Procter & Gamble (P&G) has extended its review of its media agency arrangements across much of Europe, with pitches now taking place in both Northern Europe and DACH regions.
The FMCG giant last week confirmed it is reviewing its media in the UK, Ireland, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, and this is now understood to have extended to Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Publicis Groupe’s Starcom shares the Northern Europe business with GroupM’s MediaCom, the latter handling press.
It comes after chief brand officer Marc Pritchard, in a speech IAB’s annual leadership meeting in Florida, called on the industry to bring greater transparency to the media supply chain, which he described as “murky at best, fraudulent at worst”.
His four-point plan includes the adoption of a single viewability standard, the implementation of credited, third-party measurement verification, the prevention of ad fraud, and an insistence upon “transparency” agency contracts.
A P&G spokesperson confirmed the review in Northern Europe, though insisted the process was instigated before Pritchard’s speech: “P&G wants the best agency partners to get the best creative quality and communication effectiveness for our brands.
“A Northern Europe media review is an opportunity to both simplify the structure and improve communication effectiveness and efficiency to drive industry leading reach, penetration, growth and value creation for our brands and business.”
However, the company was yet to respond to requests for comment on the DACH media review.
In the US, out-of-home media firm Lamar responded to Pritchard’s call-to-arms by running a series of posters in P&G’s Cincinnati headquarters stating: “Hey Marc, this ad is real.”
Separately, former P&G Northern Europe marketing chief Roisin Donnelly has joined the IAB in an advisory role, to help the organisation engage with marketers over digital advertising. She ended a 31-year stay with P&G last year.