British advertisers launch new client-agency contract

In April, the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) introduced a new contract for members, the Framework Agreement for Media Buying & Planning Services, which will redefine relationships between advertisers and media agencies in the UK.

ISBA worked closely with their members, lawyers and media consultants to identify current key issues, some elements of which were starting to erode trust between clients and their media agencies.

They found that many media agency contracts currently in use were lacking in essential detail, especially around digital matters and in particular click fraud, viewability, verification and brand safety, leaving media agencies without a vital brief on client expectations.

Other issues that surfaced revolved around auditing rights and particularly the rights of brands to choose their own auditors, as well as data ownership.

The new terms in the contract also reflect the broader services now being offered by media agencies, including social media monitoring, simple app and web development, creative and content development, and more.

ISBA worked with law firm Fieldfisher to create the new terms, supported by five UK-based media consultants, MediaSense, Ebiquity, ID Comms, Firm Decisions, and Financial Progression.

Debbie Morrison, ISBA Director of Consultancy and Best Practice said: "Our feedback on the new template terms from major brand owners has been extremely positive as it speaks to all of their major concerns. It's been 10 years since we last updated our media contract, since that point the market has rapidly evolved and the advertiser community now needs to pay much more attention to protecting and enhancing their rights in this more complex environment. This new framework will give them a great starting point for conversations around the issues and negations with their media agencies".

The contract is available for UK advertisers. For more information on the new ISBA contract, contact Debbie Morrison.