/buyer was incentivised in exchange for booking advertising space in a certain medium/opportunity. However, conditional competitions are still in existence and will bring our profession into disrepute.”
One such competition, full details of which are in the possession of The Media magazine, opened to agencies in August this year with a closure date of December 10. Run by a “promotional” media owner that buys advertising space in bulk, the competition is an indiscreet attempt to get rid of unsold inventory.
“To win great prizes ranging from a cruise to game lodge holidays to bursaries all you need to do is one thing,” the entry form begins. “Book any of the following [television or radio spots] in November or December or January and you could be wiser, more travelled and even have a glorious sun tan.”
Free travel “sun tans” may be the most quoted type of sweetener, but they are not the only target of the AMF guidelines. The industry body warns media owners that bribery extends to conditional trade gifts (where the first buyers to book a package receive a certain gift) and that “any form of cash back or value added should be to the benefit of that particular client’s advertising budget” (for example, where a planner commits X amount and receives a free page for the client concerned).
Mike Nussey, an AMF board member and CEO of Mindshare, one of South Africa’s largest media planning agencies, says that the test for bribery is “blatant personal enrichment”.
Nussey points out that client rewards are prevalent in many industries, so a careful distinction needs to be drawn between improper practice and relationship building. In the financial services sector, he cites sponsored trips to the Nedbank Million Dollar Golf Challenge as an example of the latter.
As for the former, Nussey mentions the instance of a certain media owner taking a planner who had placed advertisements with the company to Wimbledon. “That, to my mind, is totally unacceptable. Was it strategically correct for the brand to be there in the first place?
“We have a policy at [Mindshare],” says Nussey. “Where a buyer gets enriched, that person will be fired.”
The increase in incentive-based offers, according to AMF chairperson and Starcom managing director Gordon Patterson, can be attributed to the competitiveness of the media owner market.
“Without wishing to dampen media owner innovation, it is important that we protect the integrity of our profession,” says Patterson.
“Our industry is transforming rapidly, particularly at the entry level, and I feel that it is dangerous for these offers to exist as many of our newcomers do not yet understand the ethical responsibility that we have in making objective decisions.”
These ethical considerations are of equal importance to AMF board member and FCB Africa media director Donald Liphoko.
“As custodians of clients’ marketing budgets, it is critical that we inculcate and preserve a culture of transparency in the media sales and marketing environment, and promote a general adherence to corporate governance principles. [The] conditional selling guideline is evidence of our living the spirit of King II.”
The Media magazine intends to publish a thorough investigation of conditional selling early in the new year. Readers are invited to send information to [email protected].
Kevin Bloom is editor of The Media magazine