4.2.2.4 Active participation in initiatives of the industry
At the international or national level and covering all Company businesses:
- for more than 80 years, the communications sector has been governed internationally by the Marketing Code of the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce – www.iccwbo.org). This code is the benchmark in self-regulation and best practices for advertising and marketing (Advertising and Marketing Communication Practice – ICC Code). The 2018 version reiterates the founding principles: all communication must be legal, decent, honest, truthful and socially responsible. This code is intended to be neutral in terms of technology and media, so no player can derogate from it and it obviously includes digital communication and mobile applications, the Internet of Things. This code also incorporates issues related to data collection and protection and the right to privacy and takes into account the different needs of different types of audiences, including vulnerable people. In 2021, in-depth work focused on advertising claims related to climate change and environmental issues, in order to clarify the proliferation of arguments and enable consumers to better navigate. The ICC Framework for Responsible Environmental Marketing Communication reports on this collective work with the collaboration of several countries and world regions, and recommended standards. report. The objective of this guide designed for industry-professionals is to ban all forms of “greenwashing”. Part of this work focused on a detailed analysis of the words to be used and under which circumstances in order to avoid confusion. It includes an Environmental checklist intended to facilitate the teams’ work, to have clear arguments;
- Groupe agencies play an active role in national and international professional organizations. Worthy of note is the work carried out with the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) and the MRC (Media Rating Council) on the visibility of digital advertising, and how this can be quantified (viewability). Publicis Media was the first agency to be Gold Standard certified in the last four years. This work is done in close cooperation with other professional organizations such as the 4As (American Association for Advertising Agencies), particularly the 4As Privacy Committee, the ASRC (Advertising Self-Regulatory Council) in the United States, as well as the EASA (European Advertising Standards Alliance).
- The Groupe took part in the launch of the GARM (Global Alliance for Responsible Media) in Cannes in 2019, at the behest of clients belonging to the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). Since 2020, Publicis Groupe is one of the founding members of PRAM (Partnership for Reasonable Addressable Media) with consumer protection as a priority: it is a consortium positioned on inclusion by developing principles and standards to properly address the various consumer groups. These projects require the Groupe’s commitment, in the same way as the work done collectively for many years on Online Behavioral Advertising and Native Advertising, both in the United States and in Europe;
- the Trustworthy Accountability Groupe (TAG) is the first cross-industry initiative of its kind dedicated to the fight against criminality in the digital advertising supply chain. Its work focuses on four areas: eradicating illicit trafficking, combating malware, fighting against online piracy and promoting transparency (TAG Anti-Piracy Pledge). The goal is to apply brand safety; that is to say to ensure against brands appearing on inappropriate sites or environments. The TAG Registry was the second part of the “Verified by TAG” program, whose two-fold aim is to combat fraud and crime related to the online advertising sector, and to promote best practice. Publicis Groupe is one of the companies integrated in the TAG Registry. Publicis Media was the first group to be awarded “TAG Platinum” status in 2019; in 2020 and 2021, the following topics were validated by this level of compliance: TAG Certified Against Fraud, TAG Certified Against Piracy, TAG Certified Against Malware, and being fully compliant with the TAG Brand Safety Guidelines;
- Digital Ad Trust :this French initiative, launched in 2017, has been fully operational for two years now and brings together all ecosystem players, including the Media agencies. The goal of this approach coordinated by IAB France (International Advertising Bureau) is to assess and promote responsible sites based on the quality of their content and the advertising practices used (cookie and browsing preference policies);
- Publicis Groupe has for several years been a member of the Coalition for Better Ads, which brings together all key players in the ecosystem (companies and trade organizations) around the common goal of improving online advertising standards. While it is clear that this finances many digital activities, it also has to better meet the expectations of consumers. One of the areas of work concerns the non-intrusive nature of advertising and the technical standards to be respected, notably regarding data protection.
