Among advertisers and agencies alike, many hoped the June release of “An Independent Study of Media Transparency in the U.S. Advertising Industry,” a report prepared for the ANA by K2 Intelligence, would deliver the coup de grace in a controversy that’s been worsening for at least five years. Such was not to be the case, however.

The study found there is “a fundamental disconnect” between advertisers and agencies regarding the nature of their relationship. The majority of advertisers interviewed by K2 expressed a belief that their agencies are, in fact, their agent, but there was a greater disparity of viewpoints among agency sources. Some, for example, felt that any practice not contractually barred was fair game, and one former CEO of an agency group characterized the idea of an ad agency serving as an agent to its clients as an “outmoded concept.” The report also found substantial evidence of non-transparent business practices related to rebates in the U.S. market, substantial evidence of potentially problematic agency conduct concealed by principal transactions, and evidence of non-transparent business practices arising from agencies holding or soliciting equity stakes in media suppliers.

Read the full ANA article here.