Apparently DOJ Not Finished With U.S. Media Buying Investigation

Posted on March 26, 2019February 10, 2021 by Bajkowski + Partners

According to an article published by AdAge on March 25, 2019, the Department of Justice had impaneled a federal grand jury, enabling the U.S. Attorney to issue a subpoena to an unidentified “large marketer” for its media records.

This comes as a surprise given December 2018 reporting by both AdAge and Adweek that the DOJ had cleared five major holding companies.

The FBI’s investigation into U.S. media buying and transparency practices began last April as a result of a 2016 media transparency report, also known as the K2 Intelligence Report, released by the Association of National Advertisers.

The K2 report cited serious problems that went against media buying best practices and agency-client contracts.

This week’s AdAge article cites concerns among ANA member marketers over agency backlash and blacklisting should their participation in the K2 and DOJ investigations become public.

Apparently the DOJ has been working with a non-redacted version of the K2 report which contains the names of more than 40 sources that participated in the ANA-sponsored investigation.

Bajkowski + Partners LLC is a leading consultancy providing services to marketing and procurement teams including building in-house media planning and programmatic as well as in-house creative and production operations. For more information, please visit our website.

Five Major Holding Companies Cleared in DOJ Investigation

Posted on December 7, 2018December 11, 2019 by Bajkowski + Partners

According to AdAge and Adweek, the Department of Justice closed its two year investigation into video production and post-production practices against five of the largest ad agency holding companies – IPG, MDC Partners, Omnicom, Publicis and WPP.

Apparently the DOJ has declined to comment on the status of its investigation which focused on whether ad agencies were awarding production business to their in-house departments over third-party providers in a ‘rigged bidding’ process.

The DOJ is still investigating media buying practices among the agencies, driven by the ANA K2 report citing serious problems that went against best practices and agency-client contracts.

UPDATE – Media Trading Practices Under FBI Scrutiny

Posted on October 10, 2018March 16, 2021 by Bajkowski + Partners

According to Ad Age, the FBI has turned to the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and its members for cooperation with an ongoing “criminal investigation into media buying practices” of service providers.

There are a number of global media buying agencies caught up in the probe, but no word on larger local players being part of the investigation.

The FBI investigation was likely the result of the ANA’s own investigation amid complaints from members about transparency and contract compliance issues on the part of media buyers and the media suppliers.

The ANA probe resulted in the issuance of a K2 report in 2016 which supported member claims of some agencies withholding cash rebates from clients as well as other transparency issues, and a new, highly detailed, media contract template as well as best practices. While media buying practices and contract terms can vary by country, problems identified in the K2 report were not limited to international markets.

ANA members are encouraged to contact the organization’s lead counsel, Reed Smith, which serves as interface between the ANA and FBI, if they believe their media agency relationships warrant further scrutiny.

There is no indication at this time as to when the FBI investigation will be completed.

Agency Search: MedStar Health Selects Doner as AOR

Posted on July 15, 2018February 10, 2021 by Bajkowski + Partners

From AdAge by Megan Graham on July 13, 2018: “MedStar Health, a healthcare provider in the Maryland and D.C. region, has picked MDC Partners’ Doner as its agency of record. The agency will oversee strategy, creative and production for the provider, which has 10 hospitals, a home health agency and more than 300 urgent care, physician practice and other care sites. The company previously worked with AB&C Creative Intelligence. Bajkowski & Partners led the search.”