• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, May 20, 2018

Well, isn’t this interesting. The awards keep rolling in to the ANA for the group’s efforts regarding media transparency and its industrywide impact.

On Friday, the ANA received the President’s Award from the World Federation of Advertisers in recognition of the ANA’s transparency report, which shed light on the practice of media rebates in the U.S. that were often received (allegedly) by agencies without disclosure to clients.

It also criticized advertisers for not taking greater stewardship of their media investments.

As the WFA noted, the ANA’s effort “created significant change globally and helped ensure advertisers have a better understanding of the media market.”

Many brands have taken action since the ANA report was issued in 2016, including conducting audits and agency reviews, shoring up contracts with media agencies in order to improve transparency and improving in-house media skills.

MediaPost named ANA CEO Bob Liodice its Media Executive of the Year in 2017 for spearheading the efforts for which WFA awarded the association with its President’s Award. I’m not sure if MediaPost was the first to recognize Liodice’s and the ANA’s impact on the industry for the group’s work on media transparency, but I doubt the WFA will be the last.

The WFA also recognized a number of other marketer groups around the world with its President’s Award for their outstanding contributions to the industry. Read more about those awards here.

The awards were bestowed at a gala in Tokyo that was part of the WFA’s Global Marketer Week event there.