Industry bodies – too much to stomach?
Described as “faceless organisations identified only by their acronyms”, with some having historically been called “toothless tigers” following industry debacles around transparency and rebates, industry bodies appear to fall in and out of favour or cause divide among execs.
One moment they are extolled for efforts such as AWARD School, which gives underrepresented people a chance to enter advertising, or for creating an impressive five-year Advertising Industry Labour Agreement, giving adland businesses the ability to sponsor specific roles, and the next they are criticised for high fees, being irrelevant to small businesses or for pushing too many courses and events on members.
Love or loathe, there’s no denying that industry milestones and standards have been carved out due to the efforts of the CEO (or chairperson, depending on who is pulling the strings), board and of course the paying members of certain groups.
Overall, one thing many concede is there are too many industry bodies, coupled with confusion about who does what and what the real value of each is.
As a result, AdNews has selected the most well-known industry bodies and, in one place (and continued online), we offer a snapshot of what each does, what they offer and what they are promising to do. In addition we put some of the hard questions to them, seek industry views and showcase some stats from a mini industry survey run by AdNews.
The initial 10 earmarked include Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), Media Federation of Australia (MFA), The Communications Council, The Australian Association of National Advertisers (AANA), Free TV Australia, Commercial Radio Australia
