CASTOR expresses confidence for audit trend in 2007

This, in itself, is one of last year's most significant achievements, since the audited universe more than doubled in about 12 months.

This is the result of the intense work that saw the establishment of methodology and reporting standards, as well as the certification of BPA Worldwide. CASTOR is the body set up by clients, represented by the GCC Advertisers' Association (GCCAA) and media agencies members of the Media Agencies' Council (MAC), under the auspices of the International Advertising Association (IAA).

Both BPA Worldwide and the International Advertising Association (IAA) are looking at the CASTOR experience as a template for the development of audits in other countries.

"It's still early days and we are still facing several challenges, most notably with Arabic titles," commented Marwan Rizk, the IAA's world vice-president and area director for Middle East and Africa. "But we are confident that there will be some exciting developments in this field, following the move by Akhbar Al Arab and Al Isbou'a to sign up for audits. We are in advanced stages in our conversations with several large publishers. We hope to be able to be more specific soon."

"It is worthwhile noticing that IAA worldwide is looking closely on the UAE Castor model as a successful precedent and have asked us to present it to the IAA International board, to be used in other countries of the world like some countries in South America and Eastern Europe," he added.

Media agencies represented in CASTOR are reporting high levels of support in the audit movement among their clients. Not only are clients asking their agencies to include audited titles in 2007 as first priority, agencies are also pushing non-audited titles to seek an audit, in order to maintain their level of support, as well as their own clients, explaining why audits are important to them.

"A quick survey among our 40 members, who collectively invest many millions of dollars in print, has revealed that non-audited titles are being downplayed while audited titles are now seeing an upgrade, receiving an average of 60 % of their print investments in 2007," revealed Sameer Desai, marketing manager at GlaxoSmithKline and GCCAA representative on the CASTOR committee. "This is very encouraging and we expect the trend to develop as time goes by from both existing members and new ones, following our active recruitment drive."

"All the pieces are now in place for the industry to emerge from the Dark Ages in terms of print advertising," commented Eric Mirabel, business development director at Omnicom Media Group and CASTOR member. "The tools are credible and available, clients and agencies are united and committed to seeing print advertising being much more accountable and the audited universe is now growing rapidly. Alternatives to print advertising are also gaining ground and popularity. Claiming to be a leader is one thing, acting as one is quite another so we urge publishers to demonstrate their professionalism by seeking this independent endorsement, whatever the initial results."