It has been five years since the ANA initiated its landmark study on Transparency in US Advertising. Since that time, “transparency” has been a word of the year, considered a global media issue, and has been incorporated into a significant number of agency contracts. While it seems to remain an “evergreen” topic, there is still much work to be done despite the amount of progress that has been made.

As is the case for many complex topics, there is both bad news and good news. Sadly, many believe that the negative issues associated with media transparency are worse today than ever before. Yet, on the positive side, there are more steps that brands can take to protect themselves and ensure their media investments are not being wasted or misappropriated.